C-Cubed TV Review: “Birds Of Prey” (Part 1)

Hello, my friends.  Well, February 2020 is a special time for DC as a particular street-level superheroine team has made the jump to the big screen.  While this is a momentous occasion for our crime-fighting ladies, it’s not the first time that this familiar group has ventured outside of comics and into other media.  In fact, the early 2000s gave them a brief bit of life on the small screen.  Considering that I haven’t actually seen any of it since it initially came out, I thought that it would be the right time to finally educate myself on the lone season of a show simply known as…

Originally airing from October 9, 2002 to February 19, 2003, this program was developed by Laeta Kalogridis and shown on the WB (nowadays merged with UPN and officially called the CW).  Its pilot episode actually garnered 7.6 million viewers back when it first debuted, but the viewership declined over its run before it was ultimately canceled.  So, are there enough merits from this somewhat forgotten series worth deserving of our modern-day remembrance or were its ideas and story-execution too radical for its audience to get on board?  Well, let’s sharpen our talons and plunge into the darkness to find out.

We open within New Gotham City as Alfred Pennyworth (played by the Army Of Darkness’ Wiseman and Justin Pitt himself, the late Ian Abercrombie) narrates about a “secret war” that was fought between Batman and the Joker (played by Roger Stoneburner, yet surprisingly voiced by Mark Hamill), culminating in a final battle within a burning building.  By the end, the Joker was defeated.

However, the Clown Prince of Crime would get his revenge in two different ways.  First, it came against the Caped Crusader’s own true love, Selina Kyle.  Unbeknownst to Bruce, she gave birth to a daughter named Helena Kyle (played by Ashley Scott) who not only grew up never knowing about her dad, but she also didn’t know that her mother was Catwoman.  As such, Selina was murdered as Helena tearfully notices the killer just standing from afar.  However, no one stops him as he drops the bloodied knife into a puddle and runs off.

The second bit of revenge was brought upon one of the “many proteges” that Batman had trained, which ultimately turned out to be Barbara Gordon (played by Dina Meyer) who was relaxing in her apartment following her recent crime-fighting venture as Batgirl.  Just like in “The Killing Joke” however, fate came a-knocking as she answered her door and horrifyingly discovered the Joker who proceeds to fire the fatal shot that would paralyze her from the waist down and prematurely end her cape-and-cowl capers.

We then cut over to a home far away from New Gotham as a young girl named Dinah (played by A.J. Michalka) wakes up from a nightmare that surprisingly contained both gruesome incidents.  Her mother (played by Maggie Baird) comes in and assures her that it was all a dream that stemmed from her imaginations.  However, Alfred narrates how the child knew deep down that those visions would become entwined within her future.

We then shift ahead seven years later as a grown-up Dinah Lance (played by Rachel Skarsten) is on a bus bound for New Gotham.  During the ride, she’s met upon by a young guy named Jerry (played by Aaron Paul) who quickly begins to form a newfound friendship with her.  After heeding some caution to her about being in a big city without knowing anyone there, he asks whether she’s heading “to Gotham” or is “from Gotham”.  Dinah explains that she’s on her way towards the city with the hopes of meeting some familiar people.

We then move over to Barbara who’s now a literature teacher as she’s approached by the school’s guidance counselor named Wade Brixton (played by Shawn Christian).  They talk for a bit about William Shakespeare as he says that he was never much a fan of the Bard’s grand tragedies.  Babs is about to offer some recommendations concerning Shakespeare’s comedic plays, but then he asks if she could give them to him over a date.  She finds the offer flattering and even greatly considers taking it, but fate intervenes when her pager informs her of a “Delphi Alert” as she tells him that she has to take care of some personal business, yet she’ll think about his request.

Later, Babs is back at her station within the clock tower as she investigates a series of recent homicides before attempting to contact Huntress.  However, Helena doesn’t respond since A. she’s not wearing her specialized receivers and B. she’s in the middle of a psychiatric session with Dr. Harleen Quinzel (played by Sloane Peterson and Melissa Walker herself, Mia Sara).  For the past three months, Kyle has been attending these anger management sessions via a court order, under the guise of road rage.  From there, Harleen tells Helena that it’s been seven years since her mother’s death, which saw Barbara claiming her as a legal guardian since there was no mention of her actual father.  Kyle then informs Dr. Quinzel that she ultimately learned her father was actually Bruce Wayne and that he never knew about her existence.  She then exclaims that she was solely raised by her mother whom she admired a lot, but in the moment where her mother passed away, she ultimately changed into “someone I wasn’t meant to be”.

Meanwhile, Dinah and Jerry have arrived in New Gotham as he gives her his address in preparation for their meet-up tonight.  Shortly after he takes his leave, she notices a guy trembling up from a public bench saying “No!” before he runs out into the street and gets hit by a truck.  Dinah heads over to check on him before he grabs her hand.  Suddenly, they enter a psychic space as the wounded man begs her to not let “them” get him.  She asks whom he’s talking about before a swarm of rats come up from the subway, as if summoned by a mysterious-looking man on a bench.  The injured guy then exclaims that he and some other people “didn’t know what was beneath Phoenix” before he succumbs to his injuries.  As the rats encircle and approach her, Dinah suddenly snaps out of the psychic plane.  From there, she spots the mysterious being on the bench before he disappears.

As night falls upon New Gotham, Dinah gets interrogated by Det. Jesse Reese (played by Shemar Moore) and Det. McNally (played by Brent Sexton) as she informs them about the vague being that she couldn’t get a good look at, yet whom didn’t shove the victim into traffic.  McNally is dismissive of her argument, while Reese tells her to give him a call just in case anything else pops up before letting her go.  Afterwards, McNally essentially argues that this incident didn’t contain anything out of the ordinary, to which Jesse counters by noting that they’ve continually seen various crime scenes containing numerous unexplainable elements.  As such, he intends on getting to the bottom of what’s causing these kinds of crime in New Gotham.

We then shift over to a bar that Helena works at as she tells Barbara that she was in the middle of court-sanctioned therapy for several hours, due to the destruction of traffic she caused from chasing down a perp, thus she couldn’t get in contact.  Kyle then asks why they should even keep doing this, especially since there’s hardly any recognition.  Gordon says that it all comes with the secret identity and it’s “who we are” before instructing her to investigate a murder scene.  From there, Helena dawns her neckpiece and heads out on the mission.

Later, Dinah is making her way through a shady part of New Gotham in order to meet up with Jerry.  Suddenly, he pops up behind her and reveals his true colors by chasing her down and pinning her to the wall in order to make due with some devious intentions.  Fortunately, Huntress arrives in time as she gets the drop on him.

Jerry grabs a nearby pipe and initially fends her off.  However, Helena gets excited for the upcoming brawl as her eyes change colors before a brief fight breaks out.  In the end, she defeats the perp and scares him off.

Afterwards, Dinah is relieved to finally come across one of the victims from her nightmare.  Huntress is about to leave, but Lance wants to know where she can find her.  Just as she grabs Kyle’s arm, she has another psychic flash that fills her in upon a secret base.  A stunned Helena then tells her to get to a homeless shelter before using her superhuman physique to leap up towards the rooftops, unaware that Dinah now knows where she has to go.

Later, Barbara is hard at work investigating the series of staged suicides as she deduces that the victims were “running from something”.  However, Helena is too worked up from the lack of decent food within their pantry, resulting in a minor argument about each other’s job statuses within their unified crime-fighting venture.

Suddenly, the Perimeter Breach alarm goes off as their security camera displays a vague figure approaching their base.  Huntress takes care of it as she knocks the intruder out with a single strike, who turns out to be Dinah.  As Barbara and Helena discuss what they should do with her since she discovered their headquarters, Lance recovers and exclaims that she followed Kyle before also recognizing Babs from her nightmare.  She then explains her abilities where she’s able to see the personal thoughts of anyone she touches, along with her own precognitive dreams.

From there, Dinah is hooked up to a Metahuman Scanner in order to detect any “biological evidence” within herself as Barbara discovers that her “cerebral cortex activity” exceeds 50%.  She then tells Lance that some beings possess abilities beyond that of regular individuals and how they acquire their gifts mysteriously varies amongst them, including Helena, but Babs herself is the only one here who’s just a normal human.  Seeing how both of them have become heroes in their own right, Dinah wishes to join their team.  However, Barbara and Helena immediately decline her offer.  Lance then exclaims that she doesn’t have a home to return to, but she’s finally found a place where she can belong.

From there, Helena takes Barbara aside for a private conversation as she expresses how they can’t just let someone they’ve just met stay with them.  Babs says that she’ll only be sleeping here for the night before reminding Kyle that she used to be “another girl with no place to go who fell asleep on that couch” just as Huntress takes her leave.

We then shift to the next morning as Dinah is awoken by the Wayne Family butler himself, Alfred Pennyworth, as he presents her with fresh clothes and even offers to make her breakfast while she takes a shower.  Afterwards, he tells Barbara that he’s restocked her pantry as it’s something for him to do since hardly anything happens over at Wayne Manor, especially since Helena isn’t willing to live there despite it being her birthright.  Babs says that she’s fortunate to have Kyle as her fellow comrade but exclaims how she “won’t let me in”.  However, Alfred tells Barbara that she’s acting similarly towards Lance by not letting her join the team, to which she exclaims that this is no place for her.  From there, the scene ends with Dinah returning from her shower and informing them that she saw one of the victims die, though not through suicide.

