Through the Looking-Glass

"When I was under the influence of Fear Toxin, out of all the horrible things I experienced, worst was being left behind by you."

—Beth on her experience under the Fear Toxin.

"Through the Looking-Glass"
Information
Season 1 » Episode 16
Episode number	16 of 51
Original airdate	March 22, 2020
Written by	Nancy Kiu
Directed by	Sudz Sutherland
Chronology
Preceded by	"Off With Her Head"
Followed by	"A Narrow Escape"

"Through the Looking-Glass" is the sixteenth episode of the first season of Batwoman, and the sixteenth episode overall. It aired on March 22, 2020.

Synopsis

Kate begins to question her instincts and Luke gets upsetting news. Alice seeks her sister's help with a special task.[src]

Plot

Late at night, Jacob is busy using a shovel to bury the body of August Cartwright after Kate killed him. Alice and Kate sit nearby, with Alice realizing how ironic it is that the person who tore them apart, is also the reason they've been once again reunited. Jacob tells Alice to knock it off, or he will put the handcuffs back on her. But instead, she takes the shovel from him and takes a turn at burying the body.

Jacob asks Kate how she's holding up, and Kate answers that she's not exactly sure. So Jacob tells his daughter to not waste having guilt on that man. Kate asks if they should just pretend it never happened. To which Alice says that she tried it, and it didn't work. She then double crosses them and tells her dad and twin sister that the family reunion is over.

Meanwhile, as Alice escapes into the shadows, Kate looks up and sees the Bat-Signal and as Batwoman, she gets a bit too violent with a perpetrator. She ends up injuring one of his legs, and in her rage, almost chokes him like she did with Cartwright. In her letter to Bruce, she explains that her dad wants her to put Cartwright behind her, but she's not finding it that easy. She admits to her cousin that she went to a dark place in order to avenge Beth, Alice, and her mom. Unfortunately, in saving her sister, she became more like her in the process.

When Luke asks Kate if she found anything else on Cartwright's whereabouts. She lies and says she didn't find anything new. Luke then gets a call from his mom, who tells him that Reggie Harris post-conviction hearing has moved up. Kate offers to be there for him, but he tells her that there's really no need.

At her hideout, Alice finds every single one of her minions slaughtered. Eventually, she finds a note left behind to her signed by a so-called friend from Coryana which says, "Did you think I would forget?"

The next morning, Jacob and Sophie are meeting up, and he tells how he has four camera's worth of footage missing from the Sip & Dash on the night Lucius Fox was murdered. He also reveals to her that there was a $50,000 cleanup fee sent from The Crows to Alia Nazari, the Sip & Dash owner. Sophie asks her former boss if he is thinking that the Crows paid Nazari to lose the tapes. He admits that he doesn't know who it could have been, but tells Sophie that she's the only one he trusts with looking into this. Sophie then tells Jacob that she still hasn't changed her opinion on Batwoman, and reminds him that he did suspend her for lying. So he must be scraping the bottom of the barrel if he came to her for help. Jacob for his part tells the suspended Crows agent that they can at the very least agree that they have bigger problems on their hands.

As Kate's reliving killing Cartwright, Alice shows up at The Hold Up, asking her sister for some assistance. She tells Kate that she forgave Mouse for trying to kill her, as sh'es choosing to see the best in him. Kate tells her sister, that from her experience, that rarely works out. Alice then goes onto reveal that when she was doused with the fear toxin, she relived all her worst fears. She admits that if their dad hadn't saved her, there's no telling what she would have done to herself or anyone else to make the horror end. Kate suggests that The Crows will find him, but Alice argues that The Crows won't hesitate to put a bullet in his head instead. She also confesses to her sister that all her henchmen are dead. So if Kate wants her gone, she just needs to find Mouse, so they can flee and be far away from someone she wronged in the past. Kate agrees, but says it has to be done her way. Alice agrees to the terms of this alliance.

When she calls her dad, he tells Kate that Mouse has been attacking nurses as they leave Arkham Asylum. Alice thinks he might still be feeling the effects of the fear toxin since Cartwright dosed him for days. Later, the two sisters go to the house of one of Mouse's former nurses and pose as Crows agents. They tell the nurse she might be in danger, and ask if they can come in to figure out if Mouse will come to her.

At the Court hearing, Mary shows up as moral support for Luke, who is all alone since as according to him, his mom barely made it through the funeral.

Sophie goes to Alia Nazari's apartment, and finds the door ajar. She calls the other woman, but receives no reply. When she gets further inside, she sees Alia Nazari on the floor dead. She then notices that an unknown sniper from a building on the other side of the streets is aiming at her chest. But just before she gets shot, she gets rescued by Julia, who tells her that she works for a special reconnaissance regiment, and they intercepted communication of someone offering a handsome bounty for Sophie’s head. Julia then introduces herself to Sophie as Kate's ex. She then shows Sophie that she's been shot in the arm, from the bullet that was previously being aimed at Sophie.

