Last time on Batman: Caped
Crusader, Batman got a new alias. Hoping to get any new info on the
mysterious man running Rupert Thorne’s business with the crime boss MIA, Batman
and Alfred created the alias of Matches Malone. He enters Blackgate prison and
is mad the cellmate of Mark “Dez” Desmond, the only member of the Thorne Crime
Family they’d been able to arrest since Thorne’s disappearance. Which is good
timing, as the Riddler had just decided to tie up the loose end that was Dez.
Bruce saves Dez from four assassination attempts, which bonds the two men, and
after the fourth, Bruce uses his skills to help them escape. Dez lets slip some
of the info he has on the Riddler, namely his name and the fact they’d been
running together for years. Riddler is there to greet them at the docks, where
he quickly executes Matches’ for no real reason. Thankfully, Batman survived
the shot and was able to get his gear. He interrupts the Thorne goons heist,
and Riddler decides that’s the last straw. He’s sure now that Dez tipped off
the cops and that’s why Batman showed up so promptly. Batman stays with Dez
until he dies, the gangster realizing that Matches Malone was Batman the whole
time, and what a trip it was that his best friend in the world was the Batman. The
Joker watches this final interaction from a distance. Batman broods on the
information that he got on the Riddler, and if it was worth allowing the
Riddler to escape so that Dez didn’t die alone. Enough recapping. Let’s get to
it, shall we?
Ep 14: Devil’s Due
We open on a jewelry heist. A thief
cuts open a display, but before he can grab the jewels, he’s grabbed and has
his arm broken by someone with a Bat silhouette. The mysterious bat beats the
guy bloody before killing him with a dagger. I saw now cape in the silhouette,
so it’s obviously not the REAL Batman.
The next day, the reporters gather
to try to get pictures of this latest killing. Eel O’Brien, a sleezy
photographer from last season, is up front and center trying to get pics. The
cops ignore him. Gordon asks who the guy is, and Montoya says he was a two bit
thief trying to work his way up to cat burglar. Whoever attacked him stole the
jewels to. Gordon is a bit confused as he was called in bright and early for
this case, as a murder at the site of a robbery isn’t that unusual… so Montoya
opens the door to another room and we see a Bat drawn in blood. Unfortunately,
Montoya timed the opening poorly, so Eel got a great shot of the bat.
The front-page headline is “Bat-Man
Turns to Murder!” Hattie Tetch covers the story and is extremely smug about
Batman’s apparent murder of a criminal. She’s very gleeful of her condemnation
of Batman, and also the GCPD failing to stop him. We’re shown a scene of a
mother comforting her son as Hattie describes the Bat drawn in blood with lurid
detail. Shifting to Wayne Manor, Bruce is also watching Hattie’s broadcast and
looking… annoyed. He’s so distracted that he doesn’t notice when Lucius tries
to get his attention until Lucius is basically yelling at him. They’re having a
long meeting that involves Bruce signing a lot of contracts. Bruce apologizes
for being distracted but insists it’s Hattie’s fault. Lucius agrees that she’s
doing her job well, forcing people to keep their eyes on her. He insists that
it’s fluff, though, as Batman isn’t a killer. Bruce is surprised by that
statement from Lucius, the lawyer explaining that Batman saved his life once
and that gives him a pretty good indication of where Batman falls on the friend
or foe scale. But Bruce needs to focus on the contracts. Hattie brings up the
missing Rupert Thorne and his son Mattie and asks if the Gothamites tax dollars
were somehow involved in the disappearance. She signs off and we see Gordon was
also listening to the show on the radio.
At the station, Hattie drops her
persona as some kind of refined lady and demands a drink. One of her aides
brings her a glass of water, which she throws back in his face as she said a
DRINK ie, liquor. She mutters about the country going to crap as another aide,
Dala Landry, brings her a Manhattan, straight up. Hattie is infuriate that
she’s been covering Batman for weeks but somehow the Gotham Gazette scooped
her. Dala points out theirs is an evening show, so it’s hard to compete with
daytime news when it happens overnight. Dala suggests Hattie focus on feel-good
stories to counterbalance the Batman fear mongering to get people to watch her.
She says screw that, and wants Batman on her show, and demands Dala make that
impossible request happen. Dala sees a more reasonable idea in that, though,
and suggests bringing Gordon on instead. Hattie loves the idea of getting to
grill the commissioner and tells Dala to get on it. Dala says Hattie’s wish is
her command, and Hattie retorts, “You bet your ass it is.”
I much prefer unfiltered Hattie to
TV Hattie.
Late at night, we join a bat themed
cult. Their meeting is within a burned-out church with a large bat demon
presiding over the pulpit. The Mad Monk in charge yells at his cultists for
fouling up a retrieval mission with a murderer and demands an explanation. The
cultist that did the killing takes off his hood and we see he’s like 17. He
says that they couldn’t risk the thief stealing the artifacts they’d been sent
for, and they were able to grab it and a bunch of other valuable to use as a
tribute to their Lord. The Monk compliments them, but says that the Baubles
aren’t worthy of their god, Barbatos. He says that the man that interrupted
their heist was a sign that Barbatos demands blood. He whips his cult into a
frenzy, promising they’ll receive everything they donate back tenfold. The
cultists draw knives and they all start chanting “All hail Barbatos!”
