REVIEW -- Batman: Caped Crusader (Amazon Prime Exclusive) -- Season One, Eps. 1-10

Batman: Caped Crusader is an American animated television series based on the DC Comics character Batman. The series is developed by Bruce Timm, and produced by Bad Robot Productions, 6th & Idaho Motion Picture Company, Warner Bros. Animation, and DC Studios. Premiered on August 1, 2024, on Amazon Prime Video, the show offers a noir-inspired reimagining of the Batman mythos, focusing on a young Bruce Wayne during the early stages of his crime-fighting career in Gotham City, drawing inspiration from Batman stories of the 1940s and 1960s.

Starring Hamish Linklater as the voice of the titular character, the series explores themes of corruption and crime in a stylized, period setting. The project was first announced in May 2021 and has been noted for its serialized storytelling and deep psychological exploration of its characters. Critics have praised its mature tone and complex portrayal of the superhero, setting it apart from previous adaptations.

Premise

Batman: Caped Crusader reimagines the Batman mythos with a focus on the detective noir aspects of the character. Set in a dark, forbidding Gotham City, inspired by Batman stories from the 1940s and 1960s, the series presents a young Bruce Wayne in the early stages of his crime-fighting career. It explores his struggle against the city's rampant corruption and crime, including a corrupt police force and a city riddled with gang warfare. Unlike previous iterations, Batman: Caped Crusader emphasizes a grim, moody tone, with Batman often taking a back seat as other characters, including new interpretations of classic villains like Catwoman and Clayface, and allies like Barbara Gordon. take on more prominent roles. The series is noted for its serialized storytelling, focusing on episodic detective cases that build up to a larger narrative over the season. The show showcases a more grounded and less flamboyant take on its characters while integrating new and diverse spins on classic roles.

Voice cast

Main

• Hamish Linklater as Bruce Wayne / Batman, a troubled socialite who moonlights as a bat-themed vigilante to fight crime.

• Jason Watkins as Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce's tirelessly loyal butler, and assistant.

• Eric Morgan Stuart as James "Jim" Gordon, the commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department and a secret ally to Batman.

• Krystal Joy Brown as Barbara Gordon, Jim Gordon's daughter and a public defender whose brand of morality tends to clash with her father's.

• John DiMaggio as Harvey Bullock, a corrupt police detective.

• Gary Anthony Williams as Arnold Flass, a corrupt police detective and Bullock's partner.

• Michelle C. Bonilla as Renee Montoya, an incorruptible police detective who has her suspicions about Batman.

Supporting

• Jamie Chung as Dr. Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn

• Diedrich Bader as Harvey Dent / Two-Face

• Bumper Robinson as Lucius Fox

• Tom Kenny as Joe Rigger / Firebug, Eel O'Brien

• Cedric Yarbrough as Rupert Thorne, Waylon Jones, Linton Midnite

• Roger Craig Smith as Jim Corrigan, Floyd Lawton

• Grey DeLisle as Julie Madison, Lois Lane

• William Salyers as Mayor Jessop

• Yuri Lowenthal as Detective Eric Cohen

• Corey Burton as Jack Ryder

• Vincent Piazza as Tony Zito

• Jason Marsden as Gorman

• Santino Barnard as Young Bruce Wayne

• James Arnold Taylor as Marcus Driver

• Kimberly Brooks as Romy Chandler

Guest

• Christina Ricci as Selina Kyle / Catwoman

• Reid Scott as Onomatopoeia

• Dan Donohue as Basil Karlo / Clayface

• Mckenna Grace as Natalia Night / Nocturna

• Toby Stephens as Jim Craddock / Gentleman Ghost

• Minnie Driver as Oswalda Cobblepot / Penguin

• David Krumholtz as Fletcher Demming

• Haley Joel Osment as Anton Night

• Paul Scheer as Aaron and Ronald Cobblepot

• Jackie Hoffman as Greta

• David Kaye as William Hastings

• Jim Pirri as Emerson Collins

• Peter Jessop as Muller

• Kimberly Brooks as Romy Chandler

• Jeff Bennett as Jack Ellman

• Lacey Chabert as Yvonne Frances

• Donna Lynne Champlin as Leslie Thompkins

• Juliet Donenfield as Carrie

• Amari McCoy as Stephie

• Carter Rockwood as Dickie

• Henry Witchter as Jace

• SungWon Cho as Matt Milligan

• Josh Keaton as Matthew Thorne

• Kari Wahlgren as Maggie Cain

Joe Chill and the Joker make cameo appearances in the episodes "Kiss of the Catwoman" and "Savage Night", respectively, with the latter being voiced by an uncredited actor.

Episodes Summaries

** SPOILER WARNING **

Episode 1: "In Treacherous Waters"

Oswalda Cobblepot, owner and singer of the Iceberg Lounge, has been making a name for herself in Gotham City's criminal underworld as the "Penguin" while trying to eliminate her mob boss rival Rupert Thorne by destroying his organization's warehouses. However, Thorne survives with help from a leak in her circle. Believing it is her youngest son Aaron, Oswalda kills him. However, her eldest son and the real source, Ronald, seeks out Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) Commissioner Jim Gordon for protection. With help from Jim's daughter Barbara Gordon and a mysterious vigilante called the "Batman", Ronald safely reaches the GCPD, but Oswalda launches a missile to destroy the police station. Unbeknownst to her, the station is evacuated before it is destroyed. Batman successfully captures Oswalda, but realizes later that in doing so, he left a power vacuum in Gotham's underworld for Thorne to fill.

