How Crisis on Infinite Earths Affects Batwoman

This article contains spoilers for Crisis on Infinite Earths and Batwoman episode 10.

Batwoman picks back up after the Crisis on Infinite Earths and at first glance, it might seem like not much has changed in Gotham. But by the end of episode 10 “How Queer Everything is Today!” it’s clear that the Arrowverse still has plenty of surprises left for us, and Kate Kane will be the one to tackle some of them. Let’s unpack the road ahead for Batwoman and her allies.

Oliver Queen is dead

As Rachel Maddow’s Vesper Fairchild reminded us, Oliver Queen is dead. For Gotham that might mean that a symbol of hope from another city is gone, but for Kate Kane, it’s a bit more personal. She didn’t have much time to dig into it yet during either the Crisis on Infinite Earths or “How Queer Everything is Today!” but Oliver served as an analogue for Kate. Both were stoic rich kids trying to do better by their community, keeping secrets about how they spend their nights while trying to keep their egos and their cities’ villains’ in check.

The relationships between Kate Kane and the other Arrowverse heroes felt immediately lived in, especially with Kara and Oliver, which is a testament to the writing as well as the talent of the actors. While they’ve only had a handful of scenes together over the course of a year, it’s obvious that Kate will spend some time mourning Oliver throughout the rest of the season, at her own pace.

read more: Every DC Easter Egg in the Crisis on Infinite Earths Finale

One of the strengths of Batwoman so far is that the writing doesn’t rush emotional impact, nor does it put a strict deadline on it. That means we could easily see Kate try to ignore her feelings for a few episodes until they catch up with her, especially if other pressing crises get in the way.

Supergirl and Batwoman are now both on Earth Prime

One of the best outcomes of the Crisis is that Supergirl is now on the same earth as the other Arrowverse shows. That’s mostly a boon for The Flash but especially for Batwoman, considering the quick friendship between Kara and Kate. Kara practically levitated when Batwoman showed up during (one of several) battles in the latter half of the Crisis. Their tete-a-tete over beers in the first half of the Crisis was a great real moment of humanity amidst all the powers and antimatter cannons, and it gave the pair a chance to strengthen their bond when Kate came clean to Kara about having Kryptonite and Kara told her to hang onto it.

Beyond Kara, the cast of Supergirl brings with it the opportunity for Kate Kane to finally have an on-screen found family. Family is discussed frequently on Batwoman, but very much in the traditional context of blood and marriage bonds. Found family is a huge part of queer culture, even among those who have supportive families. While it’s wonderful that Jake Kane and Mary Hamilton-Kane accept Kate for who she is and they’re both great characters, Kate’s lack of queer friendships has always felt like the one thing missing from the show. With Alex Danvers and Nia Nall (and, per some fans, Lena and Kara), Kate would finally have that chosen queer family on screen.

Widening out further, Earth Prime is also home to the Legends, as much as the concept of space or time can contain that crew. Sara Lance is in need of her found family now more than ever, and as another queer woman and someone who has known and cared about Oliver for a long time, it would be great to see Kate and Sara develop a deep friendship. They’re also simply two women who respect people of conviction who get the job done and enjoy a stiff drink afterwards. It’s easy to imagine a side episode of just the two of them going on adventures and taking no shit.

Beth is back…but Alice is still here

Finally, there’s the big doozy. Beth is back!

At the end of the episode, a very normal, non-murderous Beth with shoulder-length brown hair and bangs (you know something’s up if bangs are involved) finds Kate in Wayne Enterprises to say she’s back from her semester abroad. Kate obviously checks for a potential Mouse-face/off situation, but Beth seems to be the real deal. We also saw Alice earlier in the episode at the same time as Mouse, so she’s still around.

The logical conclusion is that the collapsing of various Earths together during the Crisis – which made a few other tweaks like letting Lex be a hero and bringing back Sara Diggle – somehow brought back the version of Beth who was never kidnapped while allowing the version of her who was kidnapped, and became Alice, to also exist. Now my head hurts.

There was some foreshadowing to this earlier when Mary saw “Alice” on campus and was told she was “crazy” when they couldn’t find her. It turns out Mary was half-right – it was the right face, wrong Alice. For the show, this means poor Mary is headed off to some kind of wellness retreat questioning her sanity when she shouldn’t. Meanwhile Kate has a new sister to get to know and to protect from Alice, who will surely want to kill her (if she doesn’t already, because shouldn’t Alice know Beth already, since Alice wasn’t a Paragon? Crisis rules are confusing.) But wait, then why didn’t Mary know about Beth? Mary wasn’t a Paragon either – except of our hearts.

As a viewer, this means we might get to see Kate enjoy having an emotionally stable sister while allowing us to continue enjoying Alice’s mad tea parties throughout Gotham. More Rachel Skarsten is a great thing in my book, as her performance is consistently stellar. It seems like an attempt to redeem the character without losing the fun of having an unhinged Alice on the loose. Will it work? I’m not entirely sold, since a big part of the fun is wondering how far Alice will go, given that deep down she loves Kate and wants to win her back in some way. But if the mystery of Beth is satisfying, it could find its own way to keep us excited.

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