At Nurse Tammy's home, Mouse shows up yelling out her name, but is quickly intercepted by The Crows who show up, much to Alice's surprise. Jacob aims a gun at Mouse, but doesn't shoot. Instead he tells his men to take him back to Arkham.

Inside the house, Alice wants to come outside to save Mouse, but Kate stops her since The Crows agents would shoot her if they saw her. Alice asks her sister if she called them, but Nurse Tammy reveals she was the one to have called them. She tells Kate and Alice that all those years working at Arkham help her realize when she's being told a lie. She aims her rifle at the two younger women, but is quickly disarmed by Kate before the Crows agents get inside a few seconds later.

At Arkham, Mouse is wheeled into the basement, which is the most secure area of the asylum. Dr. Butler welcomes him back, and tells the recent escapee that he looks forward to resuming his treatment. The doctor then injects an unknown substance through Mouse's neck and leaves him in his cell.

Back at Kate's bar, she refuses to help Alice break Mouse of Arkham. Alice however admits she wanted Kate to kill Cartwright herself. She goes on to say that she could have easily killed him herself, and let Kate go on being the city's symbol of hope. But that it was about time for Kate to see that they are both one and the same. Kate thus realizes that Alice wanted to push her over the edge after finding out the story of her transformation into Alice. The two twin sisters get in a fight, and Alice asks her if Kate is going to kill her too. Eventually though, Alice thanks Kate in a heartfelt moment for killing the man who destroyed her life and their family. She tells her sister to not feel guilty for what she did. Kate admits that she doesn't feel guilty for killing him. That in actuality, what she feels guilty about is that she's not feeling guilty about it at all. Which scares her into thinking she's not far behind from becoming like Alice herself. Alice promises Kate that no one will die and thus, Kate agrees to reunite Alice with Mouse.

At the courthouse, the judge reveals that Judge Calverick in a signed statement revealed that he had cut corners in order to close the high profile murder of Lucius Fox. That, along with the defendant's claim that he was coerced into confessing for a murder he didn't commit at the hands of a corrupt cop, has made the court agree that the defendant has a basis for a retrial. As a result, until the case is re-tried at the D.A. 's discretion, Reggie Harris is now a free man. Afterwards, Reggie is coming home after doing some grocery shopping with his grandmother. From afar, Luke is watching Reggie, and eventually gets out of his car and confronts him.

Reggie tells Luke he didn't kill Lucius, but is sorry that someone did kill him. Luke gets teary eyed after Reggie tells him how that night, Lucius was telling everyone at the store that his son was going to change the world. Luke asks him why he killed him then. Reggies says that the truth is that he went into the Sip & Dash for a bag of chips, and the next thing he remembers is waking up with a gun in his hands and covered in blood. He tells Luke to really look at him with his previous arrest record, the tattoos and the dreads, and realize how easy it would be to convince a jury he was guilty to keep someone else out of jail. A shot is then heard, and Reggie falls to the ground. Luke tries to save him, but it’s too late. He's already dead.

Later that night, Kate and Alice break into Arkham. Eventually, Alice shows up at the doctor's office, and he's surprised that she's here. Like the rest of Gotham, he thought she was dead. Alice taunts him and says it would be easy to cross off another name off her list, but stops herself from killing him with her favorite knife since she promised Kate no killing. Instead, she knocks him out and takes his key. Meanwhile, Kate knocks out a few guards and takes the key from the head guard.

Somewhere else in the city, Mary ends up coming to her clinic, and finds Sophie patching up Julia after she was shot. Mary realizes she met Julia before, and Sophie tells her that the two of them already know they're Kate's exes. Sophie realizes that someone is cleaning up their tracks. Kate and Alice eventually find Mouse, but Kate ends up being the one to double cross Alice now. She leaves her sister locked at Arkham; with Alice realizing that Jacob was in on Kate's plan from the start. Jacob tells Alice that now she can’t hurt anyone else. But Alice counters it by saying he has hurt people as well, and is no better than her.

Alice, all teary eyed, bangs on the door helplessly begging Kate to not leave her as she sees her sister and dad leave her behind. Just like when she was under the influence of the fear toxin.

At the Crows Headquarters, Jacob hands Kate a file which tells them that Arkham officials have her in isolation on a 24 hour watch. Jacob then tells Kate that he moved Cartwright's body so Alice can't threaten them with that knowledge. He tells Kate that it's time to put Alice behind them. Shortly thereafter, Kate hugs her dad tightly.

In her clinic, Luke shows up and Mary asks him if he's hurt. He tells her that it's not his blood, but Reggie's. He admits that he went to confront him, but that GCPD thinks that a hitman took out Reggie. Mary then tells Luke about Alia Nazari being shot in a similar fashion. Luke asks why anybody would want to kill her. Mary tells him that it's obvious Nazari knew something, that someone out there didn’t want to come out. Luke realizes that if Reggie was set up, that his father's killer is still out there.

