Batman TAS: episode #34: See No Evil

The original premise of the series was to take the darker form of Batman and still be able to present it as a cartoon that was deemed suitable for children. It was like the old saw about Warner Bros. cartoons. The slapstick was entertaining for the kids, but the underlying themes were catnip for intelligent adults, who could recognize the subversive nature of them. (One wonders how modern Republicans would react to the regular presence of Bugs Bunny in drag...) For the most part, Timm and Co. succeeded in presenting that dual nature in the majority of episodes of the series. But sometimes they came up a bit short and See No Evil is one of those failings. The plot is simple (crook uses invisibility suit to try to stay in touch with his daughter) but still has enough room for emotional depth. There are great atmospherics in the opening scenes outside of the house, with the blowing trash and leaves. It's very much a noir setting. But the episode quickly descends into enough camp to summon memories of the 1960s Batman, which is never a positive development, IMO.

We see the security guard needing to use the facilities and getting stalled by both the villain and Bruce Wayne changing into his alter ego. We see people at a watch/jewelry exhibition, reacting in almost feigned horror as they see their valuables disappear right in front of them. The villain exits the main exhibition hall right into a room with wet cement on the floor. It's all very obvious and clearly targeted at the low end of the appropriate age limit. In a seeming reference to DC comics of yore, the villain is named Lloyd Ventrix, which sounds an awful lot like Floyd Ventris, who was known as Mirror Man, a cheap super-scientist character from the 1950s; the era which was used as the basis for the 1960s TV series, so it all seems to be coming together here. There are many people who love that series and the more rock'em, sock'em nature of DC's heroes in that time period. I am not one of them and don't think it serves the character's overall interest.

All of that negative stuff said, due credit to writer, Martin Pasko, on this one for, at the very least, inserting enough emotional weight (the father clearly desperate to keep in touch with his daughter, but also clearly the progenitor of an abusive/predatory relationship with his ex-wife) to make these characters seem like real people. That's almost always a prerequisite for me and it also relegates The Batman to being the only one who doesn't seem to act like a human. Once again, we see him almost becoming the antagonist in his own series. But that also usually involves having a villain who has some edge of interest in his motivations. This one, while understandable, lacks the level of derangement that would keep him interesting, even as our hero attempts to stop him, not only to protect his former family, but also to prevent the villain from damaging himself with the very suit that he's using. There's a solid action sequence with The Batman hanging from the roof of a somehow-invisible car (which engenders the obvious joke from two bystanders that the car speeds past: "I didn't know he could fly...?") but too much of the story is spent in wide-eyed amazement at the prospect of someone being invisible, which has really been old hat in the entertainment world since Claude Rains. This is definitely among the lesser efforts of the series as a whole.