WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "Take Your Choice," the latest episode of Batwoman.
Batwoman just brought back a terrifying figure from Alice's past. In "Take Your Choice," the latest episode, Dr. August Cartwright reemerged in present day -- and he has plans for his son Mouse.
As it turns out, Cartwright has been masquerading around Gotham as renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Ethan Campbell using the same disgusting technique as his son. Using this disguise, he visited Mouse in the hospital, but didn't reveal his true identity right away.
"Look at you, all grown up, out in the world, with friends who love you," Cartwright mused. "From my research, it seems you even got yourself a job at Dusty's Roadside Tavern. You see, purpose in life is a hard thing to come by. I would know. I spent a decade reestablishing mine."
"Am I supposed to know you?" Mouse shot back.
"That's precisely the point, Jonny. You aren't," Cartwright admitted. "No, my purpose -- shielding my son from ridicule, carving out a pocket in a world of anguish so that he could feel love and joy -- that purpose was undone when my own boy betrayed me."
With that, Cartwright peeled off his Campbell mask, revealing his true face underneath -- much to Mouse's horror. "It is a father's greatest joy to see his son follow in his footsteps," he shared. "You could have made me so proud."
"I thought you were dead," Mouse said with a tremor in his voice.
"As I intended," Cartwright replied. "Meanwhile, I took on the life I deserved: recognition, praise, prestige, but the cost of losing you because of her. Tell me where Alice is."
"Why? So you can kill her?" Mouse spat.
"Tell me where she is, Jonny, so I can forgive you," Cartwright pushed on.
"Forgive me?" Mouse repeated. "For what? For standing up to my abuser?"
"For being a weak little boy, too powerless to realize a broken girl with a distorted imagination was taking advantage of you," Cartwright hissed.
"You gave her to me," Mouse insisted, only for Cartwright to add, "As a playmate! And you let her convince you that she was family."
"She was my family," Mouse said. "She accepted me -- all of me, the scars, the burns, the face you raised me to believe was such a repulsive for the world to see. You looked at me and you saw a monster. She saw a window to the world. I will never, ever betray her."
Unfortunately, Mouse didn't have much of a choice. His father injected him with a serum to make him more susceptible to manipulation, then smuggled him out of the hospital in a Crows' uniform. Cartwright then tracked down Beth, who he believed to be Alice, using the Crows' comms. He killed her with a single shot through the chest, but he has no idea that he killed the wrong woman -- or that he inadvertently saved Alice in the process.
Cartwright has been a prominent figure in Alice's flashbacks, as the man who fished her out of the river and kept her locked in his home for years. However, this is the first time he has popped up in the present, and he promises to be just as threatening as a figure now as he was then. Now, the leader of the Wonderland Gang has to worry about him in addition to Batwoman.
What's more, Cartwright is supposed to be working with Jacob Kane to acquit him of his late wife's death. However, he will more than likely serve his own ends, but it is unclear what that is right now. If he helped Jacob, Cartwright would deal Alice a blow by upending her plan, but he could also implicate his son in the process. If he feels Mouse should be punished, though, perhaps that's just what Cartwright wants.
Created by Caroline Dries and developed by Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, Batwoman stars Ruby Rose, Rachel Skarsten, Meagan Tandy, Camrus Johnson, Dougray Scott, Elizabeth Anweis and Nicole Kang. The series airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.