My Review of Batman: Caped Crusader: "The Killer Inside Me"

 

Written by Jace Ricci

Directed by Christopher Berkeley 

Two Face (to Batman): "Oh, thank God, you stopped me. I couldn't control him. You gotta lock me. Please, please, before he hurts anyone else."

In the last few years (or since 2008), we have gotten a lot Harvey Dent's descent into Two Face (and we've still got another one with Joker: Folie A Deux on the way) and for the most part, thruve all hit similar notes with the character.

At the end of the last episode, Tony Zito (Vincent Piazza) splashed acid in Harvey's face and this episode, not only did he step out of the mayoral race but also was trying to distance himself from everyone. Unfortunately for Harvey, his old friend Bruce Wayne had different ideas by trying to get Harvey in a public setting to open up about his attack.

Not only was Bruce's motive completely selfish (something which Alfred rightfully called him out on) but it ended up doing significantly more harm by speeding up Harvey's descent into Two Face. I know this Batman has been more laser focused but his actions towards Harvey were too callous for their good.

Anyways, this set Two Face (though that name isn't used in the episode) to go after all of Rupert Thorne's henchmen, one by one. That meant some were badly beaten and others like Zito were burned to death. This show really doesn't have a problem with killing off characters.

Of course this led to an inevitable confrontation in Thorne's home where Rupert's own son, Matthew (Josh Keaton) was willing to die in order to protect his father. He almost did as well, until Batman stepped in. Two Face was more happy to take out all of Thorne's bloodline.

The face off between Batman and Two Face though was brilliant with the latter eventually breaking down and letting himself be incarcerated. I started this season really disliking Harvey Dent, only for these last two episodes to make him a sympathetic guy. That's one hell of a turn around.

- Barbara took it upon herself to stand in as Harvey's lawyer during the last scene of the episode.

- Renee was a bit too callous in the way she talked about Harvey's disfigurement. Even Bullock and Flass felt bad for him and they're awful.

- I'm not surprised Mayor Jessop's disappointment in Harvey dropping out of the race was more out of worry for it looking bad for him than concern for Harvey.

- Chronology: Two weeks since the events of the previous episode.

The Killer Inside Me was a superb Two Face origin episode. It was so good, I'd even say it was on a par with the two parter from Batman: The Animated Series. The design itself is a bit more grounded but I actually think it's rather effective too.

Rating: 9 out of 10