Time to put the Thorne situation on Ice.
Last time on Batman: Caped
Crusader, Riddler finally met his match. Rose Forrest was a meek young
woman living with her father, she just wanted to sell flowers and meet her
prince charming. Her ex-cop father spoke sternly to Eddie Nygma when the mob
boss came in for his protection money, so Riddler murdered him with a Tommy gun.
This caused a psychological break in Rose (mental health problems are implied
to run in her family via her mom) and creates a new, seductive persona
eventually dubbed Thorn. Thorn seduces Riddler, the two going on a crime spree
together. Batman tries to stop them but is caught and almost killed due to
being poisoned by Thorn’s bladed whip. They stick him in a car and shove it off
a cliff, but Batman escapes. He finally tracks Riddler to his club and tries to
bring him in, but Thorn takes him away. Riddler’s girlfriend Lily tries to
protect him but has a breakdown when she realizes that Riddler is definitely
leaving her. She mutters that things were going so well until they shot up the
flower shop. At the flower shop, Thorn reveals who she really is with a bouquet
that reads “Burn in Hell.” She murders him with a tommy gun and then skips
town. At the cave, Alfred is upset for the poor girl. He was a regular at their
shop and had given Rose his condolences earlier. Batman tells him that she’ll probably
get out of town, but he’ll be ready if she comes back. In the episode’s final
moments, the remnants of Thorne/Riddler’s gang is scooped up by the Joker for
whatever he’s planning. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?
Ep 18: Zero Hour
We open with a pair of mobsters
gunning down a rat. Once he’s dead, one of the mobsters asks if this was an ‘off
the books’ hit, and his friend says not to worry, he already called the guy. An
armored ice truck pulls up and three men get out, the first two are obvious
henchmen, but the third is very odd. He’s a large Black man with blue hair and
a neck brace with an electronic voice box built into it. The man looks over the
corpse, says that it has holes, which he doesn’t like. The goons shrug and say
that’s a hazard of their line of work. They pay him, and his goons take the
body away. He warns the two that they shouldn’t call him again for a body like
this. He wants the corpses without a visible sign of damage, or there will be
no more business from him. The squad get in the truck and drive away.
At the Batcave, Alfred crosses out
Riddler’s picture and asks if this’ll mean a reduction in mob activity. Batman
doesn’t think so, if Thorne is out for revenge, it won’t stop just because the
Riddler is dead. Alfred points out that it’s weird that Thorne has been MIA for
so long. He wonders if maybe this is just an all-out gang war instead of Thorne
still being butthurt about his arrest. Batman doesn’t think so, as he believes
mobsters display their kills to show off, the fighting right now has been oddly
bloodless comparatively speaking. Aflred says that he investigated air and
train travel out of Gotham and neither Rupert Thorne nor his son Mattie’s names
had been seen on any ticket purchases. He thinks that maybe they’re running under
false names. Their investigation is interrupted by their police scanner letting
them know that Thorne’s car has been found. In Gotham Bay.
We jump over to Carrie Kelly, one
of the four orphan Robin homages from the Nocturne episode, who has had a
pretty big win since we last saw her, she’s been adopted. She’s riding her bike
home when she sees an old lady putting up missing posters for her dog. Carrie
takes one of the posters before she’s grabbed by Harvey Bullock. The now
officer Bullock tells Carrie that curfew is at 5 pm, and that she’s out past
it. He takes Carrie back to her parents and tells Carrie’s new mom that an
orphan like Carrie is a half-criminal, so she needs to be watched constantly,
or she’ll run all over town. Carrie’s mother, I’m going to call her Maria after
her voice actress Maria Canals-Barrera because she doesn’t have a name in the show,
‘thanks’ Bullock for seeing Carrie home safely, but points out Carrie is only
ten minutes late. Bullock tells her to keep Carrie and her bike off the street,
he handcuffs the bike to their front gate for emphasis, and warns that if she’s
smart, she’ll see if the orphanage has a return policy. Bullock storms off,
almost getting hit by a car as he walks away. Maria waves and thanks Bullock again,
but if looks could kill he’d drop dead on the spot. She slams the door and
shakes her head at how Bullock can find so much time to harass her ten-year-old
girl. Carrie begins to apologize, saying that she’s sure that she’s not what
the Carson’s had been expecting when they adopted her. Maria cuts her off and
says that Carrie is a delight. A little rough around the edges, but she was too
back in the day. Her dad, I dub him Kevin after his voice actor Kevin Michael Richardson,
pops out of the kitchen to say dinner is ready.
