Prior Criminal History

"Dear Bruce, Happy Halloween. A few tricks, one nice treat. Tonight, I saw a girl who reminded me of myself. Scared, but fearless. Determined to not let the darkness of Gotham get the best of her. People like her are the hope this city needs."

—Kate Kane

"Prior Criminal History"
Information
Season 2 » Episode 2
Episode number	22 of 30
Original airdate	January 24, 2021
Written by	James Stoteraux Chad Fiveash
Directed by	Carl Seaton
Chronology
Preceded by	"Whatever Happened to Kate Kane?"
Followed by	"Bat Girl Magic!"

"Prior Criminal History" is the second episode of the second season of Batwoman, and the twenty-second episode overall. It aired on January 24, 2021.

Synopsis

After her quick spin in the Batgear, Ryan Wilder is back to facing the daily challenges of life as herself. Meanwhile, Alice has a new, devious plan to get the attention of both Gotham and Safiyah. With Kate still missing and the city in an uprising, Luke and Mary are desperate to find a stand in. In a pinch, Ryan dons the suit again and comes face-to-face with Alice for the first time. Back at Crows Headquarters, Sophie and Commander Kane try to uncover who may have had a vendetta against Kate.

Cast

Starring

• Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder/Batwoman
• Rachel Skarsten as Beth Kane/Alice
• Meagan Tandy as Agent Sophie Moore
• Nicole Kang as Mary Hamilton
• Camrus Johnson as Luke Fox
• Dougray Scott as Commander Jacob Kane

Guest starring

• Sam Littlefield as Jonathan Cartwright/Mouse
• Christina Wolfe as Agent Julia Pennyworth
• Leah Gibson as Tatiana

Co-starring

• Rachel Maddow as Vesper Fairchild (voice)
• Sean Kuling as Agent Whelan
• Allison Riley as Dana Dewitt
• Micah Steinke as Crows Bus Driver
• Cherilynn Fulbright as Bat Fan
• Asia Au-Yeung as Homeless Teen Girl
• Bola Omodara as Agent Abara
• Troy McLaughlin as Clinic Nurse
• Sofie Jayne Calvert as Female Bite Victim
• Sheldon Landry as Manager
• Richard Bradshaw as Cashier
• Matt Reimer as Glock
• Brent Connolly as Lookout
• Lena Hughes as Kid
• Melissa Hughes as Mother
• Mike Kovac as Werewolf-Guy

Uncredited

• Unknown as Batwoman

Plot

Alice ambushes Julia.

Months ago, Ryan Wilder was assaulted by robbers when Batwoman saved her life by throwing a batarang at the theft who was about to shoot Ryan before Ryan throws the batarang at a robber to save Batwoman. Wilder was thankful and Kate was so impressed that she noted the experience in her journal to Bruce.

Presently, Wilder is at a job interview and is denied because of her past criminal record. When she goes to a store afterwards to get medicine for her Kryptonite wound, she stops a robbery but is arrested by the Crows agent Whelan.

Jacob Kane and Sophie Moore interrogate Mary Hamilton and Luke Fox, respectively, about their connection to Kate and for how long they knew she was Batwoman, but both of them lie on knowing Kate's secret identity. They also want to know which of Batwoman's enemies would be powerful enough to kill her.

In the sewers, Alice tapes a rat to Mouse's corpse so a bat can eat it; her plan has begun.

Ryan, who hates the Crows for arresting her in the past, causing her to do eighteen months in Blackgate, is released from Crows' custody after the security camera has verified that she was being heroic, to the disbelief of Sophie. After a conversation with Sophie, Ryan realizes that Alice is Jacob's daughter. Ryan goes to Mary's secret clinic to confront her on this and becomes sympathetic to her when Mary reveals she hates Alice as much as she does due to Alice killing her mother. A team of doctors bring in Mouse's corpse, leaving Ryan disgusted as Mouse's corpse is covered in bite marks. Luke then arrives and Mary reveals that Mouse had been killed earlier by being poisoned by Alice.

Alice tells Julia Pennyworth that they need to work together before Safiyah Sohail comes for them; Julia refuses. Alice proceeds to tell Julia that she plans something big, before stabbing Julia in the ribs.

