- "I always wondered what my life would have been like if you had saved me. I just never imagined that I'd be so basic. Eyes that never had to witness the horrors that I saw. Ears that never had to hear the evils I heard. Lips that never had to beg for her life."
- —Alice to her doppelgänger on their differences.
"Take Your Choice" is the twelfth episode of the first season of Batwoman, and the twelfth episode overall. It aired on February 16, 2020.
Synopsis[]
As Kate is pulled between two sisters, Luke and Mary are tasked with finding the cause behind Beth's debilitating headaches. A visitor delivers some good news to Jacob, while Sophie takes her new role to the extreme and Alice makes a devastating discovery.[src] |
Plot[]
Dr. Campbell is meeting with Sophie, and Jacob who is still in prison. They show him images of the masks that Alice has been able to make with Mouse, but the doctor is not convinced. He is still parroting that all this sounds too much like science fiction. They then reveal to Dr. August Campbell that they have a criminal by the name of Mouse at Gotham General Hospital under a 24 hour watch since his arrest. He goes on to say he wants to meet him, run some tests on this Mouse character and if he convinces him, he will testify in favor of Jacob.
At the Crows Security Headquarters, Sophie tells her team that if they see Alice, they need to shoot to kill. One of the Crows agents asks Sophie if she can give such an order, to which she replies that as acting Commander, she can.
Meanwhile, Luke is with Mary, driving Beth past the checkpoints in the city to find out what is wrong with her and get her away from the Crow’s crosshairs. However, they are caught off guard when the route they took is also a checkpoint. They get taken out of the vehicle when Beth has another ear splitting attack that makes her make a sound. However, right as the Crows agents discover a third person inside the car, Batwoman gets to the check point and incapacitates the agents; giving Luke and Mary enough time to escape.
Somewhere in Gotham City, Alice kills a Crows agent, but much like the Beth from another Earth, she gets an ear splitting headache that hinders her mobility temporarily. Mary finds out that Beth’s cells are disintegrating on a molecular level. Which leads to Beth telling Mary, Luke and Kate that through her research she can surmise that Alice must be having a killer headache now too. But more importantly, that this universe is literally not big enough for the both of them. So the more they co-exist, the more that they continue to live on borrowed time. Mary then discovers that they only have seven hours before both Alice and Beth die since they’re stealing “time” from each other by both existing on this Earth-Prime.
Both Alice and Beth cough simultaneously and Alice ends up coughing blood. Alice successfully manages to get into Mouse’s hospital room dressed in a Crow’s uniform, but Mouse tells her to get away. When Alice tells him she’s come to break him out, he believes it's not really Alice but Beth playing mind tricks on him. Eventually, through the two talking in lines from Alice in Wonderland, he finds out it's really his Alice that's here. Mouse then notices Alice is bleeding from one of her ears.
Batwoman tries to get Sophie to change her mind on the kill order she has on Alice, but he refuses. In jail, Dodgson corners Jacob, and stabs him.
Beth and Luke continue to brainstorm on a way to save her, but Beth eventually tells him that they need to stop being polite here. Beth herself says that the harsh reality is that in order for one to live, the other has to die. A few seconds later, Alice comes into Wayne Tower and finds herself face to face with her Doppelgänger.
Alice then realizes that this Beth from another Earth was saved by that Earth’s Kate. Alice then throws her knife at Beth's heart in order to survive, but Kate manages to catch the knife thanks to her fast reflexes.
Back in jail, Jacob gets beaten by Dodgson and is bleeding from the knife injury. Dodgson promises to kill him because of all the good people Jacob and the Crows hurt since they couldn’t afford the protection the so called good guys provided. However, he is stopped by an African American inmate who then tells Jacob that he is worth more to him alive. Then he goes onto say that he has heard Jacob is on his way out, so he will need the favor returned since he now has a target on his back for saving a glorified cop.
In her clinic, Mary is visited by Alice who seeks her help because as a doctor, she can’t do no harm. Mary refuses and exclaims that all this Multiverse stuff is above her pay grade. Alice then realizes that coursing through her Mary’s veins is the only antidote on the planet capable of curing anything. Thus, Alice knocks out Mary after telling her how people underestimate her, when in reality Mary will prove to be really useful to her.
Back in the hospital, Mouse is visited by Dr. Ethan Campbell, but he refuses to talk to him. Dr. Campbell eventually ends up confessing to Mouse that he’s really his Dad using one of his face masks to live a different life. August asks Mouse to give him Alice's whereabouts, but Mouse refuses. He tells his dad that to him, Alice is his family, and that he was glad to have been able to stand up to his abuser. Mouse then goes onto say that he will never, ever betray Alice. August however, walks to where he left his bag, and then takes out a syringe with an orange substance inside. When Mouse asks him what he is doing, his father replies by saying that he’s making it so that Mouse has no choice but to tell him the truth.
Back in her clinic, Alice has extracted blood from Mary but Mary comes to and fights Alice. Thereby releasing all the pent up rage she has towards Alice for killing her mother. She handcuffs Alice to a bedpost, and leaves. However, Alice calls the Crows and sends them to Wayne Tower where Beth is.
