Batman: Caped Crusader's Best Episode Shows a Path Forward for the Series

This nonfiction contains spoilers for Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2, which is streaming Prime Video now.

Prime Video’s Batman: Caped Crusader, the latest animated iteration of The Dark Knight, has been a spot of a mixed bag. On the 1 hand, you person the legendary Bruce Timm fundamentally revisiting 1 of his astir celebrated co-creations — that would beryllium Batman: The Animated Series — with caller eyes, giving it the much mature and modern sheen helium had hoped to infuse the amusement with backmost successful the day. On the different hand, that instrumentality has led to immoderate highly unusual choices successful quality adaptation, and a mostly deadly superior code and dilatory gait that person done the alien crippled choices nary favors. But determination is 1 facet of the bid that was a standout successful the archetypal season, crops up again successful Season 2’s champion episode, and points to however Caped Crusader tin ape The Animated Series’s ain way and vastly amended its ain going into a imaginable 3rd season. That aspect? Robin.

Or rather, Robins, plural. In Season 1’s “Nocturne,” we met a radical of orphans who were being kidnapped and sucked adust of their beingness essence by a pistillate named Natalia Night, aka Nocturna (Mckenna Grace). Those orphans each came with precise pointed names for fans of Batman lore: Dickie (Carter Rockwood), Jason (Henry Witcher), Stephie (Amari McCoy), and Carrie (Juliet Donenfeld). If those don’t instantly look familiar, their afloat names are ne'er stated connected the show, but they are: Dick Grayson, Jason Tood, Stephanie Brown, and Carrie Kelly, oregon successful the DC Comics root material, Batman’s archetypal Robin, 2nd Robin, 4th (brief) Robin, and the Robin of the aboriginal timeline of Frank Miller’s seminal Dark Knight Returns. [Note: it’s weird that they didn’t see Tim Drake, the 3rd Robin, but that’s not the constituent of this article, truthful we’ll determination on.]

The happening astir the quality of these plucky orphans is that it makes the occurrence amusive and gives it immoderate existent stakes. Granted, Season 1 threw a chaotic wrench successful the works by ending with the decease of Harvey Dent/Two-Face (Diedrich Bader), thing that wholly changes DC lore going guardant arsenic good arsenic the lore of Gotham City. Similarly, Season 2 goes connected a sidesplitting spree, with aggregate canonical villains dying by the extremity of the play successful assorted ways. So sure, determination are those benignant of stakes inherent successful the series, but what the orphans bring are stakes for characters you care astir versus disposable villains who are oddly opposed to thing connecting them to their comic publication origins (whose thought was it to telephone the villain ‘The Riddler’ due to the fact that helium riddles radical with bullets and not due to the fact that HE TELLS RIDDLES!).

Season 2 ditches the remainder of the Bat-ple Dumpling Gang and focuses squarely connected Carrie successful the season’s eighth occurrence (she appeared successful Season 1’s eighth occurrence arsenic well, making for a bully parallel), present adopted by a loving parent and father. While things look to beryllium going good for her, the pint-sized kid has been inspired by Batman (Hamish Linklater) to instrumentality up being a vigilante connected her own, specifically taking connected the individuality of the Grey Ghost, whose adventures besides gave Batman the thought to formal up successful a suit successful this continuity. Over the people of the episode, Carrie takes connected small missions similar uncovering a missing canine with aplomb portion chased by the disgraced Harvey Bullock (John DiMaggio), who’s been knocked down to bushed bull and with a bony to prime with the small vigilante.

Things amp up considerably erstwhile Carrie encounters Mr. Zero (Kevin Michael Richardson), who was the archetypal mentation of Mr. Freeze successful the comics (though helium whitethorn beryllium a antithetic quality successful this series). And of course, Batman gets progressive arsenic well, tells Carrie to spell home, she doesn’t, they squad up, and extremity up beating the atrocious guy.

