AEW New Year's Smash - Night 1 & 2 (Jan. 6 & Jan. 13, 2021) -- Results & Afterthoughts

New Year's Smash is an ongoing series of professional wrestling television special episodes produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The events will take place on January 6 and 13, 2021 at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida and will be broadcast on TNT as a special of AEW's weekly television program, Dynamite. Night 1 aired live on January 6, while Night 2 will be pre-recorded on January 7 and air on January 13.

Night 1 (January 6)

Results

8-man Tag Team Match
The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) and SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) defeated The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster) and The Hybrid 2 (Angelico and Jack Evans)

It took one week and The Acclaimed are already referring people drawing comparisons to Thuganomics/Word Life era John Cena rapping to the ring. Their rhymes are getting better, but boy are they not capitalizing on this. We've seen these guys talk shit for weeks now and continue failing to get a win over anyone - at least not on Dynamite. AEW Dark could have two dozen matches and I still couldn't care enough to watch that show every week when next to nothing on that show is ever referred on Dynamite the next day. So again I ask... Why should me or anyone for that matter care about wins/loses on Dark?

This match itself was just like any other Young Bucks match in this company up to this point. A lot of guys doing spots just to do them. Guys crowded up at ringside to catch someone else doing dives back to back. The biggest offender of this was the finish, where one of the Bucks took forever and a day to line up his moonsault out of the ring during the Meltzer Driver while his brother stood there like a complete dumb ass holding their opponent in the Tombstone Piledriver position until Daniels hit the BME to complete the maneuver.

After this match, we are reminded of the stipulation that SoCal Uncensored put upon themselves on an episode of AEW Dark, whereas if they suffer one more loss, they are done as a tag team. I'm guessing that Daniels is looking to retire as he's easily more banged up than some of his other ex-TNA/IMPACT Wrestling brothers (AJ Styles, Frankie Kazarian, Samoa Joe, Chris Sabin, etc.) are. He could easily step into the role of a much needed road agent/trainer for talent on AEW while Kazarian steps up into a singles run. I could see him getting at least one run with the TNT Championship, only to lose it to another member of SCU, namely Scropio Sky.

Singles Match
Wardlow defeated Jake Hager

It's no secret that I think that the former Jack Swagger AKA Jake Hager is a charisma vaccuum. He was the worst thing about the Season 4 finale of Lucha Underground - if his matches didn't stink up that season enough. Hager is the goddamn fucking definition of BORING in the dictionary when it comes to wrestling matches. I rather watch paint dry than see him or Baron Corbin on my television.

On the other side of things, Wardlow shows a lot of promise, but now isn't the time to pull the trigger on him blowing up on his allies and/or turning on MJF when we've barely even had a year for their business relationship.

As for this match, this was a lot better than it needed to be, especially in comparison to other powerhouse vs. powerhouse matches on both shows this week. I thought this match had a rocky start, but it came together by the time it was over.

I thought the F-10 from Wardlow in the finish ruled too.

Singles Match
Cody Rhodes (with Snoop Dogg) defeated Matt Sydal

Cody Rhodes gave Arn Anderson the night off to allow Snoop Dogg to serve as his "coach" for this match to promote that The Go Big Show for the TNT Network, where both Cody and Snoop are acting as judges.

I don't know what was going on with this match, but Cody came out here wrestling the former Evan Bourne like this was one of their matches on the main event of WWE Superstars or something. Sydal is one of their newer talents, yes, but I thought Cody gave him a little too much offense - as usual.

I swear, the people in this company need to start being selfish in terms of trying to be 50/50 in terms of how much they give their opponents in matches. You devalue your talents and strip them of what made them special in the first goddamn place when you present everyone at the same equal footing. Eventually you're going to have to have your top guys running through talent and of course that's going to hurt feelings of some of your midcarders and low-tier talents, but hell, let's be real here. There's talents on that roster who should just be happy to have a job in this company when they shouldn't be doing nothing but looking at the lights every week and nothing else.

This match ended up being an excuse just to get Serpentico and Dr. Luther involved, only for Sydal and Cody to team-up against them. This exchange ended with Snoop Dogg giving Serpentico the most pathetic Diving Splash from the top rope that I've ever seen.

You know it's bad when even Sasha Banks went on Twitter and called her cousin out for disrespecting the family like that.

New AEW TNT Championship design that debuted tonight during the official weigh-ins.

Either before or after the Cody/Sydal match, they held weigh-ins for the TNT Championship match that is allegedly headlining Night 2 between Darby Allin and Brian Cage. I had to laugh at Taz's comment about Darby only weighed as much as he did because he had on his heavy emo belt buckle and all of his other shit on. Any idiot can tell that he looks like he weighs at least 120-130 lbs. tops. Anywhere else but in wrestling that this would be a weight class mismatch in terms of sizing these guys up for a fight.

I'm expecting a clusterfuck of a finish during Night 2 as I don't see Darby losing the title this soon. At least, I hope not. Then again, you don't want to beat Cage too much.

Singles Match for the AEW Women's World Championship
Hikaru Shida (c) defeated Abadon

This was easily the worst thing on the entire show. In AEW's defense though, this match was airing during the tail end of Rhea Ripley and Raquel Gonzalez's last woman standing match on NXT's New Year's Evil special, and it was bloody obvious which was the better match of the two if you were switching channels back and forth.

For the record, I never thought Abadon was very good when I saw her matches prior to coming to AEW and after the fact following her debut on AEW Dark. That fact sticks out like a sore thumb here as well. I will admit that the biting spot here made more sense for Abadon than it did for Shayna Baszler last year. The only saving grace here is that this match didn't overstay its welcome. Abadon got her spots in but Shida fired up on her comeback and hit her signature Running Knee. Thanks for comin', Abadon.

Singles Match for the AEW World Championship
Kenny Omega (c) (with Don Callis) defeated Rey Fenix

This match was the easiest best thing out of Night 1 of this two-week special event. It was definitely worth the wait too after being postponed for safety concerns - first during the eliminator tournament and then secondly last week following Brodie Lee's unfortunate demise. We got one hell of a tribute show from that delay and made this show feel even more special to boot.

Any fan of Lucha Underground could fill you into how talented that Fenix and his brother Pentagon Jr. are in the squared circle, but this match was essentially a sampler platter of what he could do when he kicks it up a notch. With every match in this role as AEW World Champion, Kenny Omega is pulling out all of the stops too and finally reminding long-time fans of his work in New Japan why he is regarded as one of the best wrestlers in the world of his current generation.

This match isn't without faults though. There was one Diving Corkscrew counter into a V-Trigger from Omega that didn't connect at all from the camera angle shown. That was an eye sore in an otherwise excellent main event.

Closing Thoughts

The most talked about things on this show were the Bullet Club "reunion" and the Omega/Fenix match.

I don't see how any casual fan who doesn't have any idea about any of these "insider" references with Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, and the Good Brothers would be excited about the reunion of their stable that didn't appear in this country in mainstream wrestling. I understand that AEW caters to the "smart mark/smark" modern day wrestling fans, but that's a niche audience to be building your entire show around without any sort of notion of growing that said audience.

As for the people who are aware of the Bullet Club and their tenure from when all six of these guys were a part of it in New Japan Pro Wrestling, they have all of the reason in the world to be losing their minds at this.

Sadly, it seems like New Japan isn't onboard with this at all as their Bullet Club never left and there's still some ill will between all of the members of the Elite leaving NJPW to start AEW. So who knows what AEW is going to call this faction since I doubt they will be able to get the legal rights to that in order.

The tease for the Lucha Bros. against the Young Bucks was interesting as that's a match-up that could be very fun to watch, despite blowing their loads on this encounter during the early outings of AEW. The match between Omega and Fenix shows that both the Lucha Bros. and the members of the Elite still have another gear to shift into, so that could make for some great television in either case, especially if they are given enough time to work their magic in the ring.

Night 2 (January 13)

Results

Singles Match
Pac (with Lucha Brothers) def. Eddie Kingston (with The Butcher, The Blade, and The Bunny)

This was a great match for Kingston, especially since he didn't have to devolve into the hardcore wrestling spots with foreign objects and weapons. Pac was able to control the pacing here and it made for a great opener, especially in comparison to what NXT were doing over on the other channel at the same time. I have to question Pac still using the Red Arrow as his finish though when he should be getting that Brutalizer submission over more. One could argue that Kingston is too tough to ever give up for a submission win, but the Red Arrow should continue being protected. No one should be kicking out of that move, but at the same time, it's pretty stupid to do that move the slap on the submission immediately after it. He should be trying to end matches with either one or the other.

On a side note, where does Lance Archer fit into all of this? I get that he's been helping out Death Triangle against Kingston, The Butcher & The Blade (w/ The Bunny), but isn't that a tad bit of overkill? Shouldn't he be helping out Darby or something to even the odds against Team Taz? It just seems rather odd that he keeps coming out here and clearing the ring while butting heads with both factions that are feuding with each other.

Singles Match
Miro (with Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford) def. Chuck Taylor (with Orange Cassidy) by submission
Because Taylor lost, he will be Miro's butler until Sabian and Ford's wedding at Beach Break.

This was a complete waste of time. Does anyone care about seeing Chuck Taylor as Miro's butler? I guess that could make for some interesting comedy segments on a show that has far too much comedy/silliness, but whatever. I'm ready for this wedding between Kip and Penelope Ford to be over with. It feels like they have been dragging this out for months now.

This was a throwaway segment, but merely served as a background to set up the Inner Circle's match for next week as they will compete against each other in a triple threat tornado tag team match to determine who will be the tag team that will represent the faction. If Santana and Ortiz don't win this then I don't know what to say about how they are booking those guys for over the past year.

Six-man Tag Team Match
The Elite (Kenny Omega, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) (with Don Callis) def. Danny Limelight and Varsity Blondes (Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison)

If you didn't see the swerve with the Good Brothers teaming up with Omega here coming a mile away, then you obviously haven't been paying attention over the last few weeks. They are teaming together at IMPACT Wrestling's Hard to Kill PPV over the weekend anyway so they had to draw interest into this pairing somehow on this show.

This was an OKAY match, but nothing that that blew me away. Limelight definitely has some promise though, same for the Varsity Blondes. I'm confused about Pillman Jr. though. Is he still contracted to MLW too? I saw him on Fusion an hour before this episode of Dynamite aired live and it definitely threw me for a loop. He must be one of their few talents that are allowed to still work for MLW or at least finishing up dates for them before coming to AEW full-time.

In either case, I didn't think this was much to write home about outside of keeping this "invasion" or rather partnership with IMPACT Wrestling alive, along with establishing that the Bullet Club (or whatever they are going to call this iteration of it in this company) is reunited.

