[Batman: The Animated Series] Episodes 11-15 Review

My Batreading list for July were four graphic novels (plus New 52's The Dark Knight volume 2) that were highly recommended by online lists but I was really only able to fully enjoy three of them (TDK, Gates of Gotham and Death in the Family). The other two which were written by Jeph Loeb were said to be classics. I'm referring of course to The Long Halloween and Dark Victory which did not resonate with me in any way at all and it baffles me why these two stories continue to be rated high in a lot of Top 10 to 20 Best of Batman. This was why I found it incredibly redemptive that I'm also watching and reviewing Batman: The Animated Series alongside my readings because the cartoons' take on the origin story of Harvey Dent was "streets ahead" of the convoluted and needlessly complicated one provided by Loeb in his two works. Hell, Peter J. Tomasi's own take of this origin in his five-issued Batman and Two Face title was more unique and compelling than Loeb's. I bring this up here in my review of the show because, aside from sore disappointment and some lingering biter aftertaste, it turns out that the Two Face storyline in BTAS happened to be a two-parter (and quite inevitably so). The seventh episode tackles what happened next after Harvey Dent's transformation to Two Face, and it was a concise and moving twenty-two-minute episode about a man torn apart by two separate identities--one light and one dark--and the one which becomes victorious is the one he feeds. So let's get right to it.


Two Face Part II throws the viewers into the middle of the action. From what we can tell from the first scene, it seems that Two Face has been busy hitting up banks and other establishments that serve us fronts for mob boss Rupert Thorne's illegal activities for his criminal enterprise. Driven by vendetta, Two Face hired two thugs to work for him. All these preparations happened off-screen which was acceptable enough; the show has done well in the past when it came to burying its lead and not wasting too much time on laying every minuscule detail. This installment was absolutely enjoyable. The great moments of character build-up and conflict are earnestly well-made. Like I said, I cared little about Jeph Loeb's own characterization for Dent/Two Face while the BTAS writers have done a more than competent service in delivering a believable character arc for the titular "villain" for this episode. Bruce's friendship with Harvey Dent, though we only managed to see in two episodes, was still present and consistent in the way he interacts with Two Face; there is recognition there as well as guilt and this was further illustrated with that short dream sequence where Bruce fails to save Harvey as he falls from the bridge right after his face was disfigured. And then it cuts to a shot of Bruce's late parents asking him why he couldn't they save them. This small yet significant scene illuminated Bruce's own fear and insecurity about losing his friend; it once again called back to his childhood trauma where he feels the most powerless. So, as Batman, he tries really hard to make sure that Dent can recover from his dissociative disorder, the malevolent personality known as Two Face who makes all his decisions based on luck through flipping a coin. I'm also glad that the episode highlighted Two Face's obsession with the number two, or rather, the duality of everything. This further reflects the moral dilemma of his psyche; being unable to free himself from the crippling dichotomy of things. In his mind, there are only two sides of a single coin and he is doomed to always choose one option of the other instead of opening himself up from a world with multiple options, such as the reality humans are presented. Because of his refusal to come to terms with this, Dent's personality as Two Face only worsens. His vendetta against Rupert Thorne is based on the fact that his evil impulses were awakened because of this man, and Dent is determined to destroy Thorne. The episode ended with an optimistic note, though: Dent's fiancée Grace was able to reach out and sustain a connection with the part of Dent that remains very much human and intact. Thanks to that, he allows himself to be taken to a psychiatric ward and hopefully to get better. Bruce certainly hopes so himself. Personally, I like this version better than Loeb's because it's more earnest and consistent and there are potential scenarios in the future seasons of BTAS where Dent's ongoing battle with his schizophrenia can be utilized to tell more compelling stories. 

