Man, it's about time, you feel me?
[LAUGHS]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
In a season where we deconstruct systems--
the Crows being the biggest one that we deconstruct--
it felt relevant to be talking about the prison system.
And I've always found there to be this sense of irony
that Batwoman arrests people, ties
them up, and leaves them for the GCPD,
and then where do they go?
They go into Ryan's same trajectory.
They go into this corrupt system where they're not
rehabilitated, they're put back out on the street,
they become repeat offenders.
And it's this whole cycle of nonsense
and it was just something we wanted to explore.
But of course, we needed to code it in awesome Gotham, you know,
colors.
This is the third distribution center this week
that Batwoman has targeted in her mission to rid
Gotham streets of this scourge.
Who is Black Mask?
I want a name.
I don't know.
That's why we all wear masks.
You hear me, Black Mask?
You can hide your face but you can't hide from me.
I am coming for you.
The problem is, there's not a ton you can do.
That's, I think, what's really frustrating.
And so for Ryan, that's why the community
center's so relevant to her.
I think Mary surprised me in how defiant she was, right?
Like, she's on the Bat Team.
She's aware of the Bat legacy.
She has people in her life who will hold her accountable,
and now she's learning to hold the people in her life
accountable.
And for better or for worse, she kind of opens up the clinic
and does not listen to the Crows, to her father,
and she practices anyway.
And she saves Horten Spence's life.
You can walk right out of here if you just give up
the ones who actually pulled the trigger on commissioner Forbes.
Look, I know you took the fall to keep me safe from False
Face, but I can protect myself.
You sure it's not Batwoman protecting you?
Is she your girlfriend now?
Are you guys, like, super friends with benefits?
Trust me, it is not like that.
It never is, till it is.
I'm late for my $0.07 an hour.
CAROLINE DRIES: It's-- look, we can't just pull the plug
on the system and just have it go away
and just change everything.
But it's these baby steps of, instead of attacking
the system, empower people to have
outlets so that they're not victims
of being left in the street.
It's incredibly complicated and there
is no fancy nice bow we can tie up at the end of it
and say we solved it.
For last night's attack, my editors
agreed to take another look.
You know, this clinic is a huge part
of the Mary character.
And so, when Jacob comes back in and says,
I'll pay for it to be legitimate,
or this has got to be shut down, or let me solve this for you,
she's like, uh-uh, with the mansplaining.
And no, you are not getting it.
You can't just write a check and solve
all of the world's problems.
She opened up this clinic to serve the underrepresented,
to serve anyone--
like, her doors are open to anyone,
so he's missing the point once again.
And she sort of stands her ground
and speaks up for herself and puts Jacob in his place
a little bit.
I don't want to stop you.
I want to help you.
Make this place a real clinic.
Hire real doctors.
I'll even pay for it.
You know that there are some things that you can't
fix by writing a big check?
What possible objection could you have
to making this place legit?
Because it goes against the very reason
I started the clinic.
I don't ask for ID.
I don't require insurance.
I don't report ODs or non-violent criminal behavior.
I opened up this place to serve the people
that you don't see as legit.
Come on.
You haven't even finished Med school.
And yet yesterday, I saved a guy's life.
You know, for the first time since Kate died,
I don't feel hollow.
I feel like what I did mattered, that I can make a difference
in this crappy city.
And you want to take that away from me.
And for that I will never forgive you.
It is true, right?
She needs to legitimize some things,
especially if she's going to--
I don't know-- perform surgery, administer medicine,
be dealing with kryptonite and radioactivity--
you know, radioactive poison in somebody's system.
I think a little bit of legitimacy can go a long way.
So she will work really hard and get the right certifications
and some help.
And let's remember, she's still in school.
So I don't know how far in the textbook
she is, but I'd like her to not perform heart surgery
until she's seen somebody do it once,
not just on Grey's, you know?
That's why I can't shake off this urge for another hit
of Snakebite because for another sea of fleeting moments,
I get to be the father I should have been
to her all those years ago.
Who else have you told about this?
No one.
Not even family?
My daughter Mary's the only family I have left.
We're not exactly speaking.
Unfortunately, there's nothing I can give
you to blunt the withdrawal.
But there is a way you can plug the pain
of the daughter you lost.
How?
By focusing on repairing the relationship with the daughter
you have left.
We knew when we introduced Snakebite as a sort of motif
of the season, one of our characters
needed to become addicted to it, to make it personal.
And if you look at poor Jacob, everything he's gone through--
especially at the start of this season--
losing Kate, I just--
I mean, I cannot imagine.
He lost her in a way that was almost identical to the way he
lost Alice.
And so he seemed the most likely to be prone to the addiction.
And the drug is just so powerful and it
preys on all the things Jacob wants,
which is these memories that he gets to redo.
Of course he's going to become addicted to this drug.
Enigma has her hands sort of in all the cookie jars,
and good for her, but it's going to get her in trouble.
OK, so someone from the prison is letting out criminals
for one night to target community programs
in exchange for early parole.
And that someone is Edgewater Correctional CEO Ellis O'Brien.
He personally intervened and signed off
on each early release, all under the guise of time
off for good behavior.
And he sits on the board of the Gotham Gazette.
Which puts him in the position to get
Horten fired before he can find out who's behind the attacks.
But I still don't get why.
Why would a prison company want to destroy community programs?
That's exactly what [INAUDIBLE] said.
These programs keep kids from falling through the cracks.
But you know who profits on the kids who do?
Prisons.
You know, I'm in the bat cave every episode,
to the point where directors are like, another bat cave scene?
So it was great.
It was really fun for Luke to just get in the field
and save the day for once.
I mean, you should have saw me when I was on set.
I was all smiles.
I was like, wow!
A construction site!
This is so cool.
Man, it's about time, you feel me?
[LAUGHS]
You know, I loved it.
I really hope that Luke can really get in the field
more often.
I realize that he is the tech guy
and Batwoman, in many cases, needs
him to always be watching.
So hopefully one day, he can be watching on the field
right next to her.
[GRUNTING]
I miss the electric chair.
But a fire [INAUDIBLE] should do.
Ready, and fire.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
You've been holding out on me, [INAUDIBLE]
Couldn't let you have all the fun.
You know I had that, right?
Never had a doubt.
I think that Luke being able to finally leave the bat cave
and enter the field gives us a bunch
of hints of what he can do.
So I'm not sure that him saving the day with that lightning gun
will say, hey, Batwing is coming.
I'm not sure if that's what that means.
But what it does mean is, he can save the day.
He is capable of more than the bat cave.
And we got a little hint of that in season one
with the boxing scene, when you saw him
throwing the hands in the bag.
This is sort of our new boxing scene, our new reminder,
like, hey, Luke it's not just the guy in the suit.
Luke does have this other part of him
that he sort of keeps down.
So I really hope that that is a little hint and a little inch
toward a future suit up.
But, you know, who knows?
[LAUGHS]
[MUSIC PLAYING]