WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for "Do Not Resuscitate" the latest episode of Batwoman, which aired Sunday on The CW.
Team Batwoman's mission to locate Coryana -- and thus Kate Kane -- just became intensely personal for Ryan Wilder. As revealed by "Do Not Resuscitate," the Kryptonite bullet that struck her in the Season 2 premiere has given her incurable radiation poisoning, which will kill her unless she gets access to the Coryana desert rose, a universal cure-all found only on the island nation.
Ever since Tommy Elliot shot her in the Season 2 premiere, Ryan's injury has gotten increasingly worse from episode to episode. Last week, it progressed so much it impacted her fight with Wolf Spider. Then, in "Do Not Resuscitate," she had an episode that landed her in the hospital. After her on-again, off-again girlfriend Angelique Martin advocated on her behalf, Dr. Rodriguez at Gotham City Hospital conducted a blood draw, which yielded startling results.
"I think there was a contamination with the sample," Dr. Rodriguez later explained to Ryan over the phone. "Lab contaminants. We're picking up a presence of radioactive material. So unless you were taking selfies at Chernobyl, you wouldn't have readouts like these."
Considering Ryan had told him the infection was caused by a spider bite, Dr. Rodriguez clearly believed the results had to be a mistake. However, armed with the terrible truth, Ryan knew she had to conduct some research on her own. This led her to the Batcave, where she soon encountered Luke Fox. She initially attempted to hide the seriousness of her injury from him, but another episode forced her to reveal the truth when it caused her to collapse with pain.
"You said you were fine!" Luke gasped, pulling her to her feet.
"I thought I was," she admitted. "Kryptonite kills, nice and slow."
When Luke demanded to know why she didn't tell him, she shot back, "What was I about to say after I begged to put on the suit? 'Hey, gotta take a sick day?' I spend every second in that thing trying to convince you I'm at least half as good as Kate. I wasn't about to give you one more reason to doubt me."
They didn't have long to argue. Mary called with a heavily coded message, which alerted them to the fact she was in trouble. Ryan didn't hesitate to suit up as Batwoman and come to her rescue, even as Luke fielded a call from Sophie and asked for her help. However, Mary's request for the map to Coryana -- and thus the desert rose -- held a new significance for Ryan: "That island is growing the only thing on this planet that has a shot at curing me. I'm not putting my life in the hands of some Crow."
Nevertheless, Ryan gave up the Coryana map when push came to shove. After she defeated Adam Helzinger and saved Mary and Jacob Kane, a new adversary arrived: Dr. Rodgers, a Hamilton Dynamics scientist who covets the cure. Holding a gun to Sophie's head, he demanded the map for Sophie's life. Sophie begged Ryan not to do it. "I know. But I also can't let you die," Ryan said, handing the map over to the masked men, who took off with it.
Later, Mary reunited with Luke at Wayne Tower, where he confirmed Ryan's unfortunate prognosis -- and explained how it changed the way he viewed Ryan as Batwoman. "The meds aren't working. Her prolonged exposure to the Kryptonite radiation is lethal," he explained. "Ryan's only hope is the desert rose, which is on Coryana with Kate, who we're never going to see again. Since putting on the suit, Ryan has made the streets safer, she's inspired the city and she helped us find Kate and she's done it all while having a terminal illness. If that's not a hero, what the hell is?"
While Ryan's recent missions have focused on proving herself worthy of the Batwoman mantle, this latest revelation adds a whole new dimension to her role moving forward. Although her life was always on the line whenr she donned the suit, she is now in a race against time to prevent her own death, even as she protects the citizens of Gotham City. This new incentive to find Coryana also puts her on a crash course with the island nation's leader Safiyah, who probably won't be willing to give up her precious desert rose.
Batwoman stars Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder, Rachel Skarsten as Alice, Meagan Tandy as Sophie Moore, Camrus Johnson as Luke Fox, Dougray Scott as Jacob Kane and Nicole Kang as Mary Hamilton-Kane. New episodes air Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.