PLOT: After a family tragedy, affluent philanthropist Bruce Wayne transforms into The Batman, where his crusade for justice spawns unforeseen ramifications.
REVIEW: More often than not, I like to go into things without knowing too much about them. It’s a gamble, but I like to be surprised. Concerning Batman: Caped Crusader, it would be a known quantity. I grew up watching Batman: The Animated Series, and Caped Crusader looks similar, ergo, I would be in for a similar experience. Right? Wrong! For this review, I watched both seasons of Caped Crusader back-to-back, growing increasingly shocked by the escalating violence and the Dark Knight’s ineptitude throughout the series.
Actually, “inept” is harsh. Let’s go with “unseasoned” or “unskilled.” By my calculations, Caped Crusader takes place early in Batman’s career as Gotham’s protector, so I’m willing to cut him some slack. However, Batman does not exactly “save the day” in several scenarios throughout Caped Crusader. Many people die in the series. It’s almost alarming how often it happens, with everyone from innocent Gothamites to G.C.P.D. members, and big-ticket villains taking a dirt nap. Try as he might to prevent disaster, Batman lets many people slip through the cracks, which may startle some purists.
Still, the thing I kept telling myself while watching Caped Crusader is to treat the show as an alternate history, one that’s divorced from The Animated Series and the like. Batman is imperfect, and I love that. Underneath the cape and cowl, he’s a man with wonderful toys. The show treats him as such, making him imposing and cunning, but also inexperienced and fallible. He’s not always going to arrive on time, and even when he is, he makes mistakes. I like my heroes to be imperfect. So, in that way, Batman is slightly more relatable than he is in most cases, yet he retains his enigmatic air and “World’s Greatest Detective” vibes.
Another thing I greatly appreciate about Batman: Caped Crusader is the show’s diversity. Many of the classic characters we know and love have been gender or race-swapped, creating an Absolute Batman-like environment where familiar faces are remixed to add more flavor to the lore. As someone who loves this sort of thing, repurposing characters suits me just fine. I like having an Asian-American Harleen Quinzel, or a Black Barbara Gordon, who is one of Gotham’s premier lawyers. Give me more of Detective Renee Montoya and Harleen being a thing, instead of Harley regressing to the position of Joker’s arm candy. I’ve seen that before. It’s time to tell new stories.
Like the first season, there’s no overarching story in Caped Crusader Season 2. If there’s any consistency, it’s that Batman is still learning how to be the hero Gotham desperately needs. In addition to the Dark Knight learning harsh truths throughout the season, the plots tend to lean into the corruption of power, abuse, vendettas, and striving to keep an iron grip on Gotham, one crime spree at a time. Edward Nygma and Detective Flass are significant characters this season, with “Eddie” being a trigger-happy psychopath with delusions of grandeur, and Flass as crooked as they come in the G.C.P.D. It’s bizarre to see Nygma in a role where he’s hardly the Riddler we’re familiar with, but his role in the show still works. You’ll love to hate him, and he’s far more violent than you remember.
After being teased at the end of Season 1, Joker is used to great effect in the new season. He remains a shadowy figure for most of the season. He looms in the background, quietly moving his chess pieces until it’s time to play the real game. He looks like the Joker, but he doesn’t quite sound like him. In Caped Crusader, he’s got a German accent and mad scientist vibes. It threw me a bit at first, but I quickly embraced the character’s new presentation. If nothing else, Joker is the glue that keeps Season 2 together, with the slow burn of his grand entrance adding mystery and drama to the overall story.
To my shock, Caped Crusader Season 2 is violent compared to Season 1. People die left and right this season, and some of them go in ways that might surprise you. There’s one death in particular that made me leap out of my seat, startled by how gnarly the scene had become. See which one it is when you watch the show. Adding more violence to the show ups the stakes, making you feel as if no character is safe. In Caped Crusader, you can’t assume that Batman is going to make sure everyone gets out alive, and more often than not, people who are meant to protect themselves fail. Caped Crusader‘s unpredictability is part of what makes it such a compelling watch as a Bat-fan, because you never know what could happen.
People who are used to Elseworlds stories are likely to dig the new season of Caped Crusader a lot, while others could find Batman’s inability to save everyone a flaw in the storytelling. The fact remains that Batman is still learning. He’s never faced some of these villains before, and gets his ass kicked a lot. Still, watching Bruce have his block knocked off reminds us that Batman is human, making his death-defying derring-do all the more impressive.
With a lot of fun surprises peppering every episode, and gratifying character development to enjoy, Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 gives us more of what made the first season great, and ups the ante in its exploration of a masked vigilante trying to save a city from itself. There are lots of reasons to tune in, especially if you want a classic look with contemporary storytelling. The show has a lot to say about how powerful people are ruining the world for everyone else, and its real-world comparisons are not lost on me. I definitely want another season of Caped Crusader, to see what they come up with next, while giving us an alternate take on a near-perfect formula.
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