Speaker 1: Worrying. Today's episode contains spoilers for season two of Batman
Speaker 1: Cape Crusader episodes one through four, just the first four one. Hello,
Speaker 1: my name is Jason Concepcion and I'm Rosie Knight, and
Speaker 1: welcome back the extra vision of the podcast where we
Speaker 1: dive deep into your favorite shows, movies, colleges, have pop culture.
Speaker 1: Cow You from my Heart, We're We're breathing you three episodes.
Speaker 2: A weeks blusters.
Speaker 3: In today's episode, we're back in the steampunk inspired nineteen
Speaker 3: forties noir drenched world of Batman Cape Crusader.
Speaker 4: Bruce tim is back.
Speaker 3: He is executive produced once again by JJ Abrams and
Speaker 3: Matt Reeves of the Batman fame, with some.
Speaker 4: More Batman cartooning.
Speaker 3: But the question is Jason in a post X Men world,
Speaker 3: in a post Batman Cape Crusado season one in an
Speaker 3: invincible era?
Speaker 4: Do these episodes stand up?
Speaker 3: What do we see in them? How do they reimagine
Speaker 3: the characters? That's what this show has been really famous for.
Speaker 3: That's what we're going to be digging into on those
Speaker 3: first four episodes.
Speaker 2: So if you've not watched the first four episodes.
Speaker 3: You might not want to listen or you might and
Speaker 3: then go check out the episodes and see what you think.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's start with episode one, Brute Force. It's wonderful
Speaker 1: to have Cape Crusader back. I will say, I'm kind
Speaker 1: of a surprise. It's a little bit of a dead
Speaker 1: summer TV zone. I've transitioned to brainless reality TV to
Speaker 1: just kind of smooth everything out. So it's been nice
Speaker 1: to have this along with X Men ninety seven to
Speaker 1: kind of carry us through.
Speaker 3: It's very classy too, like everything saye yeah, I feel
Speaker 3: like I'm like, oh, I'm watching some real TV.
Speaker 4: Here tells you about the quality of television that I.
Speaker 2: Watch that this is.
Speaker 4: I'm like, wow, this is prestigious.
Speaker 1: No, but it does feel classic, you know, because.
Speaker 2: It the money is that you can see the money
Speaker 2: on the.
Speaker 1: Screen, and you know, it obviously brings back that feeling
Speaker 1: of the original Batman, the animated series. So there is
Speaker 1: like a it's like when they reissue you know, like
Speaker 1: a car and a classic silhouette or like uh yeah exactly,
Speaker 1: or they make a digital camera so that it looks
Speaker 1: like an analogue camera. It's like there's something kind of
Speaker 1: classic and classy about it. Start with episode one brute force.
Speaker 1: Rupert Thorne is on trial, yes, and for once it
Speaker 1: looks like the state's got something on him. There's an
Speaker 1: accountant named Julian who has and this is like an
Speaker 1: absolute ripoff of the Untouchables.
Speaker 4: But that's fine, it's so funny. Homage Jason an homage.
Speaker 1: An accountant named Julian has a photogaph graphic memory, so
Speaker 1: has seen all the books and has all the dirt
Speaker 1: on Rubert Thorn. I will say, like, is this actually admission?
Speaker 1: I guess if you could scientifically.
Speaker 3: Prove right, Yeah, you have to prove that he has
Speaker 3: an idetic memory, and you could test it on multiple things,
Speaker 3: multiple things, and then you believe that the Gotham Police
Speaker 3: Department has done that.
Speaker 4: I don't think so, Like, I don't know how much
Speaker 4: juice they've got for that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: But it's very much in the realm of this show
Speaker 3: where they're kind of always asking you to have plausible deniability,
Speaker 3: but and also not just about like characters like this
Speaker 3: where it's like, oh, this is a magic thing that
Speaker 3: he has. It's not, you know, identic memories are real,
Speaker 3: but like it's probably an admissible in a court of law,
Speaker 3: but at the same time, they're also giving you, like
Speaker 3: this really weird version of the Riddler that's like not
Speaker 3: at all you know a Riddler. So it's kind of
Speaker 3: that interesting swinging between what you know and what you don't.
