Batman: TAS, episode #13: P.O.V.

I'm a huge Akira Kurosawa fan and one of his earlier films, Rashomon, is among my favorites. mostly for what it says about human nature and the malleability of memory because of self-interest and miscommunication. This episode is presented in that style, given that Detective Bullock and Officers Montoya and Wilkes are instructed to give their versions of the opening scene: a warehouse robbery and fire, interrupted by them and The Batman. But that theme of miscommunication isn't central to the story here. Instead, it's about an outrageously arrogant police lieutenant and Officer Montoya, one of the few regular female characters of the series, actually having agency over her own actions; a rare event in film and TV of the time.

We're presented with a seemingly normal situation in our noir setting, as Montoya and her junior partner rush to meet Bullock at an impending crime scene, before a fire and fleeing criminals put the scenario into a tailspin. The lurking shadow of The Batman is seen over everything, as one would expect. But then things get weird. First off, we have a ranting Lieutenant Hackle tell them that they've ruined a months-long investigation into a Gotham City drug lord. But, then, why were the collection of criminals at the warehouse conducting what looked like a routine burglary, albeit of a couple million in cash? Were they a rival gang stealing the nameless drug lord's stash of money? One would assume that the nature of the drug business doesn't leave an organized effort short of funds. When the more reasonable Commissioner Gordon starts defending his officers' actions, Hackle turns to him and yells: "Pipe down or get out!" which ain't exactly following the chain of command in most circumstances. Then it's Hackle who declares all three of the on-scene officers to be suspended, which isn't outrageous, but is still kind of unusual with the top brass sitting right there and obviously opposed to the lieutenant's aggressive approach.

But then we get our three different impressions of The Batman: Bullock's, who sees him as a pest and uses his presence to try to cover Bullock's own errors of judgment; Wilkes', who sees him as a figure of myth ("I've heard of him, but I've never seen him!"); and Montoya's, whose considered judgment turns out to be the most accurate: of someone on their side, often superior in capability to the police, but who is still human (and could be, for example, shot in the back and be killed, unlike most DC heroes.) All three points of view are presented as action pieces, with The Batman instrumental in all of them. In Bullock's case, it's about rescuing him from his own ego, despite our first view of the detective as someone eminently capable of handling himself, as he takes down four or five opponents before being trapped and felled by the surrounding fire. Wilkes is more of an innocent bystander, as he seems incapable of ever firing that shotgun that he runs around with, while The Batman saves him, disables a vehicle, and then takes out a fleeing thug while Wilkes watches in awe. Montoya, as befits her perspective, ends up with the most personal interaction, as she actively fights their opponents alongside our hero before needing his help to escape the growing disaster.

The collection of thugs are pretty standard between-years Gotham City here, although it's interesting to note that the big one credited as Driller (he attacks Montoya with the large drill used to crack the safe) not only resembles Lothar from The Rocketeer film of a couple years earlier, but is also voiced by Ron Perlman. What's also interesting is that the leader of this band of hoods (The drug lord? Someone else?) not only remains nameless throughout the episode, but also faceless, even as he's captured. On the one hand, his identity is kind of superfluous to the actual story being told about Montoya. On the other hand, his cardboard cutout presence stands out as one of the things that separates this kind of "mundane" episode from something decent like It's Never Too Late or something brilliant like Appointment in Crime Alley, where every motivating force or character had a name attached to it. In that respect, they could've done more to not only tell the story of how Montoya is an exceptional cop- better than the rookie Wilkes or the jaded Bullock -but also where that fits in to the overall series as a whole. Montoya contributes a ton to the resolution of the whole plot, does so on her own initiative, and is the one who captures the monocled crime lord (Drug lord?) while The Batman conducts an impressive display of destruction by sinking a ship in Gotham Harbor with a forklift. Our story ends with Gordon physically assaulting Lt. Hackle to keep him from further harassment of the officers that Gordon wouldn't order him to back off of earlier.

I think they missed an opportunity with this one, not only to present another female character in the Batman mythos as someone capable of handling her own business (which, again, was sufficient to get the character added to the comics and to Christopher Nolan's films) but also to weave that story into something more consistent with the mythos of the series, so we perhaps knew who these criminals were and what the larger plot might have been, so that this episode was less like a DC one-off and more like a Marvel chapter in a much greater story.