Over at Dr. Quinzel’s office, Helena attends another session where she divulges about learning what her father did as an “aggressive hobby” and that part of her blamed him for her mother’s death.  When she brings up that Barbara had taken her in as a means of help, Harleen states how “human beings are essentially selfish creatures” and makes Helena question whether Babs’ act was ultimately for her friend or for herself.

Back at the clock tower, Dinah exclaims that she couldn’t inform the police about the victim’s fear towards rats that weren’t physically present, to which Barbara exclaims that it was most likely brought out of his subconsciousness via a metahuman.  However, she doesn’t have any known metahuman criminals with said ability in her database.  Lance then exclaims that the guy did mention “Phoenix”.  Ultimately, Babs discovers that he was referring to Phoenix Industries, a dummy corporation formed in New Gotham City a few months prior that was used to purchase the old dockyards.  She then realizes that it would allow the company to acquire total access over the city’s infrastructure.  Afterwards, she traces the tax filings towards the revelation of a four-man ownership group.  Out of said quartet, two of them are listed as deceased via suicides.

We then shift over to nighttime as Huntress has been sent to guard one of the two remaining owners while the fourth guy is currently out-of-town.  Helena looks throughout the apartment, only to discover the man having been hung to death.  Not too long afterwards, Barbara informs her to escape, since she just picked up something vital on the police scanner.  Unfortunately, Det. Reese bursts in and catches her.

From there, he handcuffs her to a statue as he assumes that she’s behind these string of murders.  Barbara then contacts her about the police broadcast reporting some neighbors hearing a nearby fight in the area, which explains why Jesse is presently here.  Huntress exclaims that she didn’t come here to rob the guy and was only trying to protect him.  However, he wound up dead by the time both of them arrived.  Against Gordon’s protest, she also tells him that they’re on the same side of the law, especially since she brings up the fact that she discretely dropped off a vile shooter and a kidnapper on police doorsteps in the past.  During her discussion, she’s been picking the lock on her cuffs before she frees herself.  When the befuddled Reese asks her why she doesn’t carry any weapons, she simply exclaims “I am the weapon” before jumping off the balcony and escaping via the rooftops.

Later, Helena makes it back to base as Barbara informs her of the remaining owner named Larry Ketterly (played by Chris Ellis) who’s just arrived back in town.  In order to find their assassin, they decide that they must follow the only lead they have and check out the dockyards.  While Dinah offers to go for them, Gordon and Kyle hilariously ignore her as Barbara tells Helena that she has to be the one who looks after Larry.  Not only that, she can’t leave her post to go investigate since that would mean leaving Kyle without any support.  Afterwards, Lance is forced to yell out that she’ll go to the dockyards.

From there, the team springs into action as Dinah has arrived at her destination.  She then proceeds to put on some hi-tech glasses that not only allows her to see in dimly-lit areas, but it also allows Barbara to view what she sees via a special projector.

Meanwhile, Huntress arrives at Larry’s home as she initially spots their subject.  Just then, he suddenly disappears from sight before he opens up the adjacent door and spots her.  He then realizes who she is and proceeds to let her in.

Back at the dockyards, Dinah falls through a weakened floor board and lands in a lower section before assuring Oracle that she’s alright.  From there, she makes her way through a dimly-lit tunnel before realizing that this burnt-out area isn’t on the map.  Barbara tells her that she was there years ago as she proceeds to explain her backstory.  Years before she became Oracle, she fought alongside the Dark Knight as Batgirl.  Then on one fateful night, they tracked down the Joker after dismantling his “organization”.  He uses a device to shoot out an electric beam which blasted her out of the action before Batman dives at him and they disappear within the flames.  From there, the Joker eventually escaped police custody before sending an assailant to murder Selina Kyle while he personally crippled Barbara.  Apparently, these two acts drove Batman mad enough that in only a few months time, he just left New Gotham altogether.

Meanwhile, Helena learns from Larry that it was his idea to rebuild the dockyards.  Because he didn’t have the money needed to buy the land up, he assembled three other partners and created an consortium.  Over at the dockyards, Dinah finally comes across some key papers laying upon a desk before finding a family photo as Barbara realizes that Larry is the culprit.

We then transition back to the Ketterly house as Larry reveals the importance behind the dockyards.  It turns out to be where “a great leader” has fallen and he intends to create an empire out of the ashes of history that’ll stand tall within the world.  From there, he asks Helena what scares her.  It’s soon revealed that he’s a metahuman and is subduing Huntress with the power of his mind as the tea cup slips out of her hand and shatters on the floor.

Barbara drives her handi-capable car over towards the Ketterly residence as fast as she can while telling Dinah to get over there as well before contacting Helena and instructing her to concentrate on her voice in order to block out any “auditory neural connection” he’s using.  Meanwhile, Larry influences Huntress into revealing what frightens her as she wearily says that it was the moment when she lost her mother.  As this is happening, he takes out a dagger and prepares to kill her.

At that moment, Lance finally arrives as she breaks into the house.  In the main study, it turns out that Larry is using his metahuman mind control on Helena so that she ends up stabbing herself in her own heart.  Dinah runs in and tries to intervene, but he simply smacks her in the gut with a cane before preparing to strike back.

Fortunately, Barbara makes a timely arrival as she tosses a high-tech disc which rams into his head.  Afterwards, she heads over to Huntress in order to prevent her own self-mutilation.  However, Larry says that she’s too late since he still has a mental hold over Helena.  Lance then steps in as she shifts the climatic struggle over into the psychic plane.

With a youthful Helena holding a dagger at her own heart, Dinah tells a fully-costumed Barbara that she’s the only one who can help her.  As such, Gordon tells Kyle that it wasn’t her fault for her mother’s death and that she hasn’t let anyone down, but that they can’t pull through this unless they work together.  Thankfully, Helena finds her inner strength as she discards the blade.

Just then, they’re approached by Larry who reinstates Barbara’s paralysis before picking up the dagger in order to kill her.  Fortunately, Huntress reemerges as they proceed to tussle.

Larry eventually gets the upper-hand as he throws Helena through a window before making his way back to Gordon.  Fortunately, Huntress smashes through the building and tackles the fiend.  However, he winds up on top and threatens her with the blade while taunting her with the fact that even if she does take him out, she’ll still wind up alone.  From there, Helena says that it’s still her life as she manages to fatally stab him with his own dagger.

Afterwards, the team comes together and re-emerge in reality.  They soon notice Larry lying motionless and mentally comatose as Barbara assumes that because he was defeated while psychically inside Helena, it permanently severed that connection.  From there, Dinah wonders what they’re going to do with him.

We then cut to Arkham Asylum as Det. Reese tells Dr. Quinzel that Ketterly was discovered right in front of the station alongside some “pretty bizarre evidence”.  From there, Larry was brought over to the infamous institution and imprisoned.  Not too long after he and the guards take their leave, Harleen enters his cell and scolds him.  It turns out that he was working for her and that those documents would’ve helped in her plan to control New Gotham under a tormental rule.  She then kicks him over this setback to her scheme, but quickly calms down as she intends to take care of things herself before taking her leave.

Back over at the clock tower, Barbara and Helena oversee some demolition footage as they comment on how this venture saw them save themselves instead of the usual comeuppance of bad guy plots.  Kyle then mentions how during Larry’s grand takeover speech, he specifically said “we”.  They then oversee Dinah practicing with their chakrams, though nowhere near as skilled enough with tossing them, as Gordon exclaims that they wouldn’t be alive without her help.  She & Kyle then approach her as Barbara tells Lance that she can stay, as long as she goes to school while honing both her mental & physical skills.  From there, Dinah agrees to the terms.

And so, the pilot episode ends with Babs telling Helena about certain factors and thrills that she misses from her days as Batgirl.  In the end, she states that she never lost who she was.  Kyle then states that she could never be like her, to which Gordon tells her to “just be yourself instead”.

Episode 2 (“Slick”) begins in Dr. Quinzel’s office as Helena is at the end of her court-sanctioned series of psychiatric sessions.  After Harleen tells her that she’ll be allowed to continue with their regular meetings, she then asks Kyle about her trust issues.  She says that after she found out about her dad following the death of her mother, all she wanted was to find the murderer and kill him.  Because she’s only been raised by her mom throughout the majority of her life, she got a major life lesson from her to “rely on no one but yourself”.

Meanwhile at the New Gotham Police Department, an arrested perp nicknamed Slick (played by Silas Weir Mitchell) is being escorted through the hallways by Det. Reese and his fellow officers while he attempts to bribe his way to freedom.  Fortunately, Jesse and his comrades don’t buy the maleficent offer as he handcuffs Slick to a bench while they prepare to properly process him.  Once they leave however, it turns out that he’s a metahuman as Slick transforms into water and escapes through an air vent.