Speaker 1: Well, this is calendar Man, isn't. Isn't Julian calendar Man?
Speaker 2: Julian Gregory the character.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like the actual named character is him. So that's
Speaker 3: what I'm saying, is like, actually, I'm gonna ask about
Speaker 3: this because aboo kind of actually is. But in the
Speaker 3: pre pro this grounds a lot of those kind of
Speaker 3: outrageous character Yes, and we get that with this version
Speaker 3: of the Riddler, who's tided.
Speaker 2: How do you feel out Its kind of.
Speaker 3: Gangster like, you know, kind of more grounded, less sixties outrageous,
Speaker 3: kind of leaning into the silliness.
Speaker 4: I like it.
Speaker 1: I think that they I think it was important for
Speaker 1: the show to establish a tone that is not only
Speaker 1: in keeping with your original series, but grows on it.
Speaker 1: And I think the doubling down on as you described,
Speaker 1: the kind of like steampunk gangsterism, I.
Speaker 2: Think is the right of lots of Tommy guns.
Speaker 1: Yes, Thorn's henchman want to kill Julian before he can testify,
Speaker 1: and Batman ends up saving his life in order for
Speaker 1: him to be able to talk. In the b plot,
Speaker 1: Edward Nigma, Yes, Thorn him ever heard of him?
Speaker 2: Who is?
Speaker 1: Thorn's kind of like guy like lieutenant Like.
Speaker 4: He's like this bixa.
Speaker 3: He like he gets ship done for him. He sorts
Speaker 3: out problems.
Speaker 1: Pre Riddler is what I'm getting here? Right, This is
Speaker 1: like before.
Speaker 3: He's sure because the color palette is all there, so
Speaker 3: I wasn't sure that they want you to know it's him.
Speaker 3: But I don't think this is a Riddler who's like
Speaker 3: going around doing puzzles to Batman yet, right.
Speaker 1: He has not like developed that part of his repina.
Speaker 1: He's just kind of like, yeah, he buys a stolen
Speaker 1: formula off Hugo Strange and to see him crazy, you
Speaker 1: love to see that and puts it straight into his
Speaker 1: most loyal soldier does and des turns into the Hulk.
Speaker 3: Basically yeah, like this kind of monstrous Solomon Grundy Hall like.
Speaker 1: However, Thorn beats the rap, absolutely remains calm, cool and
Speaker 1: collected through the entire trial, walks out of Freeman, but
Speaker 1: then he is poisoned by the Joker, and that we
Speaker 1: get it and our first introduction to the Joker in
Speaker 1: this series, and it is voiced by the actor who
Speaker 1: plays Lara Strong and how Old Dragon, Matthew need Him
Speaker 1: in a wonderful kind of low melodious kind of voice
Speaker 1: that I found quite delightful. Your thoughts on this opening
Speaker 1: episode of Batman Cape Crusader.
Speaker 4: Okay, I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 3: I do feel that this episode does struggle with one
Speaker 3: of my ultimate issues, which is post Christopher Nolan Batman.
Speaker 3: There has long been an argument that you can tell it,
Speaker 3: you know, oh, it would be a great movie without Batman.
Speaker 3: That's what they always say about his films, right, I'm like,
Speaker 3: and then, what do you mean it's not a Batman movie?
Speaker 4: Then? I do fear that this I love Hamish.
Speaker 3: Link later Batman voice. I think that's great voice casting.
Speaker 4: I fear that.