Tag Team Match
FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) (with Tully Blanchard) def. Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt)

I'm sure it took every shred of willpower in the fiber of FTR's very beings not to go in here and stretch Marko Stunt out and beat the piss out of him in this match. Instead, FTR got a great tag team match out of him and Jungle Boy. I'm not too keen about Jungle Boy's new music like everyone else, but whatever floats your boat, Tony Khan. It's not my money you're wasting.

Marko was able to get his stuff in and not look like there was blatantly obvious cooperation to set those spots up - a testament to FTR's professionalism and skill level to hide that technical aspect of the match while keeping this match believable for the most part. FTR was laying on the hits pretty snug but it still looked fucking awesome. Jungle Boy made a few good hot tags to keep things exciting, only for FTR to cut him off from Stunt completely until they were able to pick up the win. Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt could definitely learn a lot from working with them. I hope they came away from this match with something to up their game. Matches like this against opponents like FTR are only going to make them better, more rounded out performers instead of the laundry list of spot monkeys up and down the AEW roster.

Jade Cargill reminds Cody that she and Shaq haven't forgotten about him and Brandi Rhodes.

This show saw the Dynamite debut of Britt Baker's Waiting Room segment that is a callback to talk shows like Piper's Pit, complete with its own backstage set. These segments have been regulated to AEW Dark for months now, but this is the first time that they decided to do this on an episode of Dynamite, with Cody Rhodes showing up as the special guest. Cody didn't get to say nothing at all, really, when this segment merely served as a platform to setup a match/feud between Jade Cargill and Red Velvet of all people. I guess since Velvet was Brandi's sidekick before she left on pregnancy leave, they are going to stick her into the spot as Jade's opponent in this feud since AEW still wants to do this thing between Shaq and Cody.

Even back when I was following her muscle and fitness modeling work prior to signing with AEW, I thought Jade Cargill looked like a force of nature or that she just stepped off the page of a comic book. I wish her all of the best luck in this business to be a success. She definitely has looks down. ALL of those girls who came out of the back to try to stand between Jade and Velvet looked like small children in comparison to this woman. For her sake, I really hope she's as terrifying in the ring as she looks out of it.

Singles Match for the NWA World Women's Championship
Serena Deeb (c) def. Tay Conti (with Anna Jay)

When Taynara Conti was in WWE as part of the NXT brand, I never saw what the big deal was about her from her matches that she would have as part of their programming. Among the roster of multi-talented women that they had at the time, it was easy to get lost in the shuffle. She should consider herself lucky for getting out of there when she did. I said it back during their Women's Tag Team Tournament during the fall that Tay Conti showed a lot of promise and tonight was more evidence of her growth since leaving WWE. Leaving that company and coming to AEW turned out to be a blessing in disguise for her AND Serena Deeb. Deeb seems to be having another career renaissance with her run as NWA World Women's Champion. She's been killing it left and right in her matches since coming into this company. She definitely brings out the best out of whoever she steps into the ring with. As a former WWE Performance Center coach, you can see her knack for that shining through in all of her matches. She's stated in a recent interview that she would love to serve as a trainer/coach/agent of sorts for AEW's Women's division.

In my honest opinion, Tony Khan would be fucking stupid not to give her that position. She's definitely over-qualified for the role.

Conti has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of from walking away from this encounter in defeat. I'm sure she's turned a lot of heads tonight and rightfully so. I would love to see her and Serena Deeb have another match or two down the road. This match was miles above and beyond that poor excuse of a women's wrestling match in Night 1 between Shida and Abadon.

Singles Match for the AEW TNT Championship
Darby Allin (c) def. Brian Cage (with Ricky Starks and Hook)

The first two-thirds of this match was Brian Cage beating the piss out of Darby Allin, who somehow was hanging on and still managing to kick out of everything this dude was doing to him. It reminded me of how ugly that match between Daniel Bryan and Brock Lesnar was a few years ago was until Brock made one slip up that allowed Bryan to turn the tide into his favor for a comeback. The same thing happened here where Cage took a flat back bump onto the steel steps, which was beyond moronic for a guy who had a pretty nasty back/spinal injury prior to signing to this company. This allowed Darby to hit the Coffin Drop and ALMOST steal the win via count out. I would have been fine with the finish right there, but they had to squeeze in Sting's involvement as he came to Darby's aid when Team Taz was up to no good. Sting hit one of (at least 3 other members of Team Taz) with his baseball bat while the rest stood back looking awestruck as Darby rolls Cage up into a crucifix pin from the top rope for the victory.

I honestly threw my hands up. The first two-thirds of this match was excellent, but the Sting stuff killed it for me for what was otherwise a great main event. If they don't want to beat Darby this soon for the TNT title, then that's fine, but don't boot this fucking match where you're going to have Cage lose clean AGAIN in another high profile title match. I swear, this company has no idea how to book monster heels. The only way they get over is if they win and if you're handing them losses left and right then it's going do nothing for them in the long haul. It doesn't matter how much of a big game you have their managers talking for them if the monster loses at every chance he has at a championship.

I don't get what is the point of Team Taz talking a big game but never winning absolutely jack shit when it comes to the few occasions that they have matches on Dynamite? I could only laugh when Powerhouse (Will) Hobbs came casually strolling out of the entrance tunnel following the loss too. Where the fuck was he when everyone else was frozen in fear at Sting just standing there? Sting is only ONE guy. Is there some sort of no touch policy for him out of fear of hurting him again? If he can't even work angles in these small skirmishes/brawls, then what was the point of signing him outside of selling T-shirts? Don't give me that shit about this is the same as him going against the nWo all on his own. At least those guys tried to put up a fight. We've been at this for over a month now of Sting showing up and the entire half-dozen guys that make up Team Taz start running like this dude has a gun.

Closing Thoughts

In comparison to Night 1, Night 2 definitely had more noteworthy matches, but it had it's fair share of eye sores too. The NWA World Women's Championship match definitely delivered - as usual, along with the opener between Pac and Eddie Kingston, FTR vs. Jurassic Express' Marko Stunt and Jungle Boy, and the main event featuring Darby Allin defending the AEW TNT Championship against Brian Cage.

I'm still interested to see how Jade Cargill's career is going to pan out while remaining lukewarm about this Bullet Club reunion of sorts as AEW continues to partner up with IMPACT Wrestling. As good as these NWA World Women's Championship matches have been over the past year, I can't help but wonder how long can NWA stay afloat to maintain this business relationship. Without any sort of television or internet platform, NWA is losing steam fast from the wealth of momentum they had at the start of 2020. Unfortunately, that's not AEW's burden to bear, despite they are profitting off the showcase of their excellent female talent, despite only it being limited to Thunder Rosa and Serena Deeb (who isn't even contracted to that company). I have my fingers crossed that Thunder Rosa can pull out an excellent performance out of Britt Baker too instead of that crap we got between her and Big Swole last year. Ugh.

What I'm not interested in? This utter stupidity that they have Miro involved with that is just as bad as the tail end of his WWE career before he got released, along with the hit or miss antics from the Inner Circle. I just want AEW to continue emphasizing the good stuff and put less focus on the bad.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS -- Monster Hunter Rise (Demo)

Capcom surprised players during their Monster Hunter Direct digital event last week with the announcement that a demo for Monster Hunter Rise would release on January 7, 2021 and will remain available until February 1, 2021.

As fate would have it, I lucked out and got to play the Monster Hunter Rise demo on my nephew's Switch yesterday. I could only play in offline mode, so I limited my gameplay to my two main weapon classes from World for about 2-3 hours.

I have some thoughts on the limited amount of time that I spent with the demo. It should be noted that players are limited to 30 hunts maximum on this demo. That's more than fair unless you're one of the content creators who will be combing this demo down to the smallest detail or want to give this a whirl with as many friends as possible online. Playing the demo will unlock rewards in the retail version of the game, so that is something to look forward to as well.

*** Disclaimer: I'm not versed in all of the "official" terminology for this outing of the series, so forgive me if I don't have the names of the new techniques and skills right. ***

OVERALL THOUGHTS

I'm not a series veteran in the least as World was my first exposure to the series, but I do like this more "ninja/samurai" theme to this game. It's like this is set in the Onimusha universe or something now in terms of costumes and designs. Visually, this looks exactly how I would imagine a "portable" version of World to look on Nintendo's platform. I will say that playing this for a few hours in portable mode on a Switch was like hell on my wrists. No way in hell if I bought this console I would play any game in this configuration. This is up there as bad as some of the first generation games on PSP in terms of discomfort to play. That's not on Capcom though, that's a Nintendo issue.

I raved about the music in the trailers and I loved it in the demo as well. Great stuff in that regard, definitely living up to the standard I've come to expect out of these games.

In terms of general gameplay, I do have a few concerns. Maybe it was just me, but stamina drains INSANELY fast in this game. I thought it was bad from that change from Monster Hunter: World to the Iceborne expansion, but geez did it seem really noticeable here. I can't say that I'm too crazy about the change that you have to hunt through endemic life for stat boosts instead of eating for that stuff at the start of hunts. They get points for creativity but that seems like a boon to pad gameplay time per hunt when you have run around the entire map at the start of every hunt for stat buffs and vital items/perks.

The endemic life in the environment to offer stat buffs seems like that will be a double-edged sword at first glance.

I joked about this with friends too, but I'm already over the one-liners and phrases that are uttered by your hunter during combat now. I've heard from various sources that you can turn that off in the menus, but man, I was getting annoyed with that after the first hour.

Since I was playing the demo entirely in single player, I could barely tell if both my Palamute and Palico were contributing to the battles, but I can at least say that my Palico was definitely helping me out with his healing gadgets when I needed it most. So that's always a plus in that regard.

GENERAL GAMEPLAY

MOVEMENT

Moving around with the Wirebugs is going to take a lot of getting used to, but it seems like it'll be fun once you get the hang of it. Even after 2+ hours I felt like I was fumbling around trying to swing around with it. I agree with a lot of opinions online that seems like what Capcom wanted to do with the Clutch Claw in Iceborne.

The Palamute is your trusty doggy companion in MHRise.

To be honest though in terms of movement, I was riding my Palamute (doggy companion) more than swinging around anyway. If you're familiar with the Raider Ride command(s) from World, then it works in the same capacity. You merely bring up your Palamute in the menu and hit a button to mount it and you're automatically jumping on and ready to ride. The biggest difference between how riding your mount in this game functions between this game and World is that you have full control of your mount while riding it. Hell, you can even make your doggy drift if needed while chasing an elusive beast. You're also able to gather materials and mine for resources while mounted too without having to dismount.

WYVERN RIDE (New Monster Mounting Mechanic)

There's a full tutorial both in the demo and over on the Monster Hunter YouTube channel by Capcom explaining the new mechanic in-depth, so I'm not going to get into the gritty details of this mechanic.

