“Bat Girl Magic!” is episode three of season two of Batwoman.
The episode opens with a hitman killing a cheating husband and his lover, before looking to mark the kills on his body. He has to mark the second on his scalp, finding no room elsewhere. Then answers a call, saying he’s Victor Zsasz.
Ryan interrupts a drug deal, with commentary from Luke on her bad landing and overuse of Batarangs. The drug dealer, a member of the False Face Society, doesn’t think she’s Batwoman. Ryan fights with him, but has to leave when an alarm goes off. She arrives at her parole hearing 12 seconds before she would have had parole revoked. Her parole officer asks if she got a day job. More a night job, really.
Ryan arrives at Mary’s clinic and tells Mary she’s going to get a phone call and the answer is yes. Mary does get a call, and says she is the current owner of The Hold Up. And yes, she did hire Ryan as a bartender. After the call, Mary asks since when parolees could work in a bar. Ryan is being given an exception, given how difficult it’s been to find a job.
At the Crows, Kane gives briefing about the drug that Ryan interrupted the sale of. It’s called Snake Bite and it’s derived from Scarecrow’s fear toxin. After the briefing, he’s brough Kate’s phone from the NTSB. He needs a password and asks where Sophie is.
Waking up on a beach next to Alice, both guarded and both having been abducted in the previous episode, “Prior Criminal History”. Safiyah is informed they are awake and Alice tells Sophie that she arranged to be kidnapped by Safiyah. After asking each other how they know her, Alice says she poisoned her one true friend to exact the perfect revenge on her family, and Safiyah ruined everything. Alice is then taken to see Safiyah.
Zsasz walks into Hamilton Dynamics and attacks someone, admiring their tie. He arrives in a lab, with said tie, as an alarm is sounding. The scientist there asks who he is. Zsasz indicates the alarm and says he’s that guy. He just wants some information from the scientist’s PC. The scientist pulls a gun out of a drawer. Zsasz wonders what kind of scientist has a gun in his lab, but dupes and kills him
Luke, Mary and Ryan are watching the security footage from the lab in the Batcave. Mary doesn’t know what Hamilton is up to; she sold her shares when her mother died and isn’t chummy with the board. Ryan asks if Mary is a multibillionaire, how come Ryan is only getting $12.50 an hour? Luke queries this whole thing. He’s going to run facial recognition on the intruder, but Ryan knows who it is. Victor Zsasz. A hitman. Luke wonders how she know a hitman. Ryan has to go, but says she will go after Zsasz when they find an address. The hashmarks from his victims are a work of art and he treats them with high-end French skin care. Mary knows it.
Safiyah has a meal for Alice. She had Alice drugged, kidnapped and shipped to her. Safiyah’s way of saying no hard feelings. Alice always was Safiyah’s best student, but she isn’t happy about Alice revealing the Desert Rose, and says she didn’t blow up Kate’s plane. Someone wants Alice to think she did.
Ryan arrives at Zsasz’s apartment and finds the drive of data. Zsasz comes in; he doesn’t seem bothered, offering to fix Ryan a drink. He can’t see her in the Batwoman, or the Batwoman in her. Ryan is out of Batarangs and is struggling with the bo-staff. Ryan asks Zsasz if he knows what she sees. He asks her if it’s a shoulder fired surface to air missile, pulling one from beneath the bar.
At the Batcave, they have a list of names of seemingly ordinary people with no apparent connection. Mary says they can’t protect them all. Ryan suggests finding out who hired Zsasz and stopping them instead. How? Ryan will ask him. As Ryan. How much liquid wealth does Mary have?
Ryan turns up and meets Zsasz and they chat; he remembers her as Ryan. She heard his last job went sideways and wants to hire him to kill Alice. Zsasz says sideways doesn’t mean the job’s over. This was all to get a sniffer close to Zsasz’s phone and find out his employer. Safiyah.
Alice thinks Safiyah is after her after what happened between her and the Rifle in “Tell Me the Truth” and that Safiyah killed Alice’s entire gang in retaliation. To be thorough. If Safiyah was being thorough, why is Alice standing there? Safiyah is not happy that Alice exposed the Desert Rose to the world. Alice says she didn’t; she only gave it to one person. She did the rest. That person being Mary.
Safiyah is cropping up repeatedly and there’s a surprise in store.