Batman: TAS, episode #18: Two Face, part 2

 

As I've mentioned repeatedly, the producers of BTAS have largely credited the audience with knowledge of the Batman mythos. Even when presenting a repeatedly told origin story, they didn't go into as much detail as you might expect about characters and their habits (The fact that every episode only runs about 22 minutes is also a bit of a restraint on that kind of thing.) But sometimes it's possible that that's too much of a shortcut. Despite the appearance of the famous two-headed silver dollar in part 1, there's no description of it nor the importance that Harvey Dent places upon it. The assumption is made that the audience simply knows of it and its unusual nature. But as such a key aspect of the character and his visual image, I found it kind of odd that the first time we get a picture of its reality (the two heads) is at the beginning of part 2, after Two-Face has already scarred one side to match his current state. There comes a time when things become perhaps too much of an inside joke, even for those already familiar with the story. If you're playing out the tragedy, you want to know everything that's involved in it. The coin, although it may seem a trivial detail, is as much a part of Two-Face's twisted perspective as Big Bad Harv is, so it makes me wonder why they didn't spare 20 seconds for it in the first episode, just to lay out everything that a new viewer might want to know, and weave in what the rest of us already know to this new telling.

On the other hand, a very welcome change to part 2 is the shift in Grace (Murphy Cross), Harvey's fiancé, from weeping willow and arm ornament to someone with actual agency. I neglected to mention her presence in part 1 because of the extent to which it was clichéd, stereotypical, and generally awful. She basically had no role except to be an object of Harvey's affection. In part 2, that all changes when she finally finds him. While Two-Face talks about surrendering to chance and not allowing her into his new world for her own sake, she insists on defining what "her own sake" means and draws new parameters for what their life should be. She has an opinion and she makes him accept it. That's agency and it's a welcome change and, unfortunately, was still kind of unusual for female characters in both comics and cartoons, even in an obviously more enlightened production such as BTAS. Grace even goes on to kick some ass during the final fight scene in Two-Face's lair.

Speaking of clichés, they do lean kind of hard on the old "two" thing, as the odds of even as widespread a boss as Rupert Thorne having as many front businesses that can be identified with "two" or "deuce" is pretty low. On the other hand, Two-Face showing up with a pair of twins, Min and Max, for henchmen (voiced by Micky Dolenz, the drummer from the Monkees) is just par for the course. But on a deeper level, I thought it was a great touch that the dream sequence in part 2 was actually from Bruce Wayne's attempted slumber, as he wrestled with the guilt of not being able to save Harvey (and perhaps because he inadvertently contributed to the accident?) and that, in turn, blended with the lifelong survivors' guilt that he carries about the night his parents were murdered. This is the first time we've seen any references to the origin of The Batman and it was deftly combined with the internal struggles we saw of Harvey's last episode, as he tries to keep his inner bully, Big Bad Harv, under arrest. This is an excellent series moment, both for the deeper meanings connected to our main character and to one of his foremost and most tragic opponents.

Indeed, there are a number of interesting little touches in this episode that seem to touch on broader meanings. Harvey surrendering his life to the whim of the coin seems to coincide with the fact that he has lottery tickets in his wallet. Rupert Thorne's attorney, Abner Doubleday, not only stays in the "two" theme, but also shares a name with the Union general who thought his finest hour was at Gettysburg but felt his glory was robbed of him by George Meade. Doubleday went on to be president of the Theosophical Society, a Mason-like organization that investigated the "unexplained laws of nature." We also get out first look at the Batcycle, although it doesn't perform any of the tricks that one expects from The Batman's other major pieces of technology. Was it present just because it was a two-wheeled form of transportation? Maybe. Thorne ends up with one of the better lines again: "No... Two million. A million dollars a face to the man who brings me Two-Face." But the best line of the episode came, appropriately, from Two-Face himself, when he explains to Grace why the coin is paramount: "Here's the only law. The law of averages." On average, this was a pretty good episode, but a slight step back from part 1.

In the next episode, the Scarecrow returns and Robin(!) appears in Fear of Victory, but since we're a quarter of the way through our series, I thought I'd take a moment next time to take a look at the Boy Wonder and his presence in the legend of our hero.