Episode 2: "...And Be a Villain"

GCPD detective Renee Montoya is assigned to locate missing actress Yvonne Frances. Following a failed interrogation of Bruce Wayne, she investigates the film studio, where she learns Frances' fellow actor Basil Karlo may have been lying about his alibi. However, he is seemingly murdered before she can confirm. Upon further investigation, she learns Karlo was ashamed of his face, which led to him being typecasted and Frances rejecting his advances. Ultimately, he used an experimental serum to make his body more malleable, allowing him to alter his face as he pleases. Montoya and Batman eventually stumble across Karlo, who faked his death and kidnapped Frances out of a desire to play a villain for real. Montoya and Batman defeat Karlo and rescue Frances, though Batman disappears before Montoya can apprehend him.

Episode 3: "Kiss of the Catwoman"

At a museum displaying the Gotham elite's jewels, Bruce encounters an heiress named Selina Kyle, who has an interest in his late mother Martha Wayne's pearls. He is later ordered to attend a month of therapy with Dr. Harleen Quinzel after assaulting a patron who insulted his parents. Meanwhile, Kyle resorts to jewel theft after being left in debt, adopting the "Catwoman" persona. After being caught and outed by Batman, she takes inspiration from him by upgrading her car and using gadgets before Gotham's District Attorney Harvey Dent bails her out, allowing her to resume her crime spree. Deducing Kyle will try and steal Martha's pearls, Bruce orders the museum to close early to lure in Catwoman, who is eventually caught once more and left destitute upon learning her maid Greta sold her belongings and refuses to bail her out.

Episode 4: "The Night of the Hunters"

After Mayor Jessop orders the creation of a task force to apprehend Batman, Gordon chooses Montoya to run it. Using Dr. Quinzel's insights, corrupt GCPD detectives Harvey Bullock and Arnold Flass use a masked criminal called Firebug as bait to lure out Batman. As part of their plan, they let Firebug go to start a fire. Batman arrives to rescue civilians, evading corrupt SWAT officers led by Bullock and Flass in the process. As Bullock and Flass kill Firebug to cover their tracks, Batman reluctantly works with Jim, who disapproves of the task force's methods, to save the remaining civilians. Afterward, Batman disappears once more, Bullock and Flass are hailed as heroes by Jessop, and put in charge of the Batman task force, with Jim narrowly keeping his job.

Episode 5: "The Stress of Her Regard"

After several insane criminals go missing, Barbara suspects that they might be patients of her friend, Dr. Quinzel, who is attempting to date Montoya. In reality, Quinzel has adopted the jester-like persona of Harley Quinn and subjecting the criminals to immense torture in an attempt to correct their minds. Barbara and Batman track her to the basement of one of her patients, where the latter is overpowered and knocked unconscious before the house is rigged to detonate. Nonetheless, Batman recovers and saves Barbara, who suspects that Quinzel fell to her death. Having survived, Quinzel calls Montoya to call off their date and tell her that she is temporarily leaving Gotham.

Episode 6: "Night Ride"

When a mysterious ghost on horseback emerges to rob Gotham's working class, Dent's mayoral election campaign is threatened due to the robberies happening on his watch. He is offered a donation from Thorne, but is hesitant to accept it. Meanwhile, Batman struggles to fight the ghost directly. Deducing that it is the spirit of Jim Craddock, the gambling-addicted former owner of an old property that Bruce's friend Lucius Fox recently bought, he gains help from Linton Midnite, who advises him to sacrifice the old property's deed and the blood of a nobleman to draw out Craddock. Though Craddock possesses Batman's butler, Alfred Pennyworth, Batman completes the ritual using Alfred's blood and traps Craddock in a vial. He subsequently gives it to Midnight while Dent accepts Thorne's donation.

Episode 7: "Moving Target"

Jim fears that someone put a bounty on his head after assassins such as Floyd Lawton and Onomatopoeia come to Gotham and the former almost succeeds at killing him. He reluctantly agrees to be escorted to a safehouse at Wayne Gardens, but Onomatopoeia's group finds them. Meanwhile, Batman learns the hit was placed by a Blackgate Penitentiary inmate named Muller and follows Jim's detail. Narrowly fending off the assassins, Batman reveals to Jim while getting the contract cancelled, he discovered Barbara is the true target. Officer Jim Corrigan attempts to claim the bounty for himself, but is disarmed by Jim and arrested. Muller later reveals he ordered the hit because he feels he deserves better prison accommodations.

Episode 8: "Nocturne"

Amidst a fundraiser carnival for Dent's campaign, multiple orphans are reported missing. Batman soon finds the culprit, Natalia Night, the younger sister of inventor Anton Night who suffers from a mysterious ailment that can only be staved off by draining energy from people, which grants her enhanced strength. After falling out with and attacking Anton for his perceived controlling behavior, Natalia continues her attacks until she is intercepted by Batman. After making her realize she accidentally killed Anton, who begged Batman to stop her before he died, Batman takes Natalia to safety while her victims are taken to a hospital to recover. Meanwhile, Dent meets with Thorne to accept his donation, but refuses to accept his condition of dropping charges against Thorne's friend. In retaliation, Thorne's second throws a flask of acid at Dent's face.

