Review: BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER 1×04 – “The Night of the Hunters”
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Directed by: Christina Sotta
Written by: Ed Brubaker
Starring: Hamish Linklater, Diedrich Bader, Michelle C. Bonilla, Krystal Joy Brown, Eric Morgan Stuart, Jason Watkins, John DiMaggio, Gary Anthony Williams, Kimberly Brooks, Yuri Lowenthal, Corey Burton, Jamie Chung, Tom Kenny, William Salyers, Roger Craig Smith, James Arnold Taylor
Reviewed by: Joshua Raynor
Summary
Batman: Caped Crusader 1×04 – Detective Montoya is put in charge of a task force assembled by Mayor Jessop to catch Batman, but Gotham is put in jeopardy when Detectives Flass and Bullock take matters into their own hands.
Positives
This episode starts off with some cool news footage of the citizens of Gotham and their reactions to Batman’s existence. Some fear him, some praise him, some think he should be locked up, and there’s even two little girls who think he just might be a vampire. One person, however, who is not a fan of Batman is the mayor, who tasks Jim Gordon with taking down the vigilante.
We get a large cast of characters returning for this episode, which is more centered around the GCPD than it is on Batman. Harvey Dent, Barbara Gordon, Jim Gordon, Renee Montoya, and even Dr. Quinzel all are back for this story. Jim and Montoya are heading up the task force to capture Batman (or as they call him, “Bat-Man”), but things don’t go quite as they planned. They set up several fake crimes throughout the city, only to be foiled by the Caped Crusader, as he is obviously much smarter than they think.
Montoya even brings in Dr. Quinzel to profile Batman, in an attempt to get inside his head and figure out his next moves. During her scene, she mentions her “old college professor, Dr. Crane,” which is a great reference to Scarecrow, who I hope we get to see in this series at some point, whether this season or a future one. We also learn that Dr. Quinzel and Barbara Gordon are friends, which is something that happens later on down the line in most other versions.
We are introduced to Firebug and the existence of Arkham Asylum is established. Flass and Bullock use Firebug to try to lure out Batman… and it works.
One of the things I really loved in this episode was the visual of how the world looks from Firebug’s eyes. Seeing everything set ablaze — including men, women, and children — was absolutely horrifying. His willingness and pleasure in burning everything to the ground really takes this meek individual and elevates him to a terrifying level.
This episode also really showcases just how much of a crooked, scumbag cop Flass really is, and how Bullock is leaning more and more that direction, especially after what happens at the end.
Negatives
While the previous three episodes really moved and gave Batman a lot of time, this one didn’t. And I’m not saying it’s necessarily bad to do that, but it just made it feel almost like a filler episode to push some of the other storylines along.
Verdict
Overall, this was still a really good episode, even though, as I said, it felt a bit like a filler. I was really pleased to see so many of the characters we’ve met so far return for this one, helping to flush out the universe a bit more and show us that things are still happening even when Batman isn’t around.
Score: 4/5
