In this episode of Cape or Cap: A Black Nerd Superhero Podcast, we’re cruising into the latest season of Batman: Caped Crusader as we step foot in the grim Gotham City where affluent philanthropist Bruce Wayne goes beyond his humane capabilities and transforms into an enigmatic figure, Batman; his crusade for justice brings in unexpected allies, but his actions also lead to perilous consequences.

In our “Run It Back” segment, we break down the season's best and worst moments, focusing on character development experienced by Batman, his growing rogues gallery, and the police force of Gotham along with their and action-packed scenes. From small villains like Firebug to big villains like GCPD we ask the real question: does the show take new heights like a kite with its cape or is it a total cap?

01:14:27 Cape or Cap Verdict

Hosts: Chamar Griffith and Andrew Tejada

Producers: Chamar Griffith and Andrew Tejada

Support Cape or Cap by donating once today or monthly. Follow the show on social media @capeorcap and share your thoughts with us through a direct message or email at capeorcappod@gmail.com.

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I see why Matt Reeves really wanted to invest in this show,

because the Batman presented here is not Well,

hi, I'm Chamar Griffith and I'm Andrew Tejada. We're going

through superhero productions to let you know if they're still

fun or the hype around it was dumb on Cape or cap, a Black

Nerd superhero podcast.

Welcome to this week's installment of Cape or cap, a

Black Nerd superhero podcast. My name is Chamar Griffith,

codename comic sham and I am Andrew Tejada codename Arete.

Andrew and I have known each other since 1996 that was the

year the Batman Forever arcade game released, and it is

absolutely chaotic. If you go on YouTube, you'll see Batman and

Robin shrinking and growing. They're they're unleashing an

explosion. As a finisher, it's possible to unleash a unleash

150 hit combo to an enemy. You can punch two face in the face.

And the tagline is, the streets of Gotham City are paved with

gold, which they absolutely are not, no because the economy of

Gotham tells us that is paid the trash. Yeah. Why would that be

the tagline Gotham and gold that doesn't relate at all, like,

what also, which face are you punching? Two facing both of

them? I think it's a hate crime. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.

Double the double the crime, double the time. You know, I'm

glad that Batman Forever is still gonna it's probably, like,

the second worst Batman film from that, like Tim Burton era.

But I'm also surprised it's the only one that got an arcade

game, because I would have happily played the arcade

version of Batman and Robin, especially when they just, like,

grab onto some random like, ice skates and try to escape Mr.

Free. That would have been maybe that's part of the 150 hit combo

they were planning for the next one. Yeah. But then Batman,

Robin came out, and it was like, nope, cut it. Cut it. Oh, man.

But you know what we love? Well, do we love Batman? When is this

time? When it's his time? It's been a while. It's been a while

since we've been a Batman I think, Well, it's because we had

to hop over to a whole brand new university production company.

But we are back, baby. We are back. Of course. We are wrapping

up our run it back season, where we are talking about all the

television shows that premiered during the summer of 2024 that

included my adventures with Superman Suicide Squad Issa Kai,

as you heard recently last week, kite man, hell yeah. So wrapping

up the summer block of DC shows before. I feel like this was

basically them trying to get everything out before they're

like, listen, we're gonna change the guard. We're having James

Gunn run everything, but before we do, we have one other

director who was running stuff with Batman, and thankfully,

today we got Batman caped crusader. A gotta say, was not

expecting this to ever happened. But then again, it's Batman, and

we know DC loves Batman, so as soon as they have any production

with them, it was automatically going to get greenlit. Yeah.

This show had 10 episodes in his freshman season. It has a TV y7

rating, which I was just like, PG, PG 13. So 10 episodes that

all premiered on Amazon. So this was for all of our max friends

who are wondering why they couldn't watch the show. You're

just in the wrong streaming service. DC has some things

going on that's, you know, there was, at one point before this,

it was HBO max. Now it's not. But I digress, because more

importantly, we have an incredible show runner today,

the only show runner for this show, actually, Bruce Tim

imagined, yes, like, if you there's not much I can say about

him, because it's like if you grew up and were molded by the

era of Batman, The Animated Series, the Justice League, like

we were honestly just give Bruce's flowers like, you know,

he helped create what was the animated version for a lot of

our superheroes, especially on the DC side. You know, if it

wasn't for Bruce Timm, we wouldn't even have Harley Quinn,

because it was a Bruce Tim production on that show. So once

again, thank you, Bruce Tim for creating stories and characters

that would span generations of these, of these DC characters.

Um, while Bruce Tim was the only show runner, we did have a

pretty extensive executive producer list, which I was, uh

gotta say, pretty shocked to see. Some of these things. First

up, we got JJ Abrams without lens flares. I don't think, I

don't know if you can animate lens flares, but I'm pretty sure

JJ Abrams will one day figure it out. Next up, after coming out

with the Batman, Matt Reeves decides to tie his name as the

executive producer to Batman caped crusader. So I, you know,

I think we went to go see Batman The Batman in theaters. We

watched all almost three hours of it, and then we decided to

spend even more time watching the penguin. So if y'all want to

hear our thoughts about the penguin, let us know in the

comments, uh, reach out to us. We I will not say much further

than that, because I don't want to spoil any content for a few

traffic and last but not least, another executive producer we

have is James Tucker. Uh, James Tucker has worked with Bruce

Timm on so many productions all the way back to the DC au to

even some of the current stuff, definitely running as a animator

and a show runner. And I gotta be honest, one of the best days

we probably had early on in our original version of the pod,

yeah, and then the DC anime podcast was when James Tucker

liked one of our tweets. That's how we know we made it. Yup,

yup. So here's an audible thank you to Mr. James Tucker for all

that you have done, all that you do and all that you will do,

especially as a black animator in the game, we love to chat

sometime because as blurred ourselves, we just love seeing

ourselves represented in so many different spaces. So this could

be a straight up interview, or if you just want to hear us,

just thank you for hours on end, like we can do that too, yes,

but don't. Don't worry, it will not cloud our judgment. We are

coming today open and honest sweetest, sweetest interviews,

but we are also going to be honest about every part of the

show we loved, including a ghost cameo. We absolutely can't wait

to rave about. And speaking of the review, of course, we had to

look through the information here. So on Rotten Tomatoes,

this show currently has a 94% amongst critics and a 55%

amongst the audiences. That's exactly what we like to see

here. Yes, divisive. And of course, we have to go through

the people who helped put this together to see why is it that

this show is somehow right down the middle amongst fans and

critics? Um, so the cast list is as follows, as we have Hamish

Linklater, who is no stranger to the superhero world after

voicing Sandman in the Marvel wastelanders Doom podcast

series, and even prior to that, being Leonard in the Fantastic

Four with Chris Evans and Clark in Legion. Mm, so good in

Legion, he's so good. Well, in that case, it makes total sense.

Why today he voices our titular caped crusader next up Jason

Watkins. Uh, he doesn't have too much in the superhero production

world, but he did have some time with Britain's favorite

superhero. I would call him doctor, who in a couple of

episodes here and there, in a couple of podcast productions.

And I think this was my favorite tidbit of his. He has been

Gordon Shakespeare in a set of British produced holiday movies

called nativity, which has the sequel, nativity two, danger in

the manger and they and nativity three, Dude, where's my donkey?

