In last Sunday’s Batwoman, Jacob Kane (Dougray Scott) discovered that Alice was indeed his daughter Beth. However, the series has yet to delve into exactly how sweet Beth could become the villainous and unstable Alice (Rachel Skarsten). Viewers will find out soon enough, and it’s because Batwoman is revealing her backstory so soon that Rachel Skarsten compares the show’s “bold choices” to that of Game of Thrones.
While Batwoman isn’t the first Arrow-verse show to quickly reveal the villain by the end of its pilot, it did go a step further and revealed that Alice is actually Beth, Kate’s (Ruby Rose) twin sister. Presumed to have died in a car accident along with their mother, Beth reemerged as Alice and has been wreaking havoc on Gotham City since the start of Season 1.
In an interview with TVLine, Rachel Skarsten compared the decision to be upfront about Alice’s backstory and identity to HBO’s Game of Thrones killing off Sean Bean’s Eddard “Ned” Stark in the Season 1 finale.
Caroline [Dries], our showrunner, and the writers are continuously making these bold choices to do these big reveals and up the stakes of the show, and I really like that. It’s a type [of] television that I gravitate towards — like a Game of Thrones that kills off their lead character in the first season, or Walking Dead, where your favorite character could die because they so mercilessly kill people. It makes it more exciting television to watch and it’s typically something that I feel like networks don’t do.
Rachel Skarsten, who believes the comic twist of her reveal “ups the stakes,” also applauded Batwoman for not dumbing down the material for audiences and for not holding hostage the secret of Alice’s identity until a mid-season reveal.
They try to stay a bit safer and prolong things, but I think that underestimates an audience because then you’re assuming that they won’t figure out something for 14 episodes. But they do. You also have to remember that a majority of people who are watching were fans of the comic book and already knew.
That's true. Fans are some of the best investigators out there and usually figure things out quite quickly. Viewers should expect Alice to confront Kate in Season 1, Episode 5, “Mine is a Long and a Sad Tale.” While in a remote diner, Alice will finally tell her sister what happened to her after the car accident and the reasons Alice shed her identity as Beth Kane.
Rachel Skarsten, however, maintains that Alice being revealed as Beth doesn’t negate the “animosity” between her and Kate, who officially donned a red wig and took up the moniker of Batwoman at the end of Episode 3 after confronting Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend, Tommy Elliot.
Batwoman Season 1, Episode 5, airs this Sunday, November 3 at 8 p.m. ET. For more information on when your favorite shows are airing this fall, be sure to check out our complete guide to every new and returning show premiering through the end of November.
