“Arrive Alive” is episode eleven of season two of Batwoman.
False Face Society are stealing supplies from Gotham Pharmaceutical and taking them to a lab where Black Mask and Angelique, kidnapped from the Crows in the previous episode, “Time Off for Good Behavior”, are waiting. Black Mask tells Angelique he would have never let her rot in jail; he needs her to make Snakebite.
Sophie fills Ryan in on the kidnapping as the latter arrives in the Batcave. Ryan wants details so she can help. How? Well, she’s Batwoman. She doesn’t say. Ryan says she knows Angelique best. Sophie wants her to leave it to the professionals. Ryan tells Luke who says False Face evidently want Angelique to stay in and cook for them, as the cars that ambushed her were part of a heist. They need one other ingredient to make Snakebite; Fear Toxin. Luke has flagged both cars in the city’s grid.
Three False Face cars are heading to a destination, using directions from a phone, by different routes when the Batmobile intercepts one. Ryan pulls the driver out and removes her mask, demanding to know where she’s going. The person under the mask, though, is Sophie, and she’s not happy. They caught the driver and Sophie took his place. The phones provide the location of Black Mask and the drop off info is only given after the pickup is complete. If you’re late, it aborts. The phone has erased and the location is lost.
Sophie arrives in Kane’s office. There’s another agent, Tavaroff, there, and Sophie explains what happened. After Tavaroff leaves, Kane tells Sophie she’s taking Angelique’s capture personally. He’s taking her off the case and putting Tavaroff in charge. Sophie starts saying that Kane has been a bit off – because he’s using Snakebite – but he snaps at her to leave. Sophie then heads to the Hold Up to fill Ryan in. She says Tavaroff will scorch the earth, including Angelique. She needs an undercover asset who can drive. Ryan suggests herself.
Mary has lent them her Porsche and wants it back without damage. You just know that’s not going to happen. Sophie explains what needs to be done. In order to get Ryan in without the Crows, Sophie has reached out to someone to help. Don’t worry, he’s trustworthy. He being Luke. Luke creates a false criminal history and spoofs a text message recommending Ryan as a driver. After Sophie leaves, Luke hands her a tracker for the Fear Toxin and a portable AI from the Batmobile. No, Ryan’s driving was not getting better.
Alice is in Dr Rhyme’s – Enigma – office when a patient comes in. He’s a new patient. Then Enigma herself comes, in apologising for being late, and Alice kills the patient. Enigma realises that Alice was working with Julia; Alice appreciates Enigma sending Julia on a long vacation. Because, in a profoundly stupid move, Julia confronted Rhyme – a person she already suspected of wiping her mind once – alone, with the only person knowing being Alice. Enigma assumes that Alice wants her memories of Ocean restoring. No; she wants her memories of Kate removing.
Alice tells Enigma that, though Kate is dead – which Enigma knows isn’t true – she lives on in Alice’s head. Alice wants her removing. Enigma warns against it; it could cause a radical change in her personality. She’s a monster, but rational one. Remove Kate and she could give into every dark impulse. Alice convinces Enigma to give it a go. In her mind, Alice winds up in a car with young Kate and makes her disappear. Only for the driver to be Ocean and Kate to come back. Alice doesn’t think Enigma is trying. She may be right.
Luke is concerned that Sophie will figure out Ryan is Batwoman, because she’s smart. Ryan does not. Possibly because she has a low opinion of the Crows (given how incompetent the company frequently is, justified).