I All right, I'm gonna let you just have that one. I can't take

away anything from your dedication to the series. And of

course, speaking of dedication, we have to make sure that he got

the voice of Alfred Pennyworth, the man dedicated to Bruce

Wayne. All right, natosa, who a superpower, Princess of power in

Netflix's recent she ra production trades in her power

of energy manipulation for the power of the law as Crystal Joy

Brown. Voices, Barbara Gordon, this is also, I think, the first

time we've ever seen a Barbara Gordon who was actually

practicing like law outside of just like, you know, being the

cop. Yeah, I don't, I can't think of one. I think even back

in day, she was like, when she was first introduced, she was

going to law school. So congratulations, Barbara. You

know, thank you for fighting the good fight. All right, now this

guy, he's got so much voice work that's hard to pinpoint his time

in the Max's Harley Quinn show, the Loud House Call of Duty, or

even the Fallout series. But today, Eric Morgan Stewart is

our Commissioner Gordon, which quick point to say that this is

the second time now that Commissioner Gordon and Barbara

Gordon are black presenting characters, yeah, and, uh,

surprisingly, Internet didn't lose its mind. So, good job.

Internet for being normal,

joining her Fallout voice star, we have Michelle C Bonilla as

Detective Renee Montoya. Also kind of cool to see that Renee

is getting her time to shine now, especially as she, as her

character in comics, has been growing and of course, you can't

have a Batman production without the likes of Dietrich Bader,

John DiMaggio and Gary Anthony Williams, who have all spent

their time at some point in the DC world, either as a Batman, as

a joker or just a random Waylon Jones character type. Today we

have them voicing Harvey Dent Two Face Bullock and flas

respectively. Finally, we've talked about the three before

who have been in countless DC productions, but this person in

particular has been in more superhero productions than I've

known of everyone else. I think you know more times than you've

probably seen Stanley cameos in the Marvel Universe. Now we may

have had her issue with her performance in a certain very

capped version of the Dragon Ball story. But today we're

going to see if Jamie Chung can redeem herself as the new voice

of Harley Quinn. The last person I have to highlight on the voice

cast is Cedric Yarborough playing Rupert Thorn, the

gangster, and previously he he played Colonel H stink meaner on

the boondocks. That's where you've heard him from. That's

why he sounds so familiar, but you can't place it. That's where

he's from. Oh, my God, Cedric, thank you. Thank you so much,

especially because I know Gary Anthony Williams voices, uncle,

ruckus, right? Oh man, wow. This is amazing. I did not expect to

have a Boondocks reference on this podcast that actually

connected to the cast list. This is freaking awesome. Haven't

watched the boondocks. Why are you waiting, people? It is. It

is a pinnacle show to our time. If we ever want to understand

certain things, just watch the boondocks. And thank you too for

coming together, making K through cedar. Oh my god, Cedric

and Gary together again. This is it makes so much sense there was

so much hate in this show. Alright, with that amazing,

lovely, amazing note, uh, let's see if this show earned this

actual name or is missing the letter P, and start our cape or

cap review of the first season of Batman caped crusader. Oh,

and forgot to mention, of course, as a running back

episode, we will not be diving into all the specifics that we

usually do with our movies. Instead, we're going to run

through and explain what how we felt about the story, the

characters, fight scenes, animations and anything in

particular that truly stuck out to us within our scenes. So this

will be more of our spoiler filled review, and then you can

jump ahead, if you wish, to to our final verdict, where we'll

provide a spoiler free review of the entire series season, so you

can determine whether or not you are interested in watching this

show and being a DC fan, because I feel like a lot of people are

hopping over as of late. Oh yeah, now's a good time to get

back in there after after crisis anyway. So as this show opens,

we try to, we always try to figure out where Batman is,

where he's relation to Gotham. And this feels more like a year

or two. Batman's been around a while. People know that Batman

is in the shadows, but he and the police still don't really

understand each other. Some people still think he's a myth,

until he's cracking their collarbone, and the first big

mystery he has to solve in the show is that around the city,

warehouses are blowing up, and they happen to be belonging to a

crime boss named Rupert Thorn. So they're trying to figure out

who is blowing up these warehouses on on his end, on the

other end, in the light side of the law, who people who are out

there trying to practice, we have Barbara Gordon, who's a

lawyer who has a heart of gold really pulls for a client's

Harvey Dent, not so much a heart of gold. He's a smarmy really.

He's he'll take bribes to do whatever it takes to win. So

they're working the case their own way, and Jim Gordon is just

trying to keep his job serving everyone. So we have some a nice

of collection of players. And also for wondering, what kind of

Batman is this? Is this an ultra realistic Matt Reeves? Is this a

far out Batman and Robin? And the answer is somewhere in the

middle, because the last scene of the first episode has an.

Barlow cannon, somewhere in the multiverse, Michelangelo,

teenage mu ninja turtle is just like squealing with joy. And I

gotta say, this is where the show shows that it's not going

to be your typical Batman story. I think one of the biggest

changes that we see is that we get the introduction of the

Iceberg Lounge. We get the introduction of all of the mob

bosses around who are operating in Gotham. And because we have

the Iceberg Lounge, of course we're going to have the penguin

and the biggest change here is that Oswald Cobblepot is now

oswalda Cobblepot. I know that this was a big change, and a lot

of people were like thinking about this, especially because

there was the other penguin television series that came out

around the same time, both of which shows some big changes to

the original lore and even just the naming conventions of the

penguin. So it was definitely interesting for me to see

penguin now portrayed as a woman, because I you know what?

To me, this definitely worked, because this version of the

penguin kept the same demeanor that I've been seeing of the

penguin in this particular year, like this person who is

fantasizing about the old school kind of mob mentality, singing a

lot of these, like, I guess, like 1920s and 1940s kinds of

songs. So it totally makes sense that this Oswaldo Cobblepot is

also singing to the crowd, entertaining the crowd, while

being this, like ruthless person in the background looking to

carve out her own stake in Gotham. Um, so what did you

think, Andrew, how did you feel about Oswaldo kabapo, I was

mixed on it. Um, I have no problem. When I first heard the

controversy, I thought it was very silly, because these are

comical villains. They're reimagined in so many different

ways. So I did not mind penguin being a different gender than

the penguin we're used to. And I didn't mind the setup of the

episode Penguin. Penguin has kids. She's the lounge singer

for the Iceberg Lounge I didn't mind any of that, but because

she doesn't appear after this, I was kind of like to me, if

you're going to do something, if you're going to make that big of

a change. I mean, I absolutely go for it, but I had hoped that

they were, she was going to be incorporated more, and that it

was going to inform her character a little bit more,

because that's where I'm torn. It's like, I honestly don't mind

it, but I also do wonder, in this instance, when I saw with

the end game was for her, which was set her up as an entertainer

that has homicidal tendencies and rules the Iceberg Lounge. At

this point, I wonder, why not use like somebody like Fish

Mooney? Why not use another I know Batman villain roster isn't

particularly that deep when it comes to female villains that

people recognize outside of poison ivy, Catwoman, etc. But I

do wonder why, specifically they felt the need to turn penguin do

a different gender for Penguin, instead of trying to dig deeper

into the roster or make an original female villain. So I

did wonder that when it got to the end of it. So again, I don't

mind it, but I would have liked to see more of it if they were

going to make a change that was so sizable to people in the fan

base. Yeah, that that's what I was curious about. Like, in the

end, why? Why go that route with it? Yeah, yeah. Especially,

you're right, especially if it is just the as far as we know, I

don't know if this show has gotten the season two

confirmation. But yeah, this is the last, first and last time we

do see this as Waldo kabapo. She does a pretty big move and

destroys the police station, which doesn't seem to be too

much of a factor late in later episodes, actually. Yeah. I was

like, Dude, I feel like they still have the station, yeah,

yeah. I feel like this might have almost been a proof of

concept episode, and they haven't really, they didn't

really, because there are seeds in this episode that continue.

