“Grinning from Ear to Ear” is episode fourteen of season one of Batwoman.
The episode opens in 2011 and a teenage girl, Duela, is being told to hurry up. She’s putting on some makeup, to a rather cruel rhyme. She looks at her face in the mirror and sees a distorted, unhappy mouth, so she punches the mirror. Then takes a shard and starts carving her face up. When Duela’s mother comes in, Duela seems to be smiling.
Mary bumps into Sophie at The Hold Up and says she’s in a good mood. Sophie says Mary said that as if this is a bad thing. Luke is telling Kate that the cowl is in the shop for an upgrade. She starts guessing. Luke says she’s in a good mood. At the end of the previous episode, “Drink Me”, Batwoman and Sophie kissed. Mary is quizzing Sophie and Luke Kate about what happened. They admit they kissed. Luke says Batwoman can’t have a girlfriend. Sophie says she has no idea who Batwoman is. Does Mary? Mary says no. Mary has guessed. Luke tells Kate that Batman pushed people away because of his enemies. If anyone finds out about Batwoman and Sophie, it will paint a target on Sophie’s back. Sophie gets a message – from Kate – saying that she will meet at Sophie’s place later. Mary is happy for Sophie.
Alice is reading about her – Beth’s – death and is not happy about it. On the bright side, for her, she’s not dead. She’s really quite upset, though. A Rabbit returns with a photo of Dr Ethan Campbell. Alice says the face isn’t the one she remembers, but she’d recognise that pipe anywhere.
At the Crows, Kane is speaking to a lawyer who reminds him about how the Executioner blew a hole in the city’s corrupt court system a few months back in “I’ll Be Judge, I’ll Be Jury”. Kane says he then blew a hole in the Executioner. The DA’s old cases are being looked at and there’s a new judge, one Kane knows. The lawyer wants Kane to get his client’s case moved up. Kane owes Reggie Harris his life – he saved him from Dodgson in “Take Your Choice”. The lawyer says Reggie’s confession was coerced; he was convicted of killing Lucius Fox. This might be upsetting for Luke. The lawyer has heard whispers of some secrets the Crows have to. Yes, that is a threat.
Sophie is nervously dressing when Batwoman arrives. Kate says they have to end it before Sophie gets hurt. They need to walk away. They do the opposite. This is not a convincing breakup. Then they hear a noise and Sophie grabs a gun to investigate. It’s her mother.
A young woman is talking on a phone about how her company is worth twice that when the lights go off where she is. There’s a crash and there’s a figure in the dark. A woman with a hoodie and a surgical mask. And a boxcutter. On the radio the next day, Vesper Fairchild says that Kimberly Wright got her face slashed; the second social media influencer attacked.
Kate is reading when Luke comes in. He asks how the breakup went. He takes her incoherent answer to mean ‘the dog ate my breakup.’ Kate mentions the slasher, who is only going for her victim’s faces. Their brand and images. Kate heads out to talk to the only Instaface she cares about. She’s realised that Mary could be a victim.
Mary’s fanbase left her when her stepdad supposedly killed her mother, so she’s not worth the bandwidth. Kate thinks that’s goof. Well, not the fanbase leaving bit. Kate wants to know who could be targets. Mary starts talking about a bunch of people who have had corrective surgery to possibly look partly like other people, none of whom Kate appears to have heard of. The common thread is Dr Ethan Campbell, the only plastic surgeon in the city worth going to, according to Mary. Mary suggests that perhaps these women are future property buyers. She could always drop in on Campbell. Mary could put her vast array of medical knowledge to use. Mary is clearly trying to hint she could help Batwoman.
Batwoman wants Sophie to speak to Campbell; he doesn’t know she’s been suspended from the Crows. Sophie suddenly thinks that perhaps the slasher is making copycats. Inflicting the same scars she has. Campbell remembers a girl he treated for this type of scarring 8 years ago. Self-inflicted.
Duela has just been released from a metal health facility. Batwoman heads into her home at night. She finds her hitlist. Luke wants her to press the red button on the right cuffring. A Batarang shoots out. Err, make that the left. He takes a photo. That was the cowl upgrade. Kate warns him about using it. She spots a blood trail and finds Duela’s mother with her face cut open. Duela is there too; she slits her mother’s throat before going. Seems she had mommy issues.
Alice decides to see a shrink about Cartwright. Well, drag one to see her. This proves helpful. For Alice at least. Sophie’s mother has a problem with Batwoman that she didn’t have with Batman. You can guess why. Mary tells Kate that she’s smart and perceptive, traits people overlook. Possibly because she deliberately hid them. She keeps subtly pushing Kate. Commander Kane is becoming suspicious of his own organisation. It looks like he thinks there may be corruption within.