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TV REVIEW: FTN Reviews Batwoman Episode 5: Mine Is A Long Sad Tale…

November 4th, 2019 by Todd Black Comments

Say what you will about Batwoman, but they aren’t afraid to get both weird and psychological in order to help make their point, an “Mine Is A Long Sad Tale” is a perfect example of that, as we got a small fraction of Alice’s backstory, and it showed a big step in her transformation from simple Beth to the villain she now plays.

Many wondered if the person who kidnapped her was Jervis Tetch, aka Mad Hatter, who usually leads the Wonderland gang. But rather, they went for a more basic approach and just had her kidnapped by a man who apparently she never knew the name of. But she didn’t just get kidnapped randomly, for she was to be the “friend” of a person named Mouse, who has both a skin condition, and the ability to mimic voices perfectly.

The simple yet effective imagery of Beth’s confinement in the house, mixed with Alice’s narration, was well played. All the while having the present storyline warp around it as we learn Alice was ahead of Kate once again, luring her into multiple traps, and bringing her father ever closer to the death that she no doubt dreams of.

My favorite moment of the episode by far was when Jacob told “Beth” to drop the night, and she reacted in a very emotional way that was just perfect for the moment and how everything was set up. Of course, she stabbed him right afterward, but it was still a great moment.

We don’t know still what Alice has planned, but we know it involves Mouse, and that he was in Arkham (which apparently had a breakout…which would mean a certain guy i should stay Hush on is out…) and that they have big plans for Gotham. Also, it was Mouse who gave her Alice in Wonderland and “saved her”. So clearly there’s a lot more to learn, and I’m excited to find out what.

The only downside, once again, was Mary. DEAR GOSH she’s annoying. And as much as I loved the writing here in the episode with Alice, the same cannot be said for Mary being the most annoying version of herself possible, and wasting Lucas for pretty much the entire episode. Seriously, all she did was whine, get drunk, and then leave, that’s it.

Despite the drudgery of Mary, “Mine Is A Long Sad Tale” started to put the pieces together for Alice, and if her and Mouse are both “mad”, you have to wonder what they’ll do to make everyone else mad as well. Because “we’re all mad here”.

Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!