Speaker 1: He's a little too strained for me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just fear that he's not enough of a
Speaker 3: presence in the show and in this in this episode
Speaker 3: in a way that feels like really important. But I
Speaker 3: did love this kind of like new romantic, like handsome,
Speaker 3: you know, suave Joker with this kind of like bernhuzal
Speaker 3: gest voice, like done by Laris Strong, which I just
Speaker 3: love so much, Like what a legend coming off a
Speaker 3: crazy season of you know, House of the Dragon, Like this.
Speaker 4: Is a really good place.
Speaker 3: I would say something that I think is really interesting
Speaker 3: to compare this to X Men ninety seven, right, which
Speaker 3: is like my complaint about the first episode of X
Speaker 3: Men ninety seven wasn't very accessible. Now I do fear
Speaker 3: I may have monkey paused myself, and this is almost
Speaker 3: like so accessible, right because I wouldn't necessarily if you
Speaker 3: just this is the perfect cartoon, and I do mean
Speaker 3: this in a complimentary way. This cartoon can be syndicated
Speaker 3: for a million years and you will just turn on
Speaker 3: this episode and you can watch it and enjoy it, right,
Speaker 3: Like you don't really need to know the cannon. It's
Speaker 3: a great like just random episode. Is that your first
Speaker 3: episode of your Amazon Prestige TV second outing?
Speaker 2: I don't know, Like I don't think this is.
Speaker 3: One of its strongest episodes from what we've seen every
Speaker 3: first season, but it is, like I do think that
Speaker 3: you make a good point.
Speaker 4: The tone setting is quite like hardcore.
Speaker 1: Actually, yeah, I've found this. You know, it's hard not
Speaker 1: to trusted with X Men ninety seven because both are
Speaker 1: on the air at the same time and both have
Speaker 1: kind of, like to me, opposite strength and opposite problems
Speaker 1: X Men ninety seven. If it has a weakness, it
Speaker 1: is there's too much meat in the sausage. Yes, and
Speaker 1: I think that, And I think Batman Cape Crusader there's
Speaker 1: maybe not enough meat in the sausage. And also agree
Speaker 1: and also to your point the Hamage link later. First
Speaker 1: of all, let me just say, Matthew Needham, I do
Speaker 1: love the kind of like almost like joy Division esque.
Speaker 4: Right saying like euro Goth. Yeah, that's cool, you know,
Speaker 4: like it.
Speaker 1: Dripping his voice kind of like dripping with different tones.
Speaker 1: I like that quite a bit. Hamish link later it's
Speaker 1: it's I needed to grow on me. The Batman part
Speaker 1: of it. I think the Bruce Wayne part of it
Speaker 1: is good.
Speaker 4: Yes, agree, he's a good birth rate.
Speaker 1: The Batman part of it feels too influenced by Batman
Speaker 1: voice kind of in ear quotes. It is a little
Speaker 1: too strained from me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I need it to put like his crazy midnight
Speaker 3: mass voice on it, like come on, we've seen you
Speaker 3: do some crazy shit, Like let's go, let's get it
Speaker 3: extra weird.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it just feels like there needs it
Speaker 1: hasn't been seasoned enough. We gotta let it cook a
Speaker 1: little bit. And overall so far a little bit light
Speaker 1: of an episode.
Speaker 4: But I'm into what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: But also as well, like I'm saying, is like the
Speaker 3: one thing I can't deny is just the quality of
Speaker 3: the anime.
Speaker 4: It looks like that's the thing.
Speaker 3: Is like put it on your nice HD TV, watch
Speaker 3: on your laptop, however you are, your iPad, whatever you however,
Speaker 3: you enjoy watching things and just enjoy the definition on.
Speaker 4: The line weights, Yes, enjoy how straight the Joker's hat is,
Speaker 4: you know, just enjoy like the the artwork as adults.
Speaker 3: And I'm sure that you know, a six year old
Speaker 3: is probably I loved bugsy Malone when I was a kid,
Speaker 3: so I guess a six year old might really be
Speaker 3: into like Tommy Gunn Edward Nigma.
