Five very opinionated thoughts after watching "Night and the City"
1) This is a really strange title for this episode. The Batman is not big with the subtle nuances or metaphors, and all of the previous titles have had very straightforward references to the episode content. I suppose if I had seen the film of the same name, the meaning might be perfectly clear to me, but the reason the titles are so straightforward is that the show is demonstrably geared toward a predominately late childhood/early adolescence audience*, so it seems absurd to expect the audience to have seen an, at the time, 55-year-old noir film that appears to be about wrestlers and conmen.
(It also briefly crossed my mind that the title might be a play on Sex and the City**, which just seems wrong on so many levels. I would be willing to bet that, given the relative amount of public-consciousness stock held by the film compared to SatC, far more people assume the title to be a reference to the later than the former.)
2) Holy musical, this is yet *another* multi-villain episode. The novelty of those is wearing off awfully quickly, guys. Also, I understand and appreciate the urge to return to the most interesting villains as often as possible and develop some level of continuity by building long-standing rivalries, but Batman has no shortage of interesting villains, you only have 13 epiosdes in your seasons, and overexposure is not a good thing. As I have said before, this is currently my favourite portrayal of Joker, and his episodes have thus far have all been among the show's best, but I am already starting to get annoyed by how many Joker-centric episodes there have been...which is problematic when there are still three seasons I haven't seen. Penguin has annoyed me from the start, so you can stop using him any time you like. I would like more Catwoman, provided we get some more of that Irene Adler vibe from her first episode and less of the spoiled, one-note CAT(seewhatwedidthere)burglar socialite thing that seems to have taken over of late. I am intrigued by this Riddler*** and would love to see more of him, but only a *few* more episodes, scattered throughout the rest of the show. Surprisingly enough, I want more of Killer Croc (I know, weird, right?), provided you stick to the limited dialogue approach from before. I also think this version of the Batman mythos would do wonderful things with Ra's Al Ghul and Talia, and just generally want more female characters. I know Batgirl and Poison Ivy are coming soon (OMGIcan'twait) because I read the back of one of my DVD sets (and because some hints were dropped in this episode EEEEE), but bringing the grand total of recurring female characters to four is not going to entirely solve the problem.
3) FINALLY, GORDON IS HERE! YESSSSSSSSS.
I really don't know if I would be so fond of this character if not for the Gary Oldman version, but it has made me a forever fan, and I will never not be happy to see any portrayal that isn't cynically subverting his usual role. I don't know this actor from anywhere else, but he sounds absolutely perfect for this role, and my quick trip to his IMDb page has further convinced me of something I have long known: I need to freakin' watch X-Files already. (Seriously, what is wrong with me that I've never even seen a full episode of this show? Especially when I appreciate Millennium so very much.) (Oh, snap, the whole series is free on Amazon Prime. This is so going to happen, isn't it? Like, when I'm done with my Firefly re-watch. Or possibly right now, seeing as I'm actually paused in the opening credits of "Our Mrs. Reynolds" aka "The Episode That Gives Me Extreme Oogy Feelings and Might Actually Incite Me to Rage Today So I've Been Stalling and Watching Avatar: TLA Instead of Just Watching the Damn Thing and Getting It Out of the Way".) (Look at me ramble on about things that are not The Batman...)
4) Go die in a fire, Rojas.
I have a variety of objections to that delightful bit of 'net speak and would not normally use it, but Rojas is so clearly a caricature of a human being rather than a legitimate person with people who care about him and hopes and dreams and a rich inner life that I feel the statement to be a perfectly acceptable response.
(I realize that my declaration that Rojas is not a person is problematic in that it negates the personhood of the many, many people in the world who *actually do think and act like the douchnozzle*, but I can delude myself into believing that at least those actual people have a chance at reformation and redemption, where Rojas has proven time and again he is an immutable stereotype. Also, he is, in fact, a cartoon character. Animation cels can burn.)
5) This season was certainly stronger than the last, although the plots seemed rather swiss cheesy and simplistic in the majority of cases when I actually stopped to think about them, Clayface's arc is engaging but ultimately leaves me less emotionally involved than I should be, and, even if the episodes weren't actually repetitive, there were enough recurring themes - that is, themes that recurred without any literary reason to do so - that I kind of feel like I watched the same three or four episodes several times in a row. I'm still loving the stylistic choices on this show, and there have been some moments of pure excellence, but it ultimately makes me anxious to return to the Timmverse. I'm hoping the new addition(s) to the cast next season will give the show new life without significantly altering what works for it (I'm legit worried that bringing in a plot-arc about high school girls in a show obviously written by and largely for dudes will introduce giggling and shopping and sleepovers and lots of pink and take the dark, twisted edge off of their scenes because high school girls obviously can't be dark and twisted, but I'm hoping for the best, I really am. It's not like I don't have reason to trust at least a couple of the main writers...) (Oh, also, the fact that Ms Seduce 'Em with Plant Pheremones is going to be a high schooler makes me uneasy...but the fact that even Catwoman hasn't yet been used as a specifically sexual temptress alleviates a lot of my concern there.)
And, just in case everyone missed it the first couple of times I said it, MORE WOMEN, PLEASE. There's nothing wrong with the ones you have, but having two good female characters does not exempt you from having more.
* Which is SO WEIRD to me, considering how terrifying some of the villains are, but I suppose if I had had this show to watch when I was that age, it wouldn't have taken me until my early twenties to realize how much I love certain kinds of horror films. Giving kids an ultimately child-friendly (that is, free of gore, sexuality, foul language, or casualty) introduction to the scarier side of storytelling is an excellent way to expand the horror fanbase beyond the usual suspects. I'd also just like to take a moment to say how much I appreciate the fact that the cast and crew of The Batman recognizes that things don't have to be offensive, disgusting, or titillating to be unsettling or horrific.
** While checking to make sure the title of the show is not, in fact, Sex in the City (I am not a fan of the programme, okay? The exact preposition in the title is not stored in my memory banks), I ran across this little nugget of information: There exists a movie called Celebrity Sex Tape that appears to be about a group of socially maladjusted twenty-something males who video tape themselves having sex with a famous young woman while she is under the influence of at least one mind-altering substance, post the video on the internet, and then, when blackmailed (what?) by her manager/agent/I-don't-even-know-who-this-guy-is-but-he-calls-her-his-"client," they decide to earn the money to pay him off by making more sex tapes. You're welcome for that tidbit of information. If it makes you feel any better, it's IMDb rating is 1.9/10, even with the 5/10 that accompanied the following statement: "This actually has a plot about guys doing what they must to make money to pay off blackmailers and actresses trying to get ahead in their careers by any means necessary." (I will not engage in critique of the inherent misogyny of the phrasing of that obviously misogynistic review... I have far more constructive things to do with my time than to waste time on that... [gnashes teeth])
*** Who can evidently one-up Joker? This is so foreign to my understanding of these characters, and I kind of want to see it explored more. The major difference between the two here seems to be that Riddler is far more logical and organized, so his plans can often trump Joker's more indiscriminate chaos...which makes sense, considering the relationship between riddles and jokes. Are there comics that explicitly present this dynamic, or is it unique to this show? The only comics I've read with him are Hush and a portion of Countdown, and, while I find those Riddlers incredibly interesting (and endearing in many ways), they are lightyears from Englund's Riddler, and I'd like to see that interpretation more.
ETA: If there was any way that I could pull this shirt off with my body type, I'm pretty sure I would have to buy it. It reminds me too much of Megara not to love it.