Later, Harleen is taking a shower as Slick comes up through the drain.  It turns out that he’s working for her as she exclaims that he’s not getting his payment due to him failing his theft of an armored truck.  From there, she pins him to a glass wall as she exclaims that she’s only been in the city for a few months, but she intends on making New Gotham pay for driving the Joker out of town and for getting him imprisoned in a prison cell far away by taking control over the entire city.  Afterwards, the scene ends with her giving Slick one last chance to prove his worth.

Following the opening credits, we shift to the next day at the clock tower as Barbara is signing Dinah up for school while she’s practicing her chakram-throwing skills.  Helena arrives following a night of foiling minor crimes while Lance goes through some clothes to wear for her eventual first day.  When Gordon asks about her “basic information” (birth certificate, social security, etc.), Dinah says that they were lost in a county courthouse fire.  She even says that her transcripts were also incinerated, to which Kyle counterargues by saying that those are kept at the school.  Lance then exclaims that she doesn’t have any living parents before excusing herself to continue her practices.  From there, Helena expresses her concerns over this suspicious behavior, to which Barbara exclaims that there’s nothing to be overly worried about since she’s a metahuman just like Kyle before promising to run a background check on their youngest member.

Later at New Gotham High, Babs is prepping for the school day when Wade stops by to chat.  She apologizes for skipping out on their previous dating plans as she fabricates an excuse by exclaiming that she had to go help out Helena on their gourmet baking business venture.  As such, he trusts her and says that he’ll take care of their dating plans.

Sometime later back at the clock tower, Kyle learns from Barbara that she’s accepted his dating proposal. Gordon then says that she has dated before, but her crime-fighting venture has ultimately dashed any hope for a prosperous relationship.  After comically criticizing the excuse Barbara made for her cover story, Helena then asks her what she’s found out about Dinah.  Babs explains that not only were there no egregious incidents recorded from her past, but there’s no records of her at all.  Not only that, but it turns out that Dinah Lance isn’t even her real name.  Following a facial recognition from Missouri-area yearbooks dating back to the previous five years, it turns out that her actual name is Dinah Redmond and that she comes from Opal.  In addition, she’s been a runaway throughout her life and that her true parents gave her up before she wound up with a foster family.  Barbara then exclaims that she’ll explain herself when she’s ready, but Kyle isn’t willing to put that kind of faith towards her.

After a minor incident with Dinah trying out one of Helena’s sweaters, Gordon takes Kyle on a stroll where they continue their discussion about their newest member, especially due to the fact that Dinah’s original parents didn’t even bother to report her disappearance.  Despite that, she still feels that their young member has budding potential.  Not to mention, Babs reminds Helena that she’s already part of a legacy that also encompasses that first three Robins where they’re brought in to be mentored, trained and never turned away from what they can become.  Suddenly, Dinah informs them of the Delphi Alarm.

Meanwhile, Jesse and Det. McNally arrive at a murder scene as the coroner informs them that the victim was a fellow cop named Jack Barnstone.  Even though the recently-deceased is displaying signs of asphyxiation, there’s no ligature marks, abrasions or bruises.  In addition, Barnstone’s face is discolored with pink foam on his lips, which are common traits of a drowning victim.  However, there’s no body of water nearby for this to have happened.  Despite that, Det. Reese isn’t ruling it out by any means.

Back at the clock tower, Barbara informs Dinah about the Delphi Alarm system, which piggybacks onto New Gotham Police’s databanks in order to sort through every reported crime and then alerts them of anything out of the ordinary.  The team learns that Barnstone’s death is being ruled as heart failure, but Gordon wants to know why.  As such, she tells Helena to get some of his lung tissue.

Over at New Gotham P.D., a fellow detective named Grace Tanner is working late as she tells her colleagues that she’ll be fine in getting home.  After they take their leave, she gets some water from the nearby dispenser before noticing a puddle caused by a supposed leak.  As she heads back to her desk, it suddenly slithers its way over to her before taking shape as it turns out to be Slick.  From there, he catches her by surprise by projecting an overwhelming amount of water into her mouth before she collapses and dies via on-surface drowning.

Meanwhile at the clock tower, Barbara informs Dinah on what she’s found out from Jack’s lung tissue as she’s discovered Alveolar distention to confirm the cause of drowning, yet there wasn’t any excessive fluid within the cells.  With Babs already good to go for her date with Wade tonight, Lance then asks her how she’s able to move her wheelchair without the use of her hands or a joystick, to which Gordon explains that she has a transponder strapped to her spine that allows her to mentally control her wheelchair.  From there, Dinah sends her out on her date.

From there, Barbara is on her romantic endeavor with Wade as he guides her towards a section of the park where he surprises her with a dinner for them to share under starry skies.

Meanwhile, Helena is in the middle of her bartending duties.  Suddenly, she sees Dinah who explains that she got in under the excuse of being her “sister”.  From there, she begins to talk about the level of distrust that Kyle has towards her.

Back over with Barbara, she’s in the middle of her date as they discuss about her being so caught up in her work that he’s possibly helping her re-experience the joys of love before they start to make a connection.  Unfortunately, duty comes a-calling as she gets notified by the Delphi System.  She initially ignores it, but it rings again and tells her that it’s urgent.  As such, she reluctantly tells Wade that she has to go, but promises to make it up to him.

Back at the bar, Helena tells Lance that she’s been crime-fighting on her own for a long time and prefers it.  Dinah exclaims that she wants to be like her, to which Kyle retorts by asking her why she can’t just tell the truth about her past.  Lance tries to pass it off as “complicated”, but Helena shrugs it off by saying that trust is something that has to be earned.  Dinah asks for that chance, but Kyle says that it can’t be during a life-or-death struggle out in the field.  Just then, she gets contacted by Barbara as Helena assures her that Lance is with her.  After Kyle brings up the fact that she’s back early from her date, Gordon explains that it was interrupted by the report of Grace drowning on dry land.

We then cut to Dr. Quinzel’s office as Slick shows up and sees a newspaper article concerning a murder-suicide from a past patient of hers named George as he asks why she wastes her time daylighting as a psychiatrist, to which she exclaims that she sees her patients more as “hobbies”.  She then brings up the Greek Goddess Eris (known by the Romans as Discord[ia]) who was the goddess of strife and caused various conflicts, ranging from petty arguments to full-on wars while she sat back and watched it all unfold form afar.  After her own self-comparison, she then tells Slick that there’s still one more detective that must be taken care of in order for their eventual hijacking scheme to get pulled off.

Back over at the clock tower, Helena and Dinah arrive back as Barbara tells them of a connection she’s found concerning the newly-deceased detectives.  It turns out that they stopped a past hijacking committed by Slick a.k.a. Silas Waters.  He was attempting to pilfer some military-grade weapons before he got caught, even trying to bribe his way out of jailtime by offering a cut of the $30 million that’s set to come in from the Black Market sale.  Unfortunately for him, he got booked and locked up.  However, he’s also a metahuman and could just change into water in order to escape.  From there, the scene ends with Kyle wondering who would turn down $30 million.

As if on cue, we cut to Jesse in the middle of a late-night swimming session in the N.G.P.D. pool.  Just as he reaches one end, he’s met upon by Huntress who says that she’s here to protect him, since Grace Tanner was axed off only a mere hour ago.  He realizes that it’s Slick Waters and while he thanks her for warning him, he says that he can look out for himself.  She then exclaims that Slick isn’t a regular human, since he can liquefy himself.  As she’s overhearing the conversation through Helena’s transmissive earpiece, Barbara comically criticizes her seemingly-weak explanation, to which Kyle tells her that she’s “trying to have a conversation here”.  Having remembered her as seemingly talking to herself from their previous encounter with each other, Reese continues to be unbelieving of “a guy made out of water”.  Just then, Slick bursts out of the pool.

After side-kicking Det. Reese to safety, Huntress tells Oracle that their suspect has arrived.  From there, Slick plunges at her mouth in an attempt to drown her as Babs tells her to look for a nearby fire extinguisher.  Fortunately, she manages to reach one and uses it in order to call off Silas’ attack.

After he takes human form, they proceed to fight each other for a bit.  With his surprise attack foiled, Slick ultimately retreats back into the pool.  Helena then assures Barbara that she’s OK before asking how she knew that using a fire extinguisher would work, to which Babs essentially explains that it would slow Silas’ molecular structure enough for him to revert back into a solid state.  From there, she tells Huntress to take Reese away from the pool area.

As Slick reemerges, Helena and Jesse retreat into the sauna as the perspiring heat protects them from their suspect.  However, they now have nowhere left to run.  While Barbara desperately researches on how they can properly attack Slick, Det. Reese says that he’s having a hard time believing that he just saw a guy transform into water.  He then asks Huntress why she’s not worried about him possibly reporting her to the authorities, to which she says that it’s what she had to do in order to save him.  Back over at the clock tower as Gordon searches for any known way to subdue their foe, Dinah talks to Alfred about her concern for Huntress, to which he assures her that Kyle is more than capable of looking out for herself.  Lance then says that she’s spent the majority of her life thinking that she was the only one of her kind.  Nowadays, she’s on a team with someone who has metahuman traits but feels like she only succeeds in making her teammate mad at her.  Pennyworth tells her that it’s actually a good thing since it still means that Helena has displayed some level of care for her.  From there, Dinah becomes worried that Barbara may not find a way to help Huntress out, to which Alfred exclaims that they’re used to these kinds of tricky situations as heroes.