Episode 9: "The Killer Inside Me"

In the aftermath of his assault, Dent loses his mayoral bid and is left with half of his face permanently scarred, which he grows insecure about. Bruce attempts to cheer him up with a night on the town, but a paranoid Dent has an outburst in a restaurant. Alfred scolds Bruce for his poor attempt at getting through to him. Craving justice against those who wronged him, Dent goes on a violent spree throughout Gotham, taking out several of Thorne's men, though Batman intervenes before he can hurt Thorne himself. Guilt-ridden, Dent snaps out of his rage and willingly goes to Arkham Asylum, where he discovers Barbara signed on to become his lawyer.

Episode 10: "Savage Night"

Barbara explains to Dent that she is willing to help him, insisting that he was led astray. Meanwhile, Thorne's men, Bullock, and Flass seek revenge on Dent, prompting Barbara and Batman to establish a form of contact between each other and join forces with each other, Jim, and Montoya to protect him so he can testify in court. Amidst a fight at the docks however, Dent sacrifices himself to save Barbara from Flass. Batman loses his temper and threatens to shoot Flass, but ultimately spares him. Following this, Alfred assures Batman that while he failed to reach Dent's humanity, Batman still has his. Elsewhere, a mysterious man kills a series of victims with a toxin that makes them laugh uncontrollably.

The VERDICT

Right off the bat (no pun intended) in Episode One, I thought seeing The Penguin (Oswalda Cobblepot) genderswapped didn't bother nor surprise me in the least as I was pretty indifferent to the change. It honestly doesn't change anything as The Penguin still fits the exact same role in the original continuity. It still works for this series as well, especially being a period piece for the 1940s. I can easily see why people were skeptical of this change in terms so much modern content changes races and genders of characters freely for the sake of diversity (at least when it's done genuinely and without any corporate motives to merely check off boxes in terms of wanting to reach certain audiences), but it did what I imagined that the creators of this series had in mind was it got people talking in anticipation of this series' debut.

I'm going to say it several times in this review, but there's so many aspects of this series, especially with this Batman essentially being in his "Year One" era of his crime-fighting career, that reminds me of Beware the Batman and how we were robbed of a proper conclusion to that series. 

In terms of other changes right off the bat, race-swapping Jim Gordon and Barbara Gordon raised an eyebrow briefly from me being a person of color, but then I quickly remembered that this was already done in live-action, both with Matt Reeves The Batman film and the cancelled Batgirl film that will never see the light of day, no thanks to Warner Brothers-Discovery's shady practices. 

Barbara Gordon's choice of profession is changed for this series as well, with her being a district attorney, much like her rival, Harvey Dent. We'll get to Harvey later, but he comes off as a creep/slime ball right off the bat. 

The Batman is mostly believed to be an urban legend/myth at this point until he thwarts Oswalda Cobblepot's plans. There was a hilarious moment in this episode where Barbara Gordon is trying to protect Ronald Cobblepot from his mother's wrath after seeing her kill his brother, Aaron, in cold blood right in front of her mob for believing that he's been leaking information to her mob boss rival Rupert Thorne. They are chased throughout the city and the resulting gun fire damages Barbara's car to the point where they have to pull over at a dead end. Just when it looks like they are going to have to fight those guys, Batman shows up and runs over all of the thugs in his Batmobile. They cut away to the next scene, but you have to be kidding me if you believe that those guys aren't dead. That's as ridiculous as Batman's death toll in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Right there I knew without a shadow of a doubt that we were off to the races for another animated Batman project where Bruce Timm is merely fulfilling his own personal Batman fantasies. 

To this series' credit, I will give it props for the overarching plot over the course of the season with the power vacuum in Gotham's criminal underworld to fill with Thorne walking right in unopposed worked for the most part. I dare argue that some of these episodes would fare perfectly fine on their own as standalone episodes without any prior knowledge of any of that too. The overarching plot just helps with the binge-worthy format for this series on Amazon Prime. 

Episode Two introduces Basil Karlo AKA Clayface for those who are more familiar with that character in the typical Batman mythos. He still has his roots tied to being an actor in this continuity and ends up taking an experimental serum to make his body more malleable, but he doesn't have the range of shapeshifting abilities that he tends to possess in other Batman media. The highlight of this episode is the introduction of GCPD detective Renee Montoya in this continuity, who is assigned to this case to search for the missing actress that Karlo abducted. For those who aren't aware, she was one of many characters who were specifically created for Batman: The Animated Series. Renee Maria Montoya is the character was created by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and Mitch Brian for Batman: The Animated Series and was preemptively introduced into mainstream comics before the airing of her animated debut in 1992 in the DC Animated Universe (DCAU) series Batman: The Animated Series / The New Batman Adventures, voiced by Ingrid Oliu, and later Liane Schirmer. 

I like to think this first encounter with Montoya sets up Batman and Renee to have a similar relationship as Batman and Detective Yin in The Batman down the road - sooner more than later. In The Batman, Yin started off in an antagonistic sort of role against Batman, but grew to respect his heroics and would be a confidant of his within GCPD out of the few cops that were trustworthy. 