But I feel like everything with Penguin doesn't really affect

anything going forward, except for the fact that penguins being

taken down allegedly emboldens Rupert Thorn, who is a criminal,

to to do more. But again, we don't really see the immediate

payoff of that. Instead, the next couple of episodes kind of

focus on one shot villains, and we get more into the episodic

nature of the show. We get one on clay face, which is this

really dark, psychological murder mystery we get. And I

gotta say, I did enjoy that episode, because I,

you know, I think that most of my clay face knowledge has been

associated with the Batman the show, with the one that's

created by Dwayne COVID. And then after. That is the Harley

Quinn show, where you show kind of like, yes, it was definitely

this actor who develops this clay like state. I think that

this particular take on it is a good blend between the two.

Because, look, Dwayne copizzi Is the Batman will forever be my

best, my favorite version of Clayface, because that story and

the turn that happens with because it like has a direct

connection to Bruce versus this one definitely feeling more

villain the week. But I did enjoy seeing that, like, if

we're going to lean into the actor route, I need to know how

this happened. And it's perfect. It to me. It's like the

convoluted steps that were taken in that path were great. So this

version of basil Carlo, I don't know if it's gonna possibly

influence, especially because, as you mentioned, Matt Reeves

was a part of this show. I don't know if this might influence the

Batman too, because I believe he's supposed to be a villain in

that movie, at least that's the rumor is. So, yeah, I'm

interested to see if this is the take that they're gonna go with.

Yeah, I know they're developing a clay face for Gods and

Monsters specifically. So there might be there, he might appear

there instead of Matt Reeves. It depends on how far Matt Reeves

wants to go. But, yeah, it was a definitely, it was. It was an

interesting examination. You know, it's followed by a

Catwoman episode, where they kind of retool things, where

Catwoman is actually a member of high society that's trying to

cling on to her status by by stealing, which I thought was a

nice shake up of of her origin story. And she also has an

Alfred, which is much, who is much more bitter and turns on

her instantly. Will definitely draw you a bath, but like we'll

paint it. We also have a an episode where the police really

try to capture Batman, where they do this great thing, where

they set up fake crimes around the city and see if Batman WILL

TAKE THE BAIT, though, that was a pretty funny twist on the

origin. But to really draw them out, where we get an A really

big, substantial thing, they say you need a costume to catch a

costume. So, so Harvey Bullock and Mr. Flats himself, the

smoothest version of flats I've ever seen these two corrupt cops

who have been taking bribes since episode one decide to

release what they think is a two bit villain and called Firebug?

Now, this one was, I think this is one of the strongest episodes

of this season because of how much it ties into the world of

Gotham. You know, we kind of, you know, when you hear of all

these heroes, you're thinking of, like, okay, like, you know,

Superman is saving people in Metropolis. Flash is saving

people in Central City. You see all these, like, you're

basically seeing a very metropolis, like era, like you

stepping into Manhattan. These are the people who are falling

victim this time in this episode, all of the fighting,

all of the process of trying to catch this guy, even Batman

working with Jim. They're doing this in what feels like you just

step foot into like some random residential part of Brooklyn or

residential part of the Bronx, like you're these are you're

seeing in real time people being affected by these moments. So

when things are burning down because Firebug, which I guess

is supposed, is supposed to be a play on Firefly, another Batman

villain. Maybe this is, like the early stages of it. This is when

you see that, like all these fires, and how Batman and Jim

are reluctantly having to work together to save the people.

Because, like, Jim's like, I know this neighborhood, like,

this is part of my beat. Like, I need, this is part of my old

beat. I need to save these people, and Batman jumping in,

and you actually see them having a bit more of an appreciation

for each other, and then ultimately it turning into like

Firebug getting killed by Bullock or flask, and them, in

the end, being praised as heroes, because everybody saw

the Mad Men being killed by the police versus Jim, who's just

like, Listen, you killed someone like you, set this man loose on

these people, and ended up harming so many people, at

destroying their homes, everything. But now you're being

praised as heroes that this is a terrible idea, like, I don't

understand. How is it that you could be praised for this work?

And this is when you kind of start seeing even that dynamic

between Batman and Jim to starting to grow because they're

like, Okay, we have a better understanding. We have a mutual

understanding that, like, we're here to save the people of

Gotham, not cause enough chaos to make ourselves look good in

the efforts of making it look like we're safe. Yeah, and their

promotion and status as heroes plays in heavily towards the the

finale. So it's Jim wants to get rid of him, but now he can't,

because they're hero cops. Um, some other one offs that we see

are we get gentlemen ghosts, by far the most random episode

where ghosts are real and he only steals from poor people.

And I'm like 90% sure a gentleman ghost is racist. Um,

oh, no more racist, and Richie's dad in a static shock, man, oh

yeah, because the way he was acting with Papa midnight,

weird. This is really a weird one off. I don't really feel the

need to go into it more, but was a weird one, mainly for me,

because it's just like, it's a complete tonal shift in the

show. Yeah, like, prior to this, we spent a lot of time with very

like, these are individuals who are just like, you know, they're

creating things that there. It's like, concoctions and chemicals,

things that can alter things. Now we're jumping into the

supernatural, and it was weird to kind of have that like, Hey,

here's this, like, super racist ghost. Yeah, healing from

people. I don't really know how he doesn't really advance the

story for me, like a lot of these villains that appear,

advance the story in one way or the other, gentleman, ghost is

the one that I'm like, I don't really see where this goes. So

is this interesting show? Dr, Midnight's trip. Yo, like, I

guess he had a nice suit. He had a nice white suit. I was like,

all right. Dr, Midnight Carly does show up. We'll get into it

later. She deserves more than the quick, just the quick

replay, but the last one off before we get into the real meat

and final plot line of the season is Harvey Dent, for his

mayoral campaign, eventually agrees to accept money from the

gangster ruperth Thorne agrees to do some criminal favors, and

in exchange, Rupert Thorn supplies money That enables him

to do a carnival. And at this carnival, these clever so and

so's kids keep going missing, first a kid named Dickey, then a

kid named Jace, then a Steph and Steffi Brown, and then

eventually a Carrie. So if you didn't catch on. Those are all

Robin names that go missing as orphans, which is a really

messed up easter egg. Also is another crazy easter egg,

because it's like, done in a very similar way to, I think the

episode from Batman the enemy series is called, I have like,

the Batman in the basement thing or something where I there's,

like, a there's an episode in which a bunch of kids share

their stories about Batman, and it's like, done at the end of it

in a very similar tone, when all of them are talking amongst each

other. I think I just really like the scene. It was just

like, like, you know, if you Amanda, I can't remember the

episode from Batman, The Animated Series. But I love the

the energy that it gave off, especially because knowing that

like each person, like you said, like these cheeky people really

put in almost every Robin, but I'm still mad that Tim Drake get

no time to shine. Well, he's not an orphan. Oh, right, neither is

Damien. So same event for season two, for like, let's just go to

a parent teacher conference or something. Yeah, so why is these

kids go missing? This is the one. Well, I also want to talk

about Bruce later and his characterization. But Bruce all

this season has been pretty focused on crime, almost to, you

know, obsessively. But when he sees these kids missing, he

decides to go and look out for them. And while asking questions

about, did anyone see some little kids to the carnies?

