The latest Berlanti-verse show is the first one to start during my reviewing phase, so by my convoluted reviewing rules, I have to review this first season. For the record I also watch "Flash", "Supergirl" and "Legends of Tomorrow" at the moment . . . which is fortunate, because this is largely the same formula as the others.
Kate Kane (Ruby Rose) returns to Gotham following the disappearance of her cousin Bruce Wayne. Her father Jacob Kane (Dougray Scott) is the head of The Crows, a private security company that has begun stepping in where the corruption of the GCPD has gone too far. The Kane's suffered a childhood trauma when Kate's mother and sister were killed in a childhood car accident. Searching the Wayne tower building, Kate manages to access the Batcave there, and with the help of Luke Fox (Camrus Johnson), son of Lucius, takes of the mantle of caped crusader.
This is very much the same show as the other superhero films in this DC universe, Batwoman battles a specific villain each episode whilst feeding into an overall season arc against a bigger villain, in this case - the show's highlight - Rachel Skatsten as "Alice" from the Alice In Wonderland villain group that Batman inexplicably seems to have. Over the course of the run, Batwoman's circle of friends who know her secret widens - as it has with Supergirl and The Flash, and they begin to help with missions. (If this stays true to form then they too will soon start to get their own suits and powers to hit the streets alongside her).
The reason this show has such lower scores than are, I suspect twofold. One is the rallying of a million keyboard losers against anything with a woman in it, let alone a homosexual woman. The second is the far more justifiable reason that Ruby Rose isn't a very good actress. She's incapable of imbuing Kate Kane with any emotion and, though I understand that she's battled through a series of injuries, and should be commended for that, I'm looking forward to Javicia Leslie taking over in the second season.
Though I'd argue that "Legends" variety and humour makes it a touch better than the other series in this world, "Batwoman" isn't actually any better or worse than the rest of the Berlanti-verse.