At GCPD, Gordon finishes a meeting
with Dala and asks Montoya if there’s an update on the burglar. She says he’s a
pretty standard thief, nothing unique or interesting about him besides how he
died. She asks about Dala, and Gordon tells her to come into his office. He
reveals that he’ll appear on Hattie’s Tea Party tomorrow night. She warns that
this’ll be a hatchet job, and that Hattie only wants him on to see him squirm
trying to defend Batman. Gordon says that she can say whatever she wants about
Batman or him, but he wants to get her to stop slandering GCPD. He knows that
it’s good for moral for the rank-and-file cops to see that the brass has their
back. Besides, he’s dealt with worse. Montoya isn’t so sure, but she leaves
without argument when dismissed. When seemingly alone, Gordon says aloud that
he knows Hattie would prefer getting Batman on her show. He was hiding behind a
filing cabinet. Batman says he didn’t kill burglar. Gordon says he knows, because
Batman doesn’t kill (yet) and because at least three assailants beat the guy,
and Batman works alone. He vanished partway through that, as per usual.
As Batman drives around town in the
Batmobile, he sees a cultist chasing a homeless guy. He follows them into a
park, where its revealed that this was a set up by the cult. The homeless guy
was that kid, who tells Batman that he’s the Avatar, and they want his blood
not his life. Batman punches the kid out and the Bat cultists rush him. Batman
is obviously a better fighter, but they use their numbers and a smoke grenade
to confuse him, so he’s sliced up a few times before the cultists run off. He
heads to the Batcave where Alfred treats his wounds. Alfred suggests that Bruce
might want to look into occult circles to figure out this cult.
We jump to Linton’s Books as Linton
Midnite returns home with a couple. They enter the bookstore and find Batman
waiting. Linton ushers the couple to his backroom, saying this is business that
he’ll tie up shortly. Linton already knows about the murdered thief and the bat
symbol. Batman asks about Barbatos. Linton says he needs a drink and pours
himself some Burbon as he explains. Barbatos is a bat demon god that is said to
sleep beneath Gotham, waiting for his followers to make a sacrifices of blood
and treasure to revive him. Batman asks how to stop Barbatos, and Linton says
that he can’t. Because Barbatos isn’t real. An urban legend that pops up every
couple decades. Batman says a group of cultists attacked him over this myth,
and Linton asks if he’s really surprised a bat worshiping cult wove him into
their mythology. Linton warns that when the treasure doesn’t work to raise
Barbatos, the cult will move onto blood sacrifices. Batman says that they’ve
killed once already, and so Linton points out that’s something the Avatar
should stop, right?
Gordon is brough onto Hattie’s
show. He almost gets makeup put on him, but Hattie insists that Gordon’s rugged
good looks need no enhancement. She offers him something to drink, even
something strong, but Gordon turns it down, saying he doesn’t touch the hard
stuff before an enemy engagement. Hattie insists that this is just a friendly
chat and says Dala will grab him when its time.
The kid gives Batman’s blood to the
Mad Monk, who compliments him on his good work. The kid falls to his knees and
weeps, saying that he doesn’t understand. He followed the Monk for years, and
yet Barbatos chose an unbeliever as his Avatar. When he knows the kid’s faith
is particularly shaken, the Monk snaps his neck, sending him to Barbatos.
Gordon is brought towards the stage
by Dala, who gives him tips on how to handle Hattie. They hear a commotion and
see some cultists kidnapping Hattie. Gordon pulls his gun, but before he can do
more than threaten the cultists, Dala stabs him with a tranquilizer, knocking
him out. She tells her boss that they’re both coming with the cult.
Montoya and Flass are driving when
they hear of the kidnapping. And Alfred and Batman hear it in the cave. Batman
and Alfred try to figure out where the cult is based. Remembering that they
sacrifice treasure to Barbatos, Batman decides to check out local burglaries to
see if there’s a connection while Alfred reads up on the cases.
I feel like a dilapidated church
would be an obvious place to check, but that’s just me.
Gordon and Hattie are tied to some
slabs. Gordon asks if she’s alright, and Hattie says this isn’t her first
scrap. She says, “East Gotham, born and raised,” to let him know how used to
kidnappings she is. Dala comes in, but she’s sporting a new sexy vampire look. Ya,
turns out she is pretty high in this cult. Hattie calls her an ungrateful tramp
and that she’s fired. Dala says that Hattie treated her like crap for years,
and she never knew why, but the religious psychosis the monk fostered makes her
believe that it was all part of Barbatos’ plan. Gordon asks if this is going to
be a ransom situation, but Hattie picks up that it’s a ritual murder situation.
