Review: BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER 1×07 – “Moving Target”
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Directed by: Christina Sotta
Written by: Adamma Ebo & Adanne Ebo
Starring: Hamish Linklater, Michelle Bonilla, Krystal Joy Brown, Jason Watkins, John DiMaggio, Eric Morgan Stuart, Gary Anthony Williams, Reid Scott, Peter Jessop, Roger Craig Smith, James Arnold Taylor
Reviewed by: Joshua Raynor
Summary
Batman: Caped Crusader 1×07 – Montoya vows to do everything in her power to protect Commissioner Gordon following a botched attempt on his life and Batman’s investigation leads him to realize that no one can be trusted.
Positives
BAM! POW! DRIP!
That’s right! Onomatopoeia is here! This was the episode I was most intrigued to see how they’d pull it off, and while it wasn’t quite up to the level I wanted, I still think they did a good job bringing this character to screen. Onomatopoeia is a tough sell outside of the comic book page, and while he did come off as a bit goofy at times, it wasn’t over done, and that was the episode’s saving grace.
We also got to dive further into the relationship between Jim and Barbara. Jim isn’t a fan of Barbara being a defense attorney, helping criminals escape justice, but Barbara doesn’t see it that way. In her eyes, she is giving people the fair chance they deserve to not get railroaded by the legal system. These philosophical differences create a lot of tension between them throughout the episode and really made for some engaging scenes.
There was also a couple other well-known characters that appeared, including Floyd Lawton and Jim Corrigan. I’ll talk a bit about Lawton in the next section, but Corrigan was really cool to see. At this stage in his career, Corrigan is just a cop with the GCPD, and in this episode he is helping Montoya to protect Jim, who they think is the target of an assassination attempt. However, as per usual in Gotham, things aren’t quite as they seem.
At first, I assumed this was the Jim Corrigan who would later become the Spectre in the comics, but after the events at the end of the episode, I have to wonder if he isn’t meant to be the third version of Jim Corrigan, from the Gotham Central comic book series. This would make sense as that series was created by Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker, both of whom work on Batman: Caped Crusader. Though, I would love to see him eventually become the Spectre on this show.
Negatives
I wish we could’ve gotten a better version of Onomatopoeia in this. I’ve always envisioned that character as someone who can make actual sound effects with his voice, like Michael Winslow from the Police Academy movies. But in this we got someone who just says the sounds, and, as I said earlier, it comes off a bit goofy.
The other thing I wanted to mention here was the inclusion of Floyd Lawton as the first to attempt the assassination. He walks up out of the crowd, yells “GORDON!” and hesitates before shooting, allowing Corrigan to get a shot off first. Now, for those of you who don’t know, Floyd Lawton becomes a character known as Deadshot, and Deadshot would never be this sloppy. I was very disappointed in this portrayal. Deadshot is a great character, and I hope he gets some redemption eventually in this series.
Verdict
Overall, this was a good episode, though it did have some flaws. But the dynamic between Jim and Barbara, as well as the ending of the episode, really saved it for me and made me really enjoy it, despite the negatives I listed above.
Score: 4/5