The next episode marked the first time the show has actually followed a continuity since the Two Face two-parter. This time, we focus on another mob-centered story tied to Rupert Thorne and his counterpart, Arnold Stromwell, head of a prominent drug trafficking operation. I find it curious that the show didn't just use the known mobsters in the comics (Carmine Falcone and Salvatore Maroni) but I think this decision worked to their advantage. Initially, I didn't care much about Rupert Thorne although his role in the previous two episodes was important enough. Here we see him make yet another appearance, this time concerning his rivalry with Stromwell. The latter is actually the real focus of this episode which is a ballsy move for the writers, considering he's a bad guy and viewers automatically wouldn't respond to bad guys being the main highlight of a story especially if he's not rogues gallery material like the Joker or Scarecrow. Still, this episode's writing was concise and straightforward enough to hold my attention. Stromwell is a crook through and through but there might still be hope for reform and that is exactly what happened in the last scene of this episode. It's a message about positive change and I think this is one of those stories that remind adult viewers like me that though BTAS can deliver complex and intelligent hits, it's still primarily kid-friendly. This redemption story is simplistic to the point of being slightly cheesy. Though the tone of the narrative is more hopeful than cynical, for someone of my age and experience the resolution at the end was a bit contrived and silly. I can't actually believe that a long-time career criminal like Stromwell can change even if he's genuine about it. But then again, this is still a child's program so I think it's more important for the young viewers of this show to see an episode where goodwill triumphs that even a bad person can be saved if he just decided he wants to be good from now on. I can understand why we should promote this message in a kids' show.

Speaking of children: this episode is definitely catered to them. This was a cutesy standalone installment about a group of kids getting to interact with Batman. Sherman is a ten-year old boy who wants to become a detective. Aided by his friend Roberta, they found themselves finding a trail of clues leading to a compound where the Penguin and his goons were planning their next scheme. This is the Penguin's very first debut but he wasn't at all the star of this episode but rather Sherman himself and his friends. It's like the Scooby-Doo gang tagged along with the Dark Knight and was actually useful. Some scenes in this episode were downright ridiculous like that opening scene with Batman apprehending thieves and getting attacked by a giant South American vulture. A goddamn vulture! It was just like in the sixth episode The Under Dwellers where Batman had to wrestle motherfucking crocodiles. I think scenes like this is when BTAS allows itself to get campy and it's just enough of it that adult viewers can accept every now and then so it still works fine. Overall, this episode was plain fun; nothing deep or insightful, just written to entertain th children in the audience since it put Batman in a situation where he had to interact with kids in the first place. The kids themselves were engaging enough. Sherman is clever and even got to drive the Batmobile and embarrass Penguin and his goons in one fell swoop. I liked it enough. I think this may be considered a filler episode and that's fine, considering the story that follows after it which is inarguably one of the classics of BTAS. Written by Paul Dini, it's easily one of its finest installments in the entire series.


Heart of Ice was a singularly well-crafted and marvelous tale about Mr. Freeze whose only interpretation of the character I immediately go to is the pitiful one from Joel Schumacher's epic-fail Batman and Robin. I don't know much about Mr. Freeze in the comics either unless you count Snyder's Batman Annual issue #1 which I think contradicted what Paul Dini wrote for this episode. I liked Heart of Ice for its humanizing characterization of Victor Fries. I believe it was Dini himself who defined the character's backstory, retelling his origin altogether and making it officially canon (that was until New 52). In Heart of Ice, we learn about Victor Fries, a scientist who suffered an industrial accident while attempting to cure his terminally ill wife Nora via cryogenically freezing her. The accident turned his body extremely cold which mean that he can only live in subzero temperature at all times, hence his special suit. One can say that it also rendered him truly a cold-blooded monster, no pun intended, if it weren't for the fact that his heart may not be completely made of ice since he grieves and pines for his wife. This motivated him to hunt down the greedy businessman who was his former boss and was the reason of his accident in the first place. Batman apprehended him and he was placed in Arkham Asylum. That last shot of him still reminiscing his wife was poignant. There is something to be said about the way Mr. Freeze was introduced in this show in comparison with the earlier rogues gallery contenders. The Joker was just dropped in without rhyme or reason, like the chaotic representation he embodies; the Man-Bat and the Scarecrow were both manically enthusiastic scientists who took the experiments to the extreme; and Two Face was a personality disorder that eventually took over. In the case of Mr. Freeze, this was simply a man who lost too much and could not cope and was driven to commit crimes just to feel a semblance of warmth and wholeness again. There are layers to the episode's writing that I quite liked. Fundamentally speaking, Fries' motivation was about love; or at least the salvaging of a lost one. With this villain, Dini fleshed him out as someone so tragic and easy to sympathize with, almost at par with Harvey Dent when he became Two Face a few episodes ago. No pompous ego, anger issues or deranged impulses for Mr. Freeze--this was just a suffering man who wanted to feel he was human again. This was one of the most outstanding episodes of the first season and must have set an example for future installments. I can only hope that it did.

