“How Does Your Garden Grow?” is episode six of season three of Batwoman.
Girls are playing basketball in the park. The ball rolls near a shed and one goes to get it, noticing liquid coming out from under the door. She enters. Inside, a man wrapped in ivy is also covered with honeycombs. And bees fly out of his mouth.
Renee arrives on the scene and takes it over. She wants the victim sent to Mary. She also finds the victim’s phone. Renee knows who is responsible.
Renee tells Alice and Ryan about what happened. Ryan is getting it; Alice tells her it’s Poison Ivy. Her new host, according to Renee; Alice turned over the vine in the previous episode, “A Lesson from Professor Pyg”, but it was dead, which means it has already infected someone. Ryan wants to know how Alice got the vine; Alice isn’t telling. Renee has the victim’s phone, which Ryan takes to crack. Renee also tells them she sent the victim to Mary. Alice seems concerned but says there’s no problem. Mary is the perfect person to help. Alice has to go.
Sophie is in the Batcave when Ryan arrives. She’s trying to find the Black Gloves. They’re off the grid and Ryan has more eyes than she does. She has a photo of Jordan’s attacker and is waiting for him to show up again. Unless Jada has opened her Rolodex. Ryan says her mother isn’t responsible. She believes her and Sophie needs to believe Ryan. Jada isn’t the monster she thinks. No, that’s Marquis. The next Joker? Sophie asks why Ryan isn’t wondering why Jada needed the freeze serum. Because Ryan knows. And isn’t telling.
Alice is annoying Mary and asking what sort of monster would entomb a man in a wall of bees. Mary suggests she leaves to find out. Alice doesn’t need to; she thinks she already knows. It’s Mary. Mary thinks Alice is hallucinating again. Alice points out the evidence. Mary asks if Alice really thinks Mary is capable of hurting anyone, as she removes pads from the man’s eyes. He panics. Mary did this to him.
Alice calls Ryan and Luke to the Batcave to explain. Alice thought Kate coming out was torture. Mary says she’s Poison Ivy. Ryan and Luke are denying it. Then the victim’s phone is cracked; is last three messages are to Mary. Ryan realises that’s why Alice was being coy. Mary handcuffs herself to some equipment whilst they figure out how to deal with it.
Sophie has gone to see Renee about the Black Gloves. After some sparring, Renee warns her that everyone who knows anything about Black Glove winds up dead.
Mary apparently met her victim on Twinge. She didn’t even know she was on Twinge. Perhaps he was stalking her. Luke says no, he just wasn’t that in to her. He called her ‘sweet.’ Alice is horrified. Poison Mary does not take rejection well. Luke has also discovered she bought some gardening supplies and went to a vacant lot.
Ryan and Alice head there. Ryan thinks the others on the Bat Team really should have noticed something. Nothing has been planted, but there’s a plant pot. Underneath is a man who has been planted in the ground. He’s alive. Ryan wonders what he did to Mary. Alice doesn’t know, but he did try to kill her and Sophie and froze Jordan. It’s the Black Glove operative.
Poison Mary is violating medical ethics. Alice references Harley Quinn. Ryan wants to keep Sophie out of it, even though this is the man she’s looking for. They also try to work out Mary’s motivation. Well, she entombed someone who called her sweet in honey. And attack a Black Glove operative. Maybe it’s justice. If it is, Alice is a bit concerned.
The others have been essentially ignoring Mary’s issues. She’s justifiably upset and, as Poison Mary, loses most of her inhibitions about expressing how she feels about this.