Season 3, episode 5, "A Lesson from Professor Pyg"

SPOILERS ahead! Watch the episode before you continue!
SPOILERS ahead! Watch the episode before you continue!
SPOILERS ahead! Watch the episode before you continue!
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“General”:
My highlights from this episode (without particular order):

1 – Batwoman, Alice, and.... Catwoman! Yeah, Catwoman doesn't appear in the episode, at least not in person. But I really liked that she was mentioned quite some times in the episode as she is one of my favorite DC characters. And I loved how Alice was talking about Catwoman and Batman's relationship (#leather #whip) and Batwoman knew about Catwoman's whip being reinforced with the Nano-tech she stole from Batman.

2 – Alice and Sophie! It was already really funny/bizarre when a strangely frightened Alice was watching the horror movie with Sophie, both in their pajamas (sort of). Then Sophie was pissed about the empty wine bottle that she was saving and Batwoman showed up on the balcony. Guess that was the first time since season 1 as Sophie kissed Batwoman 1.0 on the balcony ;-) . And it was also great as Alice was teasing Sophie about that she was wearing a push-up bra to go on that dinner "date" with Ryan. Of course, Sophie was denying it, but well....we do know better ;-)

3 – Renee + Poison Ivy! It was an interesting discovery to see that Renee is that interested in finding/catching Poison Ivy because she and Pamela Isley (who would later turn into Ivy) were a "thing" some years ago. I was surprised by that connection between these characters and it was good that Renee's character got at least a little more backstory.

4 - Professor Pyg and a pretty dark atmosphere! I think this version of Professor Pyg was very convincing and I loved the (especially) dark atmosphere of this episode. As he slashed Marcus' girlfriend/acquaintance down (who hadn't done anything to him) it was clear that he is really crazy and evil.

5 – Raw and strong fight scenes! Yeah, there weren't any action scenes with Batwoman, but.... I really enjoyed how Sophie and Ryan were battling Professor Pyg! They had no special weapons, no Batwoman suit, and had to battle a pretty capable, sinister guy with a cleaver. And they were in a very weakened state with that paralyzing stuff in them.

6 - Sophie + Ryan on a "date"! It was fun to see them both talking about this as their first date, a special one to remember! Slowly but surely they both show their affection for each other more and more. And that is only the beginning..... ;-)

7 - Some shocking twists! Well, that ending provided quite some NICE twists. So far, Jada seemed to be a stone-cold villainess and Marcus seemed to be a nice brother. But it was revealed that Jada wanted to "sideline" Marcus to be able to help him in the meantime as he is a sociopath with a disturbing past. It was also revealed that the Joker(!) actually shocked him with some device in some bus! Ryan sees some videos that show what a nutjob Marcus really is....killing ants with a magnifying glass, putting peanut butter on his father's burger who is allergic to peanuts. He stabbed Professor Pyg several times in the back as he was showing that he isn't exactly so nice and normal. In the final moments, we see Marcus widening his "smile" with blood, looking just like a version of Joker! I can't wait to see Batwoman battling him! Looking forward to more of his craziness.

 8 - Ryan and Sophie's outfits! Well, both look really stunning in them :-)

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Aspects I didn't like in this episode:

>>> Why no Batwing? I mean Luke has lost all communications with Sophie, at some point he should have been very worried (perhaps he was). And what would have been better than him turning into Batwing to stop by that dinner and check on Ryan and Sophie? Yeah, I get it, it wouldn't have fit into the story....but I found it quite odd that he was sitting idly by and wasn't seen again in the episode after he lost contact with them.

>>> Very little Batwoman! Yeah, a little more than in the last episode but just around 2 minutes of Batwoman screentime without any action. I understand that she wouldn't have fit into that dinner, but still....I just would like to see more of her!

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More interesting aspects for me:

--- Waynetech seems still in big danger, but the scene with Luke and Ryan was quite short and as it seems now, Jada won't be an enemy anymore, so I guess that danger is already gone.

--- It was quite sad that Alice is the only one so far that realizes that something is off with Mary. To me, it seems that Poison Ivy is perhaps controlling Mary to a certain degree to do some lab work for her as Mary is suddenly experimenting with all these plants. I hope Luke and Ryan will open their eyes soon and will help Mary to become herself again.

--- Alice's hallucinations return even she was now away from Arkham for some weeks. Mary thinks that all her trauma is the cause of all of this. Will be interesting to see how Alice will be able to get rid of these hallucinations.

--- Jada already knew about Sophie "....once a Crow, always a Crow..." so she is seemingly very well informed about Ryan and all her friends. I really hope she doesn't find out about Ryan's second life by gathering all that intel.

--- Jada and Marcus basically switched sides in this episode. I was surprised how Jada reacted to her son killing off the crazy Professor Pyg. I expected a much more cold and controlled reaction. Also, the way Marcus stabbed him over and over again.... showed that something is quite wrong with him. Some signs of his sociopathic side were there before but well, I certainly didn't see that coming.

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>>> Rating “General:” <<<
4 out of 5 - A really strong episode with a great horror/slasher touch! Some shocking twists included!
Only the little Batwoman screentime prevented a higher rating from me.