Batwoman Premiere: Nicole Kang and Bridget Regan Talk Poison Ivy Twists
Warning: The following contains spoilers from Batwoman’s midseason premiere.
Batwoman is serving up a double dose of iconic villainy.
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Wednesday’s midseason premiere brought the drama with several big twists, including Marquis learning the Bat Team’s true identities before being put down by the same serum that kept Pam Isley desiccated for a decade.
Ryan originally intended to inject Mary with the serum but changed her mind at the last second amid Marquis’ dangerous threats and increasing instability. Mary took that as another example of her friends underestimating her and, in a conversation with Alice, resolved to show her former cohorts why that was a mistake.
Meanwhile, Sophie realized that Renee has been lying about the Joker buzzer — she had it all along — and was using them to find the love of her life, Pam Isley. Still feeling guilty for helping Batman lock her away in the Batcave, Renee awaked her long-lost girlfriend with a kiss. The episode ended with both lovers fleeing and the Bat Team staring down a new threat.
With two iterations of Poison Ivy set to wreak havoc on Gotham, TVLine hit up Nicole Kang and Bridget Regan for intel on what to expect in the coming episodes, which you can check out in the interviews below.
Regan on Pam Isley’s romance with Renee: “I think all of Pam’s feelings are extreme. She deeply loves Renee, and Renee is her wildcard. Renee is her Achilles heel — her weak spot. She’s the voice of reason, and while Pam tries to stay focused on her mission, Renee continues to bring up these very valid points to Pam, and it creates this real conflict within Pam and within their relationship.”
Regan on Pam’s mission to save the environment: “She is the original eco terrorist, and she’s gonna move forward with violence in the name of conservation. She’s not going to stop moving forward to bring justice and protect the Earth. Caroline and all the writers tied in some really great themes and plotlines to the show that parallel what’s going on with our planet right now and what we need to do. I want to see Pam shut down pipelines, stop offshore drilling and stop the exploitation of the Earth’s natural resources. This is what I want to see. And Pam is, I think, the hero we need right now.”
Kang on Mary feeling underestimated when Ryan injects Marquis with the Poison Ivy serum: “That’s the nail in the coffin. That is further proof that everything she has felt, everything that’s been said, everything that she’d been upset about is solidified in that one moment, because it’s a coin flip, and she makes the wrong choice. From Batwoman’s point of view, that’s not what happened at all. But from Mary’s point of view, that’s their last moment as a friend, and it’s a really big reason why she does what she does.”
Kang on Alice’s influence over Mary’s supervillain story:
“Alice knows what to say to Mary. She spent all this time with her. She knows [her] sister, and she’s been through it before — this villain coming-of-age story. Alice has done it before, and she knows how lonely it feels. Mary looks to her for a solution… [In] the coming episodes, even Alice is like, ‘Are you sure? She transforms from student to leader in that Alice-Mary dynamic.”
Kang and Regan on Mary and Pam teaming up: “The team-up is epic… The more interesting journey that takes a long time is their relationship to each other, and that really maternal exploration of Mother Nature herself — that mother-daughter relationship that’s really cool. It’s really awesome that we explore what it would be like to have two different Poison Ivys.”
Regan on why Pam takes Mary under her wing: “Mary has this pure heart. She’s also an incredibly brilliant and capable doctor. She’s a true hero, and I believe that Pam deliberately chose her, and their relationship becomes this push-pull. If you thought one Poison Ivy was bad for Gotham, wait till there’s two.”
Kang on the evolution of Mary’s Poison Ivy costume: “As [Mary] meets [Pam Isley], she definitely transforms… They become twisted in this fever dream. They’re drunk off of the sun. It really happens so quickly that Mary is under her spell. Pam needs Mary to regain strength because she has none, so I think it’s really interesting. I feel like Mary’s kind of inspired by Alice. There’s a jacket, especially, that I remember trying on, and it was so gorgeous. And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s totally inspired by Alice, too.’ Two women that were her ‘How to Become a Villain’ handbook. Mary draws inspiration from them, for sure.”
Regan on Poison Ivy’s big fight scenes in Episode 10 (airing Jan. 26): “It was massive… There were days when I walked on to set, and I was like, ‘This looks like a movie.’ I also got to do some fighting, which I haven’t done in a while. They created some really cool choreography and creative use of Pam’s powers and what she’s capable of. I’m really eager to see how it all comes together.”
What did you think of Batwoman‘s midseason premiere? Are you ready for a Poison Ivy team-up? Sound off in the comments!
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