Speaker 2: Who what do I know?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, moving on to episode two, and I'm doing
Speaker 1: this off the top, So if I'm getting anything wrong, Rosie,
Speaker 1: let me know.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, we.
Speaker 1: Meet Lucius Fox. He is guiding Bruce through an upcoming
Speaker 1: like in potential investment into Triad Industries. Triad Industries has
Speaker 1: been working on something called Ultrium, which I absolutely loved.
Speaker 4: I love a name like that.
Speaker 3: As also this is like again I do want to
Speaker 3: say they're having a lot of fun here with the
Speaker 3: comic book stuff, because like the guy who's the CEO
Speaker 3: of Triad here is like from these old detective comics
Speaker 3: villains called the Terrible Trio.
Speaker 4: So they're having this.
Speaker 3: Like really silly kind of fun deep dive but reimagining it.
Speaker 2: And we get more of that.
Speaker 3: I mean even the episode name is Red Rockets Glass,
Speaker 3: so if you can probably imagine what Batman the animated series,
Speaker 3: they're gonna reimagine. But yeah, me and Jason love Our
Speaker 3: favorite thing about Avatar is unobtainium.
Speaker 4: Come on, you can't obtain it. Like that's a fucking hilarious.
Speaker 1: So Ultraam is like a super rocket fuel but absolutely green,
Speaker 1: like completely clean, I mean with with energy per like
Speaker 1: micro leader or whatever, but like burns very clean. Yes,
Speaker 1: so a super fuel. The company is obviously absolutely thrilled
Speaker 1: about this, and they're talking about oh my and you
Speaker 1: change the world blah blah blah blah blah. And now
Speaker 1: there is the slight complication that their lead scientist doctor
Speaker 1: Roxana Sutton.
Speaker 3: Yes, who if you are a big fan of the
Speaker 3: original series, that's roxy Rocket, right, So they're doing their
Speaker 3: reimagining here of the DC universe character Roxy Rocket, who
Speaker 3: in the comics, I mean, in the original animated series
Speaker 3: was like a villain, she was an antagonist, but here
Speaker 3: it kind of is more like she was the good
Speaker 3: one who invented it and who had some kind of
Speaker 3: morals at least at some point.
Speaker 1: So sadly doctor Sutton, who spearheaded the kind of experimentation
Speaker 1: and production of Ultrium, has conveniently passed away under mysterious circumstances.
Speaker 1: We don't know what happened. And the three you know,
Speaker 1: executives who are walking Bruce and Lucius through this, through
Speaker 1: the portfolio or like, you know, sadly she's dead, but
Speaker 1: like we've got the product, like.
Speaker 3: We know that, Like she died in a mysterious accident.
Speaker 3: Don't worry about that. It was the detective.
Speaker 1: Of course, Bruce wants to know more under his guise
Speaker 1: of the Cape Crusader, and so he's like, you know,
Speaker 1: let me take a closer look, and he discovers in
Speaker 1: dramatic fashion than actually, doctor Sutton is not dead doctor Sutton.
Speaker 1: It is revealed through a gunfight in the corporate headquarters
Speaker 1: of Triad Industries. Is rocksy Rocket.
Speaker 3: Could you believe it, guys if you've watched the original
Speaker 3: anime series.
Speaker 1: That's right, And the Triad actually wanted to just kind
Speaker 1: of like steal the tech which she had significant which
Speaker 1: she has significant concerns about, and sell it without ever
Speaker 1: addressing those concerns.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they basically wanted to.
Speaker 3: It was a Tony Stock type situation, like they kind
Speaker 3: of reimagine her hair in a situation where she doesn't want.
Speaker 4: To sell.
Speaker 1: Weapons steel energy to weapon.
Speaker 4: Stealers and terrorists and all the shit that they're going
Speaker 4: to sell it to.
Speaker 1: So there's a big series of fights. She derails a
Speaker 1: train in order to kind of like prove her point.
