Josh Reviews Batman: Caped Crusader

Batman: Caped Crusader is a gloriously entertaining new take on Batman, overseen by Bruce Timm (who, of course, created Batman: The Animated Series and the many wonderful DC animated shows and movies that spun out of that) and James Tucker (who worked on Bruce Timm’s shows starting with Superman: The Animated Series and was a producer on the fantastic Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited shows). The show also features the involvement (though I’m not sure how directly) of producers Matt Reeves (who wrote and directed The Batman) and J.J. Abrams.  Another producer is Ed Brubaker, one of the very best comic book writers currently working (he created the Winter Soldier for Marvel and Gotham Central for DC, two hugely influential acts, and his indie comic book series and graphic novels with illustrator Sean Phillips are extraordinary; Criminal is my favorite, and I’m thoroughly enjoying Friday and Reckless, two currently-running graphic novel series).

The result is a fantastic new take on Batman, one thoroughly steeped in 1940’s noir, but with a modern touch.  Caped Crusader is at once a classic, almost retro version of Batman, combined with a reinvention of many members of the supporting cast and rogues gallery.  The show is comfortingly familiar and also innovative and new, all at the same time.

The part of me that grew up loving Batman: The Animated Series really just wanted to see more stories set in that universe; so that part of me is disappointed that Caped Crusader isn’t set in that continuity.  But I also understand why Bruce Timm & co. didn’t want to revisit a thirty-year-old show that is considered a classic, and why they were more interested in creating something new.  What’s fascinating is that Caped Crusader shares a lot of DNA with Batman: The Animated Series.  Aspects of the style and tone of Caped Crusader are immediately reminiscent of Batman: TAS.  The look of the animation and character designs is 100% Bruce Timm’s style, made famous by Batman: TAS.  This is glorious and comforting… but also strange, because the show tends to zig when Batman: TAS zagged.  The characters are designed differently, and the voices are different… this definitely takes some getting used to!  In many ways I found that easier when the changes are more significant: the gender-flipped Penguin feels like an entirely different character, as does this new version of Harley Quinn. But when, say Rupert Thorne appears — a mobster who was a great supporting character on Batman: TAS — and looks and sounds similarly, but differently, from the familiar TAS version, it feels strange.  This was somewhat off-putting for me watching the first few episodes, but as the season progressed I got more comfortable with these new interpretations, and I dug what Mr. Timm & co. have done here.

What Caped Crusader feels like is what Batman: The Animated Series might have been had Bruce Timm been left to his own devices, without the shackles of the rules and limitations applied to network “kids programming” back in the day.  Caped Crusader is a more adult version of the character; we see guns and alcohol and drugs; we see characters in a flirtatious lesbian relationship; we see a little more violence.  But the show doesn’t go too crazy with those elements.  (I’ve felt that many of the recent DC animated projects were overly gratuitous in their uses of cursing and/or nudity, so they actually felt more juvenile rather than adult.  But Caped Crusader is far more sophisticated and nuanced in their uses of these more grown-up elements.  The result works like gangbusters for me.)  Also, as I commented in the above paragraph, Caped Crusader is very intentionally giving us different versions of these familiar characters.  Whereas part of the magic for me of Batman: The Animated Series was how they distilled so many great aspects of Batman’s long comic book history to create what felt like the most perfect versions of each of these iconic characters, Caped Crusader is doing something very different: reinventing and reworking these characters.  The results are, for the most part, very well done, but it definitely gives the show a different feel and took me a little while to get used to.

The look of the show is pure, unadulterated Bruce Timm.  I fell in love with his style in Batman: The Animated Series, and it’s delightful to be back in this world.  The character designs are sharp and memorable, and they have a simplicity to their design that works beautifully in animated motion. I love the 1940’s style given to the show.  It’s fun seeing those classic forties cars and outfits.  (I love that the men on this show wear a lot of hats.)  This fits perfectly with the noir, street-level crime approach of the show.  There aren’t many outlandish super-villains on the show.  We get lots of mobsters, which I love.  I’m so happy Rupert Thorne is a major threat on the show.  When we do get some characters in costumes (Firebug, Harley), they feel grounded enough to fit smoothly into the tone of the show.  This is very well-done.

The series has a wonderfully rich supporting cast of heroes and antagonists.  I loved how much time and attention the show gives to the supporting characters: good cops like Gordon and Montoya; crooked cops like Bullock and Flass; Barbara Gordon (presented here as a defense attorney, a clever twist on the character and a great way to keep her organically involved with the stories), and many more.  There were many episodes in which Batman basically felt like a supporting character in his own show… and it totally worked!  In many ways, Batman is less interesting than all these other characters, and he works well in smaller doses.  The focus on the cops felt like a major aspect of Ed Brubaker’s influence.  (His amazing comic book series Gotham Central was all about the Gotham City detectives, and many aspects of that series have been incorporated here.)  Mr. Brubaker wrote two (terrific) episodes of this season, and a third was written by Greg Rucka (another phenomenal comic book writer, and the co-creator and co-writer of Gotham Central!).

I enjoyed the light continuity between episodes.  The show is (thankfully) episodic, with each episode standing on its own and telling a complete story.  At the same time, story threads and character arcs build between episodes.  Harvey Dent’s campaign for mayor is a major example.  This is exactly the right approach.  In today’s streaming era, I welcome this return to episodic storytelling, while at the same time I love the way the show’s storytelling propels the viewer through the season.  Things really build momentum as we get into the back half of the season, leading to a thrilling final two episodes.  (I do wish the show occasionally gave us a dollop more of continuity.  I wish someone actually talked about the destruction of police HQ that we saw in the first episode… and I wish we’d got one scene to explore Montoya’s feelings after Harley is revealed as a villain.)