The Crows end up surrounding the building and get inside in search of Alice. Kate decides to take the elevator that goes down to the Batcave.
On her deathbed, Alice hallucinates Catherine who talks to her. The hallucination of Catherine tells Alice that the universe must really love Kate to give her a version of Beth she didn’t lose. She then taunts Alice saying that even if she did bad things, she showed remorse, but Alice doesn’t have any. Which is why Kate will never choose her.
Alice tells the hallucination of Catherine she is seeing that Kate will save her. Catherine tells her that for her sake, she hopes that's true. But in case it doesn’t, she will save Alice a seat in Hell.
Kate then reveals to Beth that she is Batwoman. Mary ends up calling Kate and gives her the vial of blood containing the antidote. But tells her stepsister that they can only save one Beth. Kate is on the fence, since she feels like she’s walking away from her Beth all over again. Mary argues that it’s a no brainer; Kate can save the kindest and smartest human she has ever met, or she can save the person who killed her mom.
Kate ends up back at Mary’s clinic, to be with Alice. However, when Alice asks for the syringe, Kate is empty handed. Instead, she chose to save Beth, and came to say goodbye to Alice. Earlier, she had told Luke to take Beth to safety and she’ll catch up when she can.
A teary-eyed Alice asks Kate if it's because Beth is pure and good. Kate tells Alice she hopes she finds peace in the afterlife. Alice then asks Kate to stay with her.
In an unknown location, Mouse is tied up and kept prisoner by his father.
Back in Mary’s clinic, Alice closes her eyes and seemingly dies.
Luke and Beth get off the bike; unbeknownst to them that Sophie has her gun locked on Beth. She gets ready to take the shot, but stops herself at the last second. However, Dr. Campbell shoots her and Beth dies in Luke’s arms. Alice then comes back to life and angrily tells Kate that she let her die… But in the end she didn’t and knocks her sister out with a medical tray.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Ruby Rose as Kate Kane/Batwoman
- Rachel Skarsten as Beth Kane/Alice and Beth Kane
- Meagan Tandy as Sophie Moore
- Nicole Kang as Mary Hamilton
- Camrus Johnson as Luke Fox
- Elizabeth Anweis as Catherine Hamilton-Kane
- Dougray Scott as Jacob Kane
Guest starring[]
- Sam Littlefield as Jonathan Cartwright/Mouse
- John Emmet Tracy as Dr. August Cartwright
- Brendon Zub as Dodgson
- Sebastian Roché as Dr. Ethan Campbell
- Seth Whittaker as Reggie Harris
Co-starring[]
- Rachel Maddow as Vesper Fairchild (voice)
- Jesse Hutch as Crows Agent #1
- Ian Rozylo as Crows Agent #2
- Tommy Europe as Crows Agent #3
- Sean Kuling as Crows Agent #4
- Jennifer Shirley as Blonde Squatter
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- At one point, Vesper Fairchild says, "Holy police state, Batwoman!" This is a reference to Robin's catchphrase, "Holy ____, Batman!"
- When Mouse realizes that Alice is, in fact, Alice and not Beth, Alice replies, "Who the hell else would I be?" This is exactly what Beth said to Kate in "How Queer Everything Is Today!" when Kate realized that Beth was not Alice.
- This is the last episode of Batwoman to feature Elizabeth Anweis (Catherine Hamilton-Kane) as a series regular.
- Luke says to Beth that Bruce knew someone who had a 'cryogenic tank', suggesting they could put her in cryostasis to prevent her from dying. This is a reference to popular Batman villain Mister Freeze. His wife, Nora, also appears as an inmate in Arkham in "Elseworlds, Part 2" and it's implied that at some point Victor became a villain as his freeze gun, along with a box of patient's belongings marked "V. Fries", is seen briefly in Arkham as well.
Goofs[]
- As seen in this episode with Beth and Alice, two doppelgängers of the same person can't exist simultaneously on the same Earth. However in the past, more recently with Winn Schott from Earth-Prime and Winn Schott from Earth-TUD19, it was seen to be completely possible.
- However, as Cisco later mentioned in The Flash episode "Death of the Speed Force", any doppelgängers who surfaced on Earth-Prime following the Crisis would've died due to what he referred to as neurological degeneration. Presumably, that's what happened with Beth here. This implies that doppelgängers may initially be able to coexist on Earth-Prime (as seen with Al and Brainy's doppelgängers in "The Bottle Episode", but the neurological degeneration will eventually start to occur until one or both doppelgängers die.
References[]
Batwoman season 1 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
"Pilot" • "The Rabbit Hole" • "Down Down Down" • "Who Are You?" • "Mine Is a Long And a Sad Tale" • "I'll Be Judge, I'll Be Jury" • "Tell Me the Truth" • "A Mad Tea-Party" • "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two" • "How Queer Everything Is Today!" • "An Un-Birthday Present" • "Take Your Choice" • "Drink Me" • "Grinning From Ear to Ear" • "Off With Her Head" • "Through the Looking-Glass" • "A Narrow Escape" • "If You Believe In Me, I'll Believe In You" • "A Secret Kept From All the Rest" • "O, Mouse!" |