The last one for this review's batch is the first part of another two-parter. The Cat and the Claw was the very first time we see the Bat and the Cat interact with each other. Personally, I've always loved this relationship and their dynamics in a lot of the comics and adaptations. The first five-minute sequence of this episode showed a pretty fun chase between Batman and Catwoman on the rooftops, each one just as relentless and in top form; seeing Batman in-pursuit and Catwoman on-the-run magnificently captures just what it was that draws this two together almost as naturally as gravity and breathing. It occurred to me that perhaps Batman finally had someone who can keep up with him, who shared his penchant for the nocturnal dangers even if hers is more of committing crimes and he's the one who has to stop her. The attraction was inevitable. As a shipper, watching this episode was already a pleasant experience. I remember being just as enticed back when I was just a kid and I watched Batman Returns with Michael Keaton and Michelle Pfeiffer for the roles. The vibe shared between Bruce and Selina once they were out of their costumes was very reminiscent of that. Selina Kyle is an environmentalist socialite passionate on defending the mountain lion reserve in Gotham while Bruce was completely infatuated with her at first sight and the more he saw the fire in her commitment. Seeing him acting like a nervous boy with a crush was great. However, this episode is a twofold story, one with the Catwoman and the terrorist leader of infamy known only as the Red Claw--who turns out to be a woman. I could commend these episodes for giving more active roles for females and doing them so in the most riveting way possible. The last scene was amazing! Catwoman kisses Batman and he actually kissed back in spite of himself. The dialogue exchange between them too was shippage-inducing for me: "You can't deny there's something between us"; to which Batman responds, "You're right. And I'm afraid it's the law."  Overall, this had been a fantastic opener. There were enough of great character details for the players, the establishment of the key elements of the plot, as well as the tension and action that dominated the entire episode had been strong. I very much look forward to the next installment and the continuation of this story soon. 

[Batman: The Animated Series] Episodes 6-10 Review

I am just absolutely floored about this series and I'm only ten episodes in at that. Watching it back in high school, I don't think I was able to grasp how beautifully animated this series was since I can barely remember most of its details. But now that I'm more conscientious of the shows I consume and have decided to pick up this one again, I just realized that Batman: The Animated Series truly holds up as a work of art; it was a grand masterpiece that played up all the greatest elements and strengths of the entire Batman mythos and legacy and mixed them together to come up with this scintillating and endlessly compelling cartoon adaptation that can be watched and enjoyed by anyone regardless of age. The best feature of this show, personally, is the musical accompaniment set composed for each episode. All of the pieces were performed by an orchestra and each song evokes more powerful feelings that also served to enhance the scene it was incorporated into. This becomes even more notable in episodes 6-10 that I sometimes have to turn the speaker up and get the unmistakable sense that I was a part of the world of Gotham; running across its crime-infested streets with Batman by my side, unafraid of anything, eager to be daring and join in his heroic acts. I think the sound direction and musical scoring of this show will never stop to impress me and other people have agreed as well, seeing as they gave awards to the composers themselves, particularly Shirley Walker who contributed to a lot of its pieces.

While the first five episodes of this show showcased Bat-villains as an episode's focal point of the narrative such as the case with the Joker (who made an appearance twice), Man-Bat and Scarecrow, the next five episodes on the rundown (with the exception of the tenth episode featuring Harvey Dent as Two Face for the first time) tackled stories concerning the minor yet just as damaging crimes and exploits in Gotham City. The Under Dwellers, POV and The Forgotten were surprisingly riveting episodes that put Batman in situations where viewers can actually see him make a difference. Batman is not just all about confronting and kicking the asses of costumed freaks and psychopaths; he's also about helping the oppressed factions of his city. Be A Clown is the Joker's third appearance though it had a nice father-son sub-character arc as well. I had vague recollections of the Two Face episode, and I remember bits of it as I watched it. I think it may have  been the very first episode of the show that I have accidentally stumbled upon that fateful night after I got home from school and was flipping through the channels. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's break them all down, shall we?