Dana Dewitt airs footage of when Jacob and the Crows attacked Batwoman at Gotham City Arena and citizens decide that they will have a protest demanding the return of Batwoman. Luke, Mary, and Ryan realize that Alice plans an attack for the rally when the three compare notes. Ryan is allowed to wear the Batwoman suit in hopes that she can disburse the crowd before the attack by giving the people a sighting of Batwoman.

Alice summons a swarm of bats.

Alice quickly notices, due to the cowl, that Batwoman is not her sister; a fierce fight ensues. Ryan wants to kill Alice to avenge Cora Lewis, but just as Ryan gets the advantage, Alice summons a swarm of bats that attacks the crowd below, distracting Ryan and allowing Alice to escape.

The bites of the bats are laced with the same poison that killed Catherine Hamilton-Kane.

Ryan finds the summoning device for the bats, places it in the Batmobile, and has the bats chase her until she finds a bus for them to enter where she kills the Animals. A homeless woman thanks "Batwoman" for her help.

Alice goes to Mary Hamilton's secret clinic and gives Mary the antidote, which Mary takes to Hamilton Dynamics to have replicated on a larger scale. No one understands why Alice poisoned people, only to give the cure unless this is part of a larger scheme.

Ryan asks if she can join the Bat Team as "Batwoman" because Gotham City needs "Batwoman", at least symbolically; Luke reluctantly agrees, because Batwoman will be needed against whatever Alice's master plan is. Mary shows Ryan around the Batcave. Ryan reads the journal entry that Kate left and starts writing a letter to Kate for her to read if she returns.

Jacob and Mary hug as they believe Kate will return although Mary secretly has doubts about finding Kate thanks to her conversation with Alice who pointed out the unlikelihood of that.

Tatiana strikes Alice.

Julia and Sophie break up because Sophie hates that Julia hid Kate's secret identity.

Julia has used her detective skills to learn where Alice is hiding, but she is too injured to pursue the criminal so Sophie goes. Sophie is ambushed by Tatiana and knocked unconscious. Tatiana tells Alice that Safiyah wants to see her; Alice has accomplished her mission to have an audience with Safiyah.

Trivia

• Alice's plan and subsequent attack on the city of Gotham through a swarm of bats references when Penguin framed Batman for murder in the 1992 film "Batman Returns".
  • Alice's bat swarm attack and their method of disposal is a scaled down and reworked version of a similar event from "Batwoman (Rebirth)" where she was actually being mind-controlled by a different villain, the bats were infected with a disease instead of a toxin, and they were killed by trapping them inside a large airship and blowing it up.
• Mary and Luke reference the first time Julia wore the Batsuit back in "Tell Me the Truth".
• Ryan is wearing cat-ears when she was attacked in the flashback. This is a possible reference to her leaked character description which describes her liking of cats.
  • It also could be a reference to the supervillain and occasional love interest to Batman, Catwoman.
• Caroline Dries revealed that the protest scenes in this episode were shot last spring before the COVID-19 pandemic became widespread.
• According to "Do Not Resuscitate", this episode takes place on January 31st.

Goofs

• Not only would Mouse's corpse only be able to provide the bats with minuscule amount of toxin from their biting, but any toxin still potent enough despite that with which the bites would still be able to poison people would be more than strong enough to kill the bats themselves long before Alice's plan started.
• The episode starts with a flashback to Halloween and is stated to be two months before the present day, placing this episode on December 31st. No references to New Year's Eve are made, and furthermore, this is during the period where the multiverse had been destroyed by the Anti-Monitor.
  • Also the original airdate for "O, Mouse!" (May 17, 2020) is credited as Jonathan Cartwright's death date as he was killed off in that episode, and furthermore no specific date was stated in the episode.
    • Additionally Kate went missing and was presumed dead a few days later as "Whatever Happened to Kate Kane?" picks up a few days where the Season 1 finale left off.
  • Also a later episode retcons this episode to have taking place on January 31 allegedly ignoring the December 31 date this episode supposedly took place on.
  • Also there has been no allusions that the year is currently 2021 which doesn't work for the time in universe and three notable season 1 Batwoman episodes took place in January 2020 which established and showed Kate and Beth's birthday was the 26 of the month and that Beth Kane (Earth-TUD14) was murdered in cold blood a day later after she also celebrated her birthday.