Bruce Wayne volunteers to help the homeless and hears that volunteers and homeless people have been disappearing. Instead of going as Batman, Bruce disguises himself as an old bum named Gaff Morgan to search for criminal activity in the slums of the city, until he comes across two thugs. Gaff fights them off through his wits, but is knocked out as he stares at a black cat (I don't understand why). Gaff wakes up in a camp out in the desert (since when was Gotham City located by one, especially since it snowed in an episode earlier) where he and a few other people are forced to slave over the fat tyrant Boss Biggis (get it cause he's fat?). To make matters worse, Gaff has no memory of who he is since he has amnesia after being hit in the head so hard by the thugs. Meanwhile at Wayne Manor, Alfred notices that Bruce is not around and suspects something to be not quite right.
As soon as I discovered where Gaff wakes up at, and what kind of villain Boss Biggis is, I started to draw a few comparisons to "The Underdwellers", only this episode seems more tamed compared to that particular episode. Instead of orphans slaving and working for a tyrant where they'll be abused or killed if they don't follow orders; here it's just a bunch of men being captured. Make no mistake that how these men are treated is just as equally cruel, but considering that we've already seen this kind of treatment before just not in a prison setting, it just feels a bit repetitive and less disturbing than seeing kids getting this kind of abuse. It doesn't help either that the main villain Boss Biggis is just as forgettable and goofy as the Sewer King, only worse. Not to say that the Sewer King is a great villain, but despite abusing children in the harshest way possible, Batman despises him for it so much that his vendetta against him became so personal that he was tempted to kill him, and had a look of joy on his face for when he thought that he had died. Biggis is just your typical chain-gain warden archetype, except that he's as big as a house and eats in nearly every single scene he's in, and there's just simply nothing that fun or interesting about him. He's quite a bore.
Another disappointing element that this episode has is we don't see Batman until the end (that is without counting the dream-sequences). We're mainly focused on Bruce's bum disguise Gaff Morgan, which I found to be fascinating to learn that Bruce has more than one alter-ego to help him fight crime. And I admire that he disguises himself as a victim to get him closer to the thugs, rather than being Batman to not draw too much attention (though I'm sure he could've still done the job fine as Batman). Not to mention that him fighting the thugs is Bruce's most badass moment in the episode. But with that said, I felt like the whole subplot of giving him amnesia could've been dropped. We know he's going to regain his memory sooner or later, and the emotional impact that it's supposed to have just doesn't feel there. The only emotions that I got out of this whole subplot are the surreal and depressing dream sequences that he has; the best one is the last one since it beautifully defines who the character is just through the visuals and music. And when we finally see him return as Batman in the climax it's just as awesome as you would expect it to be.
But for me the best thing that the episode has to offer is seeing Alfred take up detective work himself in finding his master. And no, he's not sitting in the Batcave trying to locate him with a computer the whole time, he leaves Wayne Manor to look for Bruce, by planting tracking devices while sneaking around, and eventually drives the Batplane, which is just as funny as seeing Theodore from "Alvin & the Chipmunks" as the Butler driving it in the episode "Batmunk", that has a few funny lines. It's just great seeing Alfred doing stuff outside of Wayne Manor for a change. As for the other characters we only get two prisoners that Gaff meets who he has a close connection with who are likable characters that you feel for, and are at times funny, mainly from the wisecracking prisoner. The music again is as incredible and big as the other episodes, but this one gives the episode its prison tone through that Harmonica solo. Finally the animation is just as good as you'd expect it to be, that shine at best for the fight scenes, the desert landscape, the dream sequences, and the grey lights shining on the characters when they're in the underground mines.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This isn't one of the best of the series for its similar premise to "The Underdwellers", the uninteresting goofy villain, and Bruce's amnesia subplot just feeling there to stretch out the run-time. But I love seeing Bruce taking up a different identity, we finally get to see Alfred really shine, and everything from the music, action, and animation is excellent!
Mayor Hill throws a Birthday Party for his son Jordan, but is more concerned with making connections with Gotham's City's officials at the party, than showing care for his son's well-being. He hires a clown to perform at the party for him, but it turns out that the clown is really the Joker in disguise who plans to kill the Mayor for comparing him to Batman. Jordan amazed by the clown's magic tricks and believing his bad advice to be a magician since that what he dreams to be, sneaks aboard his truck and is discovered. But rather than the Joker killing him, or holding him for ransom, he thinks about brainwashing the kid to be as evil as him, while still wearing his disguise. Batman races to the rescue to find the kid and fight the Joker yet again!
