‘Batwoman’ Recap: Season 2, Episode 16 “Rebirth”

Julia
15 Min Read
The CW

This week on Batwoman, Safiyah returns to Gotham to exact her revenge on Alice, who has teamed up with Jacob to restore Kate’s memories. Meanwhile, Luke sets out to find his own type of justice and runs into a familiar face. Read on to find out what happened in “Rebirth.”

A man with an important looking briefcase runs to his car and quickly gets in, locking the doors. A sword stabs through the roof multiple times, forcing him out of the car. When he gets out, his case his stolen, and he’s stabbed by a sword. Batwoman appears and fights the person, who soon gets away. Batwoman calls for the bat cave to call the medics, but Luke isn’t there.

Luke sits on the balcony of Wayne. When Batwoman returns, she tries to joke with him, but he’s not in the mood. He needs time. Batwoman says she and Mary can handle bat duties, and Luke emphasizes that he needs time alone. Batwoman understands and says she’s there for him if he needs her.

The field reporter for the local news is at the courthouse, where Tavaroff has been released on bond until his trial. She mentions Jacob Kane, and Roman Sionis, watching the report at home, gets angry Jacob is being lauded. He turns to another person – Safiyah – who reminds Roman what he did to Kate. In turn, he tells her that Jacob was responsible for what happened with the actual Circe, but Safiyah mocks him. He then brings up the flight plans to Kate’s plane that Safiyah supplied, which leads Safiyah to say that she wants to employ Circe to help her wrap up business in Gotham. Roman, however, isn’t on board, but he tells Safiyah about Circe’s re-entry into society, showing her the cosmetics commercial Circe did. Safiyah wants to know who made Circe’s new face. Roman tells her it was Alice but doesn’t understand the big deal. Angry, Safiyah tells her that Alice is Beth Kane.

Mary walks Batwoman through a government safe house (via comms). She learned that the briefcase was a lawyer’s laptop and housed the information of people in witness relocation. The house is one of the witnesses. Mary says the lawyer tried to call, but no one answered. At that moment, Batwoman finds him dead (and notices he was blind) with a sword through him. The person from earlier returns and reveals herself to be Tatiana.

After kidnapping Circe, Jacob and Alice bring her to Crows, where a DNA test confirms that Circe is indeed Kate. Jacob is happy and tries to talk to her, but she still doesn’t believe she’s Kate. She briefly escapes from her chair before Alice knocks her out. Alice and Jacob start to make a game plan on how to restore Kate’s memories. Alice explains how they can do that as Ocean brings in a bag of Kate’s childhood belongings that might help and then heads out.

Mary and Ryan learn the witness was Ezra Castellanos, and Circe is the one responsible for blinding him. Ryan brings up Alice asking Mary about Circe, but they aren’t sure why. Mary tells Ryan about the bad history between Circe and Ezra but have hit a bit of a dead end. They need Luke. Ryan wants to call him, but Mary sways her into working her magic to track Luke’s GPS.

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Luke uses a fake GCPD to get into a poker club. Tavaroff finds him at the bar, saying the place is for law enforcement only, which Luke reminds him he’s not. Tavaroff doesn’t care, clearly not at all concerned about his career. The two argue back and forth until Tavaroff leaves. Enter John Diggle, who imparts some words of wisdom at Luke.

Jacob and Alice show Kate the items but are having no luck jogging her memory. Alice pulls out a mug and remembers when Kate wanted to come out to Alice but couldn’t. Alice tells her that she made the mug to let Kate know that she already knew. Something unlocks in Kate’s memory, and she flashes to finding Beth at Cartwright’s – only she’s remembering it wrong. Alice thinks it’s Kate’s subconscious reaching out, and finally Kate begins to remember herself.

Ryan talks to Luke outside the club. She says he can do his own thing, but she and Mary and need a little help, because that’s what family does. He brings up the hospital and how the doctors didn’t think he would live – until Mary and Ryan made the Desert Rose serum. He shares what happened with his dad and that he didn’t want to wake up. Ryan is surprised but doesn’t say anything as Luke goes back inside.

Jacob calls Mary to let her know that Kate is alive, and he confirmed her identity. He fills Mary in about what happened with Kate and Black Mask and how Kate was brainwashed. Mary starts to panic, telling Jacob that Circe is probably associated with Safiyah. Then, False Face attacks Jacob in the hall, and Alice hears it. They begin to surround her and Kate, and she tells Kate to run. False Face pins down Alice, and Tatiana shows up.

As Batwoman drives to Crows, Mary fills her in, and they both feel sad and a little guilty about Luke. Someone jumps in front of the batmobile, and Batwoman slams on the brakes. It’s Kate. Batwoman gets out and asks if she’s Kate, but Kate still isn’t sure.

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Luke and Tavaroff play an intense game of poker, with Diggle and the rest of the club watching. Luke goes all in, but Tavaroff can’t match his bet. Luke says Tavaroff can enlist help, but despite this, Tavaroff isn’t worried, thinking he’s won, because “the house always wins.” Luke gives an impassioned monologue about how the house cheats, ending by flipping his cards and revealing that he’s actually won.

