With a new lead stepping in after Ruby Rose’s exit, Batwoman Season 2 is off to a hot start!
Shortly after the end of Batwoman’s first season, the series lead at the time Ruby Rose decided to step away from the role. While the reasons for her departure are rather vague, they all point to some semi-undisclosed reasons as to why she walked away. Rose’s exit put The CW in a tough predicament, especially after renewing the series for a second season prior to Ruby’s exit, The CW was faced with two decisions. Move on without Ruby Rose or cancel the series altogether.
The CW decided to go with the former and created an all-new original character named Ryan Wilder played by Javicia Leslie to fill the role left vacant by Ruby. With Batwoman Season 2 premiering this past Sunday, many fans, whether they were fans of the series or not were looking to see how The CW delivered with a brand new character and one that is aiming to take up the mantle of Batwoman.
One of the biggest questions that needed to be answered was how to write Kate Kane out of the story in order to bring in Ryan Wilder and move forward with her. The premiere episode wastes little to no time in setting that up and completely writing Kate Kane out of the series by killing her during the opening moments of the episode. While it’s a rather underwhelming way to write her off, it was obvious that this was the best route to take in terms of the hard decision they were tasked with.
Javicia Leslie also wastes little to no time in stepping up to the plate and making the role and in the process making her presence felt and she owns the show off the rip. Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder/Batwoman is something that we should all be looking forward to watching every Sunday as this new season develops. I do have some minor critiques but it isn’t about Leslie’s role or how she portrays her character. The one and only critique I have is that the episode contradicts how she knows how to use the batsuit.
At times she’s fully functional with it and in others, she’s thrown for a loop and is a fish out of water. And while she does have a background in martial arts, I don’t think that should equate to knowing how to use a suit like the Batsuit without some proper training. So while they’re treading some familiar territory by having her learn as she goes, we’ve been there done that.
One of the other things that drew me in personally, was Ryan’s backstory. She lost her father prior to her birth, lost her mother during birth, and was in and out of orphanages and locked up for a crime she did not commit which was later revealed to be possession and intent to sell. Leslie does a tremendous job at selling the story and having us the viewer engage and feel empathy towards her and what she’s had to deal with throughout her life.
She also sells this even further when she’s approached about the batsuit by Luke and Nicole and is told she isn’t worthy enough of wearing the suit because she isn’t a hero and she doesn’t know what the bat symbol stands for. After her run-in with Tommy Elliot, Wilder proves her worth and proves that she has what it takes and proves that she seeks justice and that’s something Batman and the bat symbol has always stood for.
As for Kate Kane’s friends and family, we deal with them mourning her death, including her lover Sophie, and the revelation that Kate was actually Batwoman this entire time. Something Alice drives home to their father as she guilt trips him about wanting Batwoman dead but blindly wanting his daughter dead, although unwillingly.
All in all, despite the predictable route they took to write Kate Kane off the series, I think the send off for both Kate Kane and Ruby Rose was a solid one and a good one. She was written off as a hero, leaving behind a memorable legacy that inspires good and also inspires her successor Ryan Wilder.
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