Batman: TAS, episode #16: Eternal Youth

As I've mentioned before, The Batman is something of a straight man to his enemies' comedy. As much as typical superhero comic stories tend to follow that pattern (e.g. villain appears with new scheme, hero attempts to foil that scheme), the Batman villains tend to have an extra edge to them (usually some kind of psychosis; hence, the omnipresence of Arkham Asylum) that makes them not only the centerpiece of their story, but really the driving force behind it. The Batman, as the constant, is there to weather their storm, but it is still their storm. Whereas the driving force behind many Spider-Man stories is the life surrounding Peter Parker, often interrupted by Electro or The Lizard or whoever, Bruce Wayne's life is above that, such that others have to deal with the travails of life (this is typical DC) before The Batman arrives to set things right. The interesting, personal aspects are elements of the villain, not the hero. This is, in turn, what made Steve Engelhart's stories about the character so good, but which also show up when Bruce has a personal attachment to another character, as with most Catwoman stories. The reappearance by Poison Ivy is, unfortunately, not one of those stories, but instead a pretty standard superhero vs villain tale.

In fact, the most unusual aspect of this episode is that Alfred has a girlfriend (Maggie, voiced by Paddi Edwards.) This is a social development that Alfred had never experienced before this series; not in comics, TV, or film. Indeed, in almost all respects, other than the visit of an occasional family member, Alfred's life basically revolves around Bruce Wayne's; as close to indentured servitude as you can get. Dare I say that the presence of a life outside of loyal service for Alfred is a factor of this episode being written by a woman (Beth Bornstein)? To many writers and fans of The Batman, Alfred is basically an amusing, dependable piece of the furniture. But, if he's a whole character, he also has the same wants and needs that any human has, regardless of how long he's been serving the Wayne family. In fact, it's the length of that time (and his appearances in the mythos) that makes one wonder why this kind of thing hasn't been seen before. At the same time, Bornstein presents perhaps the most prominent of Batman's female adversaries, in Ivy, who is still pursuing her version of environmental justice.

This episode is set up as a horror story in many ways, as well. We get the opening with the woman running in terror, emphasizing the threat of Ivy and her gas gun. Then we get the mysterious invite to the spa, which is taken by total innocents, Alfred and Maggie, who will have no idea how to deal with the threat, unlike The Batman. All we needed was for the spa to be a campground and Ivy to be wearing a goalie mask and we were set. But there are some good pacing moments, too, with the light shining down on The Batman's face when he discovers the spa tape in the penthouse, for example, or when we stare into the terrified faces of the tree statues that Ivy has created. Overall, regular director Kevin Altieri did  a nice job with the tempo of this episode. That said, it is fair to ask why The Batman would allow himself to be taken prisoner by two women with gas guns, when he's faced far more immediate threats (and weapons) throughout his career. It's also worth noting that, despite the usual Bat-fisticuffs utilized against most opponents, in this case he produces rope from nowhere so that he doesn't have to hit the three women trying to kill him. There are still allowances made for the idea of kids being part of the audience (especially young boys) and discouraging violence against everyone isn't quite as important as doing so against women (which is, of course, a far more prominent problem in our society.)

From a visual design standpoint, nothing was particularly notable, aside from Alfred doing the vampire sleep while under the effect of Ivy's drug, and Ivy's costume still lacking its trademark leaves. On that note, for the second episode in a row, we get to see the downside of wearing that enormous bat cape, as Ivy easily impedes the hero with her dart shooter. And speaking of enormous things, one could be forgiven for wondering what will be happening with the mini-Yggdrasil that sprouted from Ivy's serum. It's going to be a pretty prominent landmark and, unless it's intended to be the world version of the giant penny in the Batcave, it's worth questioning what the effect of having a tree skyscraper might have on the local environment that our villain is so concerned with. ("Look what you've made me do to my poor defenseless tree!")

All in all, Eternal Youth is a pretty standard episode, albeit with some nice writing touches and a good sense of style. Next up, we come to another two-parter with the most appropriate villain for a structure like that: Two-Face.