Everybody jumps them because they think he's Drake and and

throw him in a pit

they don't like, so he ends up unconscious. Meanwhile, people

are asking Harvey Dent to take action, but he is so distracted

by the corruption going on his carnival, including an offer to

let somebody get off on criminal charges, that he doesn't do

anything. And by the time he can take action, it's already way

too late, and Batman comes in to save the day, luckily and solve

the mystery, which was all these kids were going missing, because

this one younger girl needs to take the souls from young people

in order to survive. So she was draining them. And this was a

really standout emotional moment, because this girl tries

to take Carrie soul and Carrie Love her. She's the one who

fights back. She try all the other kids kind of fall for the

the this other kids charms, but Carrie fights back. And in the

process of this wild episode. Code, um, the evil kid, um,

forget what her actual name is, Evelyn. Oh, Nocturne. Nocturne,

Natalia, Nocturne, or something like that. Yeah. Natalia, in the

process of her trying to get more souls, accidentally injures

and mortally wounds her brother. Her brother dies, unfortunately,

from his wounds. And at the end of the episode, Batman tells

her, and Natalia is ready to just perish in the sunlight

because she can't survive in the sun. But Batman covers her with

the cape, even though Carrie's like, leave her, Batman says,

Batman can't let her go, can't let a child suffer, and covers

her with the cape and takes her home. And in a very nice

animated touch, Carrie holds on to Batman's cape, the other side

of Batman's cape, as they walk back into the light, which I

thought was really nice touch. And Harvey Dent, after all this

goes down, says, You know what? No more corruption. I'm not

taking dirty money, but some people aren't that happy about

that. Yeah, and here's where we get the standard story of Harvey

Dent, where, unfortunately, he gets one of thorns people throw

some ass at his face. And I gotta say this was the calmest

looking two phase adversity, like it wasn't that bad, like it

was bad, yes, but it compared to where we've seen like with

Gotham knights and The Dark Knight, and even just talking

about Tommy Lee Jones and Batman Forever, like this one, it does

sent him into a spiral. Unfortunately, it does seem to

unlock. I think this is the only one where, like, even though the

injury wasn't as severe as past injuries, this was the only one

that I think felt like they dive into that psychosis instantly,

like there were moments throughout even leading up to

it, where you were seeing it build up. I think this is

something that, I think even resembles how it was done back

when Bruce Bruce Tim did it for Batman, The Animated Series. I

think Bruce Tim does a great does a great job in like this,

like moment for dent, where it's like, what is the switch for

him, from going from the the lawyer turned trying to be mayor

into like this, like individual, and in the aftermath of all

this, this is when dent loses, basically, not only just loses

the mayoral bid, but like, basically loses his sanity,

about his securities, about everything. So he's constantly

now, like having these random outbursts. He gets angry at

Bruce. He wants vengeance against Thorn for everything

that he's done. So he actually, this was, I think, the most

strategic dent that I've also ever seen, because, like, the

way that he was navigating going through thorns men and the

compound, it was like he has some military training that we

I'm just like, I'm gonna need to find some more details about

what dense has done in the past. Um, unfortunately, though, this

is a two part finale, it seems, because during this time when

dent decides he's guilt ridden over everything, he snaps, but

he's end up skin taken to Arkham, he which he willingly

goes to, and Barbara decides to be his lawyer to try to help

him, because he knows that Harvey Dent knows all the stuff

that happens with Thorn, especially the fact that Bullock

and Flass are part of thorns crew and taking money off from

him. So this whole last episode turns into a really great kind

of culmination of the entire season so far, of that how, how

Barbara and is trying to save Harvey alongside with Jim, while

flash and book are tasked with trying to kill him, and Montoya

joins in. So it's just like everybody who has been a part of

the show and all this corruption that's been happening in this

like almost B plot throughout the entire season, it's finally

come to a head, even at the point where dent seeing that

Barbara is about to get shot by flas, he jumps in front of her,

and unfortunately, he he does succumb to his injuries there,

and this is when Batman just absolutely loses it. He's

whopping flas. And when he finally gets a chance, he grabs

the gun, and this is when he takes a beat and he's

threatening to shoot flash with He's just staring at him,

pointed the gun at him, while Barbara is looking too, and

ultimately, this is what he just says, it's not worth it spares

him and decides that again, the iconic line that we love from

the DC AMU justice, not vengeance. And the season ends

with, you know, Gotham clearly rocked from this, but on the

brain. Side, Batman has established a rapport with the

GCPD. Presumably, after this, flats will probably be placed on

leave for shooting Harvey Dent in the back. We know how it

gonna go. Paid leave. Yeah, paid leave. And Batman sends a

Batarang at thorns face, letting him know. You know, you got away

with this one. Good on, you, champ. But next time it might go

a little different. Um, so that's basically, in a nutshell,

the fast forwarded version of the story of the first season.

Now getting into characterization, I think first

it's worth talking about the man, the myth himself, Batman. I

see why Matt Reeves really wanted to invest in this show,

because the Batman presented here is not well, it's similarly

to Robert pattinson's take on the character. This batman is

trapped in an obsession that he that controls him more than he

controls it, and there's so many great little moments in this two

I want to highlight, especially about his Batman character, are

when he they replay parts of his origin story, where he's a kid,

he's lying awake at night thinking about what happened to

his parents, and at one point, he gets up and goes to Alfred's

room, and you think this is going to be one of those scenes

where he's like, Alfred, can I just spend the night with you?

Can can, you know, can Is it okay if I stay in here and

little Bruce stands at the door and says, we're going to make

them pay, and you're going to help me, and in this moment,

you're like, is this a cereal COVID, like emerging right now,

if my child ever did this to me, I'm like, No, we are. We're

going to Toys R Us to talk about this right now. You need

therapy. Stat, so that that was an a great intro to like, how

twisted his psyche became. And one thing they play with really

effectively in the last couple of episodes is he takes Harvey

out after Harvey's accident, and he shows up as Bruce. So you're

thinking, this is a genuine concern, like, this is Bruce

being real, but Bruce only takes Harvey out to get the identity

of the person who does it. It's still Batman. Yep, it's still

the case. And Harvey starts to see it. But it culminates in a

moment where Harvey is an Arkham and Bruce is trying to, like,

play nice. But there's one point where Bruce switches his Bruce

voice into his batman voice and says, I know you saw something.

