Gotham Girls in Arkham Asylum

Our plot begins with Amanda Waller having been granted permission from the Government to be in charge of the women’s prison within Arkham Asylum. The men and women had to be separated by gender after several sexual allegations were filed between some inmates. The prison’s management was ignoring the complaints due to lack of evidence and previous false accusations. It did not help that there had been rumors circulating that some of the inmates were plotting another grand escape. Finally the Government had to step in to take better control of the situation but what they failed to realize was that they had just placed the worst human possible in charge of the women’s prison, Amanda Waller. 

Amanda Waller has had her share of good and corrupt moments while working for the government. She has both, helped and plotted against some of the greatest heroes in the DC Universe including Batman and Superman. Amanda’s intentions for taking over the women’s prison were not to conduct order within the prison as she claimed but instead for personal gain. She plans to use the inmates and control them like puppets so they can do her dirty work. What Amanda doesn’t know is that these girls are anything but puppets and she may have to learn that the hard way, especially when she has to deal with Kate Kane aka Batwoman.

Batwoman/Kate Kane has been framed for the murder of her own aunt Kathy Kane, who was also the original Batwoman. Kathy Kane had been deceased for several years but recent evidence surfaced and it looks to prove that Kate was the person responsible for the death of her own aunt. Kate has been charged with first degree murder and has been placed in Arkham Asylum woman’s prison. Bruce Wayne/Batman know’s this to not be true as Kate has proven to be a trusted ally to him and his team, he sought out the help of one of Kate’s past love interest’s, one who also knows the system pretty well, Renee Montoya who recently regained her credentials as detective in Gotham City. Renee was unsure if she would be up for helping her ex-girlfriend regain her freedom because she secretly still has feelings for her but she could not let her stay in prison for a crime she did not commit. Renee puts aside her feelings and agree’s to join Batman in freeing Batwoman. 

Batman and Renee Montoya are not the only ones working on getting Kate out of jail, Kate’s current fiancee, Maggie Sawyer who is currently working as a Gotham City special forces police officer is willing to do whatever it takes to take Kate out of prison and be with her again. Maggie talked the GCPD into allowing her to work at the prison to watch over Amanda Waller’s work. With Maggie gaining access to the prison she was able to gain more time to see Kate and discuss plans to get her out. Maggie might get more than what she bargains for when she realizes Waller’s true intentions for running the prison. Maggie might also have to accept the help of Kate’s former love interest, Renee Montoya even knowing it may come at a cost to Maggie herself. 

Kate finds herself having to coexist with some of the worst criminals in Gotham, a lot of whom she placed in the prison herself. She’s thankful for the mask she wears when she fights crime or she would have a much tougher time surviving prison. One of the first inmates she makes friends with is Selina Kyle, otherwise known as Catwoman. For the most part, Selina has left the life of crime behind and has been more of an ally to Batman and the JLA but every once in a while she can’t help the urge to steal. Selina describes her desire of theft to Kate as a disease with no cure. Catwoman’s crimes are minimal, so she always gets a short stay at the prison but not before gets caught again. After noticing that Selina keeps getting caught robbing for minor charges too often, Kate begins to suspect there may be more than the thrill of theft behind Catwoman’s actions. It turns out Selina is secretly working for Amanda Waller, sometimes she is Wallers only in and out throughout all of the criminal underground but Kate wonders why Selina would be taking orders from Waller. 

Catwoman has always played both sides, even as part of the Bat family, she still kept a good relationship with both Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, even though they had their share of ups and downs they are still in good speaking terms and for the most part the three have taken leadership roles within the prisoners, meaning no one messes with them, if anyone does try anything, Ferak steps in and protects them. It helps that the inmates have to wear a collar around their necks at all times which prevents them using their powers (this applies to the meta-humans) this device shocks the inmates and if things get out of hand, could even blow their heads off, just one of Amanda’s many way’s of keeping all her inmates on check. 