I'm split on this new concept honestly. I think it's a massive improvement from the traditional mounting mechanic that I was used to in World, but seems rather cumbersome at times in terms of how hard it is to control (at least to me anyway). I did like executing the special moves of monsters against other monsters when I did have a chance to mess around with it. Like who wouldn't want to give another monster a taste of how it feels to get hit by Rathian's signature tail flip or triple fireballs? I guess that struggle with this mechanic to really hammer the point home in terms of the monster fighting against you controlling it like a puppet, but I could see players having fun with pitting monsters against each other on the vast maps.

(Laughs) They completely dumbed down getting wall bangs with this new feature too. You can get three back to back on the monster without having to strategically position the monster to do so like in World. On the plus side, if you don't want to use this mechanic, you can go right into the finisher and continue hunting the monster via traditional means, so it's not being "forced" upon players like the Clutch Claw mechanic was in Iceborne. I think that aspect will have more players warming up to it than not.

WEAPONS: HAMMER

If you played it in World, then it still functions essentially the same, the only "big" change is that your attacks are split between two "stances" now. When you hold a charge, you can hit the power-up button like you did in World and it switches stances, indicated by the icon under your health and stamina bar turning purple. Purple stance is where your lvl. 3 Brutal Big Bang charge is now while your max charge ender in yellow (default) stance is your grounded Spinning Bludgeon along with a new Upswing that combos into an overhead blow. I have always found the grounded Bludgeon borderline useless unless your applying status effects, but even then the midair/sliding variation is MUCH better.

I could be wrong, but it seems like you can't roll cancel out of the cooldown of a lot of animations like you could in World. This could be just limited to the demo, but it was like I was a sitting duck on enemy attacks more often than I cared to admit on the demo.

Maybe it's just me but the hammer and the gunlance felt like they were missing the "weight" behind their attacks. If you've played a lot of these games, you'll know what I'm talking about in that regard, whereas you always had a sense of how heavy your swings/strikes were or generally how far they were going to hit. There were too many times during this demo where I was genuinely surprised something hit or didn't hit because of either the lack of the weight behind said strike or attacks hitting where I thought they wouldn't since I misjudged the distance.

The two Silkbind attacks you got are pretty interesting too.

(Aerial) Spinning Bludgeon (requires 1 Wirebug to execute) - You slingshot yourself into the air and come down like in World. This shit is hard as hell to aim but you can charge this or even charge buffer it during other moves. Doesn't have any type of armor during the execution so you can be knocked out of the air doing it so keep that in mind.
Impact Crater (requires 2 Wirebug to execute) - I thought this move would have been insanely good when I saw it in the weapon trailers, but I'm HIGHLY skeptical of it now. This is only worth doing when the monster is downed/KOed. Much like the other Silkbind move mentioned above, you CAN be knocked out of this animation at any point of it in the air.

WEAPONS: GUNLANCE

Starting off, I dunno WTF people are talking about online where Capcom got rid of the reload cancels to this weapon, but I was doing all of my old combos just fine here. The biggest change for me that realized right off the bat was that you can do charged shelling right off the bat without initializing an attack first. People were begging for that feature in Iceborne but no dice. In that regard, I was glad to see that here.

The front and back hops for evading attacks are somehow WORSE in this game than World. Once again, Gunlance mains are going to have to dump skill points into max Evade Extender. There is one caveat that I noticed though. You're able to side-hop left or right in quick succession and fire a shell off. That was something that you couldn't do in World, so it's something to add to your defensive tactics in this game with some of these already more agile/mobile beasts.

Another change is that you actually can guard during Wyvern Fire and manually aim (more than you could in World anyway), but the animation for Wyrmstake is slightly longer than World's, so you're a sitting duck if you just happen to whiff that. I'm almost certain that the armor set that you're using in the demo has at least Guard 2-3, Guard Up, and Normal shelling capability on the weapon itself. Otherwise, I don't see how you are running with 6-7 shells per clip with Long or Wide shelling.

Speaking of shelling types, there's a clue in the Hunter's Notes. It mentions a playstyle difference for Wide shelling, so we can expect different shelling types in the full retail release.

Much like the Hammer, the Gunlance has Silkbind attacks that comes in two flavors:

Counterstance (Requires 1 Wirebug to execute) - I've tried this thing like numerous times, but I don't know what the hell is the trigger for it. Either I was too early or too late to get it to trigger. Seems like it would function like Lance's counter from World.
Massive Overhead (Requires 2 Wirebugs to execute) - You jump up and come down with a massive overhead then can follow up with multiple shells that launch you up into the air in succession. I could see this making airborne enemies much more tolerable. Blows through your complete clip of shelling though. You do recover a sliver of sharpness from this move too.

MONSTERS

GREAT IZUCHI

He serves as the demo's version of Great Jagras. Much like Great Jagras, he has his homies attacking with him as a pack, so that would make for some interesting tag team attacks in tandem for hunters to be wary of. Seems like he's not going to be quite the pushover that players tend to expect to kickstart these games with. I noticed that his tail tends to get stuck in the ground like Nargacuga's does after using his tail like a giant mace.

MIZUTSUNE

After seeing streamers who got early access to the demo fight this thing, I knew that I would hate fighting this thing and I was absolutely right. He brings the best and worst attributes of what I loved and hated (sliding around like an evasive mofo and those fucking water lasers) about fighting Namielle in Iceborne and cranks it up to eleven with the bubble-based offense. This was my first encounter in dealing with bubbleblight and I thought it was rather hilarious. He seems to get really pissed off near-death as his scales turn red and he deals more damage to his attacks.

It should be noted that a Rathian is roaming the map during Mizutsune's quest, so you can fight that optionally as well.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

While I enjoyed the demo, I'm content enough with what I played with here that I wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't play this at launch like many of the friends that I made in World would be doing. I don't doubt that this is going to be another great outing for the series, but at the same time, I'm not going to be going out of my way to play this either. For those that do, happy hunting!

PREVIEW -- Dragon Ball FighterZ - Super Baby 2 Reveal Trailer | Gameplay Footage

LET'S GO!!! – Super Baby 2 arrives January 15th, 2020 to Dragon Ball FIGHTERZ!

What are you most excited for, #SuperBaby2 or our special teaser at the end?

Watch Super Baby 2 in action! He will join the roster of Dragon Ball FighterZ on 15 January, and will be unlockable 2 days early for FighterZ Pass 3 owners

At this point, Dragon Ball FighterZ is running out of names to plug into this game if they want to continue milking this game out dry for more content and characters for players to enjoy. Super Baby 2 is looking like he's going to definitely distinguish himself from just being another Vegeta clone on the roster. I have to give ArcSys even more props for how much work they have gone with the newest additions of characters for this third round of DLC content. With Gogeta looking like he's going to round out the content for this season, I have to wonder if they are going to do another FighterZ Pass after this for even more fighters.

PREVIEW -- Batwoman | Season 2 Trailer | The CW

Batwoman premieres Sunday, January 17. Stream next day free only on The CW!

After binge-watching the entire first season of Batwoman over the holidays, I'm anxious to see where they are going to take this story, especially after Ruby Rose walking away from the lead role as Kate Kane. They didn't resolve the core conflict with Alice, nor resolve any of the hanging plot threads from that first season. The new Batwoman will be played by a new character that will be introduced named Ryan Wilder portrayed by Javicia Leslie. From the set photos that I have seen on social media, the new costume looks like an improvement though, but we'll have to wait and see how this new actress under the pressure of having to pick up the pieces where Ruby Rose/Kate Kane left off.

PREVIEW -- Cyber Shadow - Launch Date Announcement Trailer

The world has been taken over by the evil Dr. Progen and his merciless synthetic army. A desperate plea for help sets Shadow, the sole survivor of his clan, on one last mission to uncover what started the path to perpetual ruin. Your robotic companion, L-Gion, is your only guide through the ruins of Mekacity. How far will Shadow go to protect his clan and the one he loves? Is there more to their bond than meets the eye? Only you can unlock the secrets to your clan's ancient powers. Hurry before you run out of time! The road to redemption awaits in Cyber Shadow, the quintessential Ninja Action game, coming to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on January 26th, 2021!

For more information about Cyber Shadow, visit http://cybershadowgame.com/!

It should be mentioned that this is a multi-platform release for this title, not limited to only to the PlayStation brand. It will arrive as part of the Xbox Game Pass and Nintendo's eShop on the day of launch.

I was sold onto this the moment that I heard that Yacht Games, the developers behind Shovel Knight and it's wealth of add-on expansions/downloadable content (DLC), were behind this game. It was shown off during The Game Awards briefly among some of the laundry list of indie titles set to debut on multiple platforms this year.

After thoroughly enjoying The Messenger and another healthy playthrough of Strider (2014), I'm ready for some new ninja-oriented Metroidvania goodness, especially in the vein of how Shovel Knight's gameplay worked.

PREVIEW -- Monster Hunter Rise - Weapons Showcase | Gameplay Details Trailer | Monster Hunter Direct

A playlist showing off demonstrations and previews of all 14 weapon classes in Monster Hunter Rise. They also show off the new "Hunter Arts" (for veterans of the series) or rather Silkbind Attacks that will serve as special moves unique to that particular weapon's playstyle.

Catch up on the Monster Hunter Digital Event – January 2021 to get the latest #MHRise news:

🏔️ Frost Islands
👹 Goss Harag

Returning Monsters
🔥 Magnamalo
🎮 Demo

Master all-new mobility and decisive weapon attacks with this handy guide on the Wirebug! #MHRise

Take the reins and turn monsters onto each other! Learn the ropes of the powerful Wyvern Riding technique with this tutorial. #MHRise

Take control. Harness the power of the mightiest monsters with Wyvern Riding!

#MHRise Demo available on #NintendoSwitch on January 8th 2021.

Capcom is definitely rolling out the content to give players something to sink their teeth into as the release date for Monster Hunter Rise approaches on March 26, 2020. I'll give more thoughts onto all of this in my upcoming write-up of the #MHRise demo.

NXT: New Year's Evil (Jan. 6, 2021) -- Results & Afterthoughts

NXT: New Year's Evil was a special episode of WWE's weekly television series NXT, broadcast on the USA Network. It took place on January 6, 2021 at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida and feature WWE's virtual fan viewing experience for their NXT brand division called the Capitol Wrestling Center. It was hosted by Dexter Lumis.

Six matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Finn Balor defeated Kyle O'Reilly to retain the NXT Championship. In other prominent matches, Santos Escobar defeated Gran Metalik to retain the NXT Cruiserweight Championship, Raquel González defeated Rhea Ripley in a Last Woman Standing match, and in the opening bout, Karrion Kross defeated Damian Priest.

