DC Surprises Fans With 'Batwoman'

Sunday night Batwoman had its series premiere on the CW. Despite this being the sixth entry into the CW’s ever-growing repertoire of superhero shows, commonly known as the Arrowverse, it’s a first for a number of reasons. It’s the first superhero show on the network to be led by someone queer: The character is gay. (Sara Lance on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow doesn’t count because, even as much as I love her, Legends is technically an ensemble show). So I really wanted to like the show, but I’ll be very frank, I didn’t think I was going to.

The root of my doubt is down to the marketing for this series, all of which featured the most simplistic and corny lines (and actions). One teaser showed Kate Kane (our Batwoman), played by Ruby Rose (Orange is the New Black) defiantly giving a homeless woman her watch when a nearby cop warns her against giving charity. Other frequently advertised trailers have the lines: “It will be, when it fits a woman,” and “I’m not about to let a man take credit for a woman’s work,” referring to the bat-suit. Another line in the trailer is “You’re a female Bruce Wayne.” It’s all just a little too on the nose, giving the impression that the show would rely on cringey and simplistic writing and plot. There is such a thing as too quotable. I prefer even my Arrowverse shows to have a little more nuance than that.

Many of the other shows are crazy, out-of-the-box creative (Legends) or have really smart writing (The Flash) or strong emotional beats (all of them). Would this one have that, or would it be as boiler plate-simple and cheesy as the trailers suggested? The one thing that gave me hope was the showrunner, Caroline Dries. Dries is known for her work on The Vampire Diaries, and as a long time Vampire Diaries fan, I had a lot of faith in her.