Back at the police station’s sauna, Helena and Jesse have been held up in there for so long that the continuous heat has forced them to take off their shirts.  She questions why he concerns himself with “what goes on in New Gotham after nightfall” before he exclaims that he has to get out since he’s on assignment for tonight’s detail.  Huntress realizes that not only were Barnstone and Tanner just as honest as Det. Reese, but Barbara informs her that it’s another attempt at transporting military-grade weapons.  As such, Slick was going around axing them off since they were supposed to be taking part of the evening’s armored shipment.  With two now gone and Jesse barricading himself, the transport will now be handled by less-than-honorable cops.  As Babs explains that the armored vehicle has its own Gotham Police-sanctioned GPS, she discovers that it’s been stationary for the last five minutes.  Unbeknownst to her, Dinah has been overseeing and overhearing this conversation.  As such, she decides to take the car keys and sneak off in order to help out.  After Barbara admits that she still hasn’t found a way to stop Slick, Helena assumes that he must have left her and Det. Reese in order to rob the weapons.  However, they soon discover that he’s wedged the door from the outside.  As such, they kick it open in order to intervene.

We then shift over to a warehouse where Silas arrives in the armored truck as his fellow henchmen prepare to pilfer the high-end weapons.  Fortunately, Huntress and Jesse have arrived in time as they proceed to attack the goons.

Just then, Det. Reese is approached by Slick.  Jesse unsuccessfully punches through the fiend’s face before he gets bombarded by Silas’ attempt to drown him.  Unfortunately for Huntress, she’s not able to help since two remaining goons managed to arm themselves with a grenade launcher and a flamethrower as they use them to hold her at bay.  Fortunately, Dinah makes a timely save as she smacks one thug over the head with a chakram, allowing Helena to take out the last henchman.

From there, she uses the flamethrower as she saves Det. Reese by boiling Slick at an accelerated rate where he’s turned into irreversible steam.  After regrouping with Lance, Helena tells Oracle that Dinah’s with her before exclaiming that she’s alright with a nodding approval of her timely help.  Relieved that Lance is unharmed, Barbara still wants Kyle to tell her that she’s grounded for sneaking out.  With Dinah already aware of the punishment that awaits her, Huntress tells her to take the car back to base.

From there, she meets up with Jesse who’s overly-amazed by everything that’s happened to him.  She says that no one will believe what he’s been through, to which he asks her to come with him in order to prove it.  However, she declines.  As such, he sees them back to where they were before with her not explaining who she is to him or even why she goes out to fight crime.  He also says that while he is grateful that she saved him, it’s not the same thing as trust.  Huntress then tells him that this is one of those times where he needs “to make the leap, let go and believe”.  However, the scene ends with him exclaiming “I wish I could”.

Later on at the clock tower, our three main ladies have a team meeting.  Helena tells Dinah that she was wrong in saying that trust was something that needed to be earned, describing it more as a gift.  Since Lance helped the team out, Kyle is finally willing to believe in their youngest member.  From there, Dinah confirms Barbara’s research by admitting that her last is Redmond.  She also explains that her original mother left her with foster parents at the age of six, whom convinced her to be ashamed of her metahuman powers and hide them from the world, even willing to send her to a facility in order to fully suppress them when she ultimately couldn’t bear to do so anymore.  As such, Dinah initially lied about her past since she was worried that she would be sent back to them if her teammates knew from the start, especially since being with the team has made her feel like she was at home for the first time in her life.  As such, Helena decides to take her to the kitchen to see what Alfred prepped for dinner.

Following a quick scene the next day where Barbara surprises Wade by making up their dinner date in her classroom, we immediately shift back over to the clock tower at sunset as Helena talks to Gordon on how fighting alongside Det. Reese felt like a “first date” to her.  They then discuss on what Slick would want with such high-end artillery, since there’s easier things to steal for the Black Market.  As such, they wonder to whom he was he being a front man for.  Afterwards, Episode 2 ends at Dr. Quinzel’s office as Kyle tells her that she would like to continue their therapy sessions before mentioning that she’s met a guy, to which Harleen asks her about this particular man.

Episode 3 (“Prey For The Hunter”) opens with Huntress fighting off a thief while attempting to return a guy’s fanney pack.  During the scuffle, she chats with Barbara about wanting to try out a social life.  After she returns said item to the civilian and allows him to escape, she soon finds out that the felon is a metahuman with a snake-like tongue and can shoot acidic venom.  After evading his poisonous shot (with only some minor damage to her outfit), Helena responds by tossing the perp over a dumpster.  Suddenly, she hears a groan as the thief is flung back across the receptacle before she finds him somehow killed by the similar toxin.

Following the opening credits, we shift over to the New Gotham Police Station as Jesse is met upon by Det. Claude Morton (played by Joe Flanigan) who’s recently transferred from Blüdhaven.  Hearing that Det. Reese has a “screamingly weird” death case on his hands, Morton says that he’s after “a killer with a fairly bizarre M.O.” before looking over the file.  Jesse then explains that the newly-deceased victim was identified as Arnie Graves, a petty thief who wound up with a fatally-acidic wound in his chest cavity.  Claude then explains that it sounds like the killer that he’s after, but that he can’t be sure since his perp “never kills the same way twice”.  He then tells Det. Reese that his fellow officials back in Blüdhaven thought that he was crazy, so he personally put in a transfer request to New Gotham.  He also exclaims that his previous police chief told him that no serial killer would use a mass variety of murder methods, to which he says how that kind of thinking makes anyone dismissive of any obvious thing that’s in front of them.  From there, the scene ends with Claude saying that he’s been assigned to work with Jesse before they decide to head out and begin their investigation.

At that moment, Huntress is hopping across the rooftops before she jumps down and meets up with Det. Reese.  From there, she casually walks with him as she says that she’s trying to find out who committed an acidic-based murder before offering to swap information over coffee.  However, he’s not up for that since he still doesn’t know her name.  Ultimately, she decides to share her superhero name to him.  Despite that, he says that it’s still not good enough for him.  As he crosses the street, he asks her if she’s found anything about their murderer.  However, a car passes by as Helena uses this moment to vanish from his sight.

We then cut to the next day at the clock tower where Barbara has run an analysis on Arnie Graves and has discovered that the venom he used to partially damage Kyle’s clothes was also the same kind that killed him.  She says that it’s unlikely for two metahumans to share the exact set of powers.  Not only that, but her databases doesn’t have anything related to “power duplication”.  With a “Metahuman Mystery” on their hands, she orders Helena to go talk with someone who “knows the metahuman community”.  Kyle is reluctant to do so, but Gordon says that the owner never converses with anyone who’s “non-meta”.  As such, Helena reluctantly agrees to go to “No Man’s Land”.  As the thought of a place packed with several metahumans to hang out with fascinates Dinah, we then shift over to New Gotham High as she tells Barbara that she hated going to school back in Opal since it was a small town and her metahuman abilities weren’t much of a secret there.  Gordon tells her that she now has a fresh start as they each head off to begin their day.  Over in Science Class, Redmond ends up giving an awkward introduction to her fellow classmates before she’s finally allowed to take her seat.

Following the conclusion of her literature class, Babs is met upon by Wade who tells her that his parents are coming into town to have dinner with him.  As such, he would like to introduce her to them.  Barbara is stunned by the idea as she expresses her worry over them not necessarily seeing her in the same light that he does.  However, Brixton assures her that it’ll go smoothly since he still cares for her.

Out on the streets of New Gotham, Jesse and Claude talk about various beings with otherworldly abilities that each of them have seen over their police careers.  As they reach his car, Morton tells his partner that they’re dealing with dangerous beings, even going as far as calling them “creatures”.  Suddenly, he gets a pulsating headache as he notices a random guy walking by on the street as the unintentional cause.  Det. Reese notices his partner suffering as Claude exclaims that he sometimes gets these mind-numbing aches before saying that he has to go home as he drives off.

Later, Morton walks into New Gotham High long after the school day has ended as it turns out that the guy he followed was a janitor.  Claude reveals that he’s after him, to which the befuddled custodian named Carl says that he didn’t do anything to upset him.  However, Morton tells him that it’s actually “about what you are”.  It turns out that the janitor is a metahuman and is capable of projecting flames as he creates a fireball and throws it in defense.  However, Morton dodged it as he suddenly forms his own fireball and incinerates Carl.

Meanwhile, Helena arrives at No Man’s Land Collectibles where she’s met upon by a shop owner named Gibson Kafka (played by Rob Benedict).  From there, he activates a secret switch connected to a Shakespeare bust (in a nod to the 1966 Batman TV Show).  It turns out that he has a secret hangout for metahumans underneath his store as the bartender named Frosty preps drinks for them.  Gibson then chats with Helena about how it’s been a long time since they last saw each other, during which he displays his ability to have an abnormally precise memory of various details.  From there, Kyle informs him about the metahuman thief who was slayed by someone with the same powers that he had.  Kafka admits that he hasn’t heard of anything like this before since it’s near impossible for two metahumans with similar abilities to ever come across each other.  Without anything to go on, Helena begins to take her leave.  Gibson then asks her if his club’s metahuman-only policy makes her uneasy being here, to which she says that she’s half-meta and half-human before telling him to keep his eye peeled for any unusual event.  Afterwards, he successfully offers her to stay for one more round.