Episode Three introduces two more fan favorites into this continuity in a single episode. First up, we have Selina Kyle, who meets Bruce Wayne while Martha Wayne's pearls are on display at the museum. Selina is essentially unchanged visually, but her Catwoman persona takes more nods and cues from her early comic book appearances (Silver Age) to fit into this time period. She was previously wealthy before resorting to crime after her father was imprisoned for embezzlement and the family's businesses were seized. She adopts the identity of Catwoman after being inspired by Batman's theatrics and resorts to burglary to attempt to maintain her old lavish lifestyle. I thought her maid Greta was the star of this episode though with her dead pan delivery and remarks about not getting paid for putting up with Selina's antics. After Bruce knocks out a guy for making some unsavory remarks about his parents at the museum during the start of this episode, he's ordered to attend therapy with Dr. Harleen Quinzel. Harleen is race changed for this series, going from Caucasian to simply Asian, but remains as a psychiatrist. Harleen doesn't do much in this episode, but we'll get back to her soon enough. 

Catwoman not being shy at all about how sexually attracted she is to Batman isn't lost at all in this continuity and offers a better take on their cat and mouse game/relationship in this series, even though it seems like her affections are one-sided since Batman doesn't seem interested. For now, I'm fine with that as they don't have to rush that pairing anytime soon.

Episode Four sees Mayor Jessop calling for the creation of a task force to apprehend the Dark Knight. Gordon selects Montoya to run it, with Dr. Harleen Quinzel offering her psychological insight that Batman is attracted to chase after these other costumed criminals. This inspires the two corrupt GCPD cops, Harvey Bullock and Arnold Flass, who are two staples from the Batman mythos in the original Detective Comics under the DC Comics umbrella, to allow the costumed pyromaniac Firebug to escape confinement to lure Batman out. Firebug, who shouldn't be confused with Firefly (another Batman rogue) as he actually predates Firefly creation and introduction in DC Comics. 

While I'm not personally familiar with Flass, I thought it was an interesting choice to give Bullock another corrupt cop to hang out with, especially when it seems like almost every other iteration of him across media lately has him on his own as corrupt cop. It feels like those two are only concerned with getting over to their own benefits at the expense of others, especially when we see what other nefarious lengths they go in this series. 

I personally found Firebug is a tad boring in this continuity. He's just a delusional fire starter, who is killed by Bullock and Flass to cover their tracks after the fire gets out of hand. If I were to speculate, they killed him off unceremoniously after introducing him in a single episode to leave the door open for Firefly's debut down the road. The tail end of this episode saw Batman and Jim Gordon reluctantly forced to work together to save the civilians out of the building while Bullock and Flass are regarded as heroes and put in charge of the Batman task force by Jessop by the time this is all said and done. Meanwhile, Jim Gordon is left barely with his job. 

Episode Five sees Dr. Quinzel making a play at trying to date Barbara Gordon's friend, Renee Montoya. Quinzel plays off and denies that her former patients have gone missing, when in reality she's been torturing them under the guise of Harley Quinn as a means to correct their criminal behavior. Both Babs and Batman track her to her hideout, but Batman is easily overpowered by her gang of insane criminals and left knocked out with the house set to blow up. Quinzel is making her escape only to double back when she notices that Barbara's car is still nearby. Quinzel returns to save Barbara as she is in the middle of freeing Batman, only to seemingly fall to her death. Batman narrowly saves himself and Barbara while we find out that Quinzel survived and calls Montoya to cancel their date and inform her that she's leaving Gotham.

For the record, I personally loved this new take on Harley Quinn. She has absolutely no ties to The Joker and her problematic Stockholm syndrome that plagued that character's existence for decades since her debut in Batman: The Animated Series and across DC Comics and other media. I thought it was a very interesting choice that both Montoya and Quinzel's sexual orientations were firmly established in this episode too. That was a wise choice to go ahead and put out there too. Major props to this version of Harley Quinn getting one over Batman too in their first interaction with each other. 

Jamie Chung's ability to play both roles with some duality added to the performance too, which was something that made the late Arleen Sorkin's Harleen Quinzel and Harley Quinn so unforgettable - at least in the "Mad Love" origin story episode of The New Batman Adventures. This Harley Quinn or rather Harlequin (who never was honestly referred to by that name actually) was a master manipulator and strategist, eerily similar to The Joker in that capacity to the point where she had Batman beat in their first encounter until Barbara Gordon came to his aid.

I'm pretty sure that Quinzel would have figured out that Bruce Wayne was Batman sooner more than later if they continued their therapy sessions. Don't forget that Hugo Strange figured it out in a similar manner in other Batman mythos. I could see her becoming obsessed with thwarting Batman's crime-fighting efforts as her methods were proving to be more fruitful in terms of rewiring the minds of criminals towards a new purpose. I look forward to seeing more of this character down the road in follow-up seasons, but I am on my knees begging Bruce Timm to keep her FAR, FAR, FAR away from The Joker. This iteration of her doesn't need to be associated with him in any capacity, despite their similar motifs/gimmicks. 

I have to wonder that the people who are so quick to dismiss this iteration of Harley Quinn realize that they are painfully unaware of the historical significance of her costume. She is most likely inspired by the Harlequin of French and German lore who is depicted as a black-faced emissary of the devil, roaming the countryside with a group of demons chasing the damned souls of evil people to Hell. That's essentially what this iteration of Dr. Harleen Quinzel is doing. Design-wise, they couldn't do black face for painfully obvious reasons, yet they kept the jester motif for familiarity. 

