I want to start my review off by giving a shout out to... Warner Bros. for hooking us up with a free Blu-ray copy of Batwoman: The Complete First Season. The opinions I share are my own.
Batwoman started off... feeling a tad... cheesy. It felt like it was headed in the direction of being on the gritty side like I'm familiar with, but then... they pulled back and pursued snarky remarks and love interests. I get that they were trying to present the backstory, so I didn't trip.
Story: The story revolves around Kate Kane, aka Batwoman (aka Bruce Wayne's cousin)... an ex-soldier who got the boot and returned to Gotham and reluctantly stepped into the shoes of Batman after he went AWOL. Batman was sort of ragged on a bit, and so was his suit prior to modifications... but I let it go (woosah). When it comes to her costume in general, it wasn't bad... had no problem with it... but I was thrown off by the fact that Kate Kane in the show didn't have red hair.
I tried to get into the initial episodes but the tug of war between sibling and foe annoyed me a bit. I think the approach could've been better... but their rivalry rubbed off on me (eventually). My problem was the fact that I was wrestling with a TV show vs the films, and so... I took Batman films off the brain and just watched this as I would any new TV show.
Luckily, I was able to engage once I got a little deeper into the season, and... it began to feel like the Bat was back in some capacity. I don't know though... still sort of felt like Kate was being an interim superhero. I wouldn't just expect someone to jump into the bat's shoes and fill them with ease... but I will get back to why she should've been better (in my opinion).
After letting go of my hang-up... it stopped feeling like somewhat of a Batman tv show and started feeling like the Batwoman show (though he was mentioned more than a few times).
It still felt a tad cheesy here and there (just not as much). If it means anything... I feel that way about a lot of TV shows, which is one reason why I don't watch a lot of TV. They really have to be triple good to change that, and I have to say that Batwoman grabbed my attention 1/4th of the way into the season... that's when the grit (finally) kicked in. Even I was surprised to see that a certain villain's practice was shown in the show, but it felt like something a Gotham city villain would pull and... it worked well for the show. I'm referring to Mouse and what he's known for.
The acting performances got better for me after crossing that 1/4th mark as well, or so it felt like it. Kate was presented as this super-skilled badass before she stepped into the role of Batwoman, and I was scratching my head wondering where all that was.
I wanted to see Batwoman shine, instead of being presented like she should've been a self-conscious sidekick still learning the ropes. She's not Batgirl, she's... Batwoman, but I still tried to keep in mind that it's a TV show so the writing was also stretching things out. Even still... it didn't have to come by way of her appearing like she was a beginner sometimes. Learn the weapons and all that good stuff, get better with that... but don't leave her badassness up for debate.
Visuals: The cinematography looked good with some solid angles, and even if I wasn't crazy about the way the flashbacks looked... I really enjoyed the night scenes. Call me crazy but Elizabeth Kane had the best looking scenes, there was just more depth in my opinion... and frankly, I think she stole the show.
Audio: The DTS-HD Master Audio was cool, although... I couldn't get behind the theme music. It's just not that memorable, it felt... blah and the background music forced me to turn down the volume because it was louder than the standard volume at times. If I can recommend anything, it would be to update Batwoman's theme music, it should sound more heroic. I remember all sorts of theme songs from my childhood, and I'd like to hear some memorable music for the heroine. Her music doesn't come close to Buffy The Vampire Slayer's theme or even... Charmed from back in the day. Step it up.
Oh yeah, another part I really didn't care for was the Crisis On Infinite Earths... and not because it was bad.
Why bring it in at part 2 without showing crucial segments of what previously occurred in part 1? That would bring viewers of this season of Batwoman up to speed on what happened to actually wrap her up into the situation.
I really didn't care for that because it pulled me out of the story during my binge-fest before I was tossed back into Gotham, but I didn't fret about being left out of the loop too much because of the bonus disc (it was just weird). I would've preferred episode be left out other than being brought up to speed on how it impacted... Gotham. Anyway, Batwoman: The Complete First Season includes a limited-edition bonus disc with all five episodes of the DC crossover event "Crisis On Infinite Earths" + 20 episodes of Batwoman, and 6 bonus features.
DC fans get to indulge on extras like:
On The Set
The Best of DC TV's Comic-Con Panels San Diego 2019
Deleted Scenes
Gag Reel
In total, you're looking at almost 900 minutes of superhero action feature Batwoman, and the action is available on DVD, Blu-ray, and... Digital.
Batwoman stars Ruby Rose of John Wick: Chapter 2, Rachel Skarsten of Birds of Prey, Elizabeth Anweis of NCIS: LA, Camrus Johnson of The Sun Is Also A Star, and many more.
Price: The DVD is priced at $39.99 SRP and the Blu-ray at $44.98. There are a crapload of episodes and bonuses to justify the price of this... so no complaints here. One missed opportunity was the fact that they could've had a Collector's Edition bundle that included the Batwoman statue and a collector's comic.
Overall, I think it's a pretty decent show. The story came together and it was set up well enough for a second season. Season two should prove to be very interesting... but I won't get into the details of why.
