BATWOMAN: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON – A Blu-ray/DVD and Digital HD Review by John Strange
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-raytm I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.
The second season of Batwoman is ambitious on so many levels. There is a plethora of bad guys all swarming around each other like a frenzied school of fish. Not all of the good guys are good. And the action moves so fast that you almost need flash cards to keep up with who is where, doing what!
Regarding Team Batwoman, who is Ryan Wilder (Javicia Leslie) and why does she think she can step into Kate Kane’s shoes? Technical wiz and Wayne Industries Security Chief Luke Fox (Camrus Johnson) is doing a great job of helping Ryan grow into her new role as a hero. Mary is stepping up for the team plus working hard to keep her secret clinic running.
Kate’s sister Beth, also known as Alice (Rachel Skarsten), is still totally bonkers but her character is all over the place this season, sometimes on one side of right, sometimes WAY over the line toward the other side. But always with one main mission, find her sister Kate.
The sheer number of bad guys is almost overwhelming. They are all well-written and most drive the story forward, but some almost feel like “filler”.
There are two premier evildoers for season two. Based in Gotham City is Roman Sionis aka Black Mask (Peter Outerbridge), leader of the False Face Gang. And Safiyah Sohail (Shivaani Ghai), based on her own hidden island, who has a beef with Alice that will probably see one or the other of them dead at some point. This disagreement overflows and involves large numbers of the city’s citizens as the season progresses.
Season two is violent and fast-paced, much more so than most of the other DC-related series (excepting possibly the early seasons of Arrow). The first episode or two are a bit hard to get through but, once past these episodes, designed to let us get to know the “new girl”, the season was a truly enjoyable blur of action/violence.
The eighteenth episode throws us a good season cliffhanger in the last seconds that some will miss but will give the team a huge headache when season three kicks off.
Batwoman: The Complete Second Season has a decent collection of bonus extras. The deleted scenes are only okay and were not missed from their episodes. As happens more often than not, the gag reel was boring but adequate (yep, still not a fan of these attempts to inject humor into the bonus featurettes).
Thank God for the remaining featurettes! “Villains Analyzed” is 15+ minutes stuffed to the gills with the background of the plethora of villains seen this season. It’s fascinating to listen to the cast and filmmakers talk about the “how’s” and “why’s” behind each of these baddies!
The last featurette, “Never Alone: Heroes and Allies”, talks about all the current DC-related shows on The CW. Superhero sidekicks first arrived on the scene with Robin in 1940 on the pages of Detective Comics. Soon, loads of superheroes had sidekicks of all types. These sidekicks hit their stride with the Teen Titans (first appearance in the comics in The Brave and the Bold #54, July 1964). Today, we have the New Teen Titans series giving us an updated group of the sidekicks.
The bottom line of this story? Teams become family. And family is, perhaps, the core of each of the stories for both the comics and their TV siblings. It’s one of the reasons I have enjoyed all of them so much.
If you watched season one but sat out season two, you need to re-think this. Forget the reasons behind your decision, buy Batwoman: The Complete Second Season and get caught up. This series, and the Batwoman mythos, just got interesting in a whole new way!
Based on characters created for DC by:
- Bob Kane with Bill Finger
Created by:
- Caroline Dries
Produced by:
- Greg Berlanti, Caroline Dries, Geoff Johns, Sarah Schechter, James Stoteraux, Chad Fiveash
Cast:
- Javicia Leslie, Rachel Skarsten, Meagan Tandy, Nicole Kang, Camrus Johnson, Dougray Scott, Peter Outerbridge, Shivaani Ghai
Episodes:
- Whatever Happened to Kate Kane?
- Prior Criminal History
- Bat Girl Magic!
- Fair Skin, Blue Eyes
- Gore on Canvas
- Do Not Resuscitate
- It’s Best You Stop Digging
- Survived Much Worse
- Rule #1
- Time Off for Good Behavior
- Arrive Alive
- Initiate Self Destruct
- I’ll Give You a Clue
- …And Justice For All
- Armed and Dangerous
- Rebirth
- Kane, Kate
- Power
Extras:
Digital:
- None
Blu-ray/DVD:
- Deleted Scenes (Exclusive to Blu-ray and DVD)
- Gag Reel (Exclusive to Blu-ray and DVD)
- Villains Analyzed
- Never Alone: Heroes and Allies
Specifications:
Runtime:
Feature:
- 793 Minutes
Enhanced Content:
- 55 Minutes
Studio:
- Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc.
Release Date:
- 09/21/2021
Region:
- A/1 (U.S. and Canada only)
MPAA Rating:
- TV-14
Selig Rating:
Film Rating:
- 5 Stars
Bonus Features Rating:
- 5 Stars
Picture Quality Rating:
- 5 Stars
Audio Quality Rating:
- 5 Stars
Selig Rating Scale:
5 Stars: Should add to your DVD collection at any cost
4 Stars: Worth owning, but try to catch it a sale
3 Stars: Plan to get it, but wait to buy it used
2 Stars: Worth taking a look at, but not owning
1 Star: Pick it up at a garage sale and use it for drinks
0 Stars: Makes a great Trap Shooting target