I shake my head at the people who heavily insist that she has to be tied to The Joker to be relevant. Y'know what, I'll compromise with those people. Even if this version of her ends up working with The Joker or not in this continuity, I think she has established herself to be formidable enough in her own right. She would more likely be the brains of that partnership anyway in a shift of role reversal. The Joker would be one of her agents issuing out the pain and torture (or possibly aligned with someone like Victor Zsasz in this continuity) to other criminals and individuals. I think that would be acceptable if those two characters just have to be tied at the hip.

When Gentleman Ghost AKA Jim Craddock made his debut at the start of Episode Six, I was thinking that he was going to be comparable to how he was depicted in Batman: The Brave and The Bold. Instead, he was presented here as an actual ghost right off the bat, offering this series its first introduction of a supernatural element. Some of my favorite Batman-related stories across media are those stories where he is forced to deal with things that can't be simply explained by science nor by anything else rooted in reality. As a result, he is forced to step outside of his element and adapt accordingly. This forces him to ask for help by consulting with Linton Midnite (Papa Midnite from the Hellblazer mythos under the Vertigo Comics umbrella that was an adult-subsidary of the DC Comics continuity that includes John Constantine and other characters that frequently appear in Justice League Dark). 

I thought it was amusing that both Lucius Fox (who surprisingly isn't aware that Bruce Wayne is Batman in this continuity but serves as his lawyer) and Alfred Pennyworth both believe in the ghost from the start, while Bruce Wayne/Batman is quick to dismiss their supernatural beliefs until he has no choice not to. Up to this point in the season, both Batman and Bruce Wayne have treated Alfred as no more than mere servant and errand boy to the extent that even Lucius Fox remarks that Bruce should treat "the help" better. For this being a period piece (and for me being a person of color), boy did that scream as a not-so-tongue-in-cheek commentary on this society. In regard to Alfred and Bruce's relationship, I don't blame Lucius for saying something when Bruce is so dismissive of everything Alfred says and does when he is only thinking of Bruce's best interests and well-being. 

This is on full display when Alfred shoves Batman out of the way during the ritual and allows Craddock's ghost to possess him instead of Batman. After completing the ritual and trapping Craddock's spirit within a vial, Batman shows absolutely no gratitude for Alfred's sacrifice; instead chiding him for his reckless actions, stating that he can't do this without him.

This episode ends with Harvey Dent accepting Rupert Thorne's donation towards his mayoral campaign. At this point, this didn't surprise me in the least when Dent was established as a shady dude from the start. He used that two-headed trick coin on Barbara Gordon in the first episode and now I am supposed to be surprised that he is taking bribes from Rupert Thorne? Bitch please. This story did no favors in making Harvey Dent a likeable character at this point. 

Episode Seven focuses primarily on Jim and Barbara Gordon as they are the targets of an assassination attempt due to the bounty put on their head(s) by an Blackgate Penitentiary inmate named Muller. The hit on Jim Gordon was a diversion as Barbara was the real intented target. I didn't catch it on my first viewing but the first assassination attempt was made by Floyd Lawton (AKA Deadshot). I'm surprised that he missed and/or failed at the job given that character's reputation for his uncanny accuracy and marksmanship abilities. 

For the record, I am not familiar with Onomatopoeia and Jim Corrigan in the least, who are both characters from the Batman comic book mythos. I did get a chuckle out of Onomatopoeia's few token remarks throughout the episode though. The twist that Jim Corrigan was the one after the bounty on Barbara was a closely guarded secret in this episode as I will applaud this story not giving that away early on, even though I was a little leery about how he was so gung-ho about making sure to be the knight in shining armor in almost every shortcoming they ran into on the way to the safehouse. Muller's reasoning for putting the hit out on Barbara in the first place was a tad underwhelming though. If he wanted better prison accommodations then he should have asked for Dent to be his lawyer instead. This whole episode was pretty misleading on the whole bounty on one of the Gordons as if they found out something about the ongoing mob boss plot or poked the bear to get on the wrong side of the mob to force them to retaliate to keep things as they are with the corrupt cops allowing them to operate freely. Instead, we get this underwhelming resolution for what is mostly an episode devoted to following the Gordons and Montoya around for majority of its runtime. 

We were seven episodes deep at this point and I was finding myself really wondering why this show sacrifices so much of its runtime to other characters NOT named Batman, who is the titular character that this series is named after. 

This episode did have an interesting debate between Renee Montoya and Barbara Gordon concerning being from Gotham City versus living outside city. Babs preaches about wanting to uplift the community that she was born and raised in as a proud Gothamite while Renee is quick to remind Babs that her family was privileged enough to leave the city to live in the suburbs, far away from the crime and unsavory conditions of urban life. That one conversation puts Barbara's savior complex at the forefront of her character traits in this season and explains her actions in this series. Barbara means well, but her actions may not be seen within the same lens that she is often blind to see for herself. The sad truth is that you can't save everyone, let alone from from themselves - a truth that will be the recurring theme of the next three episodes.

The subplot for Episode Eight is the fundraiser carnival that Harvey Dent is holding for his mayoral campaign, with Rupert Thorne keeping a close eye to offer Dent another donation, but this is upstaged for the villain of the episode, Natalia Night, has been abducting orphans. I felt this episode went a little too far out of its way to explicitly point out all of the children from Leslie Thompkins' orphanage were all named after Batman's assorted sidekicks from DC Comics. "Dicky" and Carrie were even drawn almost identical to their previous iterations in Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures to the point it was comical. Natalia Night is another villain that I'm not familiar with from DC Comics (along with her brother Anton Night), but her design came off visually to resemble Wednesday Addams from the Addams Family too much for my taste. 