Dala explains they’ll sacrifice the blood of an ally and enemy of Barbatos’
Avatar to draw their lord to their world.
Alfred tells Batman that based on
his research, St. Bartholomew’s church is the best location. Batman hits the
pedal to the metal and races to the church.
At the church, they prepare the to
sacrifice the two, Dala clearly taking a lot of joy from telling her boss to
shut up. The Monk swears that soon Hattie will be silent forever. Batman
shatters the stained glass coming in and a fight ensues. The Mad Monk declares
the Avatar “fallen” and orders his cultists to kill him. Batman frees Gordon,
and Gordon frees Hattie and all three kick some ass. Hattie apparently keeps a
knife in her hat for such occasions. The Monk grabs a bag of treasure and runs
into the catacombs, Batman on his train and Dala on Batman’s. The Monk tries to
encourage Batman to leave him be, as his cultists could have killed Batman in
the park. He swears if they cross paths again, he won’t be so generous. Batman
sees his trail in the grime and follows the trail. He finds an open manhole
cover and assumes the Monk went down, but no, he hid behind Batman and puts a
gun to his skull. He thanks Batman for his help in all this, as it became a lot
easier to sell people on a Bat Cult when he showed up. He makes it clear that
he doesn’t believe in his own religion, something that horrifies the unseen
Dala. The Monk wanted to keep Batman as like a distant figure head, but his
frenzied cult got… well, frenzied. He thought that Batman would kill his cult
and make it easy for him when they came for his blood, but Batman isn’t a
killer. The Monk tries to shoot him, but Batman dodges and they fight. Batman
kicks the gun away and grabs the Monk, who tries to bargain with Batman to get
him in on the con. Batman knocks him out with a punch.
The cops take the cultists away as
Batman brings the Monk up. Gordon, Montoya, and Hattie are waiting when he
does. Gordon tells Montoya to cancel the manhunt for the Monk. Hattie demands
to know where Dala is as she wants to fire Dala again. Dala shrieks
“Blasphemer!” and stabs the Monk in the back. He falls on the knife, ensuring
his death. Dala, lost in her delusion, asks if Batman will bring Barbatos’
terrible glory. He doesn’t say a word and instead grappling hooks away. Dala
sobs as she repeats ‘All Hail Barbatos,’ to his retreating form.
The next night, Hattie explains
what happened to her, giving all the credit for her rescue to Gordon and GCPD.
Gordon, having his guest appearance, says that they should thank Batman as
well, but Hattie insists that Batman inspired all this. She claims that a bunch
of weak-minded fools are in Gotham like her former producer, but her viewers
aren’t among them. We pull out to see a rich murdered guy watching the program,
with the Joker watching over his shoulder. Hell of an ending.
This was a solid episode overall. The
Mad Monk and his little bat cult were interesting antagonists. Organized
religion is a powerful force, as shown by how devoted these guys were to get
Batman’s blood. Having all these cultists going out for Batman’s blood did
allow them to overwhelm Bruce despite his superior fighting skills. I liked the fact that we found out pretty
early on that it was a grift from Linton Midnite. Partially because it was just
nice seeing him again, but also because it shows Batman’s growth. He went from
a character that went through a lot of mental backflips to try to rationalize
the Gentleman Ghost, to at least be willing to consider that a Demon bat god
exists. There’s of course some doubt that lingers, like can we trust Linton
Midnite who in both appearances has given off very morally grey vibes? But then
the monk snaps the neck on his devoted follower, and ya, that seems pretty
clear cut that he’s a phony mystic. His getting stabbed in the back was a bit
of a surprise, but it was a fitting end. I liked seeing more of Hattie Tetch
and getting a look of the person behind the mask of talk show host. The ‘prim
and proper personality is much crasser and courser in private’ trope has been
done to death, but it works with this version of Tetch. Her comment about being
born and raised in East Gotham got a chuckle out of me every time I hear it.
Also, her having that sharpened pin or knife or whatever in her hat for an
emergency weapon was metal as hell. I’m glad that they didn’t try to soften
her, reveal that she’s got strong journalistic integrity or something behind
the scenes. Nah, she’s a gossip columnist with a tv show, she’s about ratings
and getting big guests. Pretty cut and dry. Honestly, I feel bad for Dala.
Woman is clearly treated like dirt by her boss, finds hope and comfort in a
religion (albeit a weird ass cult, but we find comfort where we find it), only
to find out that the monk is a charlatan and that the Avatar of her faith wants
nothing to do with her. I hope they send her to some place OTHER than Arkham so
she can start getting psychological help. And that last minute Joker tease was
neat, but they’re getting a little repetitive. Just Joker… watching…
menacingly. I know that’s what he spends a lot of this season doing as he
prepares for the big finish, but I’m just saying that they could have varied
his approach a little is all. But that’s my one big gripe. Anyway, ya, fun
story. Next time, we’re introduced to another spirit of vengeance. See you
there. Have a good night and stay safe.
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