After dinner, her parents discuss
Carrie and how she’s adjusting. Maria thinks that Carrie is having trouble settling
in. She thinks Carrie needs to make friends, if only so she’s not as easy of a
target for Bullock to harass. Kevin says that Carrie just needs a little more
time. She’s a good kid with good parents. He shouts up to Carrie to tell her to
finish her homework and head to bed. Carrie agrees, while setting up a decoy in
her bed and preparing to sneak out. She dresses up in a Gray Ghost costume,
quoting the character, “The road of life takes many turns, but crime is a dead
end.” She’s dubbed herself the “Crime Smasher” and is going to go out to help
the community.
A reminder, the Gray Ghost is an
in-universe fictional superhero, the star of a radio drama and early tv series.
He’s a sort of Batman character for Bruce Wayne to look up to. He was
introduced in the original Animated series back in the 90s and was an homage to
Adam West, who also voiced the character.
Carrie slips out and uses her lockpicking
tools to get her bike free from Bullock’s cuffs. She rides around town, her
cape flapping in the wind as she looks for Bingo, the missing dog. She is able
to track the dog down, finding it thanks to a paint paw trail. She delivers the
dog to his owner, anonymously, and rides off to find her next case.
At the bay, they pull out Thorne’s
car. Gordon orders his men to get photos of the car and then to get it back to
GCPD for more tests. He sees Batman and goes to speak with him covertly. Batman
and Gordon agree that Thorne was either killed or kidnapped. There is a tire
trail of a much heavier car that leads to where Thorne’s car was dumped, but that’s
the only clue they’ve got. Gordon laments the fact that Riddler is dead, as he
might be the only one who could confirm what happened to the Thornes. Batman
doesn’t think Riddler was involved at all, he was an opportunist, not a
planner. They need a body, regardless if its dead or alive to prove a crime.
Batman slips away as Gordon says this, as he often does.
Carrie continues her ‘Crime Smasher’
activities. She stops some hoodlums from breaking into a store with brick with
her fireworks, and practices shooting with her slingshot. Her training is
interrupted when an armored ice truck drives by, almost hitting her, but hitting
her bike. She sees it has Subzero Icehouse advertised on the side. She shouts that
it’s illegal to leave the scene of a crime. She repeats the line that “crime is
a dead end” while holding her handlebars.
At GCPD, Gordon is spending his evening
sketching out a concept for the Bat signal when Batman calls him. Gordon is impressed
that Batman has something already, as it has only been three hours and that’s
fast even for him. His list is pretty exhaustive. 15 companies in Gotham use
private delivery trucks, none with a fleet bigger than 5, 8 are the wrong model,
2 were locked down for safety violations, so he’s narrowed it down to five
potential options. Gordon tells Batman to keep him posted and if he can get a
little more info to Gordon, he can put men on it. He begins to say that they work
well together, but Batman hangs up before he can finish. He scribbles out the
signal idea.
Carrie checks the phonebook and
finds the ad for Subzero Icehouse. It’s in ‘old Gotham’ which is a dangerous
part of town, but it’s her only lead, so she goes for it. Oh, to have the stupid
confidence of youth again. She finds the business and their trucks. She is
excited to have tracked them down, but is surprised when Batman gets the drop
on her. She tries to convince Batman that she can help him, as she did
save his life once, but Batman isn’t having it. He tells her that the scum he
fights wouldn’t hesitate to kill her and yells at her to go home. I feel like
this is Bruce Timm trying to keep people from getting their hopes up for a
Robin to show up. Carrie runs off, crying because her hero yelled at her.
The goons bring a body into the
Icehouse. Batman checks out the truck and finds a big pool of blood. The goons
sneak up on him and one puts a gun to his head. Batman beats them up and locks
them in the truck. He investigates the Ice House. He finds something that
surprises him, but before he can react further, a block of ice falls on him, knocking
him out. The boss, Mr. Zero, is impressed with the Batman. He dubs him a
perfect specimen and thinks that Batman will be his master work. Mr. Zero frees
his goons and tells them to get to work.
Carrie kicks a can in anger, saying
that Batman is a jerk. She sees a billboard for the Wayne Manor Estates, which
tell her to ‘live the good life.’ She asks how she do that, right as Bullock
grabs her. He was staking out the area near her house as he was sure she’d
sneak out again. Carrie mouth offs to Bullock, which really pisses him off. He
warns her that he’s done a terrible things to folks for a lot less. She calls
him scum. Bullock almost takes a swing at the girl, but thinks better of it,
saying that a few years in Juvie will straighten her out. Before he can get her
in the car, though, she kicks him in the balls and runs off. She escapes
Bullock and heads back to the Icehouse, saying that the Gray Ghost never
abandons a case, and neither does Crime Smasher.
I thank god this is a show, because
this kid would absolutely get killed in real life doing this.