False Face brings Luke to Roman’s, where Jacob addresses him as Black Mask. He threatens Roman with the GCPD, but Roman gestures at the people who brought in Jacob. They take off their masks and pull out their badges. Roman says that any evidence Jacob finds will be conveniently misplaced, and his family will suffer. The cops then arrest Jacob for helping Alice.

Luke walks through the alley, where Tavaroff comes out and antagonizes and punches Luke, wanting to start a fight. Luke caves and the two duke it out. Just as Tavaroff seems ready to beat Luke to death, Diggle pulls him off. Tavaroff claims he thought Luke was disrespectful, and Diggle throws the shooting in his face, punching Tavaroff until he’s down for the count.

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Ryan brings Kate to Wayne where Mary is waiting. Mary runs to hug her, but Kate doesn’t recognize Mary. She gets overwhelmed and goes to get a drink. Mary asks if Ryan found Jakey. Ryan fills her in on False Face and Tatiana. Sophie comes in, and Ryan tells her Kate doesn’t remember everything. But when Kate sees her, she knows exactly who Sophie is. They question Kate, who starts to get a bad headache. She flashes back to her brain dungeon, but this time, Circe is the one on the other side of the door. Circe attacks Mary who sedates her just in time. Sophie thinks if Alice is the key, they need to get her back from Safiyah, but is vehemently opposed. Ryan suggests a trade: the Desert Rose for Alice. Mary says no, as that plant is the only connection Ryan has left to her mom, but they don’t have any other choice.

Diggle sits with Luke, bringing up that he knows Luke is Lucius Fox’s son. Diggle shares his own experience about losing his father at a young age, telling Luke that he’ll see his father soon enough. He adds that Luke should be able to tell his father what he did with his time. Luke takes this to mean that he should just ignore his anger.

“Don’t ignore it. Use it.”

John Diggle

Diggle gets a flash of pain, and Luke mentions Gotham General, which Diggle reveals is the reason he’s in town. Diggle notices the bat signal, and both realize it’s flashing in Morse code asking for Luke’s help. Diggle reminds Luke he’s important and needed, and Luke heads off.

Alice is in a room where the news is playing on the TV. She takes notice when she hears that Jacob was arrested. The reporter questions Jacob about being Alice’s father. He defends her, saying that she used to be Beth and that Beth went through a lot. Alice begins to tear up, and Tatiana interrupts and brings in Safiyah.

Mary tends to Luke’s head wound, and Ryan makes a snarky remark. Luke wants to know why he’s there, and they tell him they need to get Alice back. He’s confused, and Mary tells him that Kate is alive.

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Safiyah talks to Alice and reveals that the fire Alice started destroyed the entire island. Batwoman shows up with the Desert Rose. She tells Safiyah about its significance, and Safiyah figures out that Batwoman wants to make a trade. She asks why, and Batwoman cites Kate’s values and the second chance she created for Batwoman. Safiyah agrees and they make the trade. Alice sends taunts towards Safiyah, who is unaffected. She reminds Alice that she can’t have everything. Alice realizes that Tatiana is gone and wants to know what Safiyah did.

Kate wakes up on Mary and Ryan’s couch. Sophie is with her and tells her about Mary. Kate goes to look at herself in the mirror, asking whose face she has. Soophie asks if Kate remembers anything, and Kate flashes again to her mind dungeon where she’s still battling with Circe. Sophie offers to get water, but Kate instead tells her where to go find a bottle of vodka.

Batwoman and Alice reach the batmobile. Alice is panicking because she can’t reach Ocean. Batwoman doesn’t care and reminds Alice that Kate needs her. But Alice wants to find Ocean first. She goes to the train tunnel where she’s greeted by Tatiana. Alice pins Tatiana against the wall, knife at her throat. She mentions Safiyah’s Desert Rose knife before stabbing Tatiana in the neck. She then goes onto the train, where she finds Ocean dead.

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Mary is on the phone with a now incarcerated Jacob. He tells her that he’s getting transferred to Metropolis, and Mary is ready to start working on a way to get him out. But he’s accepted his fate. Instead, he tells Mary that he has hope for Beth and Kate and is depending on Mary to get them both back. Mary is sad, but Jacob is hopeful

Ryan and Luke go to Ryan and Mary’s. Luke apologizes about her plan falling through, but that’s the least of her worries. She stops and tells Luke she knows he wants to see Kate, but first she needs him to know that she’s sorry about what happened to him but not for saving his life; he can’t leave her. He hugs her in response. When they get upstairs, Sophie asks if they saw Kate, but they didn’t. She’s gone.

Kate, who seems be half Kate and half Circe, is back at Roman’s, sitting in a chair and thinking. He finds her, and she asks if she’s Kate Kane – she knows things about her that she shouldn’t. Roman suggests doing some grounding techniques to settle her, but she stabs his hand, pinning it to the arm of the chair. Safiyah enters and says that if Roman doesn’t tell Kate, then she will.

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.

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By Julia
Julia is a writer/editor/content assistant for Nerds who joined the team in 2019.
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