Alright how many episodes are we going to get that's similar to "The Underwellers"? I mean once again the target of the episode is a kid, instead of kids, which is obviously trying to appeal its younger crowd like the attempt of the episode that it's similar too. And our main villain is trying to brainwash a kid into aiding him with his attempts at killing Batman. I know that the kids in "The Underwellers" were stealing to live with the Sewer King or else, and didn't help them kill Batman, but they still did crimes for him.
But for me that's NOT the main problem that I have with this episode. If they threw enough new things to make it original, the elements taken from "The Underdwellers" could be overlooked. And to be fair this episode does come close to it, if not for one important thing, and that's the kid Jordan and his Father. They're not the worst or anything, I can get through their scenes fine. And I do like the idea that the kid is on the villain's side who plays more to his level without noticing that he's a bad guy in disguise, as he's afraid of Batman who looks intimidating and scary despite being the good guy. But the kid and his Father who are the heart and focus of the story are just not that interesting. They just feel like the same old generic clichés that many kids films and shows had in the 90s, such as the neglectful Father, and the run-away kid that learns a lesson. There's hardly any emotion put into their characters or performances to make them interesting, which overall just feel there to give us a reason for Batman to fight the Joker. And the music doesn't support it either, and is rather forgettable if I might add.
However, much like in every other episode that I reviewed by far, this one has its entertaining and redeeming qualities, mainly involving the Joker. Batman and Bruce are good in this episode as well, but aside from Bruce pretending to be clumsy by saving pedestrians from an exploding candle (being the only person to notice the Joker's face on a dynamite stick), there was nothing that really stood out from both identities. I didn't even find Batman's fighting and wits to be as amazing as I normally find them to be. But the Joker on the other hand owns this episode. Mark Hamill is fun to listen too who gets some funny lines, and gives a nice Ed Wynn impression when he's disguised as the party clown. This is also the first time where I found the Joker to be legitimately scary. Don't get me wrong, his design and presence is intimidating while you still find yourself laughing with him at the same time. But when he goes chasing after Jordan, and tapping the fences, I just get shivers for how creepy it is, especially since he's after a kid. And his hide-out being set in an abandon amusement park has a cool and dark nightmare like design with a few surprises, including a robotic clown with Tim Curry's laugh (who was originally going to be the Joker, but couldn't voice the role since he strained his voice from his Joker laugh). The only gripe I have with the setting is that I wish that we could've seen Batman, The Joker, and Jordan go into different locations instead of the Joker's lair, and the Roller-coaster. They pass by a Haunted House that looks foreboding, and almost seemed like that our climax was going to take place inside it, but its suddenly just glanced over, as if the animators were trolling us.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
The episode is far from one of the highlights of the series mainly for its two uninteresting leads, and Batman not being as awesome as you usually is for the little he does since the action and score supporting these scenes feels very lackluster. But everything involving The Joker is awesome from Hamill's voice work, to his disguise, to his attempts of harming a kid, to his eerie hide-out. And thank god that the Joker is in most of the episode or otherwise I would say that this would be an episode worth skipping.
In our first two parter episode (that I will review as one) Harvey Dent is campaigning to be re-elected as District attorney while trying to put crime boss Rubert Throne behind bars, as he plans to marry his girlfriend Grace. But due to all the stress surrounding him, he suddenly begins to slash out irrationally by yelling and threatening people with violence when things seem to be going rough for him (mainly revolving around him trying to take down Throne). It turns out that Harvey has been repressing his anger for so long because of an incident that happened to him in childhood that his anger has formed into an alternate personality known as Big Bad Harv. Throne blackmails Harvey with a file that one of his spies stole from his secret therapy sessions that he's been having, which causes him to turn into Big Bad Harv to fight against Throne and steal back his file. Batman tries to save Harvey but accidentally causes one of the thugs to create an explosion that destroys half of Harvey's body. Harvey survives, but is now deformed; appearing to be half-man and half-monster that causes him to snap and turn into the coin flipping criminal Two-Face who plans to spread a crime wave against Throne's Mob. Batman blames himself for Harvey's transformation and is torn since he has to save his friend while also fighting him.
When I think of one of the essential episodes of the series revolving around a villain that's dark and depressing, this along with "Heart of Ice" (will get to that soon) are the ones that immediately come to mind, and the first one to get the tragic side of a villain completely spot-on. I'm not saying that Posion Ivy's debut episode didn't feel tragic too, but the focus was more on Batman trying to save Harvey, than it was on the episode's villainess, when this one on the other hand is. On top of it, this was the episode that took me on an insane roller-coaster full of emotions, and hardly any of them ever felt happy or pleasant. The closest that we ever get to happy is bittersweet.
