Batman: Caped Crusader (Amazon Prime)

Honestly, the TV-14 rating was a red flag. I honestly did not expect to enjoy it.

It's only the first episode, but I kind of did.

I feel like the comparisons to Batman: The Animated Series are inevitable. But the better comparison for me is X-Men '97. But we do need SOME comparisons with Bee-Taz first.

I feel the darker, more adult tone is far less appealing. I think the dialogue of this show is far better. Not because of maturity or language, but the script was better, and had the characters talking more like actual people, the same way Justice League Unlimited did. The designs are relatively appealing, although Penguin is grotesque.

She killed the wrong son. What a hot mess.

But here is where the comparison to X-Men '97 comes into play. I feel like this show has a sense of humor. Not as much as Batman: The Animated Series did. But despite the dark tones, and gangland storylines, there are laughs to be had in some of the reactions of the goons, Harvey Dent included. X-Men: The Animated Series was never a barrel of laughs, but it had some, and X-Men '97 rubbed me the wrong way for being miserable in comparison. Do I enjoy Batman: Caped Crusader as much as Batman: The Animated Series? So far, no. Do I enjoy it WAAYYY more than the beloved X-Men '97? So far, yes. And by far. 4 stars.

I mentioned in the last review that the dialogue is good. The episode ending on Montoya saying into the bug "We're not done, you and me," is a case in point.

The guy they hired for Basil was fantastic. Great voice there.

Another good episode. Cautiously optimistic at this point. 4 stars.

I REALLY don't like this Selina Kyle. She's got this entitled, privileged, cute white girl vibe that's obnoxious. For some reason, the socialite thing didn't bother me too much on Batman: The Animated Series. Mostly because Selina there wasn't QUITE as spoiled, much less insufferable.

I like that her car growls though. Sort of makes me regrets the show isn't for kids. We could have had a great toyline.

I love the newspaper headline saying the security guard said the thief smelled great. I mentioned there is a sense of humor about this show? That! That!

I don't like how mean Bruce is to Alfred. I also dislike the origin story for this one.

It's cool that Harleen kind of pins Bruce right out of the gate. She will be formidable for this reason.

Eel O'Brien, huh? Interesting Tom Kenny voices him.

I didn't like this as much as the first two episodes. 3 stars.

Wow, Harvey Bullock is a dirty cop in this show for sure.

I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but I did, and I thought it was cool. But during Firebug's moments of arson, the music cue turns majestic. There is a far-away echo as well to suggest detachment and madness, but him apparently succumbing to the beauty of the fire is portrayed as a triumphant moment, even if only in his own mind.

I won't lie. I don't much like the theme song in comparison to either Danny Elfman or Shirley Walker. But the truth is that kind of music cue is one of those amazing touches that most viewers won't even notice, and it blows right by them. And the moment will be entirely effective for the viewer for some unquantifiable reason they can't quite put their finger on.

In this case? It was the music cue. Big time. 4 stars.

This version of Harley Quinn is clearly insane, but unlike OUR Harley, she's never been misled. Every evil thing she does, even if she believes it for the greater good, has been done of her own initiative and agency. She's not been manipulated. She's not a doormat. Her poor decisions are entirely her own. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

King Tut, huh? Pretty cool.

My favorite moment at the end was Batman starting to lay into Barb for being reckless about her friendship with Harley, and she's all, "Shut up." I have to be honest. Out of all animated adaptations I've ever seen of Batman / Bruce Wayne, five episodes in, this is my least favorite interpretation of all of 'em. Second worst Bruce EVER, counting live-action too, outside of Iain Glen on Titans. Mostly because of crap like that. This Batman is thoughtless and heartless. And I love that the show is willing to have Barbara put him in his place. I hope at some point Alfred starts demanding respect too. Batman is such a jackass on this show.

Outside of Batman being a jerk, I thought it was an interesting episode. 3 1/2 stars.

It's not John Constantine Batman has to go to to deal with Gentleman Ghost. It's Papa Midnight. That's way better, by the way.

Bruce continues to be a total ass. Love, love, LOVE Lucius suggesting he ought to try treating the help like people someday. Really, the way he treats Alfred is atrocious.

