The title of this two-parter should have some meaning to those who were reading the comics back in the day, even if it has nothing to do with the story itself. As noted many times here, Steve Engelhart's run on The Batman is considered a highlight of the almost-century-old character's existence. It created characters that have become staples of the mythos and, of course, also included the greatest Joker story ever told. In the mid-1980s, DC recognized the attachment that people had for this run and reprinted portions of it as a limited series called Shadow of the Batman. That's when The Batman's popularity was beginning to reach epic proportions with the publication of Frank Miller's Return of the Dark Knight and the Tim Burton film to follow a couple years later. Finally, in 1992, DC began a fourth monthly series about the character (after Detective Comics, Batman, and Legends of the Dark Knight) called Batman: Shadow of the Bat. So, for those of us old enough to be around "back in the day" (or just, you know... old) that title is always going to carry some weight and I think that played into the overall story presented here, as well.
As noted last time, not only is this the first appearance in BTAS of Barbara Gordon (Melissa Gilbert) as Batgirl, but it's also clearly written as a work of longer effort, rather than just the weekly situational episode and not simply because it's a two-parter. There's a pacing present here that regular director, Frank Paur, and semi-regular writer, Brynne Stephens, maximize at every opportunity. I've talked often about the noir roots of not only The Batman but especially this series and this episode is clearly written with that in mind. There are many set pieces that would've been glossed over or presented through dialogue in the average episode, but here we see the moment when Mad Dog (Greg Burson) interacts with the mysterious boss and we see the little character moments with Barbara and with Robin, as well as Bruce in disguise playing pool at the Stacked Deck while gathering info about who might be behind the plot to frame Jim Gordon (Bob Hastings.) It's all carefully shown, rather than told, and the pace is deliberate. Of course, speaking of that plot, it's kind of funny that the rally held in his defense isn't proclaiming that "Jim Gordon is Innocent", but instead that "Jim Gordon Deserves Bail." That's the most proper, follow-the-due-process-of-law public protest that I can remember. ("Jim Gordon Deserves a Motion for Change of Venue at Pre-trial!") This is on top of the assistant commissioner bringing Gotham City police to arrest the commissioner of said police, which would normally be done by something like the FBI, so as to avoid chain of command issues. This point, of course, was also to emphasize the betrayal inherent to this whole situation by the 'two-faced' Gil Mason (Tim Matheson.) The little humor doesn't stop with the police, since Rupert Thorne (John Vernon) is in our opening scene, somehow walking around a building for no apparent purpose where crime is taking place, just like no crime boss should ever be doing, especially one as smart as Thorne. (Rupert Thorne, of course, was created by Engelhart in those stories partially reprinted in Shadow of the Batman.) But those are just nitpicks, really, and the upsides to this episode are many.
Barbara Gordon, for example, not only appeared three more times before this (including another two-parter written by Stephens) as her own person walking her own path, but now takes up the road-less-traveled like Bruce, albeit with far less grim (and obsessive) motivations. Confronting both the paternalism of her father and The Batman in adjoining scenes, you can see why a determination to do what she sees as right is something that's been with her from the beginning of her appearances here. Appearing as kit-bashed Batperson only earns her more of that male attitude when Robin (Loren Lester) sees her ("A girl?!") but also lends some weight to the idea that this is one of the few things that the Batman TV series from the 60s might have gotten right. Robin makes that exclamation upon tearing her costume and seeing her blazing red hair. Yvonne Craig appeared in Batman as her regular brunette self when playing Barbara and had a red wig attached to her costume to further misdirect people as to her identity when playing Batgirl. In terms of people taking on new identities, this was also a moment for Mr. Inconsistent, Harvey Bullock (Robert Costanzo), to jump to the commissioner's defense by leading the effort for the rally for proper legal procedure, rather that immediately jumping on Mason's bandwagon. This version of Bullock is largely supportive of Gordon throughout BTAS and saves his venom for The Batman, but he has moments of dissension and the character was virtually built on those from his first appearance in Detective in 1974, so it's often hard to keep his motivations straight.
And, yes, in perfect sync with his identity, it is totally appropriate for Two-Face (Richard Moll) to appear in a two-parter with a master plan to undermine his former colleague, Jim Gordon. Even if you didn't recognize Moll's voice in that initial moment with Mad Dog, you would've been able to tell from the clues leading into the reveal, like the fact that the building where he's masterminding has two paint jobs, split right down the middle. I appreciated the focus that Stephens paid to the coin flipping, too, as that's a central point of the character that's often tossed to the side like some kind of gimmick. But his dual nature is another reflection of that of our protagonist, Bruce Wayne/The Batman. Harvey Dent just lacks the control and willpower that Bruce displays to not only keep his mental health issues from totally distorting his life, but also to use them as fuel for the focus that his second (first?) life requires. Two-Face remains one of the best of The Batman's foes for that reason, as not only is he purely driven by his dichotomy (somebody told me that word before...) but there's an element of tragedy there that lingers in the background whenever he's the main element of the story.