Speaker 1: Batman runs her down. There's like an aerial dog fight,
Speaker 1: and and once he figures out wait a second Roxy
Speaker 1: Rocket Doctor Sutton gasp is her face is partially revealed.
Speaker 1: Uh is by the way one may Maska wonderful? Yes,
Speaker 1: it realizes that that she's the good guy. He switches sides,
Speaker 1: which is something you rarely see from Batman.
Speaker 4: I was gonna say right like he was actually moved.
Speaker 5: Yeah, his randy in tendencies were gone. Suddenly I met somebody.
Speaker 4: She gets up nice, it's nice, black and white.
Speaker 1: This is actually it's a great point because the thing
Speaker 1: I enjoyed about this episode was Bruce's capitalist leanings were
Speaker 1: fully exploited by Triad industries. And it was not until
Speaker 1: he meets doctor Sutton in her Roxy Rocket guys and
Speaker 1: she proves to him that actually, like these are the
Speaker 1: bad guys. He is like, oh fuck, now, yeah, doesn't
Speaker 1: he doesn't interrogate his capitalist leanings deeply enough, right, it's
Speaker 1: only a surface kind of changing of sides based on
Speaker 1: really pure morality. I'm sure there's other corporate shenanigans going
Speaker 1: on elsewhere that Bruce is not really worried about, but here,
Speaker 1: when faced with it directly, he does change. So Roxy
Speaker 1: and Batman team up, they bury the company. The three
Speaker 1: suits all go to face charges, and uh and Roxy doesn't. Indeed,
Speaker 1: Spoiler does die.
Speaker 3: RP that she she sacrifices this. He ouf, yes, you
Speaker 3: know that's what you got to do. When you're an
Speaker 3: evil woman. You cannot survive, you can't have redemption. You
Speaker 3: just got to die. But it's okay because Batman like
Speaker 3: names a lab off the her because he is so
Speaker 3: inspired by.
Speaker 5: Her, so you know, he does the money to work,
Speaker 5: gives it, gives out the old lab, the Rox and
Speaker 5: Sutton medical lab or medical Bay or whatever.
Speaker 3: But that is there's not there's other weird stuff going
Speaker 3: on in Gotham.
Speaker 1: Back in Gotham and episode tag, Hugo Strange has turned
Speaker 1: up dead, tied to a chair, laughing maniacally. I wonder
Speaker 1: what could have Someone has raided his lab and walked
Speaker 1: off with all of his chemicals and various secret formulas.
Speaker 1: We don't see who it is.
Speaker 4: But this we know.
Speaker 3: I know, but I gotta ask you, Jason, because this
Speaker 3: thing pursed up conversation.
Speaker 4: It's like is it is it somebody trying to set
Speaker 4: up the Joker?
Speaker 2: Or is it the Joker?
Speaker 5: Because I feel like it's like it's a Joker. It's
Speaker 5: like so obvious. So I'm like, are they read herringing us?
Speaker 5: Or At this point by episode two, I was like, Okay, wait,
Speaker 5: who's stealing all the toxins? Like does the Joker need it?
Speaker 4: Like question?
Speaker 3: Bark?
Speaker 1: I love that read on it. Here's my why I
Speaker 1: do believe that it must be him because he hasn't
Speaker 1: been active long enough for the.
Speaker 2: Laughing oh in this universe, in this.
Speaker 1: Universe for the rigid smile and laughing death. The iconic
Speaker 1: method of murder of Infamous Joker has not been established yet,
Speaker 1: so I feel like it must be.
Speaker 4: No, you're right, it's like that establishing it now.
Speaker 3: But because of our outside like cultural context and dramatic irony,
Speaker 3: we understand it more than the people within the space.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I believe. I really I thought this
Speaker 1: episode was a step up in particular because again, I
Speaker 1: can't remember a time that that Bruce switched sides and
Speaker 1: it didn't have anything to do with him trying to
Speaker 1: fuck Catwoman or poison Ivy or something.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: It's it's rare to see him have an interaction with
Speaker 3: a woman where he changes his mind that isn't driven
Speaker 3: by like sex or like feeling a diamond or whatever
Speaker 3: weird fucking faish as he's got going on. Also as well,
Speaker 3: I like Roxy Rocket is such a fun like animated
Speaker 3: series character. You always feel excited if you see the toy.