Harley and Ivy have a special relationship, they love each other very much and are the best of friends. The two have hinted at a possible relationship between them that goes beyond just friends. In this series we get to finally see just how close the two really are. It is no secret that Ivy gave Harley an antidote which makes her immune to her poisonous kisses and touch, this is because the two indeed have sexual chemistry, although both ladies are attracted to men they are also attracted to each other, making them both bisexual. There is a lot of bisexuality and lesbianism in this series, not just with Harley, Ivy or Batwoman (one of the better known openly gay superheroes) and her lovers, Renee and Maggie, we also have openly gay lovers Scandal Savage and Knockout both serving time in the prison and a handful of other LGBT characters such as Starling, Jeanette and various others who say, “no men, no problem.” 

This series would not be complete without more drama, we hope the above wasn’t enough because it was just the tip. We promised revenge and scandal and we meant it. Apart from our main characters already mentioned above, the series shines light on some of the most memorable villainess’ in all of Batman history from comics, movies, animated series, live action shows and video games. We get to see and learn more about some of Gotham’s lesser known bad girls and the best part is, most have history between themselves, the only thing these girls can agree on is, in prison no one plays nice. 

There are groups within the inmates in the woman’s prison such as the Ravens, a group of three women who worked together and were common enemies to the Birds of Prey (the all female superhero team in Gotham City). Led by Cheshire, who desires nothing more than to serve her time so she may be reunited with her daughter and leave her life of crime behind for good. Cheshire led Vicious and Pistolera in a life of crime. Pistolera was ordered by Cheshire to murder Knockout and Pistolera completed her mission successfully. Cheshire believed Knockout and the group known as the Secret Six were responsible for the death of her son which later turned out to be false. Knockout was later resurrected and is now one of the inmates serving time in Arkham as well as her girlfriend, Scandal Savage and other Secret Six member Jeanette, this causes a huge conflict within these inmates. 

Another group of female prisoners currently doing time are the female Furies. Led by Lashina and Granny Goodness, other members include Mad Harriet and Stompa this group of intergalactic villains are serving time in Arkham becasue that is the place they got captured and due to Amanda Waller’s technology with the collar restrains, she is able to keep them under control.. for now. The truth is Amanda Waller has a personal vendetta against the female furies. They killed Waller’s brother and got her temporally arrested by revealing some of her secret affairs while she was working for Lex Luthor. Amanda wants nothing more than to see them begging on their knees. 

There are endless confrontations and threats made between the inmates including Catwoman’s reaction to the recent capture of long time foe, Red Claw (reference to the animated series) and more but none compare the startling entrance of new inmate Alice, Batwoman’s twin sister who has threatened to reveal to everyone that Kate Kane is Batwoman. Alice begins to play with Kate’s mind, even making her believe that she might have actually killed her aunt Kathy. Alice drives Kate nearly insane, she begins to struggle with trying to keep her sanity, rightfully so, after all she is being forced to live in an asylum full of criminals and the most insane people in the planet. Can Batwoman be saved before it’s too late? 

While all of this madness is going on, Talia Al Ghul has been working undercover at the prison as a “correctional officer,” codename Amy Winested. Turns out Talia has her own personal reasons for wanting to shut Amanda Waller down. Waller has been working on a secret operation to clone Talia’s son Damian so she may use him as a weapon against Batman. Talia doesn’t only have an in at the prison by creating an entirely false identity, using technology Bruce once showed her where she can even create false fingerprints. Talia also has two snakes working for her in the prison as inmates. Literally snakes, Whispers A’Daire a former member of the League of Assassins and Copperhead, born a man, turned female, both with snake-like features, both working for Talia. Season one ends with Talia revealing not only who she really is but also Wallers true plans, talk about a cliffhanger. 

This series is dark, afterall it takes place in Arkham Asylum. It’s sexy, we have a prison full of attractive females some of which are even into each other. Most importantly this series does not take itself too seriously, despite all the drama going on in and around the prison, the series offers plenty of characters and occasions with comic relief to make it an overall entertaining experience. "It’s Orange is the New Black, meets American Horror Story Asylum for the Batman fan in all of us." 

Steve & Wally

The Guzman brothers.

Dream cast, in order of importance.. 

Dorian Gregory as Michael Lane

Vanessa Hudgens as Spice