In the first half the is focus on Harvey trying to overcome his anger as the animation, music, and voice acting from Richard Moll given to these scenes, are so dramatic and harsh that you feel every single inch of his torment. Every time he snaps into Big Bad Harv is just breathtaking for how the backgrounds begin to change color, how his voice goes from normal and confident to gravelly and monstrous, and how the music begins to sound intense to fit the drama for his sudden outbursts. And then when he's hauled by his violent action causing the backgrounds to look normal again, the music coming to a halt, and Harvey snapping out of it looking sweaty and confused, you're relieved that it's over but still find yourself catching your breath after all that drama as you’re sympathizing with him. The best scene in the whole entire episode of Harvey struggling with his bad half is when he goes for therapy. Only this time we're in the darkness on a stormy night as the only light shining is the lightning giving a foreboding atmosphere for Big Bad Harv's presence.
After he gets his face destroyed we get don't to see his deformed face right away after the Doctor removes the bandages. We only get a quick glance at his deformed half, where we mostly see Harvey's back or his neck when we look at the shocked reactions from the Doctor and nurse as he demands for a mirror (a clever and original homage to the scene when Jack Napier becomes the Joker in Tim Burton's Batman). And instead of seeing Harvey react when he sees his reflection, we hear him scream across the halls in such terror of what he's become while we watch Grace react to it, where we then cut to Harvey storming out of the hospital room covering his deformed face to finally showing it to his lover (and the viewer) as lightning begins to strike, making him appear to be as monstrous as the Frankenstein monster, which causes Grace to faint and Harvey to bid her a tearful farewell before disappearing, making it one of the most suspenseful and depressing scenes to ever be shown to a kid's show.
When Harvey finally becomes Two-Face we see him do all the cool stuff that we know the character best for. Flipping a coin for every decision he makes, intimidating people with his fists or a gun, wearing a cool suit that reflects his personality, it's by far the best film/TV version of the character. The design for him also looks fantastic, that heavily resembles from what he looked like in the comics. This is by far the most intimidating the character ever gets when he tosses coin, just watching the coin flip and hearing the sound it makes as other characters sit there and sweat as Two-Face looks at them without a care of what the result is just nerve racking, even when he's just flipping the coin without using it to make a decision. Though while being an intimidating baddie, we still find ourselves sympathizing him. I mean sure the fact that we saw him change this way before our very eyes is enough to feel pity for him, but instead of Big Bad Harv trying to overcome Harvey, it's the other way around, where we're now seeing Two-Face torn between rubbing out Throne's mob or seeing his fiance, and the emotions towards all of it, are very subtle and expressed magnificently through the visuals and music. I especially love the angles when we focus on Harvey's half, as opposed to Big Bad Harvey half when he thinks about Grace
However, while the episode revolves around Harvey and his split-personality, Batman/Bruce Wayne does have his share of screen-time. We mostly see him as Bruce in the first part, when in the second part we see him as Batman, a fitting choice considering that Bruce is friends with Harvey, and that Two-Face is Batman's enemy. But both parts still manage to give us both identities as well. Though the action scenes with Batman are awesome, it's mainly the emotional struggle that our hero is feeling that draws you in. Based on his relationship with Harvey in this and "Pretty Poison", you buy that they are close friends, and now having to watch Batman feeling reluctant over fighting his friend as he blames himself for the accident only to have it just weaken him and causing him to lose his guard as he tries to save his friend without violence is soul-crushing, especially the dream-sequence that Batman has about Harvey.
Despite Two-Face being the focus of the episode, the episode's main villain is Rubert Throne. I know many people say that he's a generic mobster archetype, which I can see why. But the voice work from John Vernon (AKA Dean Wormer) and what he does to poor Harvey is more than enough for me want to see this villain be defeated, regardless of who gets him first! He's just a cold-hearted bastard who enjoys tormenting others with blackmail, doesn't care about backstabbing others through murder, and is the sole reason why Harvey became Two-Face by being deformed and taking up a life of crime as a gangster like Throne to strike him back. Throne even has a Moll working on his team to get him inside information and trick others into doing his bidding, much like the molls in the Adam West.