Shall we dig in deeper?  Let’s do it!  There will be some light SPOILERS ahead… nothing too major, but if you want to go into the show totally clean, I advise you to stop reading here and come back after you’ve seen the show!

Hamish Linklater (Legion) has big shoes to fill as Bruce Wayne/Batman.  The late, great Kevin Conroy from Batman: The Animated Series was the best on-screen version of Batman ever, full stop.  Mr. Linklater’s vocal performance as Batman and Bruce Wayne takes a similar approach to Mr. Conroy’s work, and this is a great case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.  It works.  It did take me a few episodes to stop wishing I was hearing Mr. Conroy’s voice, but that did eventually go away and over the season I grew to quite enjoy Mr. Linklater’s work.  The design of Batman harkens back to the early Bob Kane drawings.  I wish the ears were a little smaller and the Bat Signal a little larger, but it works.  Most importantly I love how this Batman is played; he’s early enough in his career that he doesn’t feel invincible, but he’s not a rookie.  This Batman is competent and cold — laser-focused on his mission — which plays exactly right to me.  I like that the show allows Batman to be a detective, investigating crimes.  Jason Watkins is perfect as Alfred.  I love his voice; I love the way he needles Bruce/Batman.  It’s a surprising choice to have Bruce/Batman always calling him “Pennyworth” instead of Alfred” — one of many places the show is intentionally making different choices than previous depictions of these characters — but I liked how Bruce and Alfred’s relationship plays out over the course of the season.

I loved Diedrich Bader (Better Things)’s work as Harvey Dent.  Mr. Bader had the perfect oily smarm for this version of Dent, a D.A. running for mayor.  I was surprised that the show started off by portraying Dent as a (possibly corrupt) jerk.  I thought: if he’s already a bad guy, what’s his arc for when he inevitably transforms into Two Face?  I shouldn’t have doubted — I was very pleasantly surprised by where they took this character.

I loved the choice to have Commissioner Gordon and his daughter Barbara be African American.  Eric Morgan Stuart and Krystal Joy Brown were great as their voice actors.  I commented above that I loved the choice of having Barbara be a defense lawyer.  That was a clever way to organically keep her involved in the stories.  I also liked the choice of developing her friendships with both Harley Quinn (Jamie Chung) and Detective Montoya (Michelle C. Bonilla).  I first discovered and grew to love Montoya in Batman: The Animated Series (she was created for that show), and I was thrilled she had such a major role here in Caped Crusader.  (I loved that Greg Rucka, who wrote Montoya so well in the comics for so many years, got to write a Montoya-heavy episode of this show!)  I was a little uncertain at first about this very different version of Harley.  I don’t like her costume, when it’s eventually revealed.  (It’s hard to top her classic original look from TAS.)  But I grew to love the out-of-costume depiction of Harley!  I like that the show took its time to reveal her dark side.  I like that the show didn’t have any hesitance about depicting her as a lesbian.  I really like that they’ve completely separated her from the Joker.  I wish Harley had been more involved in the final episodes of the season!  I hope we see more of her in season two.

(Is this a good time to point out the show’s interesting choice to depict several characters as a little more, um, wide than they usually are? Alfred, Harley, Montoya, and others aren’t drawn looking super-skinny like the way we often see them.  I was surprised at first by this choice, but I liked it! I like that the show is making these characters its own.)

I loved John DiMaggio (Bender from Futurama) and Gary Anthony Williams as Bullock and Flass.  I was surprised the show depicted them both as unabashedly crooked cops.  I kept waiting for Bullock to make a turn back towards good — because he’s usually depicted as having a heart of gold inside his gruff exterior — but that didn’t happen.  That surprised me!  I wonder if we’ll see that happen in season two.

Christina Ricci gave a wonderful interpretation of Selina Kyle/Catwoman.  I loved the way Ms. Ricci played the role.  I was intrigued by the way the show portrayed this Selina as a sort of anti-Bruce Wayne (complete with a butler of her own, albeit one with far less loyalty than Alfred).  I understand their choice to make Catwoman’s costume look a lot like the original version from the comics, but I’ve always felt that costume looked silly.  I wish they’d gone with a more modern look, in this case.

The female version of the Penguin — now Oswalda Cobblepot — was quite a surprise!  I really enjoyed Minnie Driver as Oswalda’s voice.

I liked seeing Jim Corrigan (a character from the comics who eventually became the Spectre; he was depicted as a corrupt cop in Brubaker and Rucka’s run on Gotham Central) pop up.  I enjoyed hearing Paul Scheer’s voice as both of Oswalda Cobblepot’s sons.  I was glad that gangster Rupert Thorne had a large role to play.  There’s so much more to discuss…!  But this review has gone on for long enough, I think.

I very much enjoyed Caped Crusader.  This was a great show.  (I can’t believe the DC/Warner Brothers team didn’t want to hold onto this to show for their own streaming service, MAX!  Instead, it’s on Amazon Prime Video, which feels weird to me.)  I can’t wait to find time to rewatch these first ten episodes, and I hope we don’t have to wait too terribly long for season two.  (The season ends with a tease of the Joker… I’m curious to see what the show does with that famous character…)

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