Batman: TAS, episode #47: Birds of a Feather

As noted before, I'm not especially fond of the Penguin as a character. Given the "antagonist in his own book" phenomenon, where the strangeness of the motivations of The Batman's villains is one of the high points of interest, the fact that the Penguin is a "normal" mobster makes him a much more mundane presence than someone like the Riddler or Two-Face or even Mr. Freeze. As I mentioned in his first appearance, Timm, Dini, and Co.'s decision to meld the old-style villain with the mutant-in-the-sewer presented in Batman Returns was a wise choice but it still doesn't take a long step away from the goofiness that embodies him as a whole. In contrast to the experienced watcher of our previous episode (where the Penguin's segment was quite fun), Birds of a Feather returns to the basic moral lesson approach to the plot, where the Penguin has decided to turn over a new leaf (where's Ivy when you need her?) and become part of regular society. Meanwhile, a couple of wealthy gloryhounds figure that he's an easy mark for entertainment at their soirées. And because he's a nerd and so desperate to be part of the rich social class that he's always aspired to, he is.

That's fine as a basic story, but it kind of highlights that "antagonist" aspect in a negative way. This story is all about Oswald Cobblepot. We follow him through all three acts and The Batman is simply a challenge for Oswald to overcome, mentally and sometimes physically. The Penguin is Scrooge and The Batman is all of the ghosts of Christmas. He's a plot device in his own cartoon and that would be fine if the main character- the Penguin -was someone that was as entertaining as The Joker. But he simply isn't (Few are.) So, we end up with a high school drama, which is Oswald swooning for not only the woman that is pretending to like him (Veronica Vreeland, voiced by Marilu Henner) in order to use him, but the whole atmosphere around her and the segment of society that she is part of. That is, of course, until he discovers the subterfuge, kidnaps Veronica, and tries to kill her and her fellow conspirator, Pierce Chapman (Sam McMurray.) And that simple plot stretched over a full episode means that the pace is pretty slow, which really doesn't serve the character, who needs something more fast-paced (like last episode) to compensate for the fact that he's mostly just a rotund guy in an old-fashioned tuxedo and not a member of the lunatic fringe that makes up most of The Batman's opponents.

There are a couple high points of the episode, in that the Penguin has one good line: "At least you've been ransacked by a man of impeccable taste!" Plus, the angry rubber duck boat that delivers Veronica is excellent. Also, classic writer, Steve Engelhart, gets name-dropped as a street name at one point. But, otherwise, this is one of the more forgettable episodes of the series. It is notable for Veronica, who does become a semi-regular in the series. And, despite all of my complaints, it has to be noted that the Penguin becomes a fairly interesting character in another Batman-oriented series: Gotham. But next time, we get to the second appearance of one of the other, more interesting "big" opponents in What is Reality?