With all of my praising for the episode are there any problems that I have with it. Well a few which are just nitpicks. Every scene with Conroy voicing either Bruce or Batman do hit the emotions just as hard as Moll's performance, except for the scene when he looks at Harvey's burned face. Just the way he reacts to it, by exclaiming "Harvey, Nooooo" just seemed very half-assed as if Conroy or the director didn't know how he should react to it, which resulted with more of an annoyed reaction. The animation though some of the best that the series has to offer that tells its story beautifully, is a little clunky at times. We don't see Two-Face's blue-half during the famous hospital scene, but what caught my eye the most are in most of the scenes when the characters moving in a fast and violent motion, I noticed plenty of trailing effects from the animation. Meaning in other words that I can still see previous frames of the character's animated movement as he changes each piece of movement, that I hear no one point out before. I'm not sure if it's the Hi-Definition on my TV since the videos online never show signs of it, or if its part of the style of the show which I find odd since I never noticed that in any of the previous episodes, but it's still quite noticeable. I'm not saying that it's bad, or that it takes me out of the story or being amazed at the designs, details, and movement given to the characters in the animation. I just find it a bit weird that I'm starting to see traces of the characters movements through each frame.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
With nitpicks aside, it's still one of the greatest episodes of the series, that's rich with its emotions, story, voice acting, music, and animation. As great as many of the other episodes were, this is the one that took more of an adult and mature approach than any of the others, since barley anything in it is playing out towards kids! And if you're a newcomer of the series this episode is a definite MUST SEE!
A gang war breaks-out between aging drug dealing crime boss Arnold Stromwell and Rupert Throne (wow, he got out of jail fast), and during the middle of all this Stromwell's son has been missing for days. Suspecting that Throne is behind his son's sudden departure, Stromwell sets up a truce meeting with Throne, which is in actuality a ruse for him to threaten Throne to tell him where his son is. Throne however double crosses Stromwell by planting a bomb inside a deli to blow-him away, but is saved by Batman. The reason for his rescue is for him to turn over the state's evidence to the police, and give up his life of crime. Stromwell refuses to do so, until Batman takes him on a "tour" that will give him second thoughts.
The good news is "The Underdwellers" re-trend is dying out, but the bad news is the episode is still loaded with cliches from other episodes. Batman is not the story's focus; what happens to the son takes a similar turn to what "Be a Clown" did; and just like in the last episode, Batman is trying to restore a criminal and save him from Rupert Throne. We are not even an episode away from "Two-Face", and already the series in its production order is taking elements from one of its groundbreaking episodes. In the very least does this episode do anything new and emotionally powerful with any of these cliches? Well in many ways yes.
The character of Arnold Stromwell for instance is an interesting and emotionally engaging character. He's a man who constantly struggles with keeping himself in power as a respected gangster and doesn't have any desire of leaving what he has left behind and worked so hard to keep and maintain. Even when realizing that he's doing harm to himself and his loved ones, he still has trouble giving it up since he's lived the life of crime dating back to when he was a kid and is corrupted by his greed and love for power. Every ounce of music, animation and voice work from Eugene Roche expressing his struggle of changing is done just as beautifully as it was in "Two-Face", from his character constantly sweating and looking shocked and paranoid by everything. He's also a given a very heavy childhood flashback that doesn't take the dark route that you would expect it to go, but is still carried out in a very traumatic way.
Batman in the episode does have his moments of sneaking around, beating thugs up, and rescuing Stromwell, that are as awesome and stunningly animated as you expect them to be, however the part of it that I find to be so assuming is he doesn't use violence or force to scare him into giving him what he needs. He instead takes him to places from his past to tap into how he's hurt himself in the past, and takes him to a terrible place that is happening in his present and will affect him in his future if he carries on with his life of crime, which makes this episode play itself out as a Superhero version of "A Christmas Carol", with a gangster in place of Scrooge, and Batman (who is believed to be a supernatural being by the citizens of Gotham) in place of the three ghosts, that doesn't try to shove this reference to a classic story in your face as you’re watching it. As if subtly referencing a timeless Christmas tale isn't enough, the episode even references one of my favorite classic gangster movies of all time "Angels with Dirty Faces" by giving the Stromwell a relationship with the priest. And what kind of relationship that they have is something that I refuse to spoil for you.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
As cliched as this episode is, its emotional core is strong enough. You feel connected to Stromwell's struggles. You're intrigued at how Batman tries to make him see the light. And all the technical elements that make the show so great are done just as wonderfully as you want them to be. Is it one of the greatest episodes from the show, I don't think I can go that far. It’s good and succeeds in all the places where it should be, but nothing about it really stands out either. And when comparing this to the last episode, seeing Batman trying to reform a gangster is not as emotionally gripping as seeing him trying to reform a dear friend who's gone mad and violent. But given how overlooked this episode is, I definitely feel that this is one of the underrated episodes from the series that deserves a little more attention.