New Year's Evil is a professional wrestling event currently produced by WWE. It was last used for a special episode of WCW Monday Nitro on December 27, 1999.

If you watch this show on Hulu, they condensed this entire show down to a hour, so you only get to see Kross/Priest, Rhea/Raquel, and O'Reilly/Balor. Everything else in this show was cut out and rightfully so to be honest.

Results:

Singles Match
Karrion Kross (with Scarlett) def. Damian Priest

I understand that Karrion Kross had to go over in his first match back from injury, but I thought it was a questionable decision to have him going over Damian Priest. Priest already was in a nothing feud with Johnny Gargano and Leon Ruff to drop the North American Championship at the tail end of 2020. I'm guessing this was his way of doing the honors on the way out if the rumors are true about him being called up to the main roster, namely the SmackDown! brand.

There were a few good bumps in this match, but the time it was all said and done, I can't say that I was really that impressed with this big man match. Much like his match with Keith Lee, I don't think that Kross excells against other big guys his size and stature. It was impressive that he was able to Kross out cold for the finish, so at least that point got across.

I've seen far worse openers for NXT shows than this, so I can't knock this match too much in that regard.

(Laughs) I have to ask though but why did Scarlett come out here dressed like she was managing The Ascension to the ring instead of her boy toy here?

Singles Match for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship
Santos Escobar (c) (with Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza) def. Gran Metalik (with Lince Dorado)

When I heard that this match was announced, I got really excited as I thought that we would have a sleeper hit on our hands if these two guys got enough time to showcase what they are made of. It's no secret that I enjoyed Escobar's work when he was in Lucha Underground as King Cuerno, but just haven't seen nothing from him here that makes me care in the least. It's the same thing with Gran Metalik. When I saw him in the Cruiserweight Classic, he was one of my top favorites in that tournament, along with Kota Ibushi (of course). Then WWE signed the guy and he's been booked like utter shit in this company. This match did neither one of these guys any favors.

Every single one of these title defenses for Escobar goes the same way. Babyface works from underneath, with Escobar's goons getting involved at some point to make the excuse for a big dive into everyone huddled up at ringside (I'm getting to the point that I'm starting to loathe that spot in 2021 from how much it's been whored out lately), and Escobar sneaks the win to retain. Seriously, why the fuck should I goddamn care about Legado del Phantasma? NXT does absolutely nothing to make me care about those guys. Nine times out of ten, I change the channel when they come out here. Tonight was a special exception. The only solace here was that it wasn't the 2,000th match against Isisah "Swerve" Scott or Breezango.

Singles Match
Xia Li (with Boa) def. Katrina Cortez

For the past few months of 2020, Xia Li and Bao have been part of some strange vignettes where they were forced for some bizarre martial arts training by the tutelage of mysterious, yet punishing master. For weeks, I was begging for them to get to the point of all of these violent torture-themed vignettes. Tonight, we get to see the fruits of these labors - at least with Xia Li anyway. They set their master down in a throne on the entrance ramp where she can watch the match play out like Shao Khan in Mortal Kombat. I didn't get the sense of her presence here. Maybe they should have called Catrina and Mil Muertes to pull that feat off instead. That shit was fucking amazing at the start of Lucha Underground Season 2.

All jokes aside though, I was fan of Xia Li's in-ring work since her debut in the Mae Young Classic. Her problem was always that she lacked any sort of gimmick or storyline. It's amazing that she has that degree of talent in WWE's developmental system, yet doesn't have many joshi women to work with outside of Io Shirai to practice it properly. Xia Li's strikes always looked devastating; I dare say hers are up there with Asuka's in terms of legitimatcy.

As for this match, it was simply a squash to get the ball rolling on this new direction for Xia's gimmick/character. If this gets her closer towards the NXT Women's Championship then I'm all for it. It should be noted that Katrina Cortez is new trademarked name for Catalina Garcia.

I still have no idea who is their master. Rumors floating around saying that it's Karen Q that they signed from Ring of Honor a while back since they were initially billed as a tag team before COVID-19 pretty much killed their house show loops. My guess is that they are saving that spot for Saree/Sari Fujimura (one of Kyoko Inoue's students) that they signed from Stardom/Sendai Girls, wherever COVID-19 settles down and she's allowed to travel outside of Japan and move to the Capitol Wrestling Center/Performance Center full-time.

Last Woman Standing Match
Raquel González (with Dakota Kai) def. Rhea Ripley

It's no secret that I watch NXT and AEW Dynamite at the same time with both my tablet and TV going at the same time. It was borderline disrespectful that AEW put on Hiraku Shida's Women's title defense against Abadon at the same time as this match. In comparison to the powerhouse match that opened this show, this was definitely the better of the two, even though I have grown bored with this feud between Rhea Ripley and Raquel Gonzalez over the last few weeks. If this match was truly Rhea's swansong to the NXT brand, then I tip my hat to her for this performance. This was the win that Raquel desperately needed to further establish her as another powerhouse female on that NXT Women's roster.

Rhea and Raquel beat the hell out of each other from bell to bell, ending with what looked like a Riptide (Pumphandle Slam Powerbomb through the entrance ramp). If that wasn't enough, Rhea had already speared Raquel through the glass double doors backstage and stuffed Dakota Kai into a locker like it was high school gym class to pretend her from interfering.

I don't know what these people are thinking if Raquel Gonzalez isn't the next person to challenge and possibly win that NXT Women's Championship from Io Shirai. Don't forget that she pinned Shirai during War Games to win the match for her team.

Mixed Tag Team Match
Kushida and Shotzi Blackheart def. The Way (Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae) (with Austin Theory and Indi Hartwell)

I'm all for Kushida getting a proper push on NXT, especially for the North American Championship since Gargano sure as hell doesn't need it, but the addition of this match felt like filler just to waste time when it could have been given to the main event instead. I will admit that I'm slowly warming up to The Way's antics, but they didn't need to be shoehorned into this match.

I know it had to suck for Austin Theory to get that airsoft projectile shot directly at his junk too. He deserves a kick to the balls if all of those accusations against him last year during #SpeakingOut hold any merit too. I like Shotzi Blackheart as a person, but I'm starting to get annoyed at how much her character is forced down our throats on this program from week to week. NXT books like they only have the same 3-5 women on that roster as part of their women's division. She's pretty average in the ring, especially when compared to the fact that they have a roster of so many talented women that they are barely using or not at all at the Performance Center.

This last minute booking here made for an easily forgettable match. I could easily see why this match and the segment before it was cut out of the Hulu version this show.

Singles Match for the NXT Championship
Finn Bálor (c) def. Kyle O'Reilly by submission

This was another hard-hitting affair between Balor and O'Reilly, but I didn't think this was as good as their previous match at TakeOver. They did have a few interesting spots here, such as O'Reilly using his mouth for the rope break and Balor immediately kicking the ropes to possibly break his jaw in the process. That proved to be the tale of the tape as this match went on as Balor continued working over O'Reilly's jaw until he was forced to submit. I didn't think their previous bout deserved to be named NXT Match of the Year either, but it was definitely in the Top 5. WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov was easily the best thing to come out either NXT brand, but NXT had an angle to build off with O'Reilly winning one of those placques for Finn to hand to him personally face-to-face to setup this match.

At this point, I'm starting to wonder whether or not Finn Balor is overstaying his welcome on this version of NXT when we have still been robbed of the Balor vs. WALTER match from WrestleMania weekend last year over on the NXT UK brand. Where does O'Reilly go from here? It seemed like they were setting him up for a possible run with the championship when Cole and Strong announced themselves as part of the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. As for Balor, I guess they want to do Balor against Pete Dunne next since they have been teasing that for a few weeks now since Pat McAfee is off the table for a few months. That's another match I'm not going to complain about seeing as I'm sure it's going to be great.

Closing Thoughts

One of the biggest tidbits of news to come out of this show was the announcement of a Women's Tag Team version of the Dusty Tag Team Classic. I don't see how WWE is going to pull that feat off when they barely know what to do with the Women's Tag Team titles as a whole and they barely have enough women to stretch for all three brands' women's divisions. NXT have a lot of women that they haven't even debuted on television or barely use at all, so I guess they will make half-assed teams out of those women. In either case, I can't say that I'm excited over the idea here. It just seems like a knee jerk reaction to IMPACT Wrestling bringing back their Knockout Tag Team Championships. The major difference between their women's division and NXT's is that they don't have their women in randomly paired teams. All of their pairings have been established for months or rather years on end from their various storylines.

Out of the two shows that were going on live as part of these Wednesday Night Wars, AEW definitely put on the better of two shows. Even though this was a special episode of NXT on par with a TakeOver event in terms of the stacked card, I can't say that this show was on par with a TakeOver special. Most of these matches left me feeling either bored or causing me to go "That's it?" by the time it was all said and done.

I don't know what's been going on with NXT since the tailend of 2019, but they really need to get their act together. I used to be excited to watch NXT every week, but now it feels like as much of a chore to watch as the other two brands of WWE programming and that's not good.

REVIEW -- Batwoman (Season 1 - Episodes 1-20)

Batwoman is an American superhero television series developed by Caroline Dries. It is based on the DC Comics character Batwoman and shares continuity with the other television series in the Arrowverse. The series premiered on The CW on October 6, 2019, and is primarily filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with location filming in Chicago, Illinois. In the first season, Batwoman follows Kate Kane overcoming her demons and past to become Gotham City's new symbol of hope as the vigilante Batwoman.

In May 2018, it was announced that Batwoman would appear in "Elseworlds", the Arrowverse series' 2018 crossover, with an announcement two months later that a series centered on the character was in development from Dries. Ruby Rose was cast as Kate Kane in August of the same year. In January 2019, the series received a pilot order from The CW, to be considered for a series order in the 2019–20 television season. The show was picked up to series in May 2019 and in October 2019 a full season of 22 episodes was ordered. Production on the first season ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the first season with only 20 episodes.

In January 2020, The CW renewed the series for a second season, which is set to premiere on January 17, 2021. In May 2020, Rose had exited the series, and two months later, Javicia Leslie was cast as Ryan Wilder, a new character that is set to take up the position of Batwoman.

Cast:

Main

Ruby Rose as Kate Kane / Batwoman (season 1)

Gracyn Shinyei portrays a younger Kate.

Rachel Skarsten as Beth Kane / Alice

Ava Sleeth portrays a younger Beth.

Skarsten also portrayed an alternate version of Beth who was displaced from her native Earth during "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and appeared on Earth-Prime. This version did not get lost during the car accident.