Speaker 3: It feels kind of rare. It's like a bit of
Speaker 3: a deep cup. But she's popular enough, so I think
Speaker 3: it was a fun reimagining and also again having fun
Speaker 3: with like.
Speaker 2: Who's a villain nowadays?
Speaker 3: Like if you're making a Terrible trio, they're execs of
Speaker 3: an evil tech company.
Speaker 4: You know, it's like it's it's obvious, but it's fun.
Speaker 3: And those tropes and those archetypes are good, and I
Speaker 3: think that we're at least getting more of an obvious
Speaker 3: kind of hint at what the overarching stuff is. I
Speaker 3: am interested because our super producer Aaron did say he
Speaker 3: thinks we haven't watched the second half yet, but he
Speaker 3: thinks the second half is better. I do. I do
Speaker 3: wonder if they maybe mistakenly thought they were like teasing
Speaker 3: to the second half, but maybe these are gonna end
Speaker 3: up feeling like Phila, even though they're fun, right, but
Speaker 3: we're kind of saying that kind of loose. They don't
Speaker 3: feel those very much like episode of the Week vibes.
Speaker 2: Yes, you know, but I'm excited.
Speaker 3: I'm excited to see where it goes, and obviously I
Speaker 3: want to see more new wave Joker.
Speaker 1: Yes, Okay, so episode three deep Cover, Thorne is missing.
Speaker 1: He's dead, but nobody knows it except the Joker really yet,
Speaker 1: which means, you know, there's a gang war kind of brewing.
Speaker 1: Edward Enigma has taken his place and has kind of
Speaker 1: like grabbed the throne. Batman goes to a blackgay prison
Speaker 1: as Matches Malone, one of his like old aliases. Uh,
Speaker 1: he gets close.
Speaker 3: To legendary legendary like deep caught Golden as Batman reference
Speaker 3: that we love.
Speaker 1: That he goes in in order to get close to
Speaker 1: Mark Desmond Dez, the same henchman that Enigma juiced with
Speaker 1: strange formula, and he's there for a long time behind.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, seriously, like he's really living, like.
Speaker 1: Like he's he's over weeks, like.
Speaker 4: No one like came to help him. Like what the fuck?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 1: I mean, Bruce, he's like living.
Speaker 3: I mean what this is like a kind of funny
Speaker 3: series actually because it is this is like Bruce's adventures off.
Speaker 4: The res that's like like his what the fuck is
Speaker 4: going on? Like where's he going? Is doing this?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Where's Who's who's being Bruce Wayne? Like is like some
Speaker 4: sort was like is there like a clone know something like.
Speaker 1: Who's who's out on the town, you know, like whining
Speaker 1: and dining supermodels? Like what is it? I understand Luc's
Speaker 1: Fox is probably handling a lot of the day to
Speaker 1: day but like, could could you, as a is a
Speaker 1: billionaire industrial just drop off the map for like three,
Speaker 1: four or five weeks?
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you're like, can you imagine like the episodes
Speaker 3: of Succession, But it's just like no one knows where
Speaker 3: Bruce is and just at the end of every episode
Speaker 3: just cut to him in like some fucking shitty jail.
Speaker 1: It's honestly insane. I gotta say, Matches aka Bruce, Wayne
Speaker 1: and Dez really hit it off over the weeks. It's
Speaker 1: over the intervening weeks they become like boys.
Speaker 3: It was definitely giving like Vietnam movie, Like you know,
Speaker 3: I mean this is in trauma.
