TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Batwoman Season 1 Episode 19: A Secret Kept From All The Rest

Well…that was a busy episode, and those who are familiar with comics will note MANY Easter Eggs that show how Batwoman is going to evolve in Season 2. “A Secret Kept From All The Rest” really focused on the quest to decipher the journal, which led to kidnappings, returning allies, new looks on old friends, and a few name drops that shake the franchise to its core.

For example, as some have noted, when Alice looked at the journal via the glasses, it revealed that Batman has not only dealt with Talia Al Ghul (which we already knew via Arrow, but Crisis and all that), but that he has met with The Order of St. Dumas and fought Azrael. Not only that, he actually WORE the Suit of Sorrows for a time before denouncing it and giving it to the next Azrael. Granted, this doesn’t mean that we will see Azrael and the Order of St. Dumas in Season 2 or beyond…but it’s curious nonetheless…

Also though, we know now that the long-awaited arrival of Safiyah Sohail is indeed coming. For those who don’t know, she is the leader of a pirate nation. And in the comics, she and Kate were lovers, but eventually split up and Safiyah became the head of the Many Arms of Death. And ironically, Alice also became the head of that group. The showrunner for Batwoman has confirmed that Safiyah Sohail is indeed our big bad for Season 2, so that’s going to be fun.

Getting back to the episode at hand, there were a lot of moving parts here, including a blow-up between Kate and Luke, the question of Julia’s loyalty, the arrival of Hush, the riot at Arkham, and more. And while some of it was overplayed and overdone, it mostly worked.

One of the things I truly appreciated was the return of Parker (the hacker who once hacked into the entire city to get money and such before being given a second chance by Batwoman), as it made sense that Alice would go after her instead of Luke since it wouldn’t raise alarm bells. Also, the friction between Mouse and Alice is growing, and I see a big blow-up coming soon.

Tommy’s debut as Hush was well done too, including a very comic-accurate costume and him saying Hush, which led to his nickname. Hush has been a favorite character of mine since his debut, so I hope we get to see more of him in the future.

Once again though, Mary really came off as annoying. Her treatment of Parker, her annoying lines about being kept in the dark, blah blah blah. Sure, she found the glasses, but that was an accident. Also, despite all the talk of Lucius Fox being “meticulous” and “not making things easy”, he has his glasses be the cypher when virtually ANYONE can look through them and such? That doesn’t seem very smart.

Also, Jacob finally having enough and declaring war on Batwoman was rather chilling. And I loved the comparison to Batman and Joker because in this case, it’s actually a fair one.

And then, of course, the finding that apparently the Batsuit is weak to Kryptonite? That’s intriguing. I look forward to seeing how that plays out.

In the end, “A Secret Kept From The Rest” really set up the impromptu season finale well. The showrunner promised us a big cliffhanger and more, and I think they’ll deliver.