Batman: TAS, episode #9: Pretty Poison

Poison Ivy is one of the goofier villains in The Batman's rogues' gallery. Alongside Mr. Freeze, this just damns the film Batman Forever that much more. (Tangent: George Clooney, the Batman of the subsequent Batman and Robin, has a hilarious story about Joel Schumacher, the director, who was well aware of the absurdity coloring the entire project (Nipples on the bat suit!) and how he would 'motivate' his star: "OK, Bruce! Your parents are dead! You have nothing to live for! And... action!" /tangent.) But, like we saw with Heart of Ice, it is possible to take a goofy character and turn it into something with genuine appeal and depth. Pretty Poison doesn't quite go that far, but it does lean farther in the direction of Pamela Isley's significant mental problems than even most of her comic appearances, where she was typically just a Flash-type villain: plants were her gimmick. Also, be aware that the typical comic book alliteration is on full display here: Pamela Isley = Poison Ivy, even if they never mention her, uh, professional name. As noted before, this is a series designed with the idea that people would know the general layout of the universe.

That universe includes Harvey Dent, who gets an actual role here, unlike his brief cameo in On Leather Wings. Dent is voiced by Richard Moll, whom most will remember as Bull from Night Court. He's also shown here as lacking significant judgment, both on a personal level and from someone who is on top of the hit list of every criminal in the city and someone you'd expect to have a bit more caution about whom he hangs around with. Christopher Nolan is to be commended for making Harvey's girlfriend one of his fellow attorneys in the DA office, in addition to the dramatic impacts of that vis-à-vis Bruce Wayne. But another thing that Nolan adds to the character is that Dent is actually effective in his role, rather than just being a name attached to a job before he becomes something far different. The best part about Commissioner Gordon in the comics of the modern era and in BTAS is that he's obviously an able, driven cop who's good at his job. We're kind of hoping that the Harvey Dent of BTAS is similar, rather than just being "the district attorney" before later events ensue. This episode doesn't generate a lot of faith in that respect.

Part of it is because Harvey is just a vehicle for the introduction of the real focus, the villain, as is so often the case with Batman stories. I think writer Tom Ruegger (writing the teleplay from a story by Paul Dini and Michael Reaves) did a pretty good job in emphasizing Ivy's two most prominent attributes: her sultriness and her insanity. Clearly, she was meant to be a head-turner and the character is written to emphasize her awareness of that. Everyone in the Rose Café does the "Guy looking back" thing when she walks by and she doesn't stop teasing The Batman with her sex appeal even while he's in the process of being devoured by her pet flytrap. But she also demonstrates the mania that grips her in several instances and in a much different manner than, say, The Joker. The latter has fully come to grips with how different his outlook on the world is from the rest of humanity. He has no illusions about being accepted or passing as one of them. Indeed, part of his mania is that he is different and everyone else should be more like him. Ivy, OTOH, is still attempting to fit into society, but wants to be sure that her views are taken seriously. If it means killing a few people along the way, fine. That's just the cost of doing business. Most of the time in the comics to that point, Ivy unleashing carnivorous plants on the public was accepted as part of being in a "comic world." BTAS had reached the point that many comics had, post-Watchmen, in that there had to be some foundation for why these crazy things happened other than the fact that there's so many crazy people running around in weird costumes. So, this Ivy is more subtle than the historical one had been, but she's also driven by more obvious motivations than simply "I'm Poison Ivy." The story steps into this slowly, as she talks to her potted plant at the greenhouse with just a hint of an edge, so that you know that something is a little off here. But then we go full crazy when The Batman arrives and things start going awry. That's a more interesting character because it's not just "stock super-villain."

There are, as always, a couple technical questions about the story that arch an eyebrow or two. Why does the entire police force have to rush down to the hospital because Harvey's in a coma? OTOH, Gordon exhibits the kind of judgment you'd have expected Harvey to have by immediately assuming this is an assassination attempt and organizing his guard. Also, it's probably the doom wrought of cultural assimilation that every carnivorous plant that's a threat to humans is always some version of Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors. When The Batman first walks in, the sizable trap door leading to a bunch of threatening cacti seems a little excessive. But, then, vines with teeth moves in and you figure: OK. This is where we are. Also, if Pamela Isley is going to wear a costume, I wonder why they didn't go the distance and bring out her outfit with all the leaves? The green leotard seems like a really weak offering, artistically, although it is a lot easier to draw several hundred panels of. (Budget concerns are a thing in TV shows like this.) Plus, it's a little funny that in a greenhouse, with live green plants, and presumably high humidity, a few sparks from a crashing light fixture ignite the whole place instantly. But when you're trying to get the whole thing into one episode...

One small problem with both writing and production is a line from Alfred about the antidote for Harvey: "I'm afraid this is UNfeasible." Argh. For a major production, you'd hope that an editor at some point would've spoken up about that. OTOH, there were a couple writing highlights, like the caption of "A better, safer Gotham; 5 years later" over the prison that started this whole thing, as well as the line from The Batman: "The bottle for the weed. What's it gonna be?" Depending on your personal preference, I guess? Most of the ways that line would be interpreted have nothing to do with hanging on the edge of a pit over menacing cacti. And then you have the irony quandary: Given Ivy's clear mental issues, you'd naturally expect her to end up at Arkham (which she has in the comics.) But she ends this episode sitting in the prison she so reviled, just to bring us to a close. It's a deviation from the character and from what they just spent the whole episode emphasizing, but it's a pat ending that most would find appropriate if they don't stop to think about it (like I do.)

Next time, we continue our survey of The Batman's regular opponents with the Scarecrow and Nothing to Fear.