In this episode, Batman discovers a very literal underground child labor circuit which was pretty horrible in itself so the details of such a nefarious crime left a bad taste in my mouth afterwards. The perpetrator of this crime is some lowlife scum who fancies himself as the caretaker of these orphans whom he may have abducted himself or they decided to go to him because nobody else would take them anyway. To top the heap of his douchebag moves, the unnamed villain for this episode had also commanded the children never to speak in his presence as he kept them in complete darkness since their quarters are in the sewers. If they disobey or did something to offend him, he puts them in a cell with bright lights since these children can no longer see that clearly so blinding them with light was pure evil torture. One of the children who escaped was named Frog and he was taken by Batman and was kept safely within Wayne Manor while Batman investigates. Frog's hilarious interactions with Alfred were a nice touch for the episode. However, I was completely laughing for a different reason because of the fact that the villain can control the crocodiles in the sewers. I theorized he may be using some equipment to get them to obey him but the episode offered no explanation and I was fine dismissing the logic of it because all I want is for the asshole to die a painful death. But he didn't. Oh, well. At least the orphans were rescued by the GCPD and now they can get back to the real world and experience the sun in a positive manner again. The episode ended with Frog uttering a word for the first time which was "the light!", exclaiming it in a victorious way which was a touching moment. I liked this episode because we get to see Batman handle other crimes in his city that don't involve the rogues gallery. The Batman vs. crocodiles action sequence was pretty funny and enjoyable to watch as well.

The first thing that got me excited about this episode's narrative approach and visual execution was the fact that it had a Rashomon vibe from the get-go. The story revolves around a police stakeout gone wrong among Detective Bullock and Officers Montoya and Wilkes as they responded to a sting concerning drug traffickers flocking to a warehouse, probably striking deals. When they were only able to secure one suspect in custody, an internal affairs investigation was held with the three of them giving conflicting stories as to how it all went down. Bullock was obviously lying to save face, considering he went in without a back-up, started a fire, and was promptly rescued by Batman from getting burned alive. I like that while he's in the middle of fabricating his tale, we see the scenes unfold in screen which contradict his official statement. Meanwhile, Officers Wilkes and Montoya's stories do fit well enough together as they each shared their experience and subsequent encounter with Batman while trying to apprehend the criminals. Since IA can't figure out the truth, the three had to be under suspension so they had to give up their badges. Officer Montoya, however, was not discouraged from trying to pursue a lead from the case she's not supposed to be working on. It was good thing she did, since Batman was captured by the thugs during the conflagration in the warehouse. She helped him fight off the fiends and successfully brought them to justice afterwards. It was great that the show introduced Officer Montoya who is one of the recurring GCPD characters from the Batman comics. I was happy that the role she played here was that of a competent law enforcer who had good instincts and was clever enough to aid Batman in catching the criminals. Bullock also had a humble moment and Commissioner Gordon defended his constituents from further IA prosecution.

Much like The Under Dwellers, this episode once again touched upon the transients and discarded members of the Gotham City such as the homeless and a few minimum-wage workers. A crime syndicate has been abducting them and forcing them into labor and Batman goes undercover, wearing a disguise. It was great to see him do detective work that involves this because it was certainly reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes who would also wear disguises and live among the criminal element to get information and observe the dynamics more closely. Unfortunately, during a confrontation with some thugs, Bruce got himself hit on the head, rendering him in a state of temporary memory loss. So, while he was taken to the labor camp, he had no recollection of who he is and what he should be doing. As the episode approached its climax, Bruce's mind rebels against the memory loss and pieces out the fragments of consciousness through dreams. The dream sequence itself was amazingly rendered, showing Bruce walking around mirrors and then ending up seeing a reflection of the Joker. But the real catalyst had to be when he heard one of his fellow workers talk about his family and the possibility he may never see them again. Bruce immediately recalls his own parents and the vow he took to become the city's Dark Knight, its avenging guardian. With Bruce fully aware of who he is, he managed to escape long enough to be found by Alfred who was flying his Bat-jet. He later comes back to the labor camp as Batman and finishes the job. This episode was commendable because it placed Bruce in a vulnerable position much like in the Scarecrow episode Nothing to Fear where he was injected with a fear toxin and started hallucinating his late father. Much like that one, this had enough impressive character moments for Bruce that makes you really root for him and not just as Batman. I should also mention that the musical scoring they used had a great folksy tune to it that really captured the setting where most of this episode happened (a sandy, hot desert).