The Penguin (Paul Williams) has successfully just stolen a rare egg shaped jewel, but Batman hot on his trail finds his hideout. After being knocked out by a gas bomb (where was Batman's gas mask, or his ability to withstand gas for a limited amount of time) it seems hopeless for our caped crusader. That is until he is saved by a duo of kids who have accidentally stumbled upon the Penguin's hide-out, and hide him in their basement
This is an episode that a lot of hardcore fans of the series consider to be one of the worst episodes of the series; as well as the show's writer Bruce Timm. And...yeah, it’s pretty bad. It's not necessarily because the focus of the episode is kids, but because that unlike the previous two episodes of the series that had kids as the focus, there's no dark elements surrounding it at all. If anything, it's very goofy. From the kids driving the Batman mobile recklessly, to the kids setting up "Home Alone" style traps for the Penguin and his crooks that ends with Batman fighting this featherless fiend with a screwdriver! A freakin' screwdriver against a giant blade of a sword! And when you see these criminals chase after these kids you get the same sense of fear for their lives as you would with the idiotic Wet Bandits Harry and Marv! May I humbly remind you that they're being chased by the Penguin, one of Batman's deadliest and cleverest foes! What's even worse is Batman hardly ever does a thing since he's lying there unconscious most of the time. We're stuck with the kids who stumble into all of this, and they are not at all interesting for how boringly cliched they are. They're not terrible, but I didn't find myself caring if they live or die since they're just the typical stereotypes that you would see in a show like "Goosebumps" for example. You have the socially awkward nerdy boy, the tomboy girl, and the dimwitted jock bullies, and nothing about them is interesting or charming. The animation isn't all that interesting to look at either, and is at times quite clunky from the way they move and react.
The only contribution that this episode brings to the overall series is by introducing us to the Penguin, but this is a terrible introduction to such a great villain! They introduce one of Batman's best foes in an episode where he gets outwitted by a bunch of "meddling kids", are they mad?! I don't at all buy that given how big of a reputation he has in Gotham. And if you were to replace the Penguin with some other criminal, and I'm talking about a simple low-life criminal, or one who has a pet bird by his or her's side, you wouldn't miss a thing since we learn nothing about this character, unlike many of the other villains that were introduced to in the series. This character is begging for some kind of origins story, especially when this version came out the same year as "Batman Returns" and they don't do a single thing with him here. If I had any good to say about him, I do like his design, and that his personality isn't as over the top as Burgess Meredith's Penguin, or insanely dark as the Danny Devito's Penguin. It's as sophisticated as you'd expect him to be. I even admire the concept of him having a connection with birds and not just Penguins, since he is part bird. But apart from those elements being introduced in this episode, he still isn't the episode's saving grace since he isn't as nasty or threatening as he should be, where all the things that I do find appealing about him here, would be executed much in the later episodes that follow.
But as bad as this episode is, I will admit that if I was a kid watching this, I'd more than likely love it for its sense of childlike wonder. If you were a kid watching this episode, wouldn't you be envious to do what these boring kids are doing? Wouldn't it be cool to aid Batman and hide him in a part of your house? Don't you ever dream of getting the same kind of chance driving the Batmobile as the kid protecting him would? Did you ever think of creating traps for a deadly criminal like the Penguin out of the gadgets and weapons from Batman's utility belt? It's the same kind of wonder and coolness as watching Kevin McCallister in the "Home Alone" films do all the things you wish to do, but feel that you never will.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
It's definitely one of the worst episodes of the series for how childish and lacking of the elements that make the show so awesome. But for kids, it's tons of fun, and does at least carry a sense of awe and wonder for them to draw an emotional attachment to it. However, if you're a newcomer of the series, you're much better off skipping this one!
It's summertime in Gotham City, but things take a bitterly cold turn when a new criminal named Mr. Freeze (Michael Ansara) roams the streets robbing various Gothcorp Offices wearing a powerful suit and using a gun that can instantly turn anything it blasts into ice. Batman tries to figure out what his game is, and who this man is or once was, which leads to very shocking information.
