Written by Jace Ricci And Bruce Timm
Directed by Christina Sotta
Batman (to Alfred): "I failed tonight. That can't happen ever again."
In a surprise move, Amazon Prime decided to drop all ten episodes of this show this morning and it's been a long time coming. This was a show that was announced over three years ago along with My Adventures With Superman. That show just concluded it's second season.
While that show took on Anime/Gen Z influence that has worked in it's favour, there's no denying that Batman: Caped Crusader decided to go with a more adult and noir take. For those thinking that this would be a spiritual successor to Batman: The Animated Series, you're not wrong. It's very much thst and it's own thing.
It seems that every episode will focus on a specific villain but with a story arc also creeping through for Batman (Hamish Linklater) to work his way through. The arc might have something to do with Rupert Thorne's criminal empire. The main threat of the opening episode. It was a very different take on a classic villain.
The villain being The Penguin, who has been reimagined as a woman named Oswalda Cobblepot (Minnie Driver). She's got a boat literally called The Iceberg Lounge, does a cabaret act and has embraced being called The Penguin. She's also a criminal mastermind who doesn't have a problem murdering her own son when she thought he was squealing to Rupert Thorne (Cedric Yarbrough) about her schemes against him.
Of course Oswalda killed the wrong son and when she realised her error, she did attempt to bump off her other son, Ronnie. Ronnie also decided to throw his lot in with Barbara Gordon (Krystal Joy Brown) before the two were rescued by Batman. Barbara also drily told her father, Commissioner Gordon (Eric Morgan Stuart) about the Batman's existence.
As for Oswalda, I did like her confrontation with Batman, albeit it was a bit shorter than expected. Even though he managed to take her down, Oswalda still succeeded in attacking the GCPD and even Batman realised when talking to Alfred (Jason Watkins) that he had given Thorne a victory. I'll admit that added a bitter twist to the end of this one.
- The title sequence is absolutely gorgeous and perfectly evokes the tone of this show. It seems each episode will have a subtle change too to suit the story.
- Harvey Dent (Diedrich Bader) is running for Mayor and there's a rivalry of sorts with him and Barbara.
- Harvey Bullock (John DiMaggio) was revealed to be working for Oswalda. Renee Montoya (Michelle C. Bonilla) appeared briefly but had no lines.
- Chronology: It's playing up the noir element and that specific era but it could be more anachronistic like Batman: The Animated Series.
This show has gotten off to a modest start. The changes made to the Penguin for In Treacherous Waters worked well with Minnie Driver injecting the right level of camp and menace for Oswalda. Hamish Linklater as also gotten both his Batman and Bruce Wayne personas down perfectly.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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