Meagan Tandy as Sophie Moore
Nicole Kang as Mary Hamilton
Camrus Johnson as Luke Fox
Camrus Johnson also portrays his Earth-99 counterpart.
Elizabeth Anweis as Catherine Hamilton-Kane (season 1)
Dougray Scott as Jacob Kane

LaMonica Garrett also stars on "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two" as Mar Novu / Monitor, a multiversal being who tests different Earths in the multiverse in preparation for an impending "crisis" orchestrated by his polar opposite, Mobius / Anti-Monitor.

Recurring

Introduced in season one

Greyston Holt as Tyler
Brendon Zub as Chuck Dodgson
Rachel Maddow as the voice of Vesper Fairchild
Gabriel Mann as Tommy Elliot / Hush
Warren Christie portrays Elliot in the guise of Bruce Wayne.
Brianne Howey as Reagan
Rachel Matthews as Margaret "Margot" / Magpie
Christina Wolfe as Julia Pennyworth
Sam Littlefield as Jonathan "Johnny" Cartwright / Mouse

Nicholas Holmes portrays a younger Johnny.
John Emmet Tracy as August Cartwright

Sebastian Roché provides the face and performance for Dr. Ethan Campbell

* WARNING: FULL SPOILERS!!! *

Episode Summaries:

Episode 1: "Pilot"

Three years after the disappearance of Gotham City-based vigilante Batman, Jacob Kane and his private security firm the Crows preside over a gala led by Mayor Michael Akins to turn off the Bat-Signal. At the height of the festivities, Alice and the Wonderland Gang crash the event and abduct Crows operative Sophie Moore, prompting Jacob's stepdaughter Mary to call his biological daughter, Kate. Returning from overseas, Kate learns Alice is targeting her father and sets out to locate her cousin, billionaire Bruce Wayne. She discovers, however, that Bruce is Batman, who she blamed for failing to save her sister and mother after they died in a car crash. Realizing there's more to the story, she dons her cousin's Batsuit, altered by Wayne Enterprises employee Luke Fox, before rescuing Sophie and foiling Alice's plan to detonate a bomb in a crowded park. The next day, as the news reports on what they believe is Batman's return, Kate begins to suspect Alice is her sister, Beth.

Episode 2: "The Rabbit Hole"

Kate's growing suspicions about Alice's identity drive a wedge between her and Jacob, who firmly believes Beth is dead based on the evidence. While trying to get Alice's favorite knife tested for DNA, she comes under attack from a group of thugs that manage to steal it back. Deducing one of Alice's injured men used Mary's secret clinic, Kate frees him to give Alice a message. Kate then asks Sophie to buy her time while she meets with Alice, who refuses to directly admit she is Beth, but agrees to provide a DNA sample. Sophie tells Jacob where to find them, resulting in Alice being transported to Arkham Asylum. Alice tells Kate she tasked her boyfriend, ex-Crows agent Dodgson, with killing Mary; prompting Kate to save her before rescuing Alice from a bomb intended to kill her before both Kate and Alice escape from the police. Meanwhile, Kate's stepmother, Catherine, orders the thugs she tasked with stealing Alice's knife to destroy it. After interrogating Dodgson, Kate finds a parcel containing a live bat and a note from Alice that implies she knows her identity.

Episode 3: "Down Down Down"

Bruce's former childhood friend, Thomas Elliot, leaves Kate an invitation to a gala celebrating the purchase of the building overlooking Wayne Tower. Around the same time, a railgun designed to penetrate the Batsuit is stolen from a Wayne Enterprises facility. Kate correctly infers that Elliot is the thief, having learned Bruce's true identity and intends to kill Batman for saving his mother years earlier, delaying his inheritance. When he takes hostages to force Batman out, Kate confronts him in a modified suit, adopting the persona of Batwoman as she rescues the hostages and disables the railgun. Alice subdues Elliot to save a cornered Batwoman, but they part on less than amicable terms while the Crows take Elliot to Arkham Asylum. Elsewhere, Sophie finds herself pondering her relationship with Kate, but dismisses them after enter a relationship with a bartender, Reagan. Catherine finds playing cards left by Alice in her bedroom, demanding Jacob deal with her despite his concerns that she might be Beth. Gotham publicly learns about Batwoman.

Episode 4: "Who Are You?"

Kate's relationship with Reagan complicates her efforts to catch jewel thief Magpie, who has stolen Martha Wayne's necklace, and puts her newfound status as Gotham's protector in question. When Dodgson develops an infection during his captivity, Batwoman drops him off with Mary for treatment. While he is drugged with morphine, Mary impersonates Alice and gets him to reveal part of her plan: a mysterious figure named Mouse. After getting the necklace back, Batwoman foils Magpie's latest heist at a museum gala; allowing the Crows to arrest her and take her to Blackgate Penitentiary. Recognizing that she cannot be in an honest relationship, Kate breaks up with Reagan. To provide a cover for her vigilantism, Kate sets up a company to buy dilapidated buildings and turn them into low-cost housing with Luke as her assistant. Meanwhile, Alice meets with Catherine at Beth's grave and demands she turn over an experimental weapon; threatening to tell Jacob the truth about Beth. Catherine confesses to Jacob that she used a deer skull in place of Beth's, causing him to storm out.

Episode 5: "Mine Is a Long and a Sad Tale"

Alice is linked to a series of skin thefts in Gotham, so Kate captures her and gives her the chance to explain herself, while also leaving Jacob and Sophie a trail to follow. The sisters travel to the rural area where Beth was last seen. A series of flashbacks show Beth being rescued from drowning and subsequently being held captive by a man who wants her to be a companion for his disfigured son, Jonathan Cartwright, who will later become Mouse. Catherine tells Mary the truth about her deception and she storms into Wayne Enterprises in a drunken stupor. Luke calms her by letting her assist with his skin theft investigation, learning that they are connected to several escaped Arkham prisoners. Alice drugs Kate and locks her in Mouse's home. When Jacob and Sophie show up after subduing Dodgson and the Wonderland Gang members with him, Alice stabs her father. Kate escapes, takes Mouse captive with Sophie's help, and forces him and Alice to leave. Jacob recovers, but now fully accepts that Alice is Beth. Alice promises Mouse, who she calls her "brother", that she will help him become whoever he wants to be.

Episode 6: "I'll Be Judge, I'll Be Jury"

A vigilante calling himself the "Executioner" begins targeting law enforcement and judicial officials he deems to be corrupt. Alice has Mouse impersonate one of Catherine's researchers to steal the weapon she refused to turn over. However, Alice convinces him not to as she still needs him for an upcoming tea party. When he discovers it was intended to kill Batwoman, he feels betrayed and confronts Alice; believing she wants to protect her sister. Sophie deduces Batwoman's identity, but is injured by the Executioner during his latest attack; forcing Kate to take her to Mary. A flash drive is located, which proves the Executioner's claims to be true. This upsets Luke, as he fears it would allow his father, Lucius', killer to request a re-trial. Sophie escapes, but not before Mary urges her not to reveal Batwoman's identity. Jacob manages to kill the Executioner, only to be caught in one of his traps. After Batwoman saves him, he tells her he was wrong to blame Batman for what happened to Beth and his wife.

Episode 7: "Tell Me the Truth"

Kate runs into her old friend, Julia Pennyworth, while on the trail of a professional assassin called "The Rifle". Sophie threatens to tell Jacob Kate's identity unless she ceases her vigilantism. The Rifle meets with Alice and hands over a mysterious vial as he mentions his boss Safiyah. Kate invites Sophie to a local restaurant, where their show of affection upsets the homophobic owner. When they leave, Sophie confesses that Jacob was the one who convinced her to end their relationship, putting her on the path to where she is now. Catherine goes to see Jacob, who reluctantly agrees to hold off filing for divorce. Julia poses as Batwoman so Kate can trick Sophie, but winds up captured by the Crows when the Rifle ambushes her. Kate breaks her out and Sophie concludes that she was wrong. Nevertheless, Kate tells her it's best they stop seeing each other. After purchasing a space, Kate and Mary open a gay bar. Jacob meets with Alice, revealing himself as Mouse, while the Rifle leaves for the Mediterranean with Julia in pursuit as the real Jacob returns from upstate. Alice puts the next stage of her plan in action.

Episode 8: "A Mad Tea-Party"

Alice has Jacob abducted while Mouse sequesters Sophie and Tyler as her plan unfolds. On Alice's orders, disguised Wonderland Gang members replace the security detail assigned to protect Gotham's Humanitarian Ball, where Catherine is to be awarded. Alice rewrites her speech, making her confess to numerous crimes before collapsing. Alice tells a captured Catherine and Mary they have been poisoned by a toxin developed by the former's company and there is only enough antidote for one. Catherine compels Mary to take it, expressing how proud of her she is before she dies. As Batwoman neutralizes the Wonderland Gang, she nearly strangles Alice in anger upon learning of her actions. However Mouse, disguised as Jacob, stuns Batwoman to exfil Alice. Jacob awakes to find himself framed for Catherine's death and arrested by Commissioner Forbes. Furious that Kate chose to believe in Alice, Mary is left devastated by her mother's death. Tired of doubting, Tyler asks Sophie to decide whether she loves him or Kate. As Kate visits Jacob, both agree Alice is beyond saving and must be stopped. Meanwhile in Central City, Nash Wells uncovers a wall of symbols before a blinding light pulls him inside.

Episode 9: "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two"

To aid the heroes, Harbinger recruits Earth-74's Mick Rory and his Waverider. After Oliver Queen's death, the Monitor consults the Book of Destiny and learns of seven Paragons. Two are Sara Lance and Kara Danvers, but to find two more, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Iris West-Allen must locate a Superman who has suffered "more than any mortal man" while Kate and Kara search for the "Bat of the Future". Complicated by Lex Luthor stealing the Book in order to kill Supermen across the multiverse. When he finds Earth-96's Superman at the same time as Clark's team, he forces the Kryptonians to fight each other until Lois stops him. Meanwhile, Kate and Kara locate Earth-99's Bruce Wayne, an aged killer, but fail to convince him to join them. A heated confrontation erupts wherein Bruce is accidentally electrocuted. Elsewhere, Sara, Barry Allen, Mia Smoak, and John Constantine take Oliver's body to a Lazarus Pit to resurrect him; but it fails to work. Back on the Waverider, Ray Palmer builds a "Paragon detector", which identifies Kate as the "Bat of the Future". Unbeknownst to everyone, Harbinger is approached by the Anti-Monitor. This episode continues a crossover event that begins on Supergirl season 5 episode 9, continues on The Flash season 6 episode 9 and Arrow season 8 episode 8, and concludes on Legends of Tomorrow's special episode.

Episode 10: "How Queer Everything Is Today!"

