The twin symbolism and dynamics in Batwoman just gets me every time. Lotta rambling under the cut.
The Kane sisters being twins and Beth expecting Kate to just feel it, feel her, that day in the basement. Because that's what twins do, right? The phenomenon of twin telepathy/twin empathy, just this odd stereotype of twins being able to know things about each other that they couldn't possibly. And Alice constantly exhibits this amazing ability to recognize Kate no matter what; through costumes, voice changes, aging, even with a new face, based purely on her eyes.
And, as Ocean points out, Kate never recognizes Alice in the way Alice recognizes her. I think that's because Kate was never looking for Alice--- she's always looking for the version of Beth from before the accident. A Beth without trauma, both from that day and every day that followed. Kate would never be satisfied with anyone other than the Beth she lost.
Meanwhile Alice is so desperate for Kate, even when she pretends not to be. Even when she hides it behind a veil of hatred and violence. She felt Kate on the other side of that wall, she saw Kate in Batwoman's eyes, she saw the real Kate through Circe. And that's not even mentioning the parallels between Beth/Alice and Kate/Circe. Alice would recognize Kate no matter what, because she is always longing for that tight sibling bond in everything and everyone.
Hence Alice's relationships with Mouse and Poison Mary.
Alice lost a twin, so Mouse became her new one. Her brother, twined in memory's mystic band. They formed such a specific trauma bond because Alice missed having a sibling, despite book Alice not having a brother named Mouse or Johnny. Despite the fact that after taking the name Alice, she couldn't remember her life as Beth and as a twin sister before killing off Mabel. Alice still knew she was a twin and a sister. She just barely remembered Kate, just a smidge, just enough to know she was supposed to mean twin to someone. She always recognized that. She always recognized the part of her that was Kate, even though she couldn't put a proper name to it.
(And Mouse immediately accepts Alice as his new twin sister, because he, too, is so desperate for that type of close-knit bond. He's been deprived of sympathic family bonds since the burn marks.)
Then there's her dynamic with Mary. Alice always, always viewed Mary as a threat. That's why she targeted her for death, sending a minion after her in the clinic. That's part of why she poisoned her. Mary even said that she essentially replaced Alice as Kate's sister. Alice never underestimated Mary's potential, especially when it came to Kate. They both found the sister they always wanted in each other.
But this is on twins, so-
And, of course, there's Marquis. Marquis claimed that he and Alice were born on the same day; she was kidnapped, he was buzzed, it all happened because of the Joker. So almost twins, right? Ever since that day on the bus, Marquis was never the same. Something in him changed, his empathy was turned off (and I'm going to resist going on a side tangent on how having low to no empathy doesn't inherently make you violent, sadistic or evil). And ever since Beth fell down that bridge, she just broke over and over again until Alice slipped through the cracks. Parallels. Familiarity. Marquis saw a piece of himself in Alice, that's why he wanted her. He was more attracted to the idea of himself than the idea of her.
And Alice didn't see anything in him. She didn't see Kate in him, so she didn't see herself in him. That's why she hallucinated Mouse, her only brother and the only twin she chose, instead. All her other siblings were forced on her. But Alice chose to become siblings with Mouse, despite that he was originally only looking for a friend in her. Marquis was basically trying to replace Ryan with Alice, just like Alice had tried episodes prior to replace Kate with Mary.
Just-- twin characters and symbolism and dynamics and parallels and trauma in Batwoman, y'know?? good shit