Don't grow a conscience dent, and then catches him. So there's

this hint that they do of that Batman is a split personality of

sorts. They don't go all the way and say it's a completely

separate identity, but they do throw in those shades of it. So

at the end of the season, when Batman turns to Alfred and says,

that could be me. I could be two face, and Alfred has to reassure

him that he still has his humanity. So I really this what

they do with Batman. Roundabout arc, I think is beautiful for

this, this first season. And

I also even say that comes up in even some smaller moments, one

the entire time that you're watching this show, you were

hearing Bruce as Batman, or even just as Bruce himself talk to

Alfred. It is very there's a clear line between the two of

them. It is not a friendship, not in the past, we've seen it

as like you know. This is a confidant. This is my guardian,

who I've grown with, who I know he trusts me. Here, it's like

the even to the bare minimum, that Batman and Bruce only

refers to Alfred as Pennyworth. The entire series, he only

refers to him as Pennyworth up until the last episode, when

they have this conversation about how Bruce does have some

parts of his humanity still left. And this is when Bruce

catches himself and in the Batman costume and says, Penny,

I mean, Alfred. And this is when you know that, like it finally

broke through, that he's finally letting people in. And this is

actually even stemming from a conversation back when we first

learn about Harley Quinn, who does, who does have a great

origin story in this one, it doesn't dive into as much as we

have seen in the past, where she was a therapist or a

psychiatrist who was working alongside Joker. Here she is

just working with everybody in Gotham. She is good friends with

Barbara. She is a power more of Renee Montoya, and the two of

them end up having a conversation, and she calls

Bruce out for something in particular about this sense that

she's feeling like she's not talking to the real Bruce. And

this is the episode where we do kind of dive into the origin of

Bruce. And. As they're talking, you get this sense that she is

even seeing and understanding the duality that Bruce has with

Batman. And she comments that she doesn't really know who

she's talking to, because it does feel as if he is putting up

that front, the constant front of the playboy billionaire

philanthropist and or, I guess, take away the philanthropy. I

don't know if he was actually giving away money in this show.

Oh, I think he did mention he donated a lot to orphanages,

okay. Oh, yeah. Dr Tompkins episode, yeah, yeah, yes. So it

was, I think here you're right. Like, this characterization of

Bruce is definitely someone that has this split, like, it

definitely has been, I feel like it's been joked about in the

past, like, I think of Batman Beyond where Terry had asked

Bruce, like, how did he know he was being mind controlled? And

he was like, I don't refer to myself as Bruce in my head. So,

you know those hints that we had in the past. Now it seems like

we're taking the fun aspects of it, and this show was just like,

let's take add in the psychological, conversational

aspects of it. So I think this characterization of Bruce, I

definitely agree with you. I can see why Matt Reeves wanted to

tack on to this. It is a well done Bruce, especially because

it's a good balance between not having this like super aggro

version that we have seen as of late pop up in Dawn of Justice,

and let that be the narrative. And now it's just like, here's

the complicated individual who is in the early stages of

himself, and we don't know exactly where he is on the

teetering side of his psychosis. Yeah, and, and, speaking of

psychosis, put it off long enough. Gotta talk about Harley

Quinn. Yes, um, Harley Quinn, as you said, is imagined as not

tied to the Joker in this version. She is friends with

Barbara Gordon and Renee Montoya, who are all around the

same age in this version of the story, and they're all friends,

and she is even becomes Bruce psychologist after he punches

somebody for commenting on his mom's pearls, which that was a

nice touch. Um, so at first she's presented as this

psychologist who can outwit Batman, but nothing really

sinister about her. But then you find out that some of her

clients have gone missing. And we get this one of the most

twisted scenes I think I've seen in a Batman, certainly from

Harley um, where she has her Harley's mo in the story is to

take the patient, she has these rich, over privileged patients

who are weeping about problems or even confessing to crimes,

and she takes them, traps them in a basement, and twists, twist

their psyche so much that they're entirely dependent on

her and getting her approval and signing away their possessions,

they'll do whatever they want for Harley Quinn. And there is a

point where she brings in a new client, and everyone's dressed

in these ridiculous get ups and baby costumes and all these the

childish costumes. And she gets this one person who is just in

this King's outfit, and he's refusing to sign away his

possessions to listen to Harley. But then she turns to another

one of her clients and says, You in the baby costume? Do you want

dessert today? He's like, Yeah, I want to eat dessert without

having to eat my vegetables. We all get it. And gives him a

sledge hammer and says, you get the king to give up his earthly

possessions, and you get dessert. And he's freed from a

cage he's in. He could attack Harley with this hammer, but

instead, he obeys her and goes and attacks the other man

instead. So this Harley is a master manipulator, a

psychological expert. She can read steps two steps ahead, and

it leads to Batman going into the mansion to try to stop her

and save these people. And Barbara Gordon is also there,

following the trail. And Barbara has this horrifying realization

that one of her best friends in the world is this criminal, and

has to choose between saving Batman at one point and leaving

with Harley. And she does choose to save Batman, I mean, and

Harley also has to leave Montoya hanging in the middle of this

romantic plot line, saying she has to get out of town and

presumably off screen. Montoya would have learned of what

Harley did, but we don't see our reaction to it. I would love to

see that one day though, to see what she thinks of Harley. Now,

yeah, because this was a great version of Harley Quinn, in my

opinion, because it, it, this, this show, this really does a

great job in this, like, um, just like the the dual

differences of the mind when it comes to certain characters.

Because this version of Harley. So it seems like she definitely

kept this whole side of this master manipulator separate from

this person who seemed to be so love struck with Renee Montoya.

So seeing that like this loving relationship was about to get

built, and then it's just like immediately taken away from you

within 20 minutes. It is in the fact also you feel connected to

seeing how this relationship grows, that right there, to me,

just great way of combining and introducing characters and

putting together this story, because it's showing that Harley

finally became, sorry, let me take that back, because he's

always been an amazing character, but more so finally

became showing her that she's an amazing character, outside of

having her origin be connected to the Joker, which it is

alluded to in the end of the season that he may be coming

there was like a scene, a post credit scene, in which some

people were laughing uncontrollably was seem to be

doing dealing with, Like someone people administering Joker

toxin, based off our knowledge of DC stuff, but to see that

this version of Harley happened, especially because the mindset

that plays out here is a lot similar to that of the Hugo,

strange character in the Batman storytelling, and this person

who is a really big adversary for Batman, because it's more so

the psychosis of Batman and Bruce Wayne versus like this is

just a punch him up with a man who knows, like, 50,000 ways of

fighting. Now you have it be that like Harley Quinn, while

she doesn't know that Bruce is Batman, she does know Bruce's

mind. So to know that like this could be a potential threat for

him in the future, because I'm pretty sure she's going to be

able to put two and two together. She was smart enough

to keep both of these lives separate for so long, and to

manipulate Gotham's riches like this is, I feel like the people

who people who are like, tax the rich. This is like, this is your

champion, right here. So I gotta say, loved Harley Quinn. Love

this version of her. Definitely looking forward to see more. So

I'm glad that even though it looked like she died off screen,

it is looking like she is gonna come back. Oh no, she didn't die

so Oh no, my bad. I couldn't remember. I knew she felt but

then it was always like, you know, she felt it from a height

that was like, No, it should survive that. No, no, but yeah,

you're right. The phone call, yeah, right, you're right. My

bad. Y'all let me not Harley's coming back. It's like, it's

like a Marvel movie Harley Wilburton that was on the screen

the last, uh, villains, the last people I want to highlight,

respectively, are flash and dent. I mean, flash and Bullock,

um, the corrupt cops. Because, again, you, when you seen as

much Batman media as we have, you're, you're kind of used to,

like, okay, bullet's going to be the slimy guy. Uh, Flash is

usually slimy, but they don't usually use him that much. But

they are such an effective duo, because Flash is this smooth

talking dude who's like, all right, oh, it's a shame that

Firebug has the trunk is open right now, and it's a shame we

got engine trouble in this car. We're carrying fire bug in, and

Bullock sucks, just like that. People like Andrew actually did

the voice work, yeah, but uh, and Bullock is just as heavy.

