Sunday, August 04, 2024

My Review of Batman: Caped Crusader: "Savage Time"

 


Written by Ed Brubaker 
Directed by Christina Sotta 

Joker (to victim): "Perfect."

Those ten episodes of Batman: Caped Crusader really did fly by, huh? This finale absolutely stuck the landing with it's conclusion to one character arc and the way another was nicely set up in its last scene. Not to mention another continuing problem for Gotham.

First of all,let's talk about conclusions because the way Harvey Dent's story played out in this episode felt very much earned. It's almost a shame he had to die but what I did love was seeing the character truly step up during a lot of bad shit in this finale.

Harvey might not have been keen on Barbara a ting as his lawyer, but the two of them really softened to each other as things progressed. Of course a plan to move Dent to a safe house would see both Bullock and Flass tasked with killing. Also, of course it would be Barbara having to do her level best to keep Harvey alive too.

That wasn't an easy task, given Bullock and Flass's determination to follow orders and Thorne having other men on his watch but at least Barbara and Harvey had Batman, Commissioner Gordon and Montoya to at least stop Thorne's men. However, Harvey still died in this episode but mostly when he saved Barbara's life.

Dent's arc overall has been a success for the show and while we lost him as a character, Thorne wasn't so easily done with. I did like that Batman made it clear to Thorne he was coming after him and it'll be interesting to see what extremes Rupert will resort to level the playing field next season.

Speaking of next season, for those of you who felt the lack of Joker was a thing, the last scene of this episode will please. He might be obscured and the actor voicing the character unrevealed but there was no denying it was the Jester of Genocide himself. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how this plays out next season.

- Batman actually made progressed by referring to Alfred by his first name instead of surname. I hope this means he's softening a bit for next season.
- Harvey gave back a fellow Arkham patient a toy pig and I wonder if that was a reference to a certain other Gallery member who has yet to appear on the show.
- Despite not getting the best look of him, there's still some of the Joker's infamous purple colour scheme on him.
- Chronology: Exactly from where the penultimate episode left off.

Savage Time delivered a brilliant ending to an overall very strong first season. The show has unapologetically taken swings with characters and lore with most of them working surprisingly well. I can't wait to see where it'll go with it's second season.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

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