The politics surrounding Harvey Dent don't exactly make sense from a modern lens. Hyper-partisanship and polarization in our era means general swing elections don't tend to be blow-outs. Ever. And yet back in the 1940's, when this show is set, people had the ability to vote for the best candidate regardless of party. Harvey's party is not made explicit, but he's clearly showing himself as an inferior candidate. And I could believe that while what happened on the train wouldn't move the needle a jot in 2024, voters back in the 1940's might see that a little different. There's not much of that era I think is remotely preferable to modern day. I think that might be one of those rare things.

Also, should be noted, this Batman is a lousy detective. The Sherlock Holmes quote and Occam's Razor are why. Batman wastes a LOT of time in the investigation because he refused to believe Jim was ghost. He was following his biases instead of the actual evidence. That is poor detective work right there.

It's a great show. But I think after 6 episodes I can pretty much say Batman / Bruce himself is the weak link. I question the decision for the producers to say, "Well. we've never seen a Batman / Bruce with no redeeming personal qualities before. It's definitely something new." And it is. And it's also a bad thing. 3 1/2 stars.

Before we get into it, I want to address the argument Barbara and Jim are having about the criminal justice system and what is fair for perps. By the end of the episode, it's shown Barbara has hardened her stance there closer to Jim's, but even if she did that for a personal reason, I think when she pointed out they couldn't call for help because Jim didn't know who on his force he could trust, when she says the system doesn't work, she's right. There is no bigger demonstration of that than Jim being unsure of which of his men would be willing to murder him for a pay-off.

Deadshot getting taken off the board right away made me totally unimpressed with him. I think the thinking was "Well if we show Deadshot getting punked right out of the gate, then the viewer knows whoever is coming next must be ten times worse." I don't buy that kind of storytelling. And frankly neither should Bruce Timm. That led to Justice League: Season 1 Superman always being the first felled in battle. It was done to show how serious the villain the League was going up against was, but it made Superman look like a punk.

The main difference here, and probably the only thing Bruce Timm would need to shove in my face to win the argument is the fact that Deadshot is NOT a main character on this show. It's his first appearance, in fact. Anybody being offended over his treatment only feels that way because of the legacy of the character in previous iterations. Whereas Justice League's Superman was actually a depowering of a character many folks in the audience had already grown up with on The New Batman / Superman Adventures. Yeah, this show is never gonna be held in high esteem by hardcore Deadshot fans. But it's an entirely different thing. I'll concede that.

The end twist that the hit was on Barb was good, and made the fact that you didn't entirely trust Corrigan pay off very well. If the target WERE Jim, he wouldn't necessarily have been as helpful during the road crisis as he was. Knowing he just had to get Barb alone later on, especially knowing he could even potentially get away with it, makes his seemingly heroic actions earlier on make sense.

Now to get into it. This is rank speculation on my end. And based on nothing more than what I saw on the screen. The animation industry has become famously oppressive and the animators and writers overworked, underpaid, and ultimately, if not sending out inferior work, than rushed work.

I could be wrong, the show might have the same slave-driver mentality for the animators as the rest of current animation. But the way the shoot-out in the house was boarded told me, if they didn't have more money to get that right, they at least had more time. The short-cuts in the DC Universe films from Timm, James Tucker, and Butch Lukic became more and more evident over the years, so much so that I wound up complaining about the off pacing of the third part of freaking Crisis On Infinite Earths! I heard about Crisis being released last year and it WAS this year. Not much prep time there. This show has been in the pipeline for a few years, and I don't think it was entirely the streaming uncertainty of David Zaslav foolishly canceling it that caused the delay. I feel like perhaps Bruce Timm was actually given the time to get things right. That might be why a release date was never scheduled UNTIL the season was almost ready.

Am I wrong? The gunfight being so well-boarded and paced tells me I'm not. But I have no evidence for this. Didn't bother looking this show's history online before writing this review. But it wouldn't shock me if this show were granted a LOT more love and care than the movies and later seasons of Young Justice, ultimately were. It might just have something to do with the fact that Timm's simplified designs animate better. But the Tomorrowverse had simple designs too, and the animation often looked plain awful. I don't think that's it. I sincerely think this show had more time and effort put into it.

That's my working theory. 4 1/2 stars.

Carrie is pretty impressive right out of the gate.

I also noticed Stephanie Brown and Killer Croc.

