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After all the years we’ve spent obsessing over Bat stories, it’s hard to be surprised by how terrible Gotham is, but Batwoman manages to do just that.
When a young Black boy from the worst part of Gotham goes missing, it brings back memories of when Ryan was kidnapped by the same woman.
Since she looks like an everyday middle-aged, white soccer mom, no one suspects her. Her point is made when a search team shows up looking for a girl with “fair skin, blue eyes” (Beth Kane), not young Ryan. The whole city didn’t shut down to search for a missing Black girl.
The way Batwoman uses Ryan’s life to tell racially driven stories is so fresh to Batman mythology, that it’s carving a path completely separate from anything that’s come before it.
When a show is based on material with a history like Batman, there are certain characters and story beats we expect to see. However, we also want to see the show create its own universe within the established one.
This is something all the Arrowverse series have been very good at, and Batwoman is no exception.