He's just muscle. And there's this fascinating dynamic between

the two of them, where Bullock, when he shoots Firebug in that

episode, he's not happy about it, but he did it because, you

know, Flash is encouraging him to do it. But flash doesn't

actually have to bloody his hands with it. Yeah. So

eventually, in the two face episode, when he's really

running around his two face and they're about to dispose of two

face, Two Face mentions. But look, how many times have you

just done what flash told you to do? How many times have you

taken out the garbage for this man and who, because he's in

charge here, and though he does, he only puts a little crack in

their relationship. You see it. You see it on Bullock's face

when he's responding, when he's like, has the chance to take out

Barbara Gordon, but kind of holds back. You see it. So it's

this fascinating thing where Flash is the more sinister of

the two, but Bullock keeps falling into the trap of, yeah,

doing things for him. I think that's a really fascinating

dynamic, yeah, especially because Bullock, you know, from

history, isn't usually the guy who ends up in this position,

you know, like in the beginning he, yeah, he does end up being

like a cop on the take, but once you see him operate with Jim,

it's like a completely different character, like. Like, um,

Bullock for me was always kind of like the Bulk and Skull from

Power Rangers. He was like, yeah, that, you know, they're

gonna get into some weird antic stuff that seems kind of like,

not necessarily villainous or nefarious, but more just like

evil comical, like Lex Luthor stealing cakes. So but to see in

this series, him make that shift to being truly acting like a cop

on the take, but still having this moment where it's just like

he want, like there's a potential for redemption from

him. I love this dynamic that they had flash agreed, smoothest

talking crooked cop I've ever seen in my entire life, the only

man in Gotham to walk around in a bow tie. How was that not

dirty like I'm impressed. I am 100% impressed. I love this

version of Flash, especially because we've always seen like

the more the guy who was always like, drunk and stumbling like

this seemed like a very well put together flash. I loved it. I

love this version. I love seeing that who had these two cops on

the take who are just like, manipulating things in the

background, but still raising up in the ranks. And I gotta say,

especially agree with that scene of dense calling out flash for

what he did and making sure that Bullock knows that, like, hey,

you know, you're basically the one doing all the stuff, because

flask got real close a couple times. You know, he almost shot

Catwoman dead to rice. But if it wasn't for that scene, the one

time he got actually, we actually saw him get dirty and

kill dent was the only time that we did see him. And thankfully

he was stopped right then there. But I would be interested to see

if I wouldn't be surprised to see, rather, if this is probably

one of the last versions that was times that we see flash and

then they kind of pivot towards a bullock redemption by season

two, or maybe hopefully the sleeping gets like a season

three or something. I definitely want to see how that plays out.

I definitely want to see these two come back. Because, again,

was not expecting two characters who usually side characters who

never really get that much speaking lines like book. The

most I saw him speak was either in Batman The anime is series,

or Fox is the Gotham. That was it, and now you made another

version of Bullock that has drawn me in. I definitely can't

wait to see more of them. Yeah, and talked about standout

characters now, just things that stand out in general, just are

good or bad. One quick thing I have to mention, there's an

episode where there's a crew of assassins that comes to get

Gordon, and when they get off the train, they just stand

together like an album cover. Words, it's so hard. It was

like, we're going to kill somebody, people, but first we

gotta pose. You know, you gotta get this straight out costumes.

Yeah, so I love that. Um, there's a great line I have to

take time to highlight where, um, Alfred, after Bruce finishes

his required therapy sessions, he's like, Are you sure therapy

didn't work? Because I kind of wanted you to keep doing that.

And Bruce shakes them off. So I'm glad they also acknowledged

that he tried to put him into therapy much earlier, but didn't

take so I am very glad there's a version where Alfred is like,

yeah, I tried. I did try. Yeah. I think also, I loved Alfred in

this one, because one thing in particular stuck out to my mind

was the, you know, we never, we always hear of the Batman origin

story, or rather, Bruce's origin story into becoming Batman, of

the dealing with the death of his parents. It's always walking

down Crime Alley, the pearls, the shots, the the dedication to

justice, not vengeance. This time around, we see that Alfred

is act was actually nearby. He is their chauffeur, so he hears

the gunshots and immediately runs out. It's the closing scene

on one of the episodes, and no words are said. But you know, as

I was watching it, I was just like, I've never actively

thought about Alfred being there. Every single time that

you hear this story, it's like Alfred met up with them later

on, he was probably called in even every version that I've

seen from from the Tim Burton stuff to even just like thinking

about Gotham and even the Batman, it's always that Alfred

ran over afterwards while being at Wayne man, this is the first

time where I. So we're now hearing that Alfred was present,

really for the moment, and it made me wonder, like, hey, like,

what was going through his mind when he saw that? Like, granted,

they were his bosses, but I'm pretty sure that they were also

his friends, given the fact that he's not the guardian of their

child. So what happened to Alfred in that moment when he

ran up and saw that these two people who were close to him

were dead on the ground, and that the only surviving person

was their child. So and also, you know what, he seemed to keep

it together, but like, what happened after the fact? Like

what were made me think about, what were stuff that he probably

experienced himself, like when Bruce came up to him, was just

like, we're going to make them pay. And he's like, yes, we're

going to okay, we're going to put you in therapy and whatnot.

Did he have his moment degree? Did he have moments in which he

went to therapy and talked about the fact that, you know, he was

right there? He not saying that only could, not only could it

have been him, but maybe he could have reached he could have

been with them and helped to stop it. Maybe he could have

been the one sacrificed himself even, and not have this child

deal with the fact that he lost his parents right in front of

his eye. So I love the fact that they added this, because it

creates a whole new narrative that I would love to see more of

and the fact that it was just him running towards the danger

that opens up this large possibility of what else can we

learn of how did Alfred Pennyworth tackle the loss of

his I'm going to call it his friends. Yeah, Alfred is always

walking on eggshells around this Batman and, yeah, maybe it stems

from that moment where he feels he fails to fail him, you know,

and just permits everything because he just doesn't know how

to help him cope. Yeah, another highlight went after Harvey den

becomes two face the camera, the angles are very, extremely

careful to maximize when his good side's in the mirror and

the good side not what you're thinking about physical because

sometimes they use the scarred part of his face to represent

his good nature. But they do so much with the duality, with the

turning. The framing of shots after he becomes two faced are

extremely careful and extremely well done. So I do want to

highlight the animators for that my favorite joke in the show. I

also have to highlight where,

while Batman is investigating the penguin on a boat, he has to

dive into the water. So he comes out of the water, and Barbara

Gordon is there, and he makes a dumb joke about, you know, it's

at a party until someone falls overboard. And Barbara Gordon's

like, why are you being weird? That's not funny. What happened

to you? He goes out to another group, immediately makes the

same joke, and they all laugh against the great of like him,

keeping up this fake persona no matter what, I love that it's so

good, yeah. And also it just feels very natural that this is

the thing that, like, you know, we did say that this feels like

a year to kind of Batman. So you wonder now, is this like, Is

this him, kind of truly diving into his Playboy persona, trying

to play off these things. And yes, 100% yes, especially

because there is one scene in particular where his play

Playboy persona gets put into serious question. We did mention

it because it is such a great episode, because of the fact of

the back and forth that they had. But this Harley Quinn and

and Bruce Wayne conversation while he's in therapy. She asks

him all these questions, but the thing that stuck out the most

was, Hey, how are you how are you dealing with relationships?

And he's just like, have you seen the paper? I'm on a new

day. I have a new person on my arm every time. And then she

hits him with the well, this is seem to be like you're having

many second dates. And I gotta say, I feel like from the

history of Batman, Bruce Wayne definitely took that personally.