The opening and premise were sort of a cross between Bradbury and Lovecraft.

As far as Two-Face origins go, that was a little underwhelming. We'll see how it plays out next. 3 1/2 stars.

I thought it was a great episode. Parts of it made me very angry.

I am furious at Bruce dismissing Alfred's real concerns that he set Harvey on this path. I am not a believer in the theory that Batman created his own Rogues Gallery himself. I don't believe the idea that if Batman didn't exist, neither would the Joker. If it hadn't been ONE Bad Day, it would have another.

In this case, yeah Harvey going nuts is on Bruce entirely. His justification to Alfred is beyond hollow. He was pushing on the weak link in the case, just like Harvey does. Except Harvey is doing it to random criminals he doesn't know. Harvey is supposed to be Bruce's friend, and Bruce doesn't give a single crap about his well-being. And when Alfred rightly calls him on it, Bruce pitches a fit like a Babyman because he refuses to take any responsibility for his own actions. And yeah, that pisses me off.

Is it an interesting, new interpretation of Batman / Bruce Wayne? Certainly. Is it for the better? Not even close.

I'll tell you what interesting change worked. Making Two-Face the empathetic one and Harvey the monster. Maybe the reason it works is because it shouldn't. But the truth is as a D.A. Dent was never as incorruptible as he even told himself he was. He was always kind of a heel. The transformation causing him to question his hardened methods, especially when they go far beyond what they ever have before, feels right.

If you think about it, Two-Face was always supposed to be the psychologically damaged one. It makes sense he's the guy traumatized by what he's done. His PTSD here is almost rational in comparison to Two-Face being the monster in the other interpretations.

I think Matthew Thorne is a bit of a tool, but I thought it was interesting the show gave Rupert the speech to Harvey about how his killing spree had nothing to do with justice. I LIKE the character for that, and he actually struck me as far more self-aware than Bruce has been this season. I hope Bruce can change at some point. But I don't like the guy doing a better job of questioning injustice being the mob boss instead of Batman himself. That doesn't feel right. Is it dramatically interesting? Certainly. But not for good reasons.

It was a pretty terrific episode that made me beyond pissed at Bruce Wayne. 4 stars.

Okay, this is my favorite version of the Two-Face story ever. 10 episodes to tell it, and it's the best bar none.

Why? Because it has a beginning, middle, and ending. It's such a touchy and raw concept that every open-ended interpretation has my heart in knots.

And I don't necessarily believe Harvey taking a bullet for Barbara redeems him. But it feels like a satisfying way to actually end a story that in my mind always winds up more and more problematic the longer it continues. I very much was an early pusher for closure for Two-Face on Batman: The Animated Series. And despite the face-up coin in the fountain at the end of "Second Chances", I would have been perfectly content with a tragic ending mixed with a measure of peace or grace. And we got that here.

I'll tell you another reason I like this Two-Face. Harvey and Bruce Wayne look too similar. I can actually tell them apart now.

My criticisms on Bruce's personality flaws stand. And yet, the "Alfred," that he has to repeat again just to make it sound comfortable in his own mouth suggests Jerkass Batman is not the end of the road for the character. Maybe it's a rocky beginning instead. I can live with that.

The repeating it was a great, REAL moment. Not enough "real" moments in cartoons, especially where dialogue is concerned.

And the Joker is coming. His absence in the season perhaps raised questions about whether or not the show was even LICENSED to use him (I would not put a Joker-Embargo past DC Comics) but no, they were just building up anticipation for him. I think that's probably the right move.

How do I rank this show among other prominent DC cartoons? I like Justice League Unlimited / Batman: The Animated Series and the other DCAU shows, Batman: The Brave And The Bold, Justice League Action, and My Adventures With Superman more. I like it more than Young Justice, Teen Titans, Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Harley Quinn, Legion Of Super Heroes, and Beware The Batman. And some of those shows I like it more than are actually really good (see Harley Quinn). The first season made a positive impression on me in a way the first season of X-Men '97 did not. In the corrupt sewer pit of Gotham City I felt Barbara and Jim refusing to give up on justice was a more positive and empowering message than the dark places X-Men '97 went. People tired of my reviews will say, "Don't listen to Matt. He hates everything." Maybe. I like Batman: Caped Crusader though. 5 stars.