She breaks into the warehouse and as
a look around. She finds the office is covered in cobwebs. She finds the cold
storage area and the thing that surprised Batman, a creepy statue of a guy. It
seems to be frozen solid. She finds Batman stuck in a tube of some kind. He
starts to scold her, but as he doesn’t have any other option, she tells him to
pull the lever beside him to get him free. She gets him out and he says that he
needs his belt. Carrie says they need to get out of there. The lights come on
and we see a lot more frozen statues… including one of Rubert Thorne. Mr. Zero
comes in, saying that he won’t let a moppet steal his masterpiece. Batman tells
Carrie to go, but she pulls out her slingshot and asks Mr. Zero if he really
thinks she’s intimidated by a wannabe Basil Carlo. Carrie fires a rock at Mr.
Zero, who knocks it aside with his giant tongs. The rock shatters Mattie Thorne’s
head… revealing brains. Carrie is horrified to learn that the statues are all
frozen corpses. Batman tries to fight Mr. Zero, but he’s still sluggish from
being partially frozen and is knocked aside. Carrie slips away and shoves over
the statues to bury Mr. Zero in ice. She grabs Batman’s belt, but Mr. Zero
grabs her and sticks her into a crane’s claw. He tells Carrie that he’s going
to dunk her in liquid nitrogen and turn her into a frozen angel. Batman rushes
Zero and keeps him from dunking Carrie. They fight as Carrie uses the utility
belt to free herself. She uses a flashbang to blind Zero and then a heavy ball
to move the crane. Zero’s goons come to help him. Batman knocks one into the
nitrogen, freezing him, and then Carrie tosses him the belt. The two are able
to disable the other goon, and then both quote the Gray Ghost before doing a
Kamen Rider kick to knock down Mr. Zero.
Carrie is happy to learn that Batman
also liked the Gray Ghost. He says he used to, he found the character…
inspiring. Carrie is obviously overwhelmed by all the death that she’s witnessed
tonight, and says that Batman can handle wrapping this up. Batman thanks her
for saving him, again, and starts to apologize for yelling earlier, but Carrie
ran off already. Ya, Bruce, it doesn’t feel so good, does it?
Carrier runs home, only to be cut
off by Bullock. She dodges his grab and uses her might ‘being a child’ powers
to outrun the overweight Bullock. She climbs up her fire escape and gets into
the house just before Bullock rings the bell. Kevin and Maria answer the door
and are shocked by Bullock being there so late. He says that Carrie snuck out
and demands to see the girl, but Carrie is a master at quick changes, so she’s
already in her PJs and sleepily asks her parents what is going on. The Carsons
close the door on Bullock, Carrie giving him a wink as the door clicks shut.
Batman meanwhile has Mr. Zero tied
up and demands to know who killed Thorne. Mr. Zero says that a client wanted
Rupert Thorne out of the way, so he was paid to get rid of him, and he got to
make his art, everyone wins. Batman threatens to toss him into the liquid nitrogen,
and Zero relents. He starts to say who hired him, but is shot in the head and
neck before he can finish. Batman turns to try to see who did it, but he’s
alone in the warehouse. The episode ends on Rupert Thorne, frozen forever with
his rictus grin.
I’ll be honest, they wasted this
version of Mr. Freeze. I know they used the older name of the character to separate
him from the iconic Freeze from Bruce Timm’s original Batman: The Animated
Series. But it’s so weird that Timm took a one note villain with a weird
gimmick into a multi-dimensional, award-winning tragic antagonist… and turned
him back into a one note villain with a weird gimmick. The statues were creepy
as hell, I’ll give them that, but it’s a far cry from Mr. Freeze’s monologues.
Design wise he was okay. The blue hair was distinctive, and the voice box was
an interesting idea… but I can’t help feeling like he was all set up. Like, why
did he have a voice box? When did he get started freezing corpses? How long has
he been operating in Gotham? No answers, just a creepy artist that got his brains
blown out. At least with guys like Basil Carlo and the Penguin there’s a chance
they could come back for more, killing him just felt like a waste. Especially
when keeping the secret of who hired him is a moot as hell point, since we’ve
only got two episode’s left and the Joker is definitely getting revealed next
time. Just a waste. It was nice to see Carrie again, and that her life has been
going well except for Bullock. I assumed this version of Batman wouldn’t get a
Robin, it’s a bit too focused on the grim noir aesthetic to have room for the
boy wonder, but this was a nice little homage to Batman’s sidekick. As I said
above, though, it’s a good thing this is a show, because Carrie would absolutely
be dead by the end of this confrontation in a more realistic scenario. Her
little wink of victory at Bullock was just perfect. I liked that they worked
the Gray Ghost into this story as well, as nods to happy memories from Bruce’s childhood
helps to break up the misery that was his life post parental death. I like that
he apologized to Carrie, and that she didn’t hear it, as it was fun to see
Batman be the guy who didn’t notice someone left before he was finished for
once. So ya, this episode had some interesting ideas, and I liked seeing
Carrie, but it left me feeling like it was incomplete. Next time, the Joker’s
masterplan is finally unleashed.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/u2761062/posts/viewer-log-caped-173611282
Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
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