This week on Batwoman, everyone finally makes it to Coryana, though not all of them arrive in the way they planned. While there, the search for Kate comes to a head with a few twists and turns thrown in. Read on to find out what happened in “Survived Much Worse.”
The episode opens with Alice and Ryan both penning letters to Kate, though with two completely different tones. Alice’s is full of anger, while Ryan’s is much more hopeful in nature. A little later, a dying Ryan attempts to take a shot that will give her a boost of energy to go after Alice, and Mary finds her and vehemently disagrees with Ryan’s decision. Ryan wants to put it to a team vote, but they’re missing a person.
Luke talks with Sophie at Crows HQ, showing her the route Alice took to Coryana, and Sophie knows he’s working with Batwoman. While they continue to talk, another Crow interrupts, telling Sophie they tracked down Ocean. Luke and Sophie piece together that Alice must’ve brought a fake Ocean to Coryana with her.
Luke rejoins Mary and Ryan back at the bat cave, where they watch live footage of Commander Kane and Sophie discussing Alice and Coryana. In a matter of moments, a group of Safiyah’s minions show up and kidnap the duo. Ryan, fed up, injects herself with the shot from earlier, and she suits up to journey to Coryana. As Mary helps her, she asks what happens to her as Batwoman if she lives and brings Kate home. Mary only responds that she just wants Kate. Then, Ryan brings up the other side: what if she dies? She gives Mary custody of her plant, explaining why it’s important and wants Mary to take care of it. Luke informs Ryan that he found her ride to the island, and Ryan eventually finds herself on a cargo plane, from which she jumps and deploys EMPs that will cutoff the electricity on Coryana.
Alice brings fake Ocean to Safiyah, who inspects the body (Shivaani Ghai does a great job not giving away whether Safiyah knows this Ocean is fake). She explains to Alice that she wiped her and Ocean’s memories because Alice was a “bad influence.” Safiyah approaches fake Ocean, seemingly on the verge of revealing she knows he’s fake, but instead, she tells Alice about the tracker in her boot.
Kane and Sophie wake up in a cell to find Tatiana hovering over them. The two want to know why they’re on Coryana, and Tatiana claims it’s because Alice wants them to watch her kill Kate. She also tells Sophie that Safiyah wants to recruit her, and as she continues on about it, Sophie notices the lights in the handcuffs (that depend on Coryana’s electricity) are flickering and go out completely. When the moment is right, Sophie breaks out of the cuffs, knocks out Tatiana, and her and Kane escape.
After landing, Batwoman begins searching for where Kate could be, when she finds herself facing a field full of blooming Desert Roses. Right on inconvenient cue, her comms shut down and Mary and Luke lose the feed. Batwoman is then greeted by group of Safiyah’s men who eventually capture her.
Back with Alice and Safiyah, Alice demands to see Kate, but Safiyah toys with her, asking why Alice really wants to kill Kate. Alice claims revenge, but Safiyah believes the motive to be much a deeper one: Alice wants to be loved the way Kate was, but killing will only make her more hated. Safiyah agrees to bring Alice to Kate, but only if killing her is what Alice really wants. Before they can leave, the men enter with Batwoman, who pleads with Safiyah, offering important information if Safiyah helps her. Before Batwoman is dragged away, she tells Safiyah to double check the body Alice brought her, and Safiyah discovers this Ocean is a completely different person wearing Ocean’s face.
Kane and Sophie search the woods for Kate. He mentions Sophie working with Batwoman, and she defends herself by saying she’s not working with Batwoman, but she’s not working against her either. They smell ammonium nitrate, and Sophie begins to panic, thinking someone is making bombs. Kane, though, tells her it can also be used as fertilizer, for say … a massive field of Desert Roses. They use the smell as a guide, and later, they come across a plane that Kane plans to start up while Sophie continues searching for Kate.