Over at New Gotham High, it’s Dinah’s lunch period and already she’s having a rough time fitting in, due to it stemming from her awkward introduction to her science classmates.  As such, she places her food down on a empty table and simply walks out.  Later, Helena is finally about to leave when she’s suddenly approached by Redmond who admits to skipping out on school.  She then explains that she found the shop in the yellow pages before getting into the underground club due to someone else already exiting through the secret passage.  Dinah then says that she ditched school due to feeling like the other students will just awkwardly stare at her and not even bother to chat.  Kyle tells her that it’s mainly because she’s the new kid, to which Redmond says that she doesn’t see the point of attending since she wants to become a superhero.  Helena then tells her that it’s still possible to go get an education and have a normal life while still becoming a hero, since simply being a metahuman “isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be”.

That night at New Gotham P.D., Claude continues his metahuman discussion with Jesse as he explains that there’s a whole subculture of these beings living within the city and that they look like regular humans while possessing various powers.  Det. Reese is unbelieving of it, so Morton brings up how New Gotham used to have a vigilante who “dressed up like a Bat” and fought crime.  Because Batman is more of a mythic being in New Gotham who isn’t regularly seen by its civilians, even Jesse has a hard time buying it.  Claude then says that he believes the Dark Knight to be responsible for the rising emergence of the city’s criminal activity, even being under the idea that every metahuman is a culprit.  He goes on to explain that Batman was a regular human who “had a scary dress sense” and that he ultimately vanished seven years ago, while the metahumans stayed and built their own lives in New Gotham.  Det. Reese then admits to knowing a woman who usually only shows up when there’s “a dead body”, to which Morton says that they’ll be fortunate if another one turns up.

As such, we cut to a crime scene where a familiar metahuman was secretly frozen to death within a block of ice by Claude himself.  Later on after the police show up, he tells Jesse that it must be the same killer that they’re after before he gets another pulsating headache.  Because his partner is out of aspirin, Det. Reese offers to get him some.  After retrieving some aspirin from his trunk, he’s suddenly approached by Huntress who tells him that she recognizes their newest victim as Frosty, recently-murdered by someone who was able to turn his powers against him.  Jesse then says that she’s part of the metahuman culture by calling her “one of those meta-things”.  She gets offended by that remark before secretly sneaking off from him yet again.

From there, she hops across a series of rooftops before she’s met upon by Morton who copies her eye-color transformation and prepares to kill her.  Helena proceeds to fight him, but they end up being fairly equally-matched before he starts to best her in unarmed combat.  They then grab each other by the neck and slam through a wall towards an adjacent street before she notices an oncoming fire department issued car.  As such, she positions Claude in front of the approaching vehicle as it emerges through the smoke and rams into him, thus allowing her to escape.

We then cut to the next day at the clock tower as Helena tells Barbara about how Morton nearly killed her and that she even tried calling Det. Reese in order to warn him about his partner to no avail.  As such, she notified Gibson to have the metahuman community hide out until further notice.  Gordon realizes that this rogue cop is actually a metahuman capable of copying another metahuman’s power before Kyle is befuddled on how she was able to escape, since she went across a street and he didn’t follow her.  Babs then deduces that their foe’s powers only work within a particular range of 20 yards before bringing up the fact that he gets a headache every time he’s near another metahuman, thus she wants to find a way to use that against him.  However, Helena isn’t willing to sit back and wait before telling Gordon that she can’t understand what it’s like being different.  Barbara then brings up the fact that she just met Wade’s parents and overheard his mother saying that she doesn’t approve of her due to her not having fully-functioning legs, thus counterarguing her teammate.  Kyle apologizes for her statement, but still exclaims that she’s not going to stand aside and let Claude keep killing off other metahumans before taking her leave.

Over at the underground hangout beneath No Man’s Land Collectibles, Dinah arrives without Helena’s knowledge.  From there, Kafka offers his hospitality to her.  Several hours go by as she goes on to play billiards with him.  Suddenly, Barbara shows up and catches her hanging out here, especially since it’s a school night.

Meanwhile, Det. Morton is out with Jesse and mentions that Huntress tried to kill him.  Det. Reese isn’t willing to buy it, to which Claude says that metahumans are nothing but animals looking for any means to survive.  Suddenly, his pulsating headaches start up again as Helena shows up and attacks him before holding him up to the wall by his neck.  Morton desperately tells his partner to shoot her, to which Jesse ends up taking out his gun and orders her to let him go or else.

Huntress says that this is their metahuman killer, even though Det. Reese says that she’s about to kill someone from her own kind.  As she takes offense to that statement, she drops Det. Morton and places herself at point-blank range of his gun before admitting that she’s not completely human.  When she asks if it makes it right for him to kill her, Jesse lowers him weapon and says that it doesn’t.  Suddenly, Craig pops back up and draws his gun at him, disappointed that he didn’t pull the trigger at that moment.  Helena manages to disrupt his aim in the nick of time, thus Det. Reese only ends up getting shot in his arm.

Huntress then pins him to the wall as Det. Morton attempts to make her kill him.  Fortunately, she resists the tempting notion and simply runs off as the fiend chases after her.  As she heads for the rooftops, Helena contacts Barbara and tells her to call up an ambulance for Jesse.  After a while, Kyle says that she’s going to wait for her foe to catch up before Gordon tells her that she can’t beat him by herself.  However, Huntress says that his reign of metahuman murders ends tonight before cutting off contact just as Claude arrives.  Having overhearing the conversation, Dinah asks if there’s any way they can help their teammate, to which Barbara exclaims that she can attempt to locate the GPS signal within Helena’s comm set in order to find her.

Meanwhile, Huntress demands to know why a fellow metahuman is going around killing other metahumans.  Det. Morton says that as long as others are around, he’ll never be normal and thus constantly become what he hates.  As such, he wants every last meta axed off in order to finally live as a regular human.  From there, they proceed to fight each other as their tussle reaches the side where they once again attempt to choke each other.

Suddenly, Claude receives a bigger headache as Dinah steps in, alongside Gibson and the rest of their fellow metahumans.  Barbara also arrives as she tells Helena that they don’t kill their enemies.  Huntress agrees and says that he should rot away in a jail cell, but Det. Morton gets out of her grasp and hops up onto the ledge before he exclaims about a “difference between staying alive and living”.  As such, he shuts off his own metahuman ability and simply jumps to his death.

We then cut to a later time over at New Gotham Hospital where Jesse is resting up from his wound. He notices Helena as she tells him what happened to Claude.  She then says that metahumans are people too and not all of them are bad, similar to how not every cop is good.  She also states that New Gotham has plenty of criminals, though not just those who are meta, and that she’s proud of her half-meta, half-human status.  Just as she’s about to leave, Det. Reese says that he never believed that she killed Morton before asking why she can’t just tell him her name, to which she says that he originally asked “who” she was when they first met.  However, he recently asked her “what” she was and thus, he hasn’t earned the right to know her name.  Just as Jesse apologizes, Huntress had mysteriously vanished.

From there, Episode 3 ends back at the clock tower as Dinah admits to finding Gibson “great” before Barbara informs her that Wade’s parents didn’t take an immediate liking to her.  Redmond then wonders what it was like for Claude to hate what he was, to which Helena says that he never understood who he was.  From there, they decide to head back over to Gibson’s hangout for drinks as Kyle admits that she got over the notion of “wanting to be like other girls”.

Episode 4 (“Three Birds & A Baby”) begins with a nighttime struggle on a fire escape as a woman is fending off some attackers while carrying her baby.  During the conflict, the young babe slips through her grasp and plummets towards the ground.  Fortunately, Huntress manages to save the youngster before immediately fighting off the henchmen.  She ultimately prevails, but finds the woman murdered as she’s now left to care for the baby.

Following the opening credits, we cut to sunrise as Helena presents the young babe to her teammates.  They discover that it’s a boy before deciding on what to call him, to which Dinah comes up with “Guy”.  With the group settled on the baby’s name, Barbara says that she’ll hack into the coroner’s database in order to find out the mother’s identity and learn what her attackers were after.  Until then, they’re also going to look after the babe, to which Kyle isn’t up for while Redmond is ecstatic.  As they board their elevator with the young lad in arms, Helena still expresses her concern, to which Babs exclaims that their crime-fighting venture shouldn’t be anymore difficult than watching after a baby.

As if on ironic cue, they’re immediately bombarded by the young boy’s constant cries just as they reach the main level of their base.  Just as Guy is passed over to Kyle, he ceases with his youthful wails.  As she reaches her computers, Barbara explains that neither the coroner nor the police have been able to identify the newly-deceased woman.  As such, she tells Helena to go to the morgue and to also pick up some diapers while she’s at it.