What works astir this is that it instantly perks up the full episode, giving Linklater’s grim mentation of Batman thing amusive and airy to enactment with adjacent successful the mediate of a darkly horrific half-hour that treats the Mr. Zero powers similar thing retired of an Outer Limits occurrence (and erstwhile again ends with the villain dying horribly). Heck, they adjacent bash the side-by-side leap close retired of the screen of Miller’s Dark Knight Returns #3 from 1986. In a amusement that seems allergic to going the mode you’d expect, having a silly easter ovum successful the mediate is simply a enactment of caller air, a lifeline to fans who privation to similar this Batman reinvention but are uncovering themselves held astatine arm’s magnitude astatine each turn.

Carrie’s relentless positivity and can-do cognition not lone seep into the writing; they’re infectious for Batman arsenic well.“

You tin really perceive Linklater brightening up his ain enactment readings from their accustomed dour mode. He plays Bruce Wayne similar a superior mentation of H. Jon Benjamin’s Bob Belcher from Bob’s Burgers, past deepens his dependable and makes the syllables much pointed for Batman. In “Mr. Zero,” the Bruce comes through. Batman really seems to beryllium having a bully clip teaming up with Carrie adjacent arsenic they’re some connected the brink of being killed. Carrie’s relentless positivity and can-do cognition not lone seep into the writing; they’re infectious for Batman arsenic well.

And past we get the last 2 episodes of the season, which don’t see Carrie — oregon immoderate of the different orphans — and it’s close backmost into that sour seriousness, amped up by the end-of-Gotham-City stakes of The Joker (Matthew Needham) making his move. You tin consciousness the deficiency of vigor determination versus that poppy eighth episode.

Caped Crusader ostensibly takes spot earlier successful Batman’s career. None of these orphans, including Carrie, are officially Robin… astatine slightest not yet. And arsenic noted above, Timm’s little for the amusement was to make thing much big than Batman: TAS, truthful this proposition is apt anathema for everything progressive successful Caped Crusader. But The Animated Series, aft the archetypal 65 episodes of the archetypal play (it was a precise antithetic clip successful TV history), morphed successful Season 2 into The Adventures of Batman & Robin, and gave the already iconic bid an other jolt of life.

This is precisely what Caped Crusader needs. While there’s merit to the noir attack that the amusement is attempting, the glacial gait — adjacent astatine episodes that usually tally 20-25 minutes — and sullen pb quality are conscionable nary amusive to watch. At slightest the archetypal play had Bruce attempting to form/keep friendships and delved into his psyche acknowledgment to therapy with Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Jamie Chung). But Season 2 has nary of that; Batman is each concern each the time, with his lone existent relationships being checking successful connected mysteries with Alfred (Jason Watkins) and often disappearing connected Commissioner Gordon (Eric Morgan Stuart). Compare that to erstwhile you bring Carrie in, and it gives him thing to attraction astir — thing to support different than “the City” and “the mission.”

To those who accidental Robin lone comes aboriginal successful Batman’s vocation and would marque nary consciousness to adhd afloat clip successful a imaginable Season 3, we’ll antagonistic that this play includes a Mad Hatter who was A), a woman, and B), wore hats sometimes connected her speech show, but different had nary powers. The Joker is simply a superior German guy. And did we notation that full happening astir the Riddler? Caped Crusader has already shown it has nary occupation making changes to established mythology, truthful would it beryllium that acold of a agelong to adhd a Robin to perk up the full affair? Heck, you tin adjacent adhd a full Robin squad with the different orphans, though that straddles the enactment of perchance turning the amusement into Batman Babies.

Yes, Caped Crusader is expected to beryllium a Serious Batman Show for Serious Adults. But different than showing america however that is executed connected screen, the bid is not giving america a batch of knowing of wherefore that’s important to see, oregon what it’s saying otherwise astir Batman oregon Gotham City. By focusing much connected a existent relationship, and successful this lawsuit a mentoring one, we’d get much of a consciousness of what this Batman needs and wants different than cooking the cleanable burger (sorry, incorrect character).

Ultimately, volition they spell this route? Probably not. Given the spot we’re near astatine the extremity of the season, Batman does person much of a squad backing him up, and they’re each adults. But Carrie Kelly is simply a stellar and beloved quality who has been comparatively unexplored successful the comic books, and this animated bid is simply a large clip to possibly rectify that mistake and get the amusement connected way astatine the aforesaid time. Batman And Robin: Caped Crusaders, anyone?