Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 review:
“This city needs a better class of criminals, and I am going to give it to them," says Heath Ledger’s Joker in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. It takes two seasons and a good twenty episodes for the Joker to make his first proper appearance in Batman: Caped Crusader. And when he finally arrives, you instantly think of Ledger’s iconic line, making you wonder where he has been all this time. Matthew Needham's Joker in Caped Crusader season 2 is menacing, powerful, and more than a match for Hamish Linklater's titular superhero. The stakes of the series go up considerably in the fantastic episode when Batman and Joker clash, with the nihilistic villain causing chaos in Gotham City and the Caped Crusader struggling to contain him. The animation here is absolutely majestic even by the lofty standards of the series. Unfortunately, though, the finale hits this hard partly because of the relatively lower stakes in the story up until then. The finale does not undo what precedes it.
Outside of the Joker, who can we think of as a truly worthy adversary for Batman? Caped Crusader essentially works as a Batman greatest-hits package, with virtually every episode serving up a standalone story with a fresh villain. This leaves the series lacking connective tissue, with only Rupert Thorne and The Riddler making recurring appearances. The premise is quite simple: Batman must fight to stop crime in Gotham City. The task at hand becomes even more difficult for Batman because of rampant corruption in Gotham's law enforcement. He is fighting a two-pronged war against costume villains and dirty cops in Gotham. The threat level simply fluctuates depending on the antagonist of the week, notwithstanding the fact that one of them remains a constant thorne in Batman's flesh. The show is structured like a video game, forcing the Dark Knight to face increasingly difficult antagonists as the season progresses. However, despite the best efforts of Rupert Thorne, The Riddler, a cult known as The Mad Monk, and Harley Quinn, their story arcs with Batman are only serviceable at best. Unfortunately, there is a limitation for the makers in terms of the level of storytelling immersion achievable. You can only cover so much ground in 25 minutes per episode, which is why the chapter with Harley Quinn feels rather underwhelming and the one with the religious cult appears more of an intriguing idea than a fully realised one.
Of course, things perk up when Batman and Joker face off, but until then, the going is rather quiet. It is a pity that the makers try to compensate for this inherent flaw in the universe by subjecting Batman to relentless physical abuse, leaving him battered and bruised purely to manufacture tension. It becomes almost comical how often Alfred Pennyworth has to patch the Dark Knight up in Caped Crusader Season 2. Maybe if the series delved deeper into Bruce Wayne's psyche, explaining the emotional toll of carrying Gotham’s weight on his shoulders, these physical beatings might have carried more thematic heft.
Then again, Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 works as a fairly enjoyable ride mainly thanks to the immersive visuals and the strong work from the voice cast. Throughout the series, the visuals are top-notch, immersing us in the crime-ridden underbelly of Gotham. The spectacle hits pop culture nirvana when the Joker unleashes his fury on Gotham and its inhabitants. Whether it be Linklater as Batman, Jason Watkins as Alfred, Eric Morgan Stuart as Gordon, or Corey Burton as Jack Ryder, the voice cast delivers the goods with a gravitas that often elevates the material above the screenplay. This is not to say the writing lacks merit; there are clever concepts that pop on screen, even if these could do with sharper execution. For example, Batman's subconscious condescension towards Pennyworth, which a villain cunningly exploits, or TV reporter Jack Ryder stirring public hostility against the titular vigilante. The criminals are all there, and maybe what the show needs to improve in its third season is more class in the writing department. For now, Batman: Caped Crusader season 2 is still worth a watch for die-hard fans of the comics and the superhero, especially for the thrilling visuals and the nostalgic noir charms that come with the vigilante’s crusade against crime. For audiences of a certain vintage, it is a trip down memory lane to an idyllic afternoon spent watching Batman: Mask of The Phantasm on videotape.