We then cut over to Dr. Quinzel’s office as Harleen is furious towards Dr. Lewis Melfin (played by Kevin Rankin).  It turns out that the baby was genetically-engineered for her as she demands to know what happened, to which the doctor explains that an assistant broke in and stole the young boy.  Even though she’s been axed off, the babe has now “fallen into third-party hands”.  Not to mention, his men didn’t get a good look at the one who intervened.  Dr. Quinzel then says that her “career woman” image doesn’t fulfill her since she always wanted to have a child with the Joker.  Instead, her own lab-created boy has landed outside of her grasp.  Dr. Melfin promises to go get the baby back, but she refuses as she plans on hiring some “professionals” to do the job.

Meanwhile, Huntress has arrived at the morgue as she takes a picture of the deceased lab assistant’s face and even scans her fingerprints.  As Guy continues to cry, Barbara explains that her databases haven’t been able to find a match.  Once Helena assists with a resonant scan, Babs detects a bio-chip in the woman’s shoulder.  Kyle manages to cut it open and retrieve the chip before she’s suddenly approached by Det. Reese as he quickly notices the diapers that she’s retrieved and wonders what she’s doing with them.  She soon remembers his judgmental behavior of her from the last episode as she chastises him for calling her a “thing” and for aiming his gun at her.  From there, Barbara tells Helena to return to base as she takes her leave.

Later, she makes it back to the clock tower to find Babs and Dinah struggling with the ever-crying baby.  As Redmond heads out to change after being spat upon by Guy, Alfred calmly strolls in as Helena wants to know why he’s not helping.  Pennyworth exclaims that he’s “a butler, not a nanny”, to which Gordon counterargues by saying that he helped raise Bruce when he was young.  However, he points out that he has raised both kids “and everyone else” for a long time as he takes note of their appreciation towards his work before heading out.  Barbara then hands off Guy to Helena in order to get a burp rag, to which he quiets down within her arms.

After handing over the bio-chip, Kyle notices that the baby is tired as Babs says that Alfred brought over a bassinet from Wayne Manor.  As such, Helena places Guy within the cradle before actually singing him to sleep with “Rock-A-Bye Baby”.

She then rejoins Babs who compliments her for “taking to a baby”, to which Kyle shrugs it off before asking if she’s found anything about the bio-chip.  Gordon explains that it’s an encrypted electronic passkey and now that she “broke the code”, they soon discover that it came from a bio-tech facility called Simcron Labs.  As they decide to pay a visit to the compound, they suddenly hear Guy crying.  Helena heads up to comfort the baby, only to surprisingly discover that he’s actually grown up into a young child (played by Matthew Josten).

Later, he has some macaroni & cheese as she and Dinah look over him.  Redmond wonders how he’s able to fluently speak despite only being a day old.  Barbara did some readings on him and discovers that he’s a metahuman with a “tremendously fast growth rate”.  As such, he’s on pace to wind up deceased in only a few days.  Kyle says that they must do something to prevent his premature death, but Babs says that it’s highly unlikely before showing her a particular scan, which displays a “Neural Mesh” that’s surgically grafted to Guy’s brain and nerves, thus allowing him to gain skills and know how to do various things.  Fortunately, he has his own personality and can decide how he wants to use those skills.  From there, Gordon exclaims that she also found a similar passkey bio-chip within Guy’s grafted mesh, meaning that he and the deceased woman are connected to Simcron.  Helena then wonders why anyone would bother to graft it to a kid who’ll wind up dead in only a few days, to which she brings up that Guy relates to the team in terms of being different, but also to her specifically in the fact that he’s a metahuman who also lost his own mother.

Over at Dr. Quinzel’s office, Harleen is interviewing a small group of mercenaries as she tells them that “an integral part” of her scheme (a.k.a. the boy) has gone missing and that she wants them to get him back.  She then asks for proof as to why she should hire them, to which the head mercenary tosses a letter opener at one of his comrades who catches it with impressive reflexes, thus solidifying their hire.

Back at the clock tower, Dinah is reading a storybook to Guy.  As the tale involves the notion of Birthdays, he mentions that he’s never had one and wonders if he’s “different than other kids”, to which she confirms as well as herself and her teammates.  Meanwhile, Barbara gets in contact with Simcron Labs as Dr. Melfin fabricates an excuse that the child was about to receive treatment for his “rare aging disease” before their lab was broken into as a result of “Industrial Espionage” and that the newly-deceased woman was a lab assistant who attempted to save him.  As such, he recommends that they bring the boy over in order for him to receive his experimental treatment before concluding the call.  Barbara doesn’t trust Dr. Melfin and his team enough to consider bringing Guy in, while Helena says that they don’t have any other options to save him.  With time of the essence while wanting to avoid walking into the facility on blind chance, they decide that Dinah will go with them.

Later, they arrive at Simcron Labs within Babs’ handi-capable Hummer.  As Gordon and Kyle continue to argue, Redmond notices that Guy is rapidly aging again (and now played by Bobby Edner) as she tells her teammates about it.  With the boy now in his early teens, they ultimately discover that he exponentially grows up whenever he sleeps.  From there, Barbara has Helena stay in the car with Guy while she and Dinah head into the building.

After making their way into Simcron Labs, Gordon and Redmond finally meet Dr. Melfin.  Upon shaking his hand however, Dinah’s mental power kicks in as she reads a recent thought of him prepping a hand gun for this exact moment.  With their cover blown, Lewis and his men draw their weapons at them before he demands to know where they’re keeping the boy.  Thankfully, Babs activates a discreet alarm from her wheelchair as Kyle tells Guy to wait in the car while she goes in.  Just as Dr. Melfin threatens to shoot Redmond in the head, Huntress bursts in and proceeds to fight the fiends off, with even Barbara getting in some action herself with a retractable nightstick.  Suddenly, Guy joins the fight as he displays his newfound combat skills before kicking Lewis into a Simcron sign where he gets electrocuted to death.

Long after our heroes have taken their leave, Quinzel arrives as she marvels over her genetically-engineered kid’s handiwork.  The head mercenary is stunned by this display, to which she says that it’s the perfect child for her since there’s little-to-no commitment needed at all.  She then reveals that the boy is a prototype for her own “family of baby assassins” that would blindly serve her.  However, the boy has already developed his own free will as it was a trait that Dr. Melfin didn’t have time to extract.  Fortunately for her, she reveals from Lewis’ lab coat pocket her lone control over the child: a trigger which will turn him into a merciless killer.  For now, all they can do is find the boy.

We then cut over to the park at night where Helena is pushing Guy on the swings. As he explains that he just suddenly knew how to fight, she then draws his attention towards the night sky and points out a particular constellation in the shape of the famed huntsman of Greek mythology named Orion as she compares Guy to him and herself in that vein.  She then tells Guy that even though he made his first kill (albeit accidentally), it’s something that he must refrain from.  He then wonders why since Dr. Melfin was a bad guy, to which she admits that it’s a personal struggle that she faces all the time.  In the end, she tells him that they must be responsible with their own powers, or else they’re no different than their enemies.  After then promising him that they’ll celebrate his birthday, they proceed to take their leave.

Later on back at the clock tower, Guy is resting up with Helena sitting beside him.  Alfred comes in as she discusses about this essentially being her own crash-course in parenthood.  Pennyworth then exclaims that he sees a lot of her within Guy, especially all of the struggles & poor choices made throughout her life, and that it’ll come down to him finding his own way in the end.  Kyle then exclaims how Barbara never gave up on her when she was young and that she’ll hang in there with Guy to the end.

Later, she joins Babs on the outer wall who informs her about her further research on the boy’s neural mesh.  It turns out that it regulates two different modes with Guy: A Passive setting for excessive learning and an Active setting which taps into his violent behavior.  Unbeknownst to them, he’s been overhearing all of this before he emerges as a fully-grown teenager (and now played by Michael Welch) where he expresses his angst and frustration over their inability on finding a way to fix his condition before he ultimately takes off.  Barbara then tells Helena that he didn’t mean what he said and that he should be given some time.  However, Kyle says that it’s the one thing he doesn’t have before heading back inside to talk to him, only to discover that he’s run off and has even slipped past Dinah as well as Kyle tells her to help out in anyway possible while she goes out to find him.

We then cut to a dance club as Redmond finds Guy who’s still feeling upset.  She tells him that even though he’s the only one who feels sorry for himself, she can relate to how he feels.  Just then, some goons pop up and look to cause some mischief with her, forcing Guy to step up to them.

Meanwhile, Huntress approaches Jesse and asks for his help in finding her 14 year-old “nephew”.  Det. Reese asks why her kin is that old, but needs to wear diapers.  She says that it’s a long story, but she’s unsure of where to start looking.  Just then, they get a call from Jesse’s police scanner about an incident over at Club Slippery caused by an instigator who fits Guy’s description.  However, Harleen’s hired mercenaries have also picked up the same A.P.B. broadcast.

As the patrons are evacuated from the dance club, Dinah and Helena come across each other as Redmond explains that she unsuccessfully tried to stop Guy, but he ran off towards Maple Street.  Knowing where he’s heading, Kyle tells her to get back to base before heading out to get him.  Not too long afterwards, Dr. Quinzel arrives with her mercenaries as she takes in the firey destruction left behind before telling her men that her genetically-created son must be found.