Speaker 1: Like yeah, if if each of these episodes, you know,
Speaker 1: is based on a film, so we have an an
Speaker 1: eighties film. So episode one is the Untouchables, Episode two
Speaker 1: is the Rocketeer. Episode three I think it's like Donnie
Speaker 1: Brasco or something.
Speaker 5: It's not so funny, Oh my god, because he's under cover.
Speaker 4: You're so right, it does.
Speaker 1: I mean, like Dez really likes him.
Speaker 3: And let's not forget when I read Donny Brasco and
Speaker 3: I remember being so upset when I read it, because
Speaker 3: the levels.
Speaker 2: Of betrayal that Batman enacted was.
Speaker 3: So awful, Like he was fucking being people's fucking god
Speaker 3: parents to their kids and shit, like, yeah, you're right,
Speaker 3: I like that read.
Speaker 1: So Edward Nigma gets nervous that that it does my
Speaker 1: talk and puts a hit on him inside Blacka. You know,
Speaker 1: despite everything that does is done for him, and Batman
Speaker 1: has to keep him alive, you know, long enough to
Speaker 1: you know, get him to test the finals. But it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter.
Speaker 4: It's insane, dude.
Speaker 3: You remember those episodes of like Saved by the Bell
Speaker 3: where you go on two dates so you have to
Speaker 3: wear like two outfits and your lads. It's like, this
Speaker 3: is really giving that kind of energy. It's like, where's Batman,
Speaker 3: Where's Matches?
Speaker 1: A couple of guys Soma Nima does manage to get
Speaker 1: him killed, huh des right before the end realizes who
Speaker 1: Matches is, and it's like a little bit of like
Speaker 1: a scarred lip or whatever, gowy and and that's it.
Speaker 4: I was.
Speaker 1: This was a super fun episode and my favorite of
Speaker 1: the bunch so far, just because of like the absolutely
Speaker 1: insanity to your point of like Bruce going off the
Speaker 1: res with.
Speaker 3: Like where, Oh my god, Like how could you be
Speaker 3: gone for just like months?
Speaker 4: Like this is insane? And also like what is the
Speaker 4: Ridler's plat? Like he just wanted just cause chaos?
Speaker 1: Like I guess I.
Speaker 2: Think it doesn't.
Speaker 3: It's not very riddly to me, but I wonder if
Speaker 3: we'll get more in this second season like that, I
Speaker 3: mean it's not second season, sorry, second half of this season.
Speaker 1: He is very gangster coded, and it does feel influenced
Speaker 1: in a kind of roundabout way by the Penguin series,
Speaker 1: even though the Penguin obviously is more.
Speaker 3: Oh no, no, I was actually gonna say this whole
Speaker 3: series to me, especially episodes one and three, very Penguin influenced.
Speaker 4: I think even the dark like murderous nature.
Speaker 3: Of the show and the ability to just constantly be
Speaker 3: killing people and have people be killed and have people
Speaker 3: be shot, there is a lot of gravitas to that,
Speaker 3: and the first season, the first original Batman animated series,
Speaker 3: definitely did play with that.
Speaker 4: But it's like extremely cool to see them deal with it.
Speaker 3: And like you said as well, like I think the
Speaker 3: passage of timing cartoons is actually a really powerful thing.
Speaker 2: I think a lot. I'm sure people on this have
Speaker 2: heard me.
Speaker 3: Say this before, but I think a lot about There's
Speaker 3: an episode of Invader Zim where Zim.
Speaker 4: Like dib throws a cupcake at Zim's head or something.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then you watch the whole episode and it's
Speaker 3: about like Dibb's life and how good his life is
Speaker 3: and how everything goes right he catches Zim, and then
Speaker 3: at the end you watch him go with his whole
Speaker 3: life ninety years and then at the end it just
Speaker 3: reveals that it's been like fifteen minutes and that Zim
Speaker 3: trapped him in like a fucking room and made him
Speaker 3: live out his whole life. So I think like playing
Speaker 3: with the passage of time and kind of like how
Speaker 3: long is time?
