“Off with Her Head” is episode fifteen of season one of Batwoman.
The episode opens when Beth and Kate were young; by the looks of it, the day everything changed. Their father is putting presents into the car and will see them both at home. Their mother gives them garnet necklaces. Their birthstone is red, a symbolic colour, for passion, courage and warmth. At one point or another they will experience them all and how they balance them will definite their character. Their mother has matching earrings.
In the present, Kate drops down to deal with a man following a woman in an alley. Afterwards, the woman says she’d like a selfie, but Batwoman looks to be needed elsewhere. The Batsignal is on and August Cartwright, who Alice captured in the previous episode, “Grinning from Ear to Ear”, is tied up and unconscious at the base of it. In his mouth is a note saying ‘Ask About Mommy Dearest’.
Commander Kane arrives at Kate’s bar and knocks. She wants his promise he won’t kill him. Kane comes in anyway and sees Cartwright. He asks how she found him. Cartwright was left. By whom? Kate will say, but first her father needs a drink. Kate thinks Alice left Cartwright. No, Alice isn’t dead.
Alice is looking for Mouse, who Cartwright had left hooked up to a bottle of Scarecrow’s fear toxin by the looks of it. Mouse believes she’s dead but she explains Cartwright killed someone else. Alice knows the secret password. naturally, and asks Mouse what place they are in. It used to be her house. The queen. The Queen of Hearts.
A taxi stops outside Cartwright’s house in the past and a woman gets out hauling an oxygen tank. Inside, Alice is cleaning the floor and Mouse is asking how long ‘she’ is staying. Cartwright tells Mouse that his grandmother can’t live on her own any more. When Cartwright’s mother enters, she makes a comment about his pipe and her oxygen tank. Alice is introduced and likes her purse. Mrs Cartwright likes her necklace; where did she get it? Alice doesn’t remember.
Kate is telling her father that the dead Beth is not their Beth. An imposter; another Skin Pirate minion. Gotham has seen crazier things. Such as the one sitting in front of him. Kate hands Kane Cartwright’s wallet which shows who he has been impersonating. Kate wants Cartwright arrested. Kane says the only person who can corroborate the story is a lunatic everyone thinks is dead. Cartwright wakes; he was expecting Alice. When asked who ‘Mommy Dearest’ is, Cartwright says Alice is playing games. He is the master and won’t let her win.
Alice is not getting the welcome she expected from Alice. Cartwright told Mouse that he wanted Mouse to see the truth by unlocking his greatest fear. Which is Alice. Mouse ties her to the chair he was in. Alice’s greatest fear will destroy her, just as Alice destroyed Mouse’s family. Under the influence of the fear toxin, Alice sees Mrs Cartwright, though her face is a mess.
Mary has asked Luke to come to her clinic. She thought he would have told Kate; he thought she would have. Mary has a lead on Beth’s murderer. Mad Dog. He saw the car they are looking for in a junkyard. Luke asks if Mary is really dragging him to a junkyard. Technically, he’s driving.
Cartwright is explaining that he left Mouse inhaling a substance from a colleague they may have heard of. Dr Jonathan Crane. Scarecrow. When Mouse sees Alice, he will undoubtedly snap and is likely linking Alice up to the fear toxin as well. If Alice doesn’t get some adrenaline soon, she will be gone forever. Cartwright wants his freedom. Until now, Alice has been focused. Her plans calculated and collateral damage minimised. If she doesn’t kill herself, the damage Alice will do when completely insane will be terrible.
Alice is serving Mrs Cartwright tea. She doesn’t like how Alice has made it, slaps her across the face, throws the teacup on the floor and pours water from the teapot over Alice’s hands. Not a nice person. Alice is having these visions, memories of the past and visions of the presence. Alice went looking for cream and stumbled across a locked freezer in an outpost. Cartwright tells her she shouldn’t be in there. In the present, Cartwright is saying that it was his mother who siphoned away Alice’s happiness and snuffed her spark.
Mary asks Luke if he has any cool gadgets that will help them find the car. Then tries looking for the ‘panic room’ which she now thinks is likely something else. Mary has worked out that Kate is Batwoman. Not a surprise. There are more clips from Alice’s past with Mrs Cartwright, who was a monster.