Later, Huntress arrives at the park where she finds Guy sleeping on the grass.  As such, he’s now grown into his late teens/early 20s (and now played by Riley Smith).  Back at the burning night club, Harleen tells the mercenaries to go get her personally-created son.  After they take their leave, she activates a particular command on the digital trigger.

Back at the park, Guy receives the signal through his bio-chip and begins to attack Helena.  Despite receiving his fierce hits, she refuses to fight back as she essentially tells him that he’s the only one who decides how he’ll be defined and not through his genetic creation.  In the end, he calms down and receives a motherly hug.

Just then, they’re approached by the mercenaries as they intend to kill her and capture the boy.  Huntress tells him to run, but Guy refuses to abandon her.  As such, they proceed to fight them off and ultimately prevail.

However, the victory is bittersweet upon their return to the clock tower.  As Guy lays on their couch and dozes off, thus becoming middle-aged (briefly played by Victor Bevine) in the process, Barbara exclaims that his programmed “Attack Mode” is causing him to rapidly age and that they can’t do anything to stop it.  He nods off yet again and ends up reaching senior citizen status (not to mention, portrayed by Richard Stobie) before the ladies give him a cupcake with a birthday candle on it as Helena tells him that they’re celebrating his special day.  As such, Guy utilizes his final moments and uses his birthday wish in order to give her nothing but happiness, since it’s what she gave him.  Afterwards, he sleeps for the final time and passes away.

Back at Dr. Quinzel’s office, Harleen is furious that a team of hired hunters were defeated.  Not only that, but her million-dollar creation is now lost forever.  The head mercenary exclaims that her intended son became friends with their enemy, to which she finds unacceptable.  From there, she serves him his pink slip by snapping his neck before vowing to get vengeance upon our butt-kicking heroine.

Meanwhile, Huntress has gone back to the park where she sits upon the swings.  Just then, Det. Reese arrives as he informs her that the dance club only suffered from extensive smoke damage before asking if she found her “nephew”, to which she glumly exclaims that he’s “gone”.  He then apologizes for “everything” before ultimately taking his leave.

And so, Episode 4 ends back at the clock tower as Dinah wonders why anyone would want to create a disposable offspring that’s solely programmed to assassinate.  Barbara then says that Helena did see some woman at the dance club, though she couldn’t get a good look at her face.  As they get the feeling that she’s looking to bring organized crime back into New Gotham, they vow to find out who she is and ultimately stop her.  From there, Kyle joins her teammates as she brings out Guy’s birthday cupcake before making a wish and blowing out the candle.

Episode 5 (“Sins Of The Mother”) opens with a woman emerging from New Gotham Station and taking to the streets.  Little does she know is that a thug is in pursuit of her as he calls up his employer named Frankie Spitz (played by Kristofer McNeeley) and confirms that there’s still a bounty on her.  However, Frankie warns him that if he fails, the bounty will then be placed on him.  Afterwards, Spitz informs his leader named Al Hawke (played by Stephen McHattie) that they’ve found their target: Black Canary.  With this revelation peaking his interest, he tells Spitz to make sure that it’s “meant to be”.  Back on the streets of New Gotham, the perp follows her from a particular distance before tailing her down an alley.  However, she was ready for him as she delivers a surprise attack and beats him up before taking her leave.

Over at the clock tower, Dinah is in the middle of a sparring session with Helena.  Kyle continues to get the best of Redmond while constantly telling her to go “faster”.  While she’s pinned down, Dinah notices some nun-chuks from afar as she suddenly uses her mind to fling them across the room and hit her teammate.  Helena is stunned to see that Redmond has developed a new power as they head out to tell Barbara.  When they arrive however, Dinah is surprised to see a familiar face that she hasn’t seen in a longtime: her actual mother who was also the superheroine known as Black Canary (played by Becky Katsopolis and Abigail Stanton herself, Lori Loughlin), which leads into the opening credits.

With the team amazed by the fact that their youngest member has a famous hero as her mom, has just developed telekinesis and could potentially inherit the Canary Cry, Lance asks for some alone time with her daughter.  From there, Dinah tells her mom that she learned about her historic heroics through Oracle before chastising her decision to leave her with a foster family who forced her to deny her metahuman abilities.  Her mother (who’s called Caroline) says that she wanted her girl to have a regular life, unaware that she was developing powers at only six years old.  She also regrets leaving Dinah with the Redmonds, especially after hearing about what they did to her girl after she had already ran away.  As such, Caroline says that she’s given up the mantle of Black Canary in order to finally settle into her motherly duties.

Meanwhile, Helena and Barbara are waiting outside as they share their amazement in learning about Dinah’s familiar connection to a famous superheroine.  From there, Kyle says that they should head in and make sure the reunion doesn’t get out of hand.  Caroline tries to convince her daughter to forgo her superhero training due to the dangers that come with the job, but Dinah tells her that she doesn’t get to decide what’s right for her after walking out all those years ago before heading out in order to spend the night with a friend.  Afterwards, Lance asks Barbara how her daughter was able to live under her roof without any knowledge of her actual mother, to which Babs explains that Dinah only gave her foster family’s last name to them, which checked out during a background check.  Not to mention, Gordon says that her team is all about bringing in those with potential off the streets in order to be mentored.  Caroline exclaims that her daughter isn’t like them before Helena counterargues by mentioning that she wouldn’t “know anything about her”.  Lance expresses her personal dislike by telling her to stay away from Dinah in order to not influence her.  Afterwards, the scene ends with Barbara telling Kyle that her mother was in several past scuffles against Caroline during her time as Catwoman.

We then have a quick scene at Hawke’s residence as the goon is being strung up for his failure.  He tells Al & Frankie that he has several other men out looking for Black Canary and begs for another chance.  However, Hawke denies his request before Spitz tosses a dagger into the thug’s chest.

From there, his deceased corpse is found on the streets as Det. McNally exclaims that he’ll get Forensics to search the body for any fingerprints.  However, Jesse recognizes the impaled blade and assures his partner that there won’t be any prints or witnesses to find.

Back at the clock tower, Caroline tells Barbara that she doesn’t want her daughter to continue her superheroing trek, to which Babs says that it’s ultimately Dinah’s choice.  Gordon then exclaims that despite ending up in a wheelchair, she doesn’t regret her decision to fight the good fight.  She then tells Lance that her girl has already developed a set of mental-based powers and has the potential to be like her.  However, Caroline doesn’t want her daughter to suffer from the kind of physical harm that she’s endured while fighting crime.  Oracle says that Dinah wants to do this, especially since she has the heart for this.  Despite Babs’ argument, Lance exclaims that she’s already made one bad decision in her life and that she’s not letting her daughter stay in this life, even it means compromising “who she is”.

Later, Det. Reese is returning to his car when he’s then met upon by Huntress.  They discuss about the recently-murdered lackey as Jesse exclaims that he knows who the murderer is, yet will end up being disconnected from this incident before asking her to stay out of this case so that he can handle it himself.  After she notes his lack of trustworthiness for her, he essentially says that it can be rectified if she reveals a specific detail about herself, like her name, an address or a phone number.  However, she remains silent and lets his point be proven as he gets in his car and drives off.

We then shift to the next day at the clock tower as Helena tells Barbara about Jesse being “so secretive” over the death of a random lackey.  Just then, Dinah returns as she begins to tell her mother about something important.  Suddenly, Bab’s database has identified the murdered thug as Willie Cortez as they learn that he’s a “snitch for the Hawke family”.  At that moment, Caroline gets a chilling realization that Al Hawke has found out that she’s in New Gotham before telling Dinah that they have to leave right away.  Redmond says that she can handle this, but Gordon reluctantly says that Caroline is still her mom.  Dinah gets upset that her mother is being allowed to call the shots for her despite being absent for the majority of her life, to which Caroline says that this is an urgent matter as Redmond ultimately heads out to pack.  Helena then voices her disapproval towards this decision, but Lance agitates her again due to her being related to Catwoman.  Thankfully, Barbara defuses this confrontation as Caroline heads out to help her daughter prep for their escape.  However, she soon finds out that her girl has ran off.

As such, Dinah makes her way to the underground metahuman hangout beneath No Man’s Land Collectibles as Gibson offers to whip up “a fruity soda” for her.  Unbeknownst to her, he secretly sends an e-mail to Oracle and lets her know that Redmond is with him.  Afterwards, she contacts Huntress and tells her to “run interference” on Hawke while Caroline goes after her daughter.  Helena wishes to know why this crime lord is after the former Black Canary after all these years, to which Gordon exclaims that he holds her responsible for his father’s death.

Meanwhile, Gibson talks with Dinah about the time that her mother took down “New Gotham’s most-organized crime family” and that he even recalls it at only two years old, thanks to his metahuman ability of memory precision.  He continues to praise the former Black Canary before her signature Canary Cry gets brought up.  However, this irritates Redmond as she mentions that her mom was able to become a legendary crime-fighter, yet couldn’t be around for her own daughter as she inadvertently uses her telekinesis to partially spill Kafka’s drink.  Following the brief demonstration of her newest ability, Dinah then asks why her own mother would simply give her up, to which Caroline comes in and says that it was to protect her.  Gibson then gets giddy over her presence as he expresses his nerd-tastic appreciation of her before he goes to get the necessary tools to acquire her autograph.