Channels as MJ and decided to pull the roster of Selena, Kyle,

Vicki, Vale, super Saint Cloud. The list goes on and on people

of multiple dates that he will go on for these people, I feel

like it just all stems from this one conversation. This is why

Bruce Wayne has a like his roster is kind of wild after

that. This is his villain origin story, yeah. And I want to say

quick note in case people have, you know, remember this from

killing joke and had this question because somebody also

had this question when I mentioned Barbara Gordon was the

same age as Bruce, they're like, do they do something romantic?

No, no. And I love that the series leaves it very ambiguous.

Because at one point I also thought Barbara might hook up

with Renee Montoya. I thought they were going that way, not

forcing anything here. Um, that was might have just been subtext

I picked up on that wasn't actually intended, but Barbara

is focused on her legal career, her friends and her family. She

does not have time for romance in this version. But that said,

if they did decide to go that route because of her frayed

relationship the Batman where she kind of accepts him and kind

of now at one point, he does the appearing, and she's like, Yo,

do you ever use a door? Like, I feel like she's getting more

comfortable with him. If this went romantic, I would not hate

it, because I trust these writers to get us there in a way

that makes sense, but I'm also fine with it never, ever, ever

happening in any form of media, ever again. So I I do like

Barbara as a character. I do like that they did not feel like

they needed to force them together, and they just came

together organically throughout the show. Yeah, you know, it's

always been Batman and Jim, so it's kind of nice to see that

Batman and Barbara get a chance to have this, this relationship

of, let's work towards like, if it turns romantic, or even if it

just sticks to the let's work on fixing Gotham, because it does

work like this. The this is the same dynamic that we've known

for a while. This does work of the vigilante and the law

enforcement, whether it be a lawyer or a legal litigator,

reluctantly having to work together for the greater cause.

And it works. Definitely works. The last thing I did want to

point out is that if you're ever feeling in this show, you don't

know what time period you're in, while they don't say what year

it is, you definitely get a strong noir vibe. And I think it

is perfect for this show. You know, usually it's always in

most Batman productions, you don't know which way they're

going to lean, especially because sometimes we want to

make it futuristic, because you want to give, you know, the

marketing for the toys later on in the future, or you want to

make it just like, seem kind of cool and edgy for like, the

older fan base, who was just like, We're stuck of seeing

Batman past. Here it is clear that Batman is definitely a noir

production of like these, like 20s to 40s, kind of like private

detectives. You could definitely imagine hearing the the jazz

backgrounds music with like the detective or the private eye

swishing around with their glass of like, two knuckles worth of

whiskey or something like that. This show captures that even

with the placement of fog in certain scenes, this show does a

great job in just leaning into the time period that's in with

not specifically saying what year it takes place, and even

the way they show Batman. Batman is shown in his very classic mor

attire. The only thing that was missing from this from being a

true like early stage Batman production, and this is just

for, like, the people who have a crazy level of detail, ie

myself. You could have actually given Batman the purple gloves

in this one, and it was still totally have worked. It would

100% work. Yeah, so now we come to the end of it. Where do we

stand at taking the esthetic, the characterizations, the

racist gentleman goes, after seeing all of that, did Batman

earn his cape this time, where she he just rip off those bad

ears and put on a big black cap for this one. I gotta say that

this show, in my opinion, definitely earned its cape. This

is truly a caped crusader, in my opinion, because it did the one

thing that I have been demanding of Batman productions in the

last couple of years. I'm tired of seeing him work alongside

just it's just a Batman focused thing where it's just like a

punch him up with whatever villain of the week thing it is.

And granted, it was built out like that, but this time around,

they had such a compelling backstory of the world of Gotham

in the background. So Batman, in comparison to a whole bunch of

other stuff. I feel like him in the costume doesn't pop up as

much as we think, as compared to other productions, which I

thought was a great choice, because if you are going to be

talking about how all these things interact, especially if

the focus is going to be the world of Gotham and the people

operating at the montoyas, the Barbara Gordons, how they're

working alongside Batman, I wanted to see how they came to

the same conclusions that Batman got to. Because obviously we

know that Batman's going to get there. He's a great detective,

but he doesn't. He in comparison to his detective skills, in

comparison to, you know, the regular beat cop, it's going to

be far superior. But like seeing the the steps that Renee Montoya

and Barbara Gordon had to take, even team working with Harley

Quinn to have this like forensic psychology breakdown of Batman

when they were building out that task force. It showed me that

the world of Gotham has a lot of stories still to tell, and we

don't need to have it be that every single person can only be

a side character to Batman. Batman. It felt like in a lot of

these stories, was the side character, which is funny

because the whole show is named after him. So I really

appreciated the fact that we had this. The only thing that I did

have some reservations about is that the show does jump in tone

quite frequently. You know, we spent majority of the first half

of the season, I think it was up until episode six, it is a very

much like this can happen. I can see this happening in my own,

even everyday life, like first episode, there's definitely,

probably some crime boss who ran through this an umbrella cannon.

But there that's not the most absurd weapon I ever heard of,

or even like a psychologist who a psychiatrist who's probably

manipulating or using some, I don't know, using something to

manipulate people that she is talking to, like those are

things that we've heard about, we've seen about in news, but as

soon as they jumped into the racist German ghost, and kind of

had no explanation about the supernatural world of Gotham,

because they even jumped into Nocturne and how she was able to

absorb the energy from from these kids, like those two

episodes, definitely, while Nocturne, the nocturne episode,

is great because of that Easter egg of the orphans being

Robbins, and then that end sequence of Batman deciding to

save the girl while also being held onto by another kid. It's a

great scene. It just feels so out of place from a world where

it's like everything seems to be told within a realistic setting.

So if we were going to dive into that, I would need some

explanation from the show as to how this is even possible in

this because, again, this is a year two Batman. There's no way

that I would expect for him to fight against a ghost and a

racist one at that. I feel like he uses the vigilante with the

hard art, but what about you? How are you feeling about is

this caped or capped Crusader? I think this is the Caped

Crusader. Back at it. This show, where it really excels is the

psychological exploration. It's exactly what I came here for. I

wanted those deep dives of Batman villains that I remember

in episodes, like baby doll from the original. I wanted those

deep dives. And it did not disappoint. CLAY face, even

though we glanced over really quick, um, there's a point in

the episode where someone's like he's the greatest actor of all

time, he just didn't have the face for it, and how they

mentioned that that followed him around for decades, and then he

got a chance to get this experimental serum that allows

him to change his face and that sparks his, you know, spree. You

know, it's just this constant being told that he isn't the

right person for the part, and he ends up not committing his

last kill because the actress he captures says, I don't believe

you. I don't believe you're committed to being the villain.

And that hesitation saves her life, and even saves Barbara

Gordon's life, because they broke kidnapped at the time. So

the deep psych evaluations for him, for Firebug Harley's

motivations, I love so much, and there's still room to go and see

how she became that way. I love those so much. So I think if I

can offer why this show might be divisive among fans, but critics

love it. I think it's because those episodes are so strong. I

think when they focus on the individual takes, the self

contained stories, those are the absolute strongest episodes of

the series. The Harley episode is fantastic. The clay face

episode is fantastic for even though it's really out of tone.