Alice is brought to the same cell as Batwoman, and Alice notices she’s dying. Batwoman is relatively unphased by Alice, using their time together to psychoanalyze her, dropping a little nugget that Alice is terrified to kill Kate. Safiyah shows up and offers them both something: Alice can have Kate, and Batwoman can have anything she wants thanks to the intel on Ocean. She tells Safiyah she wants a Desert Rose and to leave the island with a living Kate — but she can only have one or the other and chooses the Rose, which leaves Kate for Alice. Safiyah brings Alice with her and does intend to bring Alice to Kate, but only after she upholds her end of the bargain … and thus, Ocean — the real Ocean — is revealed.
Mary carefully tends to Ryan’s plant, Luke not understanding. While she explains the significance, the lights go out. The pair see a figure — one of Safiyah’s Many Arms — standing at the doorway and she attacks, Mary eventually knocking her unconscious. Luke is ready to flee, but Mary won’t leave without the plant … which is sitting in a pool of the Many Arms’ blood. (We love that dedication from Mary, though.)
On Coryana, Ocean wants to know why Safiyah wants him dead, thinking she was jealous of his and Alice’s relationship. Meanwhile, Alice is contemplating what to do, eventually asking Safiyah for her knife. Ocean tries to reason with her, but to no avail. She apologizes to him, reveals she doesn’t want to kill Kate anymore, and plunges the dagger into him. Afterwards, she again demands that Safiyah brings her to Kate.
The next sequence brings forth one major reveal through different viewpoints. As Mary and Luke extract the plant, Julia returns and takes care of the Many Arms. She also brings bad news with her. Meanwhile on Coryana, Tatiana visits Batwoman’s cell, letting her know that Safiyah is bringing Alice to see Kate. She commends Batwoman for choosing herself over Kate, but Batwoman explains that it’s because she knows Alice won’t kill Kate … which Tatiana confirms won’t happen that day (hmm). Safiyah leads Alice to a cell where, presumably, she’s holding Kate, but she instead finds a room filled with replicas of Kate’s birthstone necklace; Safiyah never had Kate. Finally, Julia, the bearer of bad news, informs Luke and Mary that — after running DNA tests on found body parts — Kate Kane is dead.
In her fury and frustration, Alice rips down the necklaces, prompting Safiyah to have her removed from the room. Two guards grab her and prepare to take her away, and Safiyah is ready to send Alice back to Gotham. Before she leaves, Safiyah reveals she did all of this because she wanted to make Alice and Ocean pay. Safiyah returns to where Ocean lays dead and removes the knife from him, where he comes back to life thanks to the knife being infused with the Desert Rose. She tells him that in his case, she needed him to realize Alice would only ever be loyal to Kate. She places an extra emphasis on loyalty, turning her attention toward Tatiana, who turned out to be the person that prompted the search for Coryana in an attempt to keep Alice away (worked out real well, huh). After admonishing her, Safiyah stabs Tatiana with the knife, not planning to remove it for a while.
Alice is led through the woods, where she quickly takes down the guards. When she’s done with them, she grabs a torch and launches it into the field of Desert Roses, setting the entire thing aflame. Safiyah watches on in sadness and pain. Sophie also spots the field, and then spots a fast-fading Batwoman, who breaks the news that Kate was never on the island. The comms (and the feed) power back up, and Mary, Luke, and Julia are able to see the fire as well. As it burns, Mary has a major aha moment.
Sophie goes to Batwoman, who’s barely hanging on, and apologizes for misjudging her, not pushing Batwoman to leave the island. Luke calls, urgently telling Sophie she needs to get Batwoman home immediately. Sophie tries to argue, but Luke ends it by stating they found a cure. In the next shot, we see that Ryan’s resilient little plant has bloomed a Desert Rose.
The episode ends with a shot in the sewer under a barber shot. An unconscious person sits against the wall, their face covered in bandages. The person is also wearing what can only be Kate Kane’s real necklace.
Batwoman airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on The CW, available the next day on The CW app and cwtv.com. Find our previous recaps and the rest of our coverage here.
