WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batwoman Season 3, Episode 6, “How Does Your Garden Grow?” which aired Wednesday, Nov. 17 on The CW.
The third season of Batwoman has not shied away from introducing new versions of iconic Batman villains, and the latest episode continues this trend by debuting a new take on Poison Ivy. In a fairly bold new twist on the villain, Mary Hamilton is taken over by Ivy’s influence and becomes a host for her to exact her revenge on Gotham City. Despite Ryan Wilder and the Bat Team’s best efforts, Mary escapes to menace the city another day.
Previous episodes of Season 3 have depicted strange interactions between Mary Hamilton and Poison Ivy’s plants. After being dragged away into the woods by some vines, Mary develops a sudden and dramatic interest in plants. While her new hobby actually ends up saving the day when Ryan is trapped within one of Mr. Freeze’s cryogenic chambers, Alice begins to grow suspicious of her, and goes to Renee Montoya to ask about Poison Ivy.
Montoya tells Alice that she used to be romantically involved with Ivy, but eventually Ivy became too much of a threat and had to be buried under the city by Batman. This leads Alice to deduce that Poison Ivy has taken over Mary’s body, using her to exact revenge on Montoya and the rest of Gotham City. While Alice’s theory is initially dismissed, she is proven completely right in “How Does Your Garden Grow?”.
Throughout the episode, strange incidents that seem to be connected to Mary repeatedly occur. A man who rejected Mary after a date is found in a shed with bees inside of him and later a Black Glove lieutenant is discovered buried in the ground. Despite Mary denying any knowledge of these events, the team realizes that she did these things in an unconscious state induced by Poison Ivy taking over her body. Mary handcuffs herself to a table in the Batcave to prevent Ivy from doing anything else.
While handcuffed to the table, Mary is exposed to a direct beam of sunlight, causing Ivy to awaken within her. Alice betrays the Bat Team and frees Ivy, who decides to go to the Gotham Botanical Gardens. Batwing, Batwoman and Renee Montoya arrive at the Gardens and discover Ivy, whose hair has been done up in a clear tribute to Uma Thurman’s version of the character from Joel Schumacher’s Batman and Robin.
Ivy/Mary chastises Ryan for taking their friendship for granted, and uses her plants to attack Batwoman and Batwing. However, their fight is interrupted by the arrival of the police, and Ivy beats a hasty retreat while Montoya helps the heroes escape from her plants. As the episode ends, Ryan furiously acknowledges that Mary was right about being ignored, and she commits to tracking down Ivy. At the same time, Montoya hooks up with Sophie Moore, potentially creating a huge opportunity for her former lover to take advantage of in her quest for revenge.
To see Mary become the new Poison Ivy, new episodes of Batwoman air Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
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