This installment marks the third appearance of the Joker though the story was less about him and more of the relationship between a politician and his neglected son, Jordan. Busy with running a campaign, his father was relentlessly more focused on his career than his son who is celebrating his birthday. The Joker takes advantage of this and arrives at the party disguised as another clown named Jecko. He captures Jordan's attention instantly since he was already interested in magic tricks himself. As the Joker leaves the party (but not without placing a dynamite on top of the birthday cake), Jordan hides in his truck since he could see that the only way he can find some sort of happiness is from running away and "joining the circus". Distraught over the loss, the father pleads to the GCPD to find his son and vows to himself that if he gets Jordan back, he will do things differently and not take his boy for granted. Meanwhile, the Joker was not pleased to have a child in his secret lair but he adjusts to the situation and treats it as a social experiment. He turns the boy into his assistant as he lures Batman and ensnares him into a trap. Jordan was a good kid though and does not possesses the Joker's sadism in any form so he tries to help Batman, only to be kidnapped by the Joker and led to ride a roller coaster. After a short while, Batman was able to apprehend the Joker and get Jordan safely back home who jumped into his father's welcoming arms. This episode was definitely pleasant for the way it resolved this small family conflict. I also enjoyed the Joker's scenes with Jordan and how he naturally gravitated in turning the boy into his own pet but failed miserably since Jordan is inherently a good and upstanding little boy. Don't worry, Joker. You'll get another chance to corrupt a more susceptible and damaged mind later in the series. And it'd be worth it for everyone.

I just finished reading and reviewing Jeph Loeb's The Long Halloween last week and I wasn't that into it. I didn't care much about Harvey Dent's transformation into Two Face in that story so I was more than pleased to watch this show's version of it which was much more believable and substantial. In this episode, Harvey Dent is running for his third term in the District Attorney's office and he was focused on bringing down the illegal operations of the crook Rupert Thorne. This gangster, however wants to play it smart and so he hired one of his goons to uncover Dent's skeletons in the closet. What he found was Dent's psychological evaluation. It turns out that Dent has a split personality his therapist dubbed as "Big Bad Harv". This personality arose from Dent's longtime repression of his anger and guilt. By not owning up to his negative feelings, his psyche created another personality that expresses such strong emotions quite recklessly. We witnessed this other Harvey taking over every time Dent loses his temper and this other side of him gets crazy and extreme. Thorne tries to use this information to blackmail him but only succeeds in awakening the Big Bad Harv. I like the fact that the show has established a friendship between Dent and Bruce Wayne himself which was why this was very personal for Batman too. Unfortunately he can't do anything to help his friend since the conflict is internal and only Dent himself can fix it. The episode ends with Dent making an escape from the hospital after looking at his new face for the first time since the accident with Thorne where a chemical tank got blown up while he was chasing the crook, and he suffered facial injuries from it. His twisted features now reflect his split personality but eventually the Big Bad Harv might take over for good and this is something I eant to see happen in this show. Dent's conflict with Thorne is unfinished as well and I got the feeling he's coming back for him soon enough. I would also like to see how Batman handles Dent as Two Face.

These had been a great batch of episodes. There is depth and excitement in every installment, ranging from the most action-packed to the most poignant of narratives. 

