Batman Beyond - Episodes 37-40 Reviews

A great selection of episodes as I watched the final batch of the second season and started the third season.

Episode 37: Payback

A vigilante episode of sorts. In this one, we've got a character named Payback whose mission is to go after the ones who don't appreciate the youngsters of Neo Gotham. At first, they seem like an ally but it doesn't take long for both Payback and Batman to clash over the former's methods of getting things done. Meanwhile there's a teenage support group run by Dr Stanton and Terry makes the grave mistake of assuming that Stanton's henchman Lewis is Payback before the real one is reveal. There's also some nice scenes between Terry and Bruce as the former showed some recklessness in this one. 7/10

Episode 38: Where's Terry?

The return of Shriek for this one but strangely enough, he's the least interesting element of the whole. Terry goes missing one night and it's soon enough revealed that he's trapped underground as Batman with a street kid named Dak. While the two of them strike up a spiky rapport and eventual alliance (Dak's aspirations of would be villainy go out the window when he encounters Shriek), there's also the delightful team up of Bruce and Max who bicker and throw each other under the bus when they weren't helping each other to eventually find Terry. Overall, a very diverting episode but a good one. 7/10

Episode 39: Ace In The Hole

Did anyone want a backstory episode for Ace the bat hound? Whether you did or didn't, the show felt the need for one and to be honest, I'm glad they went there. While there are similarities to Cat Scratch Fever (cruel animal testings/experiments etc), this was a great episode for showing us how Bruce met and took in poor Ace and it was nice to see Terry go out to rescue the dog as it showed how much their relationship had progressed and Boxer is certainly a hissable villain as well. As for his macabre experiments, that gigantic dog creature that nearly Terry looked terrible but other than that, this episode was Ace, pun intended. 8/10

Episode 40: King's Ransom

I might have mentioned in previous reviews how much I enjoy the Royal Flush gang as baddies and yet again, this was another episode where they truly came into their own. Funnily enough, this was also the episode that truly saw their downfall - Melanie truly had gone straight and had become a waitress, Jack spent time in the clink before being bailed at the end and Ace was put out of commission once and for all. The main conflict was between the King and Queen who spent more squabbling between kidnapping Paxton Powers, failing to kill Bruce Wayne and also fighting amongst themselves. If this is the last time we see this gang, then this was a hell of an episode to go out with. 9/10

Next blog I'll look into Untouchable, Inqueling, Big Time and Out Of The Past.