Following Catherine's death and Jacob's arrest, Mary tries to find an expert to testify in Jacob's defense and continues to distance herself from Kate while Sophie takes command of the Crows. After Batwoman saves a hacked train from crashing, the perpetrator demands a large sum of money as ransom or they will release all of Gotham's secrets online. Luke tracks the culprit to Gotham Prep, where Batwoman learns it was a lesbian student named Parker Torres, who was outed to her heteronormative parents by an ex-girlfriend and hoped to leave Gotham with the blackmail money. Alice breaks into the school, abducts Parker, and forces Batwoman to unmask herself to Parker or else she will murder her. She also threatens the school with a bomb and attempts to force Parker to out Batwoman's identity, but Parker contacts the Crows and GCPD instead, who evacuate the building and arrest Alice. Afterwards, Kate offers Parker emotional support and reconciles with Mary. Batwoman later comes out as a lesbian superhero in an interview with Kara. Jacob has encounters with a tough inmate named Reggie Harris. When she returns to Wayne Tower, Kate meets a doppelgänger of Beth, who happily greets her.

Episode 11: "An Un-Birthday Present"

In flashbacks, Beth was shown to have an improving friendship with Mouse, but his father August Cartwright did not approve and got her involved in his latest project. In the present, Kate tries to clear things up with the second Beth; who got displaced from her Earth following the Crisis. To free Alice, Mouse kidnaps Commissioner Forbes' and Mayor Akins' sons before he and the Wonderland Gang intercept Kate before she can become Batwoman. Using a code Kate and Sophie learned, Sophie refuses to yield to Mouse's demands. In an attempt to fool Alice, Luke and Mary disguise the second Beth as Alice to buy Kate time to break free. When "Alice" does not use the proper code, Mouse captures her. Kate breaks free, subdues the Wonderland Gang, and injures Mouse before rescuing the hostages. Alice gets out before she can be taken to Arkham, telling Sophie she has her own demons to deal with. With Mouse under heavy guard in the ICU, protestors appear outside GCPD, demanding they light the Bat-Signal as Batwoman arrives. Later, Kate celebrates her birthday with Luke, Mary, and Beth. Suddenly, both Beth and Alice simultaneously suffer from migraines.

Episode 12: "Take Your Choice"

Sophie and Jacob petition Dr. Campbell for his testimony, who agrees if he can examine Mouse. Alice visits Mouse and learns of her doppelgänger as she continues to suffer from migraines. When she meets her in Wayne Tower, Beth theorizes that only one of them can be saved. Remembering that Mary's blood has the "cure-all" antidote, Alice attacks her at her clinic to save herself, but Mary leaves Alice handcuffed to a clinic bed and escapes to give her blood to Kate so she can save Beth. Meanwhile, Jacob is attacked by Dodgson, then saved by Reggie, who expects him to repay him before the other prisoners find out. Campbell visits Mouse in the ICU, revealing himself as August. Exfiltrating Mouse posed as a guard, August leaves him bound in an unknown location so he can target Alice. After giving Beth the blood sample, Kate attends to a weakened Alice while Luke gets Beth away from the Crows. Though Sophie follows, ready to kill Beth, she chooses to call for an arrest. August snipes Beth instead, mistaking her for Alice, allowing Alice herself to quickly recover and knock out Kate.

Episode 13: "Drink Me"

With the truth of Catherine's murder disclosed, Jacob is cleared of all charges and regains control of the Crows. At night, people are targeted by a vampire named Nocturna. When Batwoman finds her latest victim, Nocturna stuns her with ketamine before taking a sample of her blood. Sophie helps Batwoman before the Crows find her; advising her to keep her distance. Mary treats Kate before the latter works with Jacob to draw out Nocturna. After speaking with Kate, Alice replaces the missing Mouse with a mannequin before she is attacked by Nocturna. Using facial recognition, Luke recognizes Nocturna as Natalia Knight, who suffers from porphyria. Kate finds Alice just as Nocturna attacks Mary. Alice donates her blood to save Mary before Kate confronts Nocturna and defeats her with a forensic UV light. Jacob confronts Sophie after viewing footage of her helping Batwoman and implores her to pick a side before suspending her until further notice. Mary remembers finding ketamine in Kate's system, and realizes she is Batwoman while Alice realizes Campbell is actually August. Kate visits Sophie by the Bat-Signal and they share a kiss.

Episode 14: "Grinning from Ear to Ear"

In flashbacks, Duela Dent struggles with making her face look "normal," so she smashes a mirror and uses its shards to cut her face. In the present, Duela targets social media influencers. Still suspended, Sophie's mother visits her. Upon learning of her current relationship issues however, she leaves disappointed. August hooks up Mouse to a fear toxin canister and tells him he killed Alice. While investigating Duela, Batwoman determines her next target, Myrtle, and narrowly saves the girl's mother after Duela attacks her. Following this, Luke discovers Myrtle changed her name to Veronica May and Duela's victims were all connected to Dr. Campbell. Batwoman and Sophie later find Duela just as she is to drop Veronica in acid. While Batwoman rescues the latter, Sophie subdues the former and leaves her for the police. However, Alice gets to Duela first and steals her face so she can kidnap Dr. Campbell and reveal she knows his true identity. Meanwhile, as Luke feared, Reggie's lawyer, Bobby Reeves, visits him to establish his client's re-trial date in light of new evidence. Amidst this, Jacob finds himself questioning the circumstances behind Lucius' death.

Episode 15: "Off with Her Head"

In flashbacks, Gabi Kane gave her daughters necklaces that matched her earrings. During her time with August, Beth endured torments from his mother Mabel, her "Queen of Hearts". Taking notice of Mabel's earrings, she traced them to a locked refrigerator containing Gabi's head. In retaliation, Beth turned Mabel's oxygen tank into a makeshift flamethrower. In the present, Batwoman finds a bound August near the Bat-Signal and alerts Jacob, who is unwilling to alert the police after what Forbes did to him. When he asks about the second Beth, Kate claims she was a "skin thief" to hide her true nature while Luke and Mary track down her killer. Meanwhile, Alice finds Mouse and frees him, but he hooks her up to the canister and flees, believing she's his greatest fear. Under the effects of the fear toxin, Alice hallucinates a zombified Mabel tormenting her before she breaks free. Jacob arrives soon after while looking for Mouse and uses adrenaline to save her before arresting her. Incensed by what August did to Beth and her mother, Kate accidentally strangles him, much to Jacob's dismay as he returns with Alice.

Episode 16: "Through the Looking-Glass"

As Jacob buries August's body, Alice escapes with his gun. She returns to the Wonderland Gang hideout hoping to find Mouse, only to find her gang murdered and a threatening note from Safiyah. She convinces Kate to help her find Mouse, promising to leave Gotham afterwards. They visit a nurse who treated Mouse, only to find the Crows taking him to Arkham. Following a disagreement and fight, Kate agrees to help Alice break him out. They retrieve Mouse's cell key from Dr. Butler, but when Alice goes to free him, Kate locks her in; revealing she was part of a sting operation with Jacob to capture her. Meanwhile, Jacob instructs Sophie to investigate Lucius' death after hearing of Reggie's re-trial. A sniper nearly kills her, but Julia saves her. Luke and Mary attend Reggie's court hearing, where he is granted his re-trial and released. Luke confronts him, but Reggie claims he was set up before he gets shot. Sophie later informs Jacob that two people connected to Lucius' case have turned up dead before the hitman nearly kills him. He defeats him, but the hitman dies from his injuries before he can be interrogated.

Episode 17: "A Narrow Escape"

Struggling with having killed August, Kate does not suit up for a week. Meanwhile, a past criminal called the Detonator resurfaces; placing people in bomb vests. Kate confronts George Adler, who confirms his deceased father was the original Detonator. Reeves falls victim next, so he contacts the Crows, who work with the GCPD to evacuate Mary's clinic. After Kate rescues Mary, she reveals she knows Batwoman's identity. When Jacob becomes the Detonator's latest target, Kate realizes that Crows agent Robles is responsible. Batwoman intercepts him and learns he is typing up loose ends concerning Lucius' murder and that the latest bomb is in Wayne Enterprises' underground parking garage. There, Batwoman discovers that Robles was paid by Elliot to get Lucius' journals, leading to his accidental death and Reggie being framed. Luke overhears and Kate stops him from taking vengeance, admitting that she killed August. Luke places the building on lockdown, limiting the blast radius. Jacob reinstates Sophie while Julia is transferred to the Crows. Meanwhile, Alice and Mouse, disguised as Butler, decide to take over Arkham to keep themselves safe from Safiyah.

Episode 18: "If You Believe in Me, I'll Believe in You"

Batwoman plans to go after Lucius' journal, which is currently being held by Elliot's associate, Johnny Sabatino. With Luke's assistance in the Batcave, Kate and Julia infiltrate Sabatino's club, only to get captured. In response, Luke is forced to ask Mary for help in rescuing them. Meanwhile, Alice agrees to give Elliot a new face in exchange for the journal and to keep the Crows from putting him on trial. As Sabatino refuses to give up the journal however, Alice sends Magpie to retrieve it while she and Mouse work on Elliot's new face. The Crows later visit Arkham and find what appears to be Elliot hanged in his cell. As Julia is being tortured, Sabatino auctions off the chance to kill Batwoman. However, Mary frees Batwoman while Julia frees herself before they defeat the criminals and retrieve Lucius' journal before Magpie. After meeting Reagan at the club, Kate has a one-night stand with her, only to find the journal missing the next morning. Elsewhere, Reagan gives it to Magpie, who in turn gives it to Alice. While pouring over the journal however, she and Mouse discover it has been written in code.

Episode 19: "A Secret Kept from All the Rest"

Kate storms Reagan's apartment and learns who she gave the journal to. Taking up the identity of Hush, Elliot abducts members of Gotham's Intelligentsia to decipher the journal on Alice's behalf and kills them when they fail to. He nearly abducts Parker, but Batwoman interferes; forcing him to escape. In response, Alice sends Hush after Luke and Julia. With help from Mary and Parker, Batwoman confronts Alice and offers Lucius' glasses in exchange for their safety. Once she gets what she needs from the journal, Alice releases Arkham's inmates and destroys Mouse's disguise before escaping into the tunnels. Following the incident, Jacob warns Batwoman that a war will start between her and the Crows should she ever resurface. Julia tells Kate that she was after the book for the Rifle's boss, Safiyah Sohail, but called off the deal after learning what it does. In the sewers, Alice continues reading through the journal and orders her associates to procure Kryptonite.

Episode 20: "O, Mouse!"