[Batman: The Animated Series] Episodes 1-5 Review

I was fourteen years old. It was 2004 and my student life was mainly composed of academics and the occasional extra-curricular activity here and there, but I always get home by 5:30 to 6 PM everyday. The staple of shows that I watched was mostly a varied selection of Japanese anime. I was only a Sherlock Holmes fan for year back then and have acquired a growing interest in reading more classical literature particularly the works of Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. Unlike most girls my age, I'm very attuned to male-based action-oriented adventures and crime mysteries, preferring these stories over the romance genre with fantastic elements (though I do indulge in female-centric magic anime like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura when I can help it). I couldn't remember what exact day or what episode it was, but all I knew was that I turned on the television one day, surfed the channels and then stopped abruptly when this animation sequence came up (NOTE: I have to choose this awesome HD remake. Check it):

Now I've known Batman as early as four years old because of my paternal grandfather who used to wear this white shirt with the Bat-symbol and who puts Batman stickers on my bedpost, ones that I would scratch out in the evening because maybe I was bored but then I'd find that he had replaced them with new ones the next morning. I was able to watch the first Tim Burton film with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson but I barely remembered it. So my very first official and long-lasting interaction and subsequent love affair was with Bruce Timm and Paul Dini's beautiful noir animation masterpiece, Batman: The Animated Series. I've been dying to re-watch the entire four seasons and talk about it here in the blog since it has such a big influence when it comes to my overall appreciation and fascination for the Batman mythos. So, for this month of July, I aim to watch and review at least the first fifteen episodes of season 1. I advise that you find copies of the episodes of yourself online so we can enjoy it together.

If this show is the very first time a child would be introduced to Batman then I say that child is one lucky little rascal. The pilot episode touches upon Dr. Kirk Langstorm and his origin as the Man-Bat. His character makes a most recent appearance during John Layman's Detective Comics run for New 52 (issue #18 and the Villains Month special). I should mention that although this is the very first episode of BTAS, Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski made a two-minute promotional pilot episode which was later condensed as the official opening sequence as I posted above. So back to On Leather Wings. In this very first installment, we waste no time getting Batman's personal backstory. Instead, we just jump right ahead into the action. From what we can gather, he's been on operation in Gotham for a while now as the caped crusader, having the occasional run-ins with the GCPD when it comes to apprehending criminals and solving cases, which annoys Detective Harvey Bullock while the Commissioner, Jim Gordon, seems rather fine with his vigilante presence. We see Bruce Wayne out of the costume as well, mostly to accomplish things outside his scope as Batman. This usually includes crime scene evaluation of certain objects. In this episode, they were hair samples which were vital clues to uncovering the mystery behind the burglary and terror that the perpetrator has committed. At first, everyone thought that the Bat-like creature attacking people is Batman himself. As it turns out, it was a human-chiroptera hybrid called Man-Bat. It was the formulaic man-becomes-monster archetype which also served to contrast who Batman is and what he represents as a man who purposefully chose the symbol of the bat as an alter-ego. Viewing this episode, the most noticeable thing for me was the sound editing. The music for this show is satisfyingly amazing! It conveys mood and atmosphere more than the visual shots themselves and even enhance the viewer's enjoyment of every sequence laid before him or her. This was a promising pilot that has enough thrills to whet the appetite.

The second episode is Joker-centric with an added yuletide theme just to make everything extra special, fun and creepy in some instances. Again, if we consider this as a kid's first experience of Batman, more specifically of the Joker, then this episode might be perceived as something that's both absurd and terrifying. I watched this entire episode while trying to figure out what a child's first impression would be when he or she meets the Joker for the first time. I don't have a phobia when it comes to clown and I'd like to think it's because of my fondness and attachment for the Clown Prince of Crime himself. I think encountering him in this cartoon show did not frighten me at all, but I was already thirteen after all. I remember laughing at him and enjoying his jokes. Voiced by Mark Hamill, the Joker of BTAS has a varied range of laughter which could tickle, haunt or chill you to the bone. It's excellent voice work and I can say the same for Kevin Conroy as Batman. His silky smooth and reassuring tone as Batman makes you trust him quite easily. He also has a different pitch when he's voicing Bruce Wayne and the contrast is seamless especially when you compare it to whatever gravely voice Christian Bale used in his films which got a little distracting during scenes. Anyway, I think Christmas with Joker is a bundle of joy like a newborn psychotic baby playing with dangerous toys, which the BTAS Joker embodies, mind you. The animation sequences for this episode were lush and superb. The detailed confrontations with Batman and Robin fighting the ridiculous props and deadly weapons that the Joker used for his several schemes throughout this tale are enthralling to see unfold. With just this episode alone, I think BTAS captured the Joker in all his wonderfully colorful and unsettling darker shades. He's a showman, a performance artist of crime and debauchery, and with Mark Hamill's perfectly matched voice acting, his Joker is an unbeatable and frightening presence that makes you cringe because he also has the unique ability to make you laugh even if he's most probably killing you too. 

