Personally, I thought this would drag on forever, the whole Sophie not knowing about Ryan’s secret identity thing on The CW’s Batwoman. I thought there would be more back and forth between them, and I thought that it would culminate in an epic reveal that would change their relationship forever. None of those things happened in Batwoman‘s “Arrive Alive,” and instead of being disappointed, I’m kind of glad. Why? Because this isn’t Kate Kane’s Batwoman and Sophie. This is Ryan Wilder’s Batwoman and Sophie. And that distinction is important.
They are vastly different women that deserve more than regurgitated material. Ryan, who has been working her ass off to make a legacy she can be proud of, is still on her own path. She might wear the same cowl as Kate but her journey as Batwoman is not the same. So, it stands to reason that the reveal of who Ryan is would be different, too. The way that Sophie is processing this information also comes as a surprise, but a welcome one at that.
Sure, it happened accidentally. But that somehow makes it more interesting. Now Sophie gets to decide what she’s going to do with this information. Will she have Ryan’s back no matter what? What lengths will she go to in order to stop Agent Russell Tavaroff from running Ryan’s blood and finding out who she is? And how is it that no one else has found a drop of Ryan’s blood to test it out and find out the identity of Batwoman? We’ve got all the questions, and showrunner Caroline Dries has some answers.
Dries spoke with Entertainment Weekly and said the, “Oh, it’s incredibly dangerous that Russell Tavaroff, one of the Crows agents, has her DNA because the first thing he’s going to do in episode 12 is give it to the forensics team and say, ‘Please tell me whose DNA this is. And so in a way, thank God Sophie figured out that Ryan Wilder’s Batwoman because little does Ryan know that she’s got somebody on the inside who can be helping her out.”
Meagan Tandy, who plays Sophie and spoke with Entertainment Weekly as well, also had this to say about what Sophie is going to do now that she knows Ryan’s Batwoman secret: “But Sophie is actually working behind the scenes to make sure that that information is not revealed. So she doesn’t go into this mode of like, ‘Hey Ryan, why didn’t you tell me?’ Instead, it’s actually, she’s maintaining the partnership and secretly working behind the scenes to protect her.”
And honestly, I’m a little bit proud of Sophie. Correction, I’m a lot proud of Sophie. There were so many directions that she could’ve gone with this. She could’ve been angry, lashing out, or ended her relationship with Batwoman. But Dries and Tandy paint a more interesting picture of what’s to come on Batwoman now that Sophie is in on the secret. And we’ll get to see more of who Sophie is without her looking at everything through the lense of being a Crow.
The Sophie we’re going to see now is one who is concerned about her friend, because yes, Sophie and Ryan are friends. She’s going to help keep her secret, keep her safe, and see how long it will take before Ryan pieces together that Sophie knows. And personally, I’m here for this journey and whatever comes next for Batwoman and her merry group of friends.
(image: Bettina Strauss/The CW)
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