When I reviewed "Two-Face", I mentioned this particular episode being one of the essential episodes of the series revolving around a villain that's dark and depressing, but there are a couple of more than good reasons why I (as well as many others of the show) feel that way. All of us nowadays associate Mr. Freeze with being a tragic character, but before this episode he was pretty much a joke a villain that D.C. wasn't too proud of. The closest he's ever been too sympathetic before his appearance in the animated series was in the 60s Batman show when he was played by George Sanders, who coldly expresses how much he hates living the rest of his life at a subzero level temperature as he slowly tortures Batman for what he's done to him. And you can tell that this episode did take some influence from that particular episode.
But here's what makes this characterization of Mr. Freeze so ingenious. Rather than him being a criminal before his accident where they very little play on his emotions, this series decides to give him more depth by making him an ordinary kind hearted scientist, who deeply loves his wife, and keeps her frozen until he can find a cure for her, until he's stopped by his cold hearted and greedy boss (voiced by Mark Hamill) by going over-budget with his experiments, and kills Freezes's wife and transforms him to what he is now. And when he becomes the notorious Mr. Freeze, he isn't just outraged that he's now living with these abnormal conditions, but that he lost the one person who he truly loves from such a cold and empty person, which has turned this once loving and innocent man, into the very same man who has wronged him, only he's hungry for revenge. That is a way more compelling origins story than what any of the original versions of this villain had.
What makes him even better than all the other versions of the villain is his design. When you look at the characters previous designs, they were silly. Even in the 60s show when he looked more like a walking and talking frozen victim, it looked goofy for cartoony it is. But this design makes him so much more threatening and badass by giving him bulky armor that's near impenetrable, and glowing red goggles that make him seem emotionless. And that's another element that helps make this villain so interesting and tragic is for how robotic he looks, acts, and sounds. He's lost all sense of love and remorse, that all he can think of is revenge by expressing it as cold as his very own frozen skin. But as cruel and monotone as his personality is, we still found ourselves still sympathizing with the character. His backstory is a part of it, but it's really the fact that deep down inside he's emotionally hurting and is trying hard not to show it in order to give his former boss the same treatment that he gave him. When you hear him monologue about his lack of feelings after what happened, it sounds mechanical but still comes across as sad and pitiful given the poetic dialogue, visuals, music, and our connection to the character.
And yes, let me just point it out while I'm still on the technical elements of this episode, the animation is fantastic! It plays a huge factor in why this episode is so depressing for how surreal and gloomy the environment it is, that it contains visuals that will stick with you. The visual that has always stood out to all people who've seen this episode is the image of a ballerina on a music-box dancing inside a snow-globe as Freeze holds it in his hand gazing at it, that perfectly sets-up the character of Mr. Freeze before we even get closely acquainted with him. The music that plays for that scene as well will never leave you for how enchanting and emotionally depressing it sounds. It's one of the best themes that the show has to offer! And every bit of music played throughout the out the episode captures the drama and excitement as richly as all the other elements that make this episode so grand!
Batman himself is also great here. We see him do pretty much everything that we want to see him do, which is doing detective work, spreading fear, using stealth, getting information as Bruce, disguising himself as someone other than Batman, and showing-off his amazing fighting skills when fighting his enemies and dodging Freeze's ray gun. Above all the awesome things Batman does, we see him show an emotional connection to the villain, which hasn't been done so effectively since "Two-Face". In some ways in terms of personality, Batman is very much like his antagonist since they're both intimidating characters motivated by revenge who try to keep their emotions hidden, except that Mr. Freeze does it for harm than he does it for good. So seeing Batman feeling sorry for Mr. Freeze after he watches a video showing what happened to him and his wife, and hating the guy responsible for taking away the happiest part of Freeze's life is believable, and touching given to how much he can relate to what he's going through.
So praise, praise, praise, are there any problems that I have it. Well I have nitpicks, if not actual problems. The scene exposing Mr. Freeze's back-story is very sad, but considering the fact that Batman is watching a tape of it recorded roughly by Freeze, it's quite unusual to see various jump-cuts, close-ups, and different angles of where the characters are standing and talking to one another. But given how beautifully played out and animated the scene is, it's one of those technical elements that's easy to overlook and forgive. And without giving away Freeze's weakness at the end for newcomers, it's pretty silly.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This episode was new and groundbreaking for the series that it earned the show its first Day Time Emmy for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program, and it is well deserving of it! It's emotionally captivating, has visuals and music that refuse to leave you once you've seen it, gives Batman just as much time to shine as our villain, and famously recreated a once lousy Batman villain that is now considered to be one of the best villains in the franchise thanks to this episode!