Over at Hawke’s place, Frankie informs Al that his men have spotted Black Canary over on “Main & 4th”.  As such, Hawke provides him an inhibitor collar for him to place upon her neck and cancel out her Canary Cry before exclaiming that he wants to finish off some “unresolved issues” with her.  Spitz promises to give him some much-needed closure before heading out.

Meanwhile, Huntress comes across Jesse as she informs him that the deceased goon worked for Al Hawke.  He once again tells her to stay out of this, but she rebuts by saying that even though he’s using “the whole count-on-yourself routine”, he’ll need her help in the end.

Back at the hangout, Dinah tells her mother that she wants nothing to do with her, especially since she missed out on a good portion of her life.  Caroline then explains why she dropped her daughter off with the Redmonds all those years ago.  On one fateful night, she came home on a hunch and went up to Dinah’s room while she was sleeping.  Thankfully, her motherly instincts were on point as she discovered a C-4 explosive that was set to go off in an hour lying under her daughter’s bed.  As such, Lance doesn’t want her to experience the same moment where being a superhero ends up getting your loved ones hurt or killed.  She even offers to have her girl touch her hand in order to read her thoughts and confirm it.  Just as Dinah is about to make contact, she pulls away and runs off again.

After reaching the surface, Redmond manages to get far enough away by the time Caroline gets back up to street-level.  Suddenly, she finds herself surrounded by Hawke’s men.  She prepares to unleash her Canary Cry upon them, but Frankie managed to place the inhibitor collar around her neck and allow his men to come in to subdue her.

Meanwhile, Dinah makes it back to the clock tower as Barbara tells her that they just lost contact with her mother.  Not only that, but Huntress reports in as she’s just learned from a perp that the Hawke family had doubled their bounty on Black Canary.  Even worse, she’s just been captured.  Redmond then wonders how this is happening since her mom took down the Hawke family, to which Gordon explains that while that’s true, their youngest son named Al wasn’t indited.  As such, he ultimately rebuilt his family’s criminal empire.  Dinah wants to go save her mom right away, but Babs says that they need a plan.  She then calms a rightfully-worried Redmond down and exclaims that while they do save people, they must keep a clear head and think things through.

We then cut to the New Gotham Police Department as Helena meets up with Det. Reese and says that Al Hawke has just kidnapped “a friend”.  He asks for some hard evidence in order to provide a warrant and S.W.A.T. back-up, but she says that it’ll be too late by then.  Instead, she asks for his help.  Jesse says that there’s a legal procedure that he has to follow before exclaiming that she can’t beat Hawke.  When she tells him that he doesn’t know that, he goes to list various things that he doesn’t know about her, ranging from what side of the law she fights on to why her eyes changes colors when she’s about to fight.  Ultimately, he says that the one thing he does know is that he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her.  Huntress then says that he’s seen her enough times to know that she’s “one of the good guys”, even admitting that she does “work for someone” and that he should know how difficult it is for her to ask for help.  As such, he writes an address and gives it to her, explaining that it’s most likely the spot that Al would keep his hostage.  By the time he notices a few comrades approaching, she proceeds to vanish from the building.

From there, Helena contacts Barbara and exclaims that Black Canary is being held within “an industrial garage” over by the river before heading out.  Back at their base, Dinah wants the keys to their car.  Before Gordon complies, she gives her a communicative earpiece so that they can stay in “constant contact”.  From there, Babs essentially tells Redmond that her past training has prepped her for this moment and that she’s absolutely ready before giving her the car keys and sending her out on the mission.

Over in New Gotham’s industrial sector, Caroline is bound by several ropes as Hawke is prepared to take his vengeance for his father’s defeat at her hands.  As such, he activates a winch in order for the threads to tighten her.  To insure that the process is irreversible, he disables the activation lever before comparing his death trap to a boa constrictor crushing the air and life out of a man.

Suddenly, Huntress arrives and evades the enemy gunfire while slowly taking out each henchman.  Despite that, Al refuses to leave the sight of Caroline getting slowly crushed by the ever-tightening ropes.  Suddenly, Dinah arrives and knocks him out.

However, she’s not able to turn the winch off as she calls out for Huntress’ help.  Upon her defeat of another thug, Helena suddenly finds herself in the targeting sight of Frankie’s gun.  Fortunately, Det. Reese makes a timely save as he disarms Spitz and holds him in submission.  After Kyle heads out to assist her teammate, Frankie warns Jesse that his “time is coming soon”.

Meanwhile, Redmond tells her mother that she can’t stop the ropes from tightening her.  Despite that, Caroline is able to express her gratitude for her daughter’s heroism and that she couldn’t be more proud of her.  Suddenly, Hawke re-emerges and grabs Dinah in order for her to see her mom die right in front of her.  Fortunately, she calms down and uses her telekinesis to remove the inhibitor collar from her mother’s neck.  From there, Lance uses her Canary Cry to send Al flying into some oil drums which falls over and spills out some flammable liquid.  She then redirects her signature attack upon the winch, disabling it and thus freeing her from the bonds.

From there, Dinah, Huntress and Caroline regroup as they take cover before Hawke opens fire on them.  The scattershot bullets strike even more drums and causes their flammable liquids to squirt out as Helena exclaims that they have to escape before the building explodes.  Lance tells Kyle to get her daughter out of here while she draws the enemy fire.  As such, Caroline gets Al’s attention as Huntress and Dinah dash for the exit.  Just as Hawke redirects his aim towards our heroes, Lance blasts him with another Canary Cry.  He tries firing back at her, but sparks ignites the spilled liquid.  Just as Det. Reese places Frankie in the back of his car, Kyle and Redmond make it out just as the building explodes.  Helena then comforts her teammate as her mom has seemingly perished within the blast.

Later on at the police station, Huntress arrives and presents Det. Reese with a special gift as thanks for his help.  It turns out to be a special communication ring that he can use to contact her.  Afterwards, Jesse arrives at New Gotham Hospital as he talks to Hawke about how he’s going to jail for his recent murder and that he’ll stay locked up.  As Det. Reese starts to take his leave, it’s then revealed that they’re actually connected as Al is his dad.

From there, Episode 5 ends back at the clock tower as Dinah exclaims how this experience felt like a photograph that was suddenly taken away from her.  Helena tells her that she’ll go through several more similar things like that throughout her life before Redmond says that she’s forever changed and yet feels like there’s still many more things that she has yet to learn about.  Barbara assures her that her mother is proud of what she’s become and that she’ll continue to learn.  Dinah then exclaims that she must push towards the future with the thought of what she has to do for both her mom and herself.

So far, the series’ first five episodes have some narrative weight to them.  It establishes our situation for our team, our main characters’ roles & abilities and the various relationships that they have throughout the show’s run thus far.  It handles its own continuity in a respective manner and has some nice development for our principal players, mainly Dinah becoming competent & confident with both her burgeoning mental powers and her own combat skills (thus allowing her to earn some shades of her comic-book counterpart), Barbara’s accurate portrayal of a team mentor taking what she’s learned from her time as Batgirl & instilling wisdom towards her teammates, while Huntress learns to shed her necessity to be a loner during field work through her complicated rapport with Det. Jesse Reese.  Yes, Babs also has a relationship of her own that she’s dealing with on the side (albeit with an originally-created guy), but thus far, it’s only adequately developed compared to the levels of attention and detail that Helena and Jesse get for their crime-fighting partnership, which benefits both sides and will see further development down the line.  As for our main baddie of the overall show, Harley is shown in the beginning with a much-more tamer personality compared to how her comic-book counterpart is regularly shown to have in both shows and films, though she does retain the upbeat delivery when it’s needed for a scene.  This version is able to have her own psychiatric business and use it as a front for her own revenge-fueled take-over plot.  For the most part, the lower-tiered felons-of-the-week that she uses for various different purposes are on metahuman levels.  Sure, there was a metahuman and a regular human that were both operating on their own terms, but this show’s interpretation of Quinn sees her as a burgeoning mastermind that our main heroes will ultimately confront by the end of the series.  While she presents a mentally-stable facade on the surface, her insanity mainly stems from her past relationship with the Joker and that she allowed him to mold her into traveling down a devious, bitter & villainous path while never seeking any attempt at anti-heroine redemption (again, unlike her comic book counterpart).  Depending on what I come across throughout the remainder of the show’s run, I’ll bring them up in a later part.  As for overall character arcs and my thoughts on the series as a whole, I’ll save that for the end.  Either way, this presents a mainly-solid start to the series, at least in terms of narrative and character development.  While it does have some hiccups that I’ll ultimately bring up, the story is presented in a way that makes it easy to follow, presents some nice surprises and even has some genuinely funny bits of dialogue.  Come back next time as we explore the team’s further crime-busting schemes and continue the build-up to our inevitable confrontation.  Until then, keep those talons trimmed!

Birds Of Prey (created by Jordan B. Gorfinkel & Chuck Dixon) is owned by DC Comics.