Friday, August 29, 2014

Batman: The Animated Series - Episodes 81-85 Reviews

The fourth and final season of Batman: The Animated Series was the shortest and it certainly had a mixed bag, in terms of episodes.

Episode 81: The Terrible Trio


What does that fox, vulture and shark say? Who cares really as this episode took three idiotic rich guys who decided to embark on a bit of petty crime in order to sate their need for excitement with one of them willing to kill his girlfriend after she accidentally deduced that they robbed her father. It's an okay opening episode, but we've had better ones (The Cat And The Claw, Shadow Of The Bat etc) and as a set of one-off antagonists, this particular trio are not ones that I would be in a hurry to ever see again to be honest. 6/10

Episode 82: Showdown


I honestly thought following the events of Avatar that the series was done with Ras Al Ghul but it seems that the writers had at least one more story for him and interestingly, one that did not feature Talia as well. I guess it's believable for a man who's lived for several centuries that he would've fathered more than one child and this episode has some nice flashbacks to his other child's altercations with the famous Jonah Hex. It's a surprising twist in the episode and while Ras has had better adventures (namely The Demon's Quest two parter), this was a decent final run for his character on the show. 7/10

Episode 83: Catwalk


I am the cat that walks alone - these are words that became apparent for both Catwoman and Selina Kyle in the final appearance for the character in the series and it's an unusual exit episode for the character. I knew realistically that it was unlikely the series would end with her and Bruce Wayne/Batman ever settling down and this episode certainly ended their truce as Selina realised that she couldn't give up her identity as Catwoman any more than Bruce would ever be able to give up his identity as Batman. I'm not sure if the episode needed a double-cross/near kill from Scarface and the Ventriloquist but their appearance in the episode and hostile alliance with Catwoman certainly didn't hurt the episode in any way. It's an interesting exit episode for Catwoman and the best episode from this final season as well if I'm being honest. 9/10

Episode 84: A Bullet For Bullock


With so little episodes left to go, there's time for another team up of unlikely characters and this time around, it's the pairing of Batman and Bullock himself. I've never been the biggest fan of Bullock but this was a truly great episode for him as he had to team up with the Caped Crusader in order to avoid being killed and with the amount of enemies that Bullock's made, it really could've been anyone who could've taken him out. Of course, the actual would be killer is pretty obvious within the first five minutes of the episode but the episode is joy just to see both Bullock and Batman having to work together and trust each other. The fact that it's set during Christmas is interesting too, though probably not as iconic as Christmas With The Joker. Still though, a very enjoyable episode. 8/10

Episode 85: The Lion And The Unicorn


The series finale and one I'm wondering why so low key? I mean it's great to have a tie to the opening episodes with Red Claw's return (though her plot here is no different than before) and I appreciate taking the action to London and giving us some backstory on Alfred but for a final episode, it's a bit too small as a story. I know the series often had tonnes of episodes with various Rogue Gallery members appearing together and what not but perhaps one more of them or even another altercation with the Joker would've been a better series ender. That being said, this is a solid episode, just not a spectacular one for the series though. 7/10

The next and final blog relating to Batman: The Animated Series will cover the TV movies, Mask Of The Phantasm and Sub-Zero.

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