Batwoman Swings Into Action for Last Time on Third and Final Season DVD

After three controversial seasons, CW's Batwoman has finally reached the end of her bat-rope. Having initially lost its leading actress after the first season, the show tried to move in a new direction by having the suit land in the lap of homeless Ryan Wilder (Javicia Leslie), who took over the duties of the hero while the mystery of what happened to original Batwoman, Kate Kane (Ruby Rose) played out. Later, through an improbably sequence of events, it was found that Ryan had been given up for adoption by her fabulously wealthy CEO mother, Jada Jet (Robin Givens), who went on to have another child, Marquis Jet (Nick Creegan). Suddeny, poor girl Ryan is in charge of Wayne Industries... at least, until she's not.

This family dynamic of sibling hero-villain rivalry played out in 'meh' fashion in the first season, with the original Batwoman forever in pursuit of her estranged sister, Alice (Rachel Skarseten). And while Alice may have been the most interesting character of the entire series, the entire series couldn't revolve around her (although, technically, it did, which really stretched the suspension of our collective disbelief to its breaking point). As the writers realized they were producing a Batman-based show with little of what made Batman a fan-favorite, they began to reintroduce bat-villains by recreating them in second-generation forms. Kate Kane's stepsister, Dr. Mary Hamilton (Nicole Kang) became infected with plant toxins, turning her into the new Poison Ivy. And Ryan's brother Marquis -- well, he'd been zapped in the head as a child by the Joker, turning him into a psychopath. Fortunately, there's a cure for Marquis -- he just needs to be zapped in the head again, by the same joy buzzer which only has enough battery juice left in it for one more jolt -- the same jolt which might cure Alice of her mental demons. Holy deus ex machina!

The finale plot where Marquis is about to destroy Gotham by hijacking the bat-blimp (complete with a pilot) finds the villain's plans thwarted through a sacrifice made by Batwoman's aide-de-campe, Luke Fox (Camrus Johnson), who recently took up the masked identity of Batwing, guided by an internal A.I. system that mimics his dead father. He lets the A.I. get destroyed by crashing the blimp (because, just like battery chargers, computer backup systems also don't exist in this version of Gotham City), while Batwoman makes a final play to save her brother.

The series ends on an optimistic note (by the writers) by introducing a shadowy villain in the wake of where the blimp crashed -- a derelict section of Gotham. It would seem the writers had hopes of introducing Solomon Grundy in the fourth season. Alas, the world will never know, as the series was cancelled soon after, with #SaveBatwoman campaigns failing to get the necessary traction for a renewal pickup by either CW or HBO Max.