Five thoughts after watching "A Matter of Family" and "Team Penguin"
1) Crap. I don't know if I can handle actually seeing Dick's parents. MY HEART, IT IS STILL TRYING TO HEAL.
1a) Dammit, they're so cuddly!! Don't do this to me, show...
1b) Zucco. I've now got an amusing mental image of a hooded man in the audience trying to firebend the Graysons to death but having it instead blow up in his face because he is made entirely of fail. I didn't mean it, Zuko. I love you. Because you're such a failbot. (I am extra amused by this because I very nearly started my A:TLA Book Two rewatch tonight instead of starting the next season of The Batman.
2) "UGH, 'Robin'? Like the bird? You know, kids my age get beat up for nicknames like that." HAHAHAHAHAHA OH GAWD THIS AMUSES ME SO MUCH YOUR CURRENT NICKNAME IS "DICK." But, yeah, you will get teased some.
2a) Full disclosure: I seriously questioned why he had an "R" on his costume when his name was Dick and he hadn't yet taken on the superhero identity.
2b) I like to think I'm too mature to find the name "Dick" hilarious, but the way Bruce just said, "Welcome home, Dick," sounded more like an insult than it probably should have. Apparently I think Batman is Wolverine all of a sudden.
3) A toothpick? Batman can tell the make and model of toothpicks and is privy to information on where in Gotham specific toothpicks are sold. This episode is unintentionally making me laugh SO MUCH for a story about a kid watching his parents fall to their deaths and then being completely ignored by his foster father.
4) So...Penguin's gonna assemble Gotham's most infamous? Haven't pretty much all of them kicked his ass at some point in the past year or so? And didn't I JUST WATCH THIS last night? With some more singing? (And, for the record, I actually kind of love Nicholas Strauss as Penguin, which says a hell of a lot about the actor.)
4a) RAGDOLL. I really thought I read somewhere he was only in the one episode. I AM SO HAPPY THAT'S NOT TRUE. AND ALSO FREAKED OUT. BECAUSE RAGDOLL.
4b) I kind of think the only other thing I've seen with Jason Marsden and Jeff Bennett characters interacting with one another is Weekenders, so I'm going to take a moment to get this out of my system before continuing with this post. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH [Kermit flail]. Thank you for your patience at this most fangirlish time.
4c) Killer Moth. I am so impressed with you right now, Mr. Bennett. SO IMPRESSED.
5) Since when does the Batmobile have a backseat? I have largely gotten over my pretentious douchebagginess about the extended Batfamily undermining Bats' mystique (also Krypto and Ant-Man and The Atom THEY GAVE A SHOUT OUT TO THE ATOM HE'S MY FAVOURITE AND I NEED TO FOCUS BECAUSE IT'S 4 AM and Plastic Man), but this is taking things a little far. Meanwhile, I'm pretty upset on Barb's behalf, here. I mean, yes, good on Bruce for letting her in on the secrets as soon as he realized the double standard, but he should have done that last season.
I still don't have coherent thoughts to post about B@man, but I can say this much, at least: I have grown up hearing songs about how I hop and bop, laid an egg, have a wily pack of merry men, come out in the springtime bringing roses with my words, turned my tail and fled, have an unkind lady who loves another, and apparently did something to James Marsters that wasn't very nice at all. It kind of delights me to now have a song where Dylan Saunders, Meredith Stepien, and other people I think are awesome tell me how much I suck.