I did enjoy the Natalia episode as well, because It delves into

this child's psyche and her inability to understand

consequences because she was trying to survive. So I do like

those. But I think what happens throughout these episodes is we

get to. Are taken into this Rupert Thorn, Harvey Dent,

Barbara, Gordon, Jim plot that isn't as interesting as what's

going on in that particular episode. And they never took the

focus away completely. But there would be scenes and moments

where it's like, I really want to see what Firebug is getting

into right now. Yeah, more than I want to hear about Harvey

Dent's mayoral campaign. So I do think, unfortunately, and

there's no easy solution to this, of you know, they had a

running story throughout the whole season, but also they had

these individuals self contained, and I do appreciate

it, because it gave a building sense. But I do think that if

there was an RT alteration to be made here is that they've

narrowed the scope a little bit because you had Jim Gordon, you

had Barbara Gordon, all Renee Montoya, and they gave you

narrowed the scope a little to Jim Montoya and Harvey Dent tied

them together a little bit closely. Barbara, of course,

too, tied them together much closer, so that every other

scene that wasn't the main was focused on them completely. I

think it would have been an easier thing to accept each

episode, especially for more Harvey, while we got to see his

smarmy, dirty side. Yeah, this was a time rarely where we

didn't see his real rageful side a lot before the end. Um, so I

think I would have liked to see a little bit more of a hint of

that, just a tiny bit, not much more than they did. But that

would have been nice to see a little bit more. Um, but I do

think the other elements are fantastic. I think the build,

especially Batman's efforts to work with the police. That build

is gorgeous. I think he had to. I have never seen a Batman work

so hard you to ally with the cops. They really make him go on

and run for his money this season, and they still don't

fully trust him or give the green light to him. There's a

hilarious line where he's like, I need to connect with you.

Barbara, here's my phone number. And she's like, Oh, phone

number. I'm surprised you're not just shining a light through the

window. You know? It's like, he's a really great interaction

between them. So I do think that I would hope going forward, I

love a good running plot line, but I think put it in a back

burner a little bit and focus on those one offs. Because I think

ultimately, all of this to say, I think the reason there's a

split among fans is because I think people coming for one offs

are feeling a little distracted, and then the people coming for a

long plot line are unsatisfied by the one offs. So I think, I

think we a choice needs to be made. And I think Batman

animated series, the 2004 Batman series, did this well where,

yes, there are everything is villain of the week, but there

are things that are advancing in the background, but they're

always very low priority. So I hope they take those notes and

really hit those deep dives that they're doing so well at that I

loved in the next season, and have that running plot line way

in the background, and no more ghost, no more. I don't want to

see gentlemen ghost again. I appreciate the callback. I'm

sure someone loves him. I'm not one of them. Want to see that

guy again. Exercise, cancel him. I also want to see more of this,

like the random interactions of Bruce or Batman inside GCPD. I

think there's a scene in particular in which Jim kind of

just like happens on him, and then, like this whole it turns

into this whole big thing. And I thought that was just a master

class of just like weirdly enough comedic timing for what I

didn't expect for interaction between Jim Gordon and Batman.

That was only that only pales in comparison to when Robert

pattinson's Batman punched Jeffrey writes Jim Gordon in the

face. But yeah, that is our full cape or cap review of Batman The

Caped Crusader. Ultimate verdict, it looks like this is a

show that definitely earned the caped part of its name, so you

should definitely check it out. I was just going to say, if you

have skipped all the spoilers, in general, I'd say if you saw

Batman, The Animated Series, growing up, or you were into the

2004 Batman, but are looking for something a little bit more

psychological, a little bit a little bit darker than what you

you've seen in those shows, with the tinge more realism, not

completely realistic. There are some elements in the show that

are not realistic, as you'll find out. This is a good this is

a good springboard. It is a really nice call back to the old

but it does. Do some new things, and it will absolutely be a

contrast to any other like bright and happy superhero show

you're seeing right now. This is a definite contrast, and it's a

real quick watch, so definitely recommend giving a shot if you

like those old Batman animated series, but you're ready for

something a little bit more bite, little more bite, a little

bit sharper, a little bit darker. This is for you. And I

will say too that, like if you are a parent who probably wants

to introduce your kid to Batman in this particular sense, I

probably say this isn't the while. This is, this isn't the

best one for them. Andrew here is just like, Nah, we're going

to cut that out real quick. No, don't do it. Don't do this. It

says TV y7 but I wouldn't, I'd, I'd bring, bring that rating up

a little bit.

Yes, definitely. So fortunately for you, though, there are still

many classic episodes of the Batman either in the 2004 Batman

the series that we talked about, or even Batman The Animated

Series, which was a little bit dark at times, but this is still

those are still some great ones. This is definitely one for you.

You took the kids away, you popped open your whiskey and you

just want to watch some good war Batman storytelling. This is a

great one. Um, very glad that this came about, because, you

know, we definitely was worried about it, especially because

it's like, hey, we have had so much Batman so a lot of Batman

fatigue. But thankfully, this keeps the energy going, versus

like anything else that we would have expected from it. Mm, hmm.

And before we adjourn here, I have a surprise new thing. I

think every time we cover Batman, we need to do this. This

is completely surprised. I have not briefed my co host on this

whatsoever. But the question is, for this show, Does Batman kill

people? The answer right now, Does Batman kill people in this

show? Okay, so three people who got hit by a car show. I do

think about this. I'm mad I didn't put this in my notes

because I was just like, You know what? Maybe they got back

up, but, um, let's just say that Batman gives the nod, and I

don't know if they nodded back. Yeah. I mean, there was one

person I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt, because

there's one point where two face lights somebody on fire and

Batman does not attempt to save them. I think it's implied it's

too late. But also I'm like, you kind of let that one die, but I

was gonna let that one go. The one person. There's three

people, though, I think are definitely dead. In the final

fog scene, he jumps in between two people who are shooting at

him, and they shoot at each other. I think they're dead,

right? And again, you can say indirect, the one you can't

though there's a person, Batman knocks out and then throws in

the water that person, 99% sure they drowned and died. 99% sure

they were unconscious in the water. Yeah. That also answers

our questions like, should I watch this as my kid? No? Three

to six is his kill count? Three to six. Three to six is a pretty

wide it's three too many. I really thought it was just the

people he hit with his car. This Batman never said he doesn't

kill people. That's true. This might have been the moment. This

might have been his like, who was like, he's like, You know

what? I'm better than this. But flash your bow tie was too cool.

I can't kill a Batman, a black man to be a hate crime. He

Barbara. Barbara and Joe will have been looking at. So this

the real Batman, huh? Oh, man. Well, with that, that wraps up

our episode. Glad to know that there's something out there for

Batman to keep on doing. Very much looking forward to what

happens if we do get a season two join us next time on the

show. As while we have completed our running back summer series,

we of course, still have a bunch of superhero productions that

are going to be happening close the end of this year, or have

even happened throughout the year. So stay tuned for an

announcement. Alright? So with that, that wraps up our show.

Thank you again for listening to our running back summer watch

list. Be sure to support us, either through a one time gift

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pod@gmail.com Take care of yourselves. And remember that if

you ever have an ancestor who pops up as a ghost that decides

they're going to try to, you know, steal and reclaim your

family's honor, you might need to have a conversation with them

first about the usage of an A versus an ER at the end of

certain words. And if you're at a carnival and someone asks you

to go behind and check the tents, and you know secret place

behind the tents. I think you should know not to go, but it's

a reminder, don't go. Don't go there behind the tents. You will

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