Batwoman's Camrus Johnson Breaks Down That Ryan/Sophie Ending, Teases 'Unpredictable' Joker
Warning: The following contains spoilers from Wednesday’s Batwoman. Proceed accordingly.
After dancing around her feelings for two seasons, Batwoman’s titular hero finally came clean to Sophie — and “Wildmoore” was made official.
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Wednesday’s episode saw Ryan have an honest conversation with Jada, who figured out that she was Batwoman, following a confrontation with Victor Zsasz. Jada urged her daughter to take a different path than her and let those metaphorical walls down, prompting Ryan to open up to Sophie… and the rest is history.
Camrus Johnson, who directed the hour, says he was fully aware of the responsibility that came with being the one to bring Sophie and Ryan together romantically on screen.
“I knew how important the scene was going to be both to our cast, but also to our fans. When I read that scene, I was like, ‘Oh, boy. This is going to be crazy,’” he tells TVLine. “I’m just so incredibly blessed and happy that everyone trusted me so much to do the scene because this is the most pivotal moment of the season, and of the series in many ways.”
After hearing horror stories from friends who didn’t enjoy the process behind their intimate scenes, Johnson worked to ensure that everyone involved in Wednesday’s closing scene was comfortable and properly cared for. That entailed speaking with Javicia Leslie and Meagan Tandy beforehand, enlisting a storyboard artist to draw up the scene so there were no surprises and having an intimacy coordinator on hand.
“The biggest thing that I told them was to have fun with it because when it comes to intimate scenes, I feel like directors and actors and writers can add pressure on a scene that doesn’t need pressure,” he explains. “In a moment like this, one director might think, ‘Okay, the fans have been looking for this for a long time. Let’s amp it up… Let’s really add the romance.’ But you don’t need to add romance to these two characters. There is romance in their blood, so seeing them be romantic is romantic. When you add the giggles, the clumsiness, the silliness, the fun, that makes it more romantic [and] more realistic.”
The episode also found Mary grappling with the guilt of murdering the hunter while embodying the Poison Ivy persona and Luke coming to an understanding with his dad’s A.I. in the Batwing suit. Plus, Marquis assembled his own team made up of Arkham’s worst and aligned himself with the OG Joker’s official toymaker, Kiki Roulette (guest star Judy Reyes). With the Joy Buzzer now repaired — but with only one buzz left — and everyone eying the coveted weapon, Johnson says things will only escalate from there.
“Be ready, because Marquis just gets crazier and more unpredictable, especially with this Joker buzzer on hand because everybody wants it,” he teases. “He starts making more decisions in the next few episodes that you don’t expect.”
With two episodes left this season, Johnson says he’s looking forward to Luke coming into his own as hero, Sophie and Ryan’s relationship “continuing to grow” and Mary finding her place back on the Bat Team.
“That’s one thing she’s had to come to terms with,” he notes. “She made some mistakes, and she wants to find her place back on the Bat Team and earn everyone’s trust back.”
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