Jacob and Batwoman confront Arkham escapee Tim "The Titan" Teslow, only to be defeated. Mouse shows Alice a mobile app developed for people to send alerts to the Crows. After learning that Kryptonite can pierce the Batsuit, Luke shows Kate a shard of Kryptonite that Bruce had; intent on destroying it before it falls into the wrong hands. Batwoman meets with Tim's brother, Apollo, to warn him, but Tim attacks and kills him. Mary lights the Bat-Signal to get Jacob's attention and convince him to call a truce with Batwoman to stop Tim. Alice kills Mouse when he begins to affect her plans. Batwoman and the Crows lure Tim to Gotham Stadium, but just as she reasons with him, the Crows kill Tim and Jacob reneges on the truce; forcing Batwoman to flee. At the Crows' headquarters, Jacob reaffirms his desire to take down Batwoman while Sophie learns about Safiyah from Julia. Kate shows Luke and Mary the Kryptonite in her possession, entrusted to her by Supergirl. Alice finishes Elliot's new face, making him resemble Bruce Wayne.

The Verdict:

I remember reading the news of this series coming to a reality after being rumored for a long time and thinking it may be an interesting concept. Then I heard the casting news about Ruby Rose being lined up for the lead role and I wasn't too thrilled about that news. Look, I never saw the big deal about her when she was a cast regular in Orange is the New Black or one of the new cast members on one of the many Resident Evil movies, but I did understand that it was important to cast someone to properly identify with the LGBTQ community with this character.

When the series finally debuted on the CW, I remember watching the first two episodes on the CW app since my satellite provider stopped carrying the CW as part of the local networks on the broadcasting package I was paying for, so I was like whatever. It started off a little too "safe" for my taste as I wasn't really drawn to this character from her performance in the "Elseworlds" crossover the year prior. Don't get me wrong. I loved Batwoman/Kate Kane and The Question/Renee Montoya's romance in the New 52 novel that I read back in college. It was the same book that kindled my fondness for Black Adam and Isis' pairing. The turn off for me here off the bat was the whole notion that Bruce Wayne went missing and no one really bats an eye in Gotham City. It seems like a complete copout and lazy writing as a poor excuse that "Sorry, we currently don't have the rights to that character..." much like Superman being limited to text messages and instant messaging in the first season of Supergirl. To the show's credit, they won me over by the end of the third episode.

As much credit people will give Ruby Rose for laying the foundation for this show in terms of LGBTQ representation, I have to tip my hat to Rachel Skarsten for carrying this season on her back from start to finish as Alice. This entire season is essentially about Alice falling deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole so to speak. Rachel Skarsten's performance as this villain is comparable to Tom Cavanagh's Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash in The Flash on this same network that is just impressive from every scene she's in.

Rachel Skarsten owns this show as this character. Without her in that role, it would have been very unlikely that I would have stuck with this for the entire 20 episodes.

Alice is introduced as Batwoman's Jokeresque villain to serve as this season's primary antagonist until it's quickly revealed that her ties with Batwoman are deeper. She's really Kate Kane's estranged sister, Beth, who was thought to be dead after going missing when they were children. One of the biggest head-scratchers from this season is that Kate mentions that Batman/Bruce Wayne was stumped on this case, but when the details of how she survived is revealed over the course of the season it just seems like Batman didn't try hard enough. That was the impression that I was given anyway.

Much like a lot of these CW DC Comics-based superhero TV dramas, Batwoman has a great supporting cast, ranging from Crows that enforce the law in their own militaristic means, led by Kate's own father, Jacob Kane, and Kate's ex-girlfriend, Sophie Moore, to Batwoman's team behind the scenes, Luke Fox (the deceased Lucius Fox's son who serves as Kate's tech support and genius behind her various gadgets) and Mary (Kate's step-sister from Jacob's second marriage, who runs an illegal medical practice in Gotham's underworld since she's still in med school).

Jacob Kane bottles up all of his hatred and anguish over losing Beth and points all of the blame onto Batman for failing to rescue his daughter during the night of the fateful accident that drove their family apart. He would come to realize that was a mistake when he was misdirecting the blame on anyone and everything except for himself. That doesn't stop his stubbornness to do things in his own way as he sees his Crows as superior to the corrupt Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) with shady cops accepting any and all bribes from Gotham's criminal underworld.

Both of them were in denial until this moment.

Sophie Moore, who works in the Crows as one of Jacob Kane's most trusted and loyal officer in his militaristic police regiment, is Kate's ex-girlfriend, but she quickly becomes one of Batwoman's harshest critics. By the end of the first season, she's one of her biggest supporters after seeing Jacob Kane's methods to be too extreme at times and that Gotham needs a symbol of hope like Batwoman in the absence of Batman. She's an interesting character on her own right, especially after surprising me when I thought she was going to be merely an easily forgettable love interest. Then again... I don't know why I was surprised when I could look at what these shows have done with similar love interests, such as Felicity Smoak and Iris West-Allen. For as much street smarts, intelligence, and a keen mind for detective work in general that Sophie Moore has, it's rather ironic that she finds herself stupified by so many "dangerous" women over the course of the season. First, Kate Kane, then Batwoman, Alice, and later Julia Pennyworth.

Luke Fox is no Cisco Ramon, but he serves as the peanut butter to the jelly of the sandwich that keeps their team working like a well-oiled machine. Kate Kane was made painfully aware that her crime-fighting exploits are neigh impossible without his contributions. A lot of his journey throughout this season is discovering the mystery behind his father's murder, but whether or not he can live up to his father's reputation as not only a genius inventor and confidant, but as a valuable ally to the Wayne family in general. To his credit, Luke raises to the occasion above and beyond the call of duty.

Julia Pennyworth is introduced as a British spy who just happens to be Alfred Pennyworth's daughter and another one of Kate's ex-lovers. Julia's return to Gotham City seems to be for more reasons than she's letting on as she has an ulterior for monitoring Batwoman's exploits. That being said, she's a charming addition to the cast when she makes her debut and seems to stand out in every scene that she's in. She serves as a rebound for Sophie after falling out with both Kate Kane, Batwoman, and her own family after coming out as a lesbian. For as charming and charismatic Julia is, she seems to have no qualms about using anyone and everyone around her to complete her goals. Her array of skills seem to imply that she's had much more training than she's letting on too. Due to the awkward and impromptu ending of this season, her character journey doesn't see any resolution outside of that Kate is onto her working as a mole within the Crows, but isn't aware that Julia's somehow tied with the mysterious Safiyah.

Catherine Hamilton is Kate's stepmother and biological mother of Kate's step-sister, Mary. I honestly didn't trust her right off the bat as she had just as much shady dealings as Niko's mother in Marvel's Runaways. Alice forces her hand via blackmail to confess to planting fake remains of Beth and causing Jacob Kane to quit looking for his missing daughter. Catherine had as much of a part to play into making Alice into the psychopath that she is as the rest of the Kane family for giving up the search. Not the mention that Catherine's company was developing biological and advanced weaponry for the highest bidders. She had a lot to answer for when all of her skeletons came falling out of the closet.

Mary Hamilton comes across as a prima donna and fashionista at first glance, but much like the rest of her family, she has a secret of her own. Batwoman stumbles onto her private clinic where she treats anyone in Gotham City unfortunate enough not to be able to afford their own proper healthcare, whether it be criminals from the shady underworld or mere innocent people from Gotham's populace. She only wishes to save lives, anyway that she can. At the start of the season, Kate keeps her at arms length, but as the season boils over, they bond as sisters should after Kate realizes that Mary isn't trying to replace Beth's memory in her heart, but to be a part of her life too. She joins with Luke as part of Batwoman's support team during the tail end of this season.

Speaking of Kate Kane, despite not being overly fond of Ruby Rose in general, I found myself indifferent to her portrayal of the character of Kate Kane in general. It's just that this show doesn't gives her enough "good" material to work with in the first place anyway. In those moments where it counts, Rose has a knack to convey Kate as a certified bad ass and in others, she's compassionate and empathetic to those around her. So I applaud Ruby Rose's performance in that regard. Everything else comes off stale and shallow. When Kate chose Beth from other Earth over Alice, you could read it all over Rose's face to convey how much Kate hated to be forced into that position to choose between lesser of two evils.

(Laughs) Seriously though... how fucked up is it that Kate doesn't "betray" or abandon Alice not once but at least THREE times over the course of this season though? Meanwhile, Alice has MULTIPLE chances to kill Kate/Batwoman but spares her EVERY.SINGLE.TIME, claiming it's for she could be the only one to spare her suffering when in reality, she can't let her sister go like Kate and the rest of her family did to her. It was that same sense of twisted logic that had me enamored with Alice more than what Batwoman was going to do by the time the season came to a close.

One of Kate's defining moments over the course of the entire season is the moment that she killed August Cartwright by strangling him to death. It was that pivotal moment that completely distanced herself from Bruce Wayne/Batman completely. The emotional turmoil that she put herself through over the next few episodes was uncanny to the point that it was affecting her health since she refused to suit up in the Batwoman costume after convincing herself that she was disrespecting what that symbol of the Dark Knight represented. It's one hell of a twist too and a constant dilemma with the clash of ideologies. Bruce Wayne never ended a life (at least not in this continuity as far as we know...) and Kate Kane did it with her own bare hands. Sure, she was manipulated into getting hysterical by Alice staging the ordeal, but at the end of the day, it was her own decision. One could argue that Kate deserves to be locked up just like every other criminal and murderer in Gotham City. What was even more powerful was Kate's confession to Luke when he was about to do the same thing to the man who murdered his father. Kate didn't want the kindest and gentle soul that she knew to go down the same dark path that she did and lost Alice down to the rabbit hole in. It's moments like this that serve as the few bright spots in this season.

Since the titular protagonist of this show is obviously lesbian, the CW used this show as a platform to bombard the narrative with a lot of pandering to LGBTQ viewers as a marketing agenda. I'm not saying that's a problem as that's the key demographic/main audience that this show is being marketed towards, but it comes across as forced at times (like a LOT of these CW shows) when the entire core plot is dropped at times for this show to literally hang up a bright neon sign that says, "LOOK WE HAVE GAYS ON OUR SHOW!!" In its defense though, this show handles this subject manner MUCH better than Supergirl did when her sister, Alex Danvers, came out as lesbian. Batwoman comes out to the public as lesbian after hearing the story of a teenage hacker and how her family completely rejected her for it. Later in the the same season, Sophie comes to grips about her own lesbian identity after juggling her feelings for her ex-girlfriend, Kate Kane, only to start a budding romance with Batwoman (after completely discarding that she could be Kate under the cape and cowl, even though she had thought she had it figured out early on) that only served to complicate things with her then-husband before they got divorced shortly thereafter. After hiding this sexual identity for so long and the lengths she went to hide it - throwing Kate Kane under the bus for she could maintain her military rank and position of power within the Crows, she came clean to her mother about everything, only to be shunned by her as well. That was some excellent writing on that episode. I could feel her slightly stereotypical black mother's disgust with her child about coming out and it pained me as a heterosexual viewer. I can't imagine that the LGBTQ viewers went through that episode with any dry eyes unless they were made of stone. When I wrote about the many things that I loved about Doom Patrol's unconventional storytelling, I mentioned how I liked how they explored Larry Trainer's homosexuality and how the story of hiding his identity tore his family apart, even before he was possessed and bonded to the energy being. When told well, these "coming out" stories make for some great character development/growth moments in these shows like this. Here, it feels natural in its storytelling than feeling like the network is merely fulfilling a checklist of demographics to market towards - something a lot of the other CW shows tend to be guilty of. Think about it... How many of these DC Comics-based superhero shows on the CW has a LGBTQ cast member, a token POC (person of color) character, and a strong female lead and/or supporting character? Almost ALL of them. It rarely feels natural either. Here, it doesn't feel as forced. Instead, it feels more natural more often than not. I applaud CW that they are learning how to convey the message(s) they want to share without shoving it down viewers' throats whether they like it or not.

