Batwoman: Reviewing the Conclusion of the "Poison" Arc

The previous episode, "Meet Your Maker," ended with Poison Mary finally meeting the woman who created her, Pamela Isley, who used some of Mary's power to increase hers. The brief encounter would become a true alliance in the following episode, "Toxic," saw the Poisons entrap a prominent doctor in the vines, with Mary believing that her gift is being used to even the playing field and deliver justice--though, as we all know, that's what Pam is making her believe. As we learned in the previews last week, Pam had resurrected her plan from 10 years prior to destroy the Gotham Dam, with the added revelation that the dam was among the many causes of the contaminated water that killed Pam's brother as a child.

Pam decides to take more of Mary's power for the quest, with Mary later stating that she was fine afterwards (she was clearly not fine). As we later see, Mary is also not OK with Pam's plan for the obvious reason that it result in many deaths, though she remained grateful for making her the way she is. Pam later informed Mary that she wasn't going to make her do what she didn't want to do, and while she acted understanding, she would later take more of Mary's power, leaving Mary unconscious on the street.

As for Renee Montoya, well, she was about to high tail it, but she ended up taken back to Ryan Wilder's bar (which was previously owned by Kate Kane), by Alice and Sophie, where she faced the harsh confrontation she deserved. This included Sophie admonishing Renee for holding Joker's joy buzzer over Batwoman's head, while Renee had it all this time. Renee defended the action by asking, "Do you really think I'd let a killer loose?", which drew this shot from Ryan:

"Do you mean Joker or Pam?"

Even hockey players don't shoot that hard. Anyway, Team Batwoman learns about Mary being found on the street, and they take her into the bar, but their attempts to warn her about Pam again fall on deaf ears. Mary insisted that the others were threatened by her bond with Pam, but she eventually comes to realize that she was being used by the very woman who made her, leading to Mary actually agreeing to not only working with her reunited crew to take down Pam, but also agreeing to be the bait. Renee injected Mary with the same toxin that she used to block Pam's power, after which Mary was sent to the dam, where she encountered Pam.

Pam, as Mary requested, took her protege's power, but ended up feeling the effects of the toxin, after which Batwoman arrived and finally fought with Poison Ivy (a fight I had been anxious for since Pam's portrayer, Bridget Regan, mentioned the scene in an interview a few weeks prior). Pam's defeated, and more importantly, Mary is back to normal, but later on, we see Pam and Renee on a plane, with the former waking up and lashing out at the latter for "betraying" her once again. Renee dared Pam to jump out if she was insistent on following her path, but later told her that they were headed to the island of Coryana (which was seen in Season 2), where plants are revered. Pam acquiesced and embraced Renee.

As for Mary, she's back, but we viewers know that she will carry a lot of remorse for everything she had done, most importantly her role in killing the hunter in the previous episode. Knowing Mary the way we fans and viewers do, this will be a burden she will carry for the remainder of the season and beyond, and it will see Ryan, Luke, and Sophie basically telling Mary to forgive herself, after we already saw Ryan apologize for making Mary feel alone and ignored, which drove her to embrace the Poison persona. Mary's road to self-forgiveness and self-redemption will be an amazing ride for viewers, but it also will be a bumpy one. Nothing comes easy in the Arrowverse.

So with that, the Poison arc comes to a close, and what a close it was. It was an amazing storyline that saw amazing performances from Nicole Kang and Bridget Regan, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see the latter return to the series down the line. It also placed a spotlight over the most underrated of the Gotham City villainesses, as Poison Ivy received the pomp and circumstance that she truly deserved.

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