I thought we got a touching, yet undeserved moment of humanizing this iteration of Batman when he choose to save the life of Natalia Night when the sunrise was threatening to kill her due to her rare health condition. It reminded me of Batman in Justice League Unlimited sitting with Ace before she died ("Epilogue") or hugging Baby Doll in Batman: The Animated Series ("Baby Doll"), but I think it fell flat since this Batman hasn't shown enough to viewers to make us feel anything. Batman was able to get her to stop her by making her realized that she accidentally killed her brother during their argument earlier in this episode. It was nice to see Bruce Wayne go out of his way outside of his costumed alter ego frantically search for the lost orphans and suffer a beating on the losing end of the traveling circus. We know that Bruce has a soft spot for orphans, especially being one himself despite not having any sidekicks in this continuity (not yet anyway). I can't knock this show for having Bruce go the extra mile to find those lost children, even if it meant that he was on the receiving end of getting his ass kicked in and out of costume throughout this episode. 

It was no secret that Batman would have suffered the same fate as Natalia's other victims if it wasn't for Carrie's help. That's a fact that Carrie hilariously boasts about to the other children back at Leslie Thompkin's orphanage. 

I thought it was very telling that shit was about to hit the fan with Harvey Dent when he accepted Thorne's donation, but refused to drop the charges on Thorne's buddy. Why are we acting like Dent has a conscience now when he was the go-to guy in terms of bailing criminals out like how he did for Catwoman/Selina Kyle in Episode Three? Sure, she wasn't one of the more notorious criminals that he's bent the rules for, but c'mon. 

(Laughing) I'm not going to lie, but I busted out laughing at the end of the episode when Thorne's goon sprung out of the bathroom to toss that acid into Dent's face as if it was hot urine. Regardless which one it was, Dent had the same acceptable reaction to it.

Episode Nine is focused entirely on Harvey Dent following his assault that left half of his face permanently scarred. He has been confined to his home and dropped out of the mayoral race entirely, much to the delight of Rupert Thorne and his political opponent. Bruce Wayne visits and drags him out in hopes of cheering him up, but Bruce didn't account for Harvey's insecurity about his appearance. This results in Harvey having an emotional outburst in public, leading to him ripping off his bandages and revealing his scarred face to the horror of everyone looking on. 

The biggest red flag that bothered me in this episode was how this series creates Harvey's dissociative identity disorder as a result of his scarring out of left field. It doesn't make much sense when at least with Batman: The Animated Series there were some major distinguishing differences between "normal" Harvey and Two-Face. In that series, Harvey Dent had some redeeming qualities, but this version of Dent was unlikeable from the start. It didn't do the character any favors when Diedrich Bader didn't even offer any distinction between Dent's duality like the late Richard Moll did either. That was another knock against this iteration for me that didn't stick the landing with this character. 

This show seems shy to talk about it, but Bruce Wayne is every bit responsible for setting Harvey loose on Gotham City and creating that monster as much as Rupert Thorne was. Bruce came to his "friend" out of false pretenses, claiming to help when he really wanted to weasel out any and all information at the expense of how Harvey Dent's repressed emotions and deteriorating mental state would process all of this. Alfred had every right to call Bruce out for his strategy in terms of "poking the bear" to rile up Harvey as if he was some common criminal. 

I personally feel that this series rushed to introduce Two-Face in a similar manner that Batman: The Animated Series and The Dark Knight rushed to introduce the character is to offer the comparison of duality in the life of Bruce Wayne/Batman and Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Outside of a few exceptions, this Batman faces villains who juggle with multiple masks and/or identities. 

• Oswalda Cobblepot switches between her benevolent owner and singer guise at the Iceberg Lounge to her ruthless mob boss persona as The Penguin. Oswalda's take in this series is comparable to how The Kingpin/Wilson Fisk juggles two similar roles in both Marvel Comics and in live-action. 

• Basil Karlo spent his entire life playing multiple roles as an actor before settling into the role of villain that he was content with. I feel that this iteration is mostly unchanged compared to a lot of other animated versions.

• Selina Kyle adopts the identity of Catwoman without any secrecy as she merely wanted to maintain her lavish lifestyle. 

• Dr. Harleen Quinzel casts aside her normal persona as a friendly psychiatrist to don the mask of a harlequin as a means of subjecting criminals to her own twisted idea of reconditioning their minds. The more I think about this iteration of Quinzel, she reminds me more of the Scarecrow in terms of how she toys with and tests the limits within one's psyche. 

• Natalia Night poses as an innocent girl to lure in and befriend children before feeding on their life force once she submits to her own darker impulses to satisfy her "hunger" by any means. 

To his credit though, Dent had every right in the world to want to get back at Thorne and his men, specifically the guy who disfigured him in the first place. He just went overboard with it when he was content with going on a killing spree for payback. I can't be surprised that he didn't become a viligante like Batman when he is already painfully aware that Gotham's legal system is corrupt and those criminals would end up getting a slap on the wrist at best. I think the best display of Harvey's descent is at Thorne's home when he was willing to go through Thorne's son to get to him before Batman intervened to stop him. It's only then and only then that Dent snaps out of his bloodlust to regain some sense of sanity and remorse over what he has done and willingly turns himself in to get help in Arkham Asylum. 

