[7.5/10] I like the idea of giving Terry his own distaff counterpart on the other side of the law. It’s neat and even low-key heartwarming to hear him ask Bruce if anything like this ever happened to him, only for the old man to respond, “let me tell you about a woman named Selina Kyle.” There’s tons of dramatic mileage to be had from characters who care for one another but can’t be together because of their stations and situations and conflicts they don’t always want a part of. (See also: Romeo and Juliet)
But what’s interesting to me is that while I initially had Melanie “Ten” Walker pegged as Terry’s Catwoman, it occured to me partway through the episode that she’s much more akin to his Talia al Ghul. One of Batman: The Animated Series’s few failings is that it never really developed her relationship with Batman well enough to make it convincing, but the structure is there. Talia is part of a long standing organization, bristling against her leader/father, and questioning whether she might rather give up that vagabond life and take up one with the tall dark and handsome avenger who’s a thorn in her leader’s side. The villain in the streets/romance in the sheets setup with their secret identities makes it closer to Catwoman, but Talia seems like the better analogue overall.
But I like Terry and Melanie much better than I ever liked Bruce and Talia because the show takes time to show why they would bond with one another. Both Terry and Melanie are bucking up against father figures who have exacting demands for their late night extracurriculars that prevent them from having a satisfying social or romantic lives. Being Batman and being part of the Royal Flush gang aren’t exactly alike, but the demands each puts on the young masked adventurers are similar, and the way that Terry and Melannie connect and commiserate over that is believable.
The catch is that once they’re together, and not just commiserating, Batman Beyond goes full Dawson’s Creek, which is never good. There’s some over the top melodrama to the way they embrace, or the way that each of them has a “You can’t tell me what to do, Dad” moment with their father figures that’s pretty overblown. The music definitely doesn't help. I’m normally a big fan of Shirley Walker’s work in the DCAU, but this sort of gooey electric score for the romance and drama makes those already cheesy scenes play even cheesier.
Still, the setup is good, and I particularly like this as a villain introduction episode. The fact that the Royal Flush Gang has an unseen history with Batman, and have been operating as a family organization for decades gives them some extra intrigue. (And puts them in line with the League of Shadows a bit). The playing card gimmick gives them a little extra oomph. And their flying card and themed goonsquad make them memorable enough to work in the heightened reality of this universe.
The big flaw here is that a lot of this feels more like setup than anything truly told from beginning to end within the confines of this episode. But still, the action is good enough, the theme of Terry and Melanie both feeling overwhelmed and overstretched by their demanding surrogate parents is a strong one, and early Bruce’s fire and brimstone speech about how “all it takes is one night” only to be understanding with Terry later is great. This episode continues the slow tug of war of how much of Terry’s life should be devoted to being Batman, like Burce’s was, and how much he should be able to make his own, far less lonely life apart from all of that, something that will be with the series for a long time.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-05-03T17:27:34Z
[7.5/10] I like the idea of giving Terry his own distaff counterpart on the other side of the law. It’s neat and even low-key heartwarming to hear him ask Bruce if anything like this ever happened to him, only for the old man to respond, “let me tell you about a woman named Selina Kyle.” There’s tons of dramatic mileage to be had from characters who care for one another but can’t be together because of their stations and situations and conflicts they don’t always want a part of. (See also: Romeo and Juliet)
But what’s interesting to me is that while I initially had Melanie “Ten” Walker pegged as Terry’s Catwoman, it occured to me partway through the episode that she’s much more akin to his Talia al Ghul. One of Batman: The Animated Series’s few failings is that it never really developed her relationship with Batman well enough to make it convincing, but the structure is there. Talia is part of a long standing organization, bristling against her leader/father, and questioning whether she might rather give up that vagabond life and take up one with the tall dark and handsome avenger who’s a thorn in her leader’s side. The villain in the streets/romance in the sheets setup with their secret identities makes it closer to Catwoman, but Talia seems like the better analogue overall.
But I like Terry and Melanie much better than I ever liked Bruce and Talia because the show takes time to show why they would bond with one another. Both Terry and Melanie are bucking up against father figures who have exacting demands for their late night extracurriculars that prevent them from having a satisfying social or romantic lives. Being Batman and being part of the Royal Flush gang aren’t exactly alike, but the demands each puts on the young masked adventurers are similar, and the way that Terry and Melannie connect and commiserate over that is believable.
The catch is that once they’re together, and not just commiserating, Batman Beyond goes full Dawson’s Creek, which is never good. There’s some over the top melodrama to the way they embrace, or the way that each of them has a “You can’t tell me what to do, Dad” moment with their father figures that’s pretty overblown. The music definitely doesn't help. I’m normally a big fan of Shirley Walker’s work in the DCAU, but this sort of gooey electric score for the romance and drama makes those already cheesy scenes play even cheesier.
Still, the setup is good, and I particularly like this as a villain introduction episode. The fact that the Royal Flush Gang has an unseen history with Batman, and have been operating as a family organization for decades gives them some extra intrigue. (And puts them in line with the League of Shadows a bit). The playing card gimmick gives them a little extra oomph. And their flying card and themed goonsquad make them memorable enough to work in the heightened reality of this universe.
The big flaw here is that a lot of this feels more like setup than anything truly told from beginning to end within the confines of this episode. But still, the action is good enough, the theme of Terry and Melanie both feeling overwhelmed and overstretched by their demanding surrogate parents is a strong one, and early Bruce’s fire and brimstone speech about how “all it takes is one night” only to be understanding with Terry later is great. This episode continues the slow tug of war of how much of Terry’s life should be devoted to being Batman, like Burce’s was, and how much he should be able to make his own, far less lonely life apart from all of that, something that will be with the series for a long time.