At a motel, Julia and Sophie are watching the news of Reggie’s murder. Julia tells Sophie that it's no coincidence that Reggie gets gunned down the same day he gets out of jail. Sophie tells Julia, that the coverup she has been investigating had to do with the murder of Lucius Fox. At her shocked face, Sophie asks Julia if she knew him. She reveals that Lucius was her godfather. Sophie promises to figure out who is behind all this. Julia then leaves telling Sophie she needs to check on Luke.

Sophie then calls Jacob from a burner phone, which upon picking up, he admits that is never a good sign. Sophie reports to him that he was right about the Crows. But that this all goes far beyond tampering with evidence. She proceeds to tell Jacob that both Alia and Reggie were taken out in professional hits. Sophie further reveals that they have put out a hit on her too, and when Jacob looks down, he notices a sniper shot is aimed at him. He manages to get down before he is shot, and takes cover in a nearby car; using it as a makeshift shield. He uses the rearview mirror of said car to figure out where the sniper is located, and then manages to shoot the person. When he gets to the guy, he asks him who hired you, but blood begins to pour out of the guy's mouth.

On the edge of a building's roof, Kate is drinking some alcohol, and Julia drops by to see her. Kate tells Julia that she didn't realize she was in town. Julia tells her that she had come by to check on Luke and saw her having a party of one. Kate says she'd like to keep it that way, but Julia argues that as her friend, she can't leave her drinking alone sitting on a ledge. Eventually, confesses to Julia that she's not the hero the city thinks she is, and admits that she betrayed her sister today. Kate admits that she doesn't know who she is right now, but doesn't want to be anything like her sister. The two of them then kiss.

Meanwhile, at Arkham, Mouse looks upward while still being strapped to the bed. Whereas, Alice is in her own cell and says that she doesn't want to be anybody's prisoner. Instead, she wants to be a queen.

Cast

Starring

• Ruby Rose as Kate Kane/Batwoman
• Rachel Skarsten as Beth Kane/Alice
• Meagan Tandy as Sophie Moore
• Nicole Kang as Mary Hamilton
• Camrus Johnson as Luke Fox
• Dougray Scott as Jacob Kane

Guest starring

• Sam Littlefield as Jonathan Cartwright/Mouse
• Christina Wolfe as Julia Pennyworth
• Alex Zahara as Dr. M. Butler
• Seth Whittaker as Reggie Harris

Co-starring

• Allison Riley as Dana Dewitt
• Viv Leacock as Bobby Reeves
• Eileen Knight as Reggie's Grandmother
• Kwesi Ameyaw as Judge Wellington
• Tanja Dixon-Warren as Tammy
• Sasha Wedding as Bailiff
• Jason Asunción as Driver
• Jesse Miller as Mugger
• Amos Stern as Guard #1
• Will E. McDonald as Guard #2

Gallery

Videos

Batwoman Season 1 Episode 16 Through The Looking Glass Promo The CW

Batwoman Inside Through The Looking-Glass The CW

Trivia

• The episode's title is a reference to the sequel to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland book, Alice Through the Looking Glass.
  • Also refers to Referring the name of the 2016 movie Alice Through the Looking Glass.
• Kate remembers what Bruce Wayne from Earth-99 told her in "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two": "Battle not with monsters, lest you become a monster."
• The night of March 23 on the CW the shows had a Lewis Carroll Alice In Wonderland theme with the Supergirl and Batwoman episodes each named for one of the Alice books: Supergirl with Alex In Wonderland and Batwoman with Through The Looking Glass.
• Camrus Johnson doesn't think Luke "would be really happy about it" if he learned what happened to August Cartwright. "Batman had a code for a reason, and Luke looks up to Batman. He trusts Batman's rules, and he knows that if Batman succeeded for this long and stood by these rules, then everyone should," Luke Fox's portrayer tells EW. That being said, "Luke knows some things about Bruce about Bruce that Kate doesn't, and vice-versa, so I think Luke might be surprisingly forgiving, but at the same time, I don't think he would be too forgiving too quickly," he adds. "I think it would take a little bit more time before he forgives her because murder is no small deal." Johnson also suspects that killing Cartwright isn't the only issue Luke would have with this situation. "At the same time, I think Luke wants Kate to trust in him as much as possible and to tell him everything. So, I think it would hurt less knowing about this thing that she did, and I think it would hurt him more that she hasn't told him," he says. As showrunner Caroline Dries told EW last week, if and when Kate decides to tell people is part of the journey Kate is on following this massive transgression. "Part of dealing with the consequences of this will be how Kate decides to tell, or not tell, the closest people in her life. That decision will give insight into how awful Kate feels about this," said Dries