‘Batwoman’: What The Heck Is Going On With Beth And Alice?

Ever since the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover, the Arrow-verse shows have been tackling the fallout in different ways. For Arrow, that meant a jaunt to the future, and a fresh start. On Supergirl, multiple earth mix-ups led to a new status quo for one character. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, as usual, just kind of rolled with it. But Batwoman used the opportunity to drop a huge shocker, bringing in Kate Kane’s (Ruby Rose) sister Beth (Rachel Skarsten), separate from her villainous Alice alter ego.

And as of the end of “An Un-Birthday Present” it seems like the shocks aren’t done yet.

Spoilers for Batwoman Season 1, Episode 11 past this point.

After freaking out and trying to tear Beth’s face off (literally), Kate calms down enough to realize she’s probably an orphan from an earth destroyed during the crossover. And that, in fact, is what happened. On Beth’s earth, the car crash that left Alice in the hands of the maniac who broke her mind went a little bit differently. Instead, her Kate crawled back into the car and pulled Beth free.

Their mom still died, but Kate ended up staying with the armed forces, Beth became an astrophysicist coincidentally specializing in alternate earths, and generally everyone was pretty happy. Also, Kate didn’t have any tattoos. On Earth Prime, Kate and Beth bond up until our Batwoman — out of costume — gets captured by Alice’s henchman Mouse (Sam Littlefield). Naturally, Beth dresses up as Alice to rescue her, and it all comes down to Beth, again trapped in a burning car, is freed by Kate.

Debt paid, and Mouse is taken in by the GCPD, while Alice escapes. But at least they’re both able to have a nice, normal birthday together… Up until Beth starts to get a splitting, excruciating headache. As she screams and falls to the ground, we cut to Alice in an alleyway, feeling the exact same thing.

So, what’s going on here? I’d venture that it’s a classic case of “this universe is only big enough for one of us” — which, mind you, doesn’t quite match up with what we learned over on Supergirl, but that’s fine. Here, I’d be shocked if it doesn’t come down to a choice of Alice or Beth, and only one of them being able to survive… With ultimately Alice surviving, because the show has to keep going, right? Regardless, seeing Kate and Beth happy was nice for the two to three minutes it lasted. Oh well.

Batwoman airs Sundays at 8/7c on The CW.

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