I thought it was cool that Hush made an appearance this season, even though his costume looked like something straight out of Power Rangers though.

In terms of villains and action on this show, I thought the fight scenes weren't bad at all and it definitely kept me interested. I was a little surprised at some of the villain choices for this show (outside of the choice of Alice for the primary antagonist that I warmed up to quickly), but was pleasantly surprised to see that they found ways to make villains, such as Magpie, Duela Dent, Noctura, and Hush work in this continuity. Sadly, this show still falls into that "villain of the week" formula that the Arrowverse is known for across the board. We see Alice, Magpie, and Hush show up multiple times over the course of this season, but too many of these villains are one and done affairs.

I do want to mention that there's a few times that I was genuinely surprised at how bloody and violent that some of these scenes would get over the course of this season. It shows that this show wasn't afraid to push the envelope a bit to truly portray these adult-themed narratives and plot points. This is already another Batman show that is handicapped without Batman/Bruce Wayne in it, unlike it's predecessor Gotham, so it already has enough going against going in to begin with, so that was a nice nugget to have in its pocket. Even as I'm writing this review, I still feel like that the explanation for Bruce Wayne/Batman's absence was lazy as fuck and could have been done better. You would think that the CW would have learned from that mistake back with Superman's absence in the first season(s) of Supergirl!

It's narrative choices like that is where I had to draw the line at points during Batwoman. For everything they did great with the dynamic between Kate and Alice (from Kate desperately trying to reason with the sister that she thought she lost forever to Alice's multi-layered schemes to cause as much turmoil as possible for Kate, her loved ones, or the city that she's desperately trying to protect in Bruce's absence) or Kate's struggling to living up with the responsibility of being a symbol of good for Gotham City as a member of the Bat Family with the narrative over the course of this season, there's a lot of head-scratchers too, such as how did the other Beth continue to exist post-Crisis? I'm not even going to go into that entire crossover, but it was firmly established that the main Arrowverse universes were now interconnected. There shouldn't be anymore "doppelgangers from other Earths" from the Multiverse coming to the main Earth reality anymore. In hindsight, that narrative goof did give us the gift of allowing Rachel Skarsten to play Alice/Beth Kane from a completely different angle, so that was a plus. The whole subplot towards the end of the season concerning Lucius Fox's journal with encoded instructions of how to destroy the BatSuit was comically bad though. Even in the Nolan Batman films, it was established that Bruce Wayne was always improving onto Fox's original designs for his weapons and equipment, so why would a journal with precise instructions to destroy that specific model of the BatSuit worn by Bruce Wayne apply to Kate Kane's when Luke Fox made modifications and improvements to the design specifically for her? All of that was on the assumption that Fox's original designs were never tampered with nor modified in ANY capacity. It just seemed like a MacGuffin just to have a MacGuffin (or a hat on a hat) in there when nothing in that capacity was not really needed in the first goddamn place.

The finale of this season really suffered from not paying off the mystery of who in the hell is Safiyah and why does she have so many major players in Kate's life, including Alice is afraid of what she is capable of? We haven't even seen this chick and that's the biggest mystery coming out of the lackluster ending that this season ends prematurely on. I'll give them a small pass since no one had the foresight to see how long this COVID-19 epidemic was going to last, but they should have given viewers something else to chew on in terms of who is this character and why should we care.

Watch It or Don't Bother?

As it stands, this is a tough call. The first season ends abruptly at the end of it's initial 20 episode tenure without any real resolution for primary conflict(s) throughout this season. Hell, the ending creates more questions than answers. The news of Ruby Rose walking away from the role in the next season is rather alarming too. I binge-watched most of the season during the holidays over the stretch of a week and while I felt it had some ups and downs, I will applaud the show for holding my interest from start to finish. I want to see how they write off Ruby Rose's Kate Kane to make room for the new Batwoman in Season Two, Ryan Wilder (portrayed by newcomer, Javicia Leslie), while simultaneously finishing up the storyline between her and Alice/Beth. They better fucking deliver with this Safiyah character too, whoever the fuck she's supposed to be.

I doubt most other people will stick with this show for the long haul though, but those that do will be rewarded with some interesting takes on these characters. That being said, I can't honestly recommend this series for everyone since it took me at least 2-3 separate attempts to get into it. To its credit though, I thought Batwoman was a success in terms of centering the story entirely around a lesbian heroine with all of the baggage that comes with that. This was the first show of its kind within the superhero genre to tackle this subject manner. Some growing pains were to be expected before it found it's stride.

Method to Madness Has a New Home!

Night 1 (January 6)

Results

8-man Tag Team MatchThe Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) and SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) defeated The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster) and The Hybrid 2 (Angelico and Jack Evans)

Singles MatchWardlow defeated Jake Hager

Singles MatchCody Rhodes (with Snoop Dogg) defeated Matt Sydal

Singles Match for the AEW Women's World ChampionshipHikaru Shida (c) defeated Abadon

Singles Match for the AEW World ChampionshipKenny Omega (c) (with Don Callis) defeated Rey Fenix

Closing Thoughts

Night 2 (January 13)

Results

Singles MatchPac (with Lucha Brothers) def. Eddie Kingston (with The Butcher, The Blade, and The Bunny)

Singles MatchMiro (with Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford) def. Chuck Taylor (with Orange Cassidy) by submissionBecause Taylor lost, he will be Miro's butler until Sabian and Ford's wedding at Beach Break.

Six-man Tag Team MatchThe Elite (Kenny Omega, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) (with Don Callis) def. Danny Limelight and Varsity Blondes (Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison)

Tag Team MatchFTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) (with Tully Blanchard) def. Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt)

Singles Match for the NWA World Women's ChampionshipSerena Deeb (c) def. Tay Conti (with Anna Jay)

Singles Match for the AEW TNT ChampionshipDarby Allin (c) def. Brian Cage (with Ricky Starks and Hook)

Closing Thoughts

OVERALL THOUGHTS

GENERAL GAMEPLAY

MOVEMENT

WYVERN RIDE (New Monster Mounting Mechanic)

WEAPONS: HAMMER

WEAPONS: GUNLANCE

MONSTERS

GREAT IZUCHI

MIZUTSUNE

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Results:

Singles MatchKarrion Kross (with Scarlett) def. Damian Priest

Singles Match for the NXT Cruiserweight ChampionshipSantos Escobar (c) (with Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza) def. Gran Metalik (with Lince Dorado)

Singles MatchXia Li (with Boa) def. Katrina Cortez

Last Woman Standing MatchRaquel González (with Dakota Kai) def. Rhea Ripley

Mixed Tag Team MatchKushida and Shotzi Blackheart def. The Way (Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae) (with Austin Theory and Indi Hartwell)

Singles Match for the NXT ChampionshipFinn Bálor (c) def. Kyle O'Reilly by submission

Closing Thoughts

Cast:

Main

Recurring

Introduced in season one

*** WARNING: FULL SPOILERS!!! ***

Episode Summaries:

Episode 1: "Pilot"

Episode 2: "The Rabbit Hole"

Episode 3: "Down Down Down"

Episode 4: "Who Are You?"

Episode 5: "Mine Is a Long and a Sad Tale"

Episode 6: "I'll Be Judge, I'll Be Jury"

Episode 7: "Tell Me the Truth"

Episode 8: "A Mad Tea-Party"

Episode 9: "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two"

Episode 10: "How Queer Everything Is Today!"

Episode 11: "An Un-Birthday Present"

Episode 12: "Take Your Choice"

Episode 13: "Drink Me"

Episode 14: "Grinning from Ear to Ear"

Episode 15: "Off with Her Head"

Episode 16: "Through the Looking-Glass"

Episode 17: "A Narrow Escape"

Episode 18: "If You Believe in Me, I'll Believe in You"

Episode 19: "A Secret Kept from All the Rest"

Episode 20: "O, Mouse!"

The Verdict:

Watch It or Don't Bother?

8-man Tag Team Match
The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) and SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) defeated The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster) and The Hybrid 2 (Angelico and Jack Evans)

Singles Match
Wardlow defeated Jake Hager

Singles Match
Cody Rhodes (with Snoop Dogg) defeated Matt Sydal

Singles Match for the AEW Women's World Championship
Hikaru Shida (c) defeated Abadon

Singles Match for the AEW World Championship
Kenny Omega (c) (with Don Callis) defeated Rey Fenix

Singles Match
Pac (with Lucha Brothers) def. Eddie Kingston (with The Butcher, The Blade, and The Bunny)

Singles Match
Miro (with Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford) def. Chuck Taylor (with Orange Cassidy) by submission
Because Taylor lost, he will be Miro's butler until Sabian and Ford's wedding at Beach Break.

Six-man Tag Team Match
The Elite (Kenny Omega, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) (with Don Callis) def. Danny Limelight and Varsity Blondes (Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison)

Tag Team Match
FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) (with Tully Blanchard) def. Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt)

Singles Match for the NWA World Women's Championship
Serena Deeb (c) def. Tay Conti (with Anna Jay)

Singles Match for the AEW TNT Championship
Darby Allin (c) def. Brian Cage (with Ricky Starks and Hook)

Singles Match
Karrion Kross (with Scarlett) def. Damian Priest

Singles Match for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship
Santos Escobar (c) (with Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza) def. Gran Metalik (with Lince Dorado)

Singles Match
Xia Li (with Boa) def. Katrina Cortez

Last Woman Standing Match
Raquel González (with Dakota Kai) def. Rhea Ripley

Mixed Tag Team Match
Kushida and Shotzi Blackheart def. The Way (Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae) (with Austin Theory and Indi Hartwell)

Singles Match for the NXT Championship
Finn Bálor (c) def. Kyle O'Reilly by submission

* WARNING: FULL SPOILERS!!! *