It's by the third episode when I noticed that there's not much of a continuity going on among episodes as of yet. In the second episode, we see Dick Grayson as Robin but now in this installment he is nowhere to be found and Batman has to face the Scarecrow and his henchmen alone. This was okay and I started looking at each episode as a collection of short stories that don't have to be related to each other for now. I know this will eventually change as the seasons progress anyway. In Nothing to Fear, the Scarecrow is a former university professor named Dr. Jonathan Crane who was kicked out because of his extreme and unusual experiments concerning phobias. The story itself was pretty straightforward and not as ornate or elaborate as the Joker episode that preceeded it. Scarecrow stole from the university and infected its constituents with a fear toxin. Coincidentally, he also injected Batman earlier in the episode which had Bruce hallucinating his father Thomas calling him a failure and a disgrace to the Wayne name. This character exploration more than makes up for the simplistic plot about the Scarecrow. This is the first time in the show that we touch upon Bruce as the man under the cowl, and his personal issues in relation with his family life (or a saddening lack thereof). Paralyzed with the fear of believing he had failed to live up to his parents' legacy, Bruce struggled to do his job as Batman but eventually we see him succeed in overcoming the fear toxin's influence as he announced as proud as he could that he is not a failure and that the hallucination he is seeing is not his father. "I am vengeance. I am the night," he clamors. "I am BATMAN!" I heard myself squeal in glee as Conroy uttered that so convincingly, I shit you not.

The Joker makes another second appearance in The Last Laugh which was less extravagant than the second episode but is nonetheless just as creepy and horrifying in some aspects. For some unexplained reason, the Joker is out and is making yet another merry mayhem by spreading his signature laughing gas around Gotham, rendering everyone in a fit of deadly and uncontrollable giggles. Why? Because it's April Fool's Day and so the date is basically begging for the Joker to add his special ingredient into the mix. He is the master practical joker after all. The highlights of this episode have to be when Alfred was infected and starts breaking things in Wayne Manor and the Joker and his goons robbing people while they have collapsed on the ground, laughing their asses off. Based on the two installments of the Joker so far, viewers can assert that though he's a psychotic criminal wreaking havoc anywhere he goes, he is also a fun and fabulous show-off who commits crimes with a sense of style and theatrical glee. This sharp-edged humor to his acts of violence adds to the horror of his presence. 

Pamela Isley is district attorney Harvey Dent's new squeeze and he looks like he's falling in love. Five episodes in and we finally get a formidable female villain in the show. It's interesting that the show didn't opt for Catwoman who is arguably the most memorable Bat-villainess of the canon. But they certainly delivered with Poison Ivy especially since they were also able to put her backstory and motivation for being what she is. She is fighting for a cause she is passionated about and seeks retribution from the people she holds responsible. Poison Ivy has always struck me as a representation of the more brutal side of mother nature and Pamela Isley is after all an environmental scientist who hoped to make a difference and when pacifist ways didn't cut it, she lashed out and became a deranged femme fatale who won't hesitate to use her sexuality. I love this character in the show a lot especially later on when she starts hanging out with Harley Quinn. This was a great appearance for an intriguing villainess overall.

So there you have it. I don't know about you but I am quitr eager to watch more episodes and talk about them here and hopefully more in length. Despite the lack of continuity among the first five episodes, this is a strong batch that can standon their own.