This episode ends with Barbara revealing herself to him and desiring to act as his lawyer. Going into Episode Ten, this decision just shows me that her "savior complex" is going to be Barbara Gordon's downfall sooner more than later. However, I thought it was a nice callback to have Babs use his two-headed coin on him at the start of the next episode when she proposed being his lawyer though. 

Barbara handcuffing herself to Harvey is so symbolic in terms of her desperation or rather desire to save him and those troubled individuals like him as a result of the corruption in Gotham City. I love Harvey's remark about how foolish it is for just the four of them (the Gordons, Montoya, and Batman) to stand against the ever-rising tide of corruption and other evils in the root of Gotham, only for Batman to counter with the fact that one should always stand against the tide rather than succumb to it willingly. This echoes back to the power vacuum that was created in Episode One when Oswalda Cobblepot/The Penguin was unseated from her position of power as one of the key mob bosses, which allowed Rupert Thorne to accumulate as much power that he has collected and amassed throughout this season. Harvey's not wrong when he said that putting Thorne and his allies behind bars will do nothing but leave an even bigger vacuum for an even greater evil to fill. The cycle is endless, but these are four "foolish" people who are willing to die to see justice prevail. Plus putting people like Oswalda and Thorne behind bars sends a message - that not everyone is going to standby idly and accept these injustices.

I failed to mention this flashback in Episode Three until now because I wanted to highlight its significance here while we're analyzing Bruce Wayne/Batman's psyche at this point at the end of the season. During one of his therapy sessions with Dr. Harleen Quinzel, Bruce's mind returns back to his origin story in a sense. A young Bruce watches his parents gunned down in an alley and Alfred takes him home to comfort the near-mute child. He can't sleep between his sobbing and wakes up Alfred with his presence standing in the darkness like a man possessed. The kid says, "They're going to pay." "They?" asks Alfred. "All of them," Bruce adds, with the camera inching closer and closer as if we're watching a horror movie play out for dramatic effect. "I'm going to make them pay. And you're going to help me." This was all of the proof I needed to get the point across that Bruce Wayne died that day with his parents. Batman was born out of that darkness - Bruce made himself into a monster to fight other monsters. 

Don't forget that this is the same child that we saw wake up Alfred Pennyworth in the middle of the night following the death of his parents and swear that he's going to hunt all of these criminals down. 

Something broke in that child that day and ever since, Bruce Wayne seemingly died alongside his parents to give birth to this agent of vengeance and justice. We saw his emotional outburst in Episode Three in front of Selina Kyle at the mere mention of that guy disrespecting his parents' name and what lengths he was willing to go to save those missing orphans in Episode Eight. Much like a constant across mediums, Bruce Wayne is always the mask while Batman is his "true" persona. It just felt like in this situation, this story was painting the picture as if he could end up like Harvey, completely unhinged, if he didn't have someone like Alfred to keep him grounded. What was compelling, at least not in this episode, is the fact that we won't see how close Bruce is from going completely unhinged until after Harvey Dent is killed. 

Batman's desperation to avenge/save Harvey echoes true in Alfred's conversation with him at the end of the episode. Batman/Bruce Wayne hasn't lost his humanity like Harvey did. Harvey was able to reclaim some semblance of it when he sacrificed his life to shield Barbara from harm, but he was painfully aware that he would have lost it completely if she wasn't tethered to him given the opportunity. 

And for the record, saying that Bruce merely "weaponized" Alfred is a tad harsh. I think a better description would be that he sees Alfred entirely as a tool to aid him in his crime-fighting career, nothing more, nothing less. Bruce puts up so many emotional walls within himself to a degree that he doesn't see Alfred as a friend or any other personal attachment that could be used to hurt him like the death of his parents. It's a take where Bruce psychologically protecting himself from being hurt in that manner again. It's not until that incident with Gentleman Ghost is when we see that Bruce is actually afraid of losing anyone else. He really does care about Alfred. Alfred is Bruce Wayne/Batman's tether to his humanity, much like Barbara Gordon attempted to do for Harvey Dent in this very same episode. Bruce has been pushing everything and everyone who could possibly bring him joy away at arms' length out of the fear and paranoia that he would have those joys robbed from him again. 

If you follow Batman across any medium, there's definitely one constant and that is Batman's constant paranoia in one form or another. 

This episode ends with a tease of sorts as we are given a glimpse of some sadistic experiment going on where the victims are being left in a horrifying state from laughing to dead while a sinister doctor looks on in approval. All of his "patients" sport the same wicked grin and yellowed teeth like the same victims from exposure to Joker toxin in Batman: The Animated Series. Obvious this means that this is our first glimpse at The Joker in the next season of this show and I'm actually dreading this. Outside of a few exceptions, I felt this season went with too many recognizable and well-known villains for this first season. I wish this season did what Beware the Batman did and offer exposure for lesser known Batman villains and rogues to get the spotlight before focusing on his more popular rogues in later season(s) like they were planting the seeds for before it's impromptu cancellation. Teasing The Joker at the end of this season feels like a ploy to garner interest and hype for this villain when next to any of these Season One villains have had any lasting appeal outside of Rupert Thorne, Harlequin, and maybe Catwoman and/or Oswalda Copplepot if they were sprung out of prison. It's reminiscent as the end of Batman Begins where Gordon hands Batman the Joker's playing card and he merely says, "I'll look into it" but without the anticipation. My reaction was more of a groan, but your experience my vary. 

Closing Thoughts

My immediate reaction after binge-watching this entire season within a week was severely underwhelming, especially when I looked at social media to see people calling this series BETTER than Batman: The Animated Series and it immediately had me questioning whether or not we have been watching the same show. Like I have mentioned throughout this review, there's some patches of greatness here scattered throughout this season, but the large majority of it was bland and boring. The common knock against Beware the Batman was that Gotham City felt "lifeless" due to the usage of 3D computer animation, but I largely didn't care for the art style in this series for the most part. This Gotham City has people in it, but it feels bland for 70% of its runtime. Part of it is that it looks like a lot of lackluster character designs and artwork, something that I credit to a lot of Warner Bros. Animation projects that have Sam Register's name attached to them that doesn't seem to be anime-inspired or attached to the Tomorrowverse or Justice League: WAR/Young Justice universes/continuities where it looks like they are cutting more corners in animation than Bruce Timm and Paul Dini did in The New Batman Adventures. The other part is that it doesn't look as good as Batman: The Animated Series did, especially when this is supposed to be a period piece and even threw in that Easter Egg that it exists in the same continuity as the Max Fleischer Superman shorts. FYI Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen are both among the reporters gathered around in Episode 4. Even that cartoon holds up better than this looks visually in 2024 at certain points. 

I didn't care for the narrative decision where it felt like Batman was a minor character in his own cartoon. I put up with it in the CW's Arrowverse where Barry Allen/The Flash was a minor character of his own television series, but for the first season of this cartoon, it feels like a poor narrative choice. If I were to speculate, it felt like that decision was made due to the familiarity of Batman's mythos in mainstream, but if this cartoon is trying to hook a new generation of fans along with the older fans, then that was an odd choice. 

Speaking of the narrative, there's several points in this season where you can tell Bruce Timm's shortcomings in comparison to Batman: The Animated Series. Nothing against this voice cast and crew, but Batman TAS was a collaborative effort between the legendary voice acting cast (along with Andrea Romano's leadership as the voice director), the writers, and artists. People seem to give Bruce Timm all of the credit for that series' success and it was more along of the lines that he had Paul Dini and his other production crew members to bounce ideas off of and was forced to be creative within the confines of children's television rules and practices. Even though he wasn't a writer for the animated adaptation for Batman: The Killing Joke in 2016, Bruce Timm has a knack for wanting to push the envelope with these adult-oriented animated features to go at extreme lengths to express his repressed Batman fantasies. That film, along with Batman and Harley Quinn in 2017 that he does have a writing credit for, seems to hinder him with wanting to get his own personal Batman fantasies front and center at the cost of better storytelling. Those two examples weren't awful films either, but they could have been executed much better than they were presented and that's exactly how I feel about Batman: Caped Crusader after reflecting on it.  

I will conclude this review with offering my opinion on the voice cast for this series. The main cast works well, with Krystal Joy Brown's Barbara Gordon and Michelle C. Bonilla's Renee Montoya being standouts for me personally. Jason Watkins' Alfred Pennyworth is familiar but unique enough on his performance for he won't be confused with older iterations and performances of this character. At this point, I feel like John DiMaggio phones it in for just about every mobster or guy that's not Bender in Futurama. Bullock just sounds like Hammerhead (Spectacular Spider-Man) to me without the heavily accent. Stuart's Gordon and Williams' Flass were both fine but weren't unforgettable. Last but not least, Hamish Linklater's Bruce Wayne/Batman is a tough call. There's points where his Batman voice sounds just like Jeremy Sisto's Batman in Justice League: The New Frontier, but there's others where it sounds like he is trying to sound like Christian Bale's live-action take of the character. His performance sounds almost robotic in tone at various points as if he wants to portray Batman as having no emotion. By the end of the season, I was fine with his performance. The sad truth is that no one is going to unseat the late Kevin Conroy's performance as the character, even though I personally thought that Anthony Ruvivar (Beware the Batman) was running in close second. 

In terms of supporting and guest starring characters, I thought Jamie Chung was the standout above the rest with her performance as Dr. Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn. Christina Ricci's Selina Kyle/Catwoman along with Jackie Hoffman (Greta; who she was playing off of with banter in that episode) was another highlight with the multi-talented McKenna Grace (Natalia Night/Nocturna), Lacey Chabert (Yvonne Frances), and Toby Stephens among the other voices I enjoyed in this season. I recognize a lot of the other guest starring voice actors in this but I have heard their voices so much across animation that I'm honestly not surprised at their performances in this, good, bad, or indifferent.

Watch It or Don't Bother?

Batman: Caped Crusader feels like another example of Bruce Timm going to extreme lengths to convey his repressed Batman fantasies in a non-PG environment. 

As a period piece, Caped Crusader works wonderfully in a narrative sense, but as a Batman story, especially as one to establish a new animated continuity, there's a lot of holes in this. There are so many instances where something happens and it's never brought up again or a character trait arises in someone else out of left field and viewers are supposed to go with it without questioning it. It comes off really bad, especially when you watch this series in a binge back-to-back. 

That being said, this Batman while capable in his own right, was flawed. That is something to be expected so early in his crime-fighting career and was one of SEVERAL reminders that this series parallels and compares to Beware the Batman, that featured a younger Batman getting his bearings about him in terms of his the start of his crime-fighting exploits.