Speaker 2: How long can you make time?
Speaker 3: Seem is a really really good tool and you really
Speaker 3: feel it, like I was legitimately worried about Gotham, like
Speaker 3: what has been going on? Like on My Guy, where
Speaker 3: like I don't know who's out there, like where's Stephanie
Speaker 3: or maybe we'll get some carry Kelly action, you know, My.
Speaker 1: Dream episode four The Devil's Do there's a murder and
Speaker 1: all evidence seems to point to Batman.
Speaker 4: Okay, I just need to say something, guys. Yeah, I
Speaker 4: need toward you.
Speaker 3: Slight spoiler Hair, This may or may not be the
Speaker 3: plot to my Raven story that's coming out, but I
Speaker 3: need you to know. I just got the art back
Speaker 3: for that, so I had already written it, just like
Speaker 3: they had already written it.
Speaker 2: We are just in a zeitgeist moment.
Speaker 3: But is my story maybe about Raven being framed by
Speaker 3: a cult murderer? Yes, maybe it is, but it was
Speaker 3: not to do with this episode though. I was honored
Speaker 3: to see that great minds think alike.
Speaker 1: So Batman is clearly being framed and kind of like
Speaker 1: loudmouthed radio personality Touch played by Personnel's Lorie Newman.
Speaker 4: Who you who?
Speaker 3: You may know if you are a fan of the
Speaker 3: Batman comics and Batman villain characters.
Speaker 1: Hattie is going hard on Batman's a murger and just
Speaker 1: won't let it go, you know.
Speaker 3: Full.
Speaker 1: Smear campaign on him, just going crazy. The public is
Speaker 1: swayed by this. Hattie apparently has tremendous reach and loves
Speaker 1: the radio. It is Yeah, whatever the fifties.
Speaker 4: Or whatever, sixties, it's the fifties.
Speaker 1: Yeah, people are on the radio mostly so Batman's got
Speaker 1: a got a pr problem. He needs to clear his name. He,
Speaker 1: to your point, gets involved in the middle of this
Speaker 1: like bat worshiping cult.
Speaker 5: By the way, just completely insane, not a tool when
Speaker 5: my Ravens story guy goes guys, so no orry about that.
Speaker 4: But I like it.
Speaker 3: I like it when I actually have to say, I
Speaker 3: do think Bruce Tim and the crew here, I do
Speaker 3: think they were purposefully leading to this reveal because everything
Speaker 3: is so grounded that you're just like, oh, hat e
Speaker 3: tech because the mad hat like she's just fucking framing
Speaker 3: Batman or whatever, and they're like, oh no, no, no,
Speaker 3: there's like a mad Monk bat cult and you're like,
Speaker 3: oh yeah, because that stuff does actually happen in the
Speaker 3: comics too.
Speaker 1: So this cult Barbatos is run by the mad Monk
Speaker 1: and they actually committed the murder. And this is just
Speaker 1: like absolutely fucking insane. Anyway, the cult believes that Batman
Speaker 1: is like a Avatar and icon.
Speaker 3: They're bat God, and there are people in the comics
Speaker 3: like who believe that about Batman. There's a great comic
Speaker 3: Batman Cult that you can read where you kind of
Speaker 3: see these kind of things playing into it. But yeah, really,
Speaker 3: it's just insane to see this sport to life on screen.
Speaker 1: So they have been like gathering blood I guess to
Speaker 1: like summon.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, they they want to get it through, like
Speaker 3: they want to get stolen treasure first, which is what
Speaker 3: they But if that doesn't work, they got lots of
Speaker 3: bloods so don't worry, don't worry.
Speaker 1: So Howie gets kidnapped along with Commissioner Gordon. They're gonna
Speaker 1: be sacrificed to Barbados or bar to the back god
Speaker 1: by Barbados, and of course Batman busts it up and
Speaker 1: clears his name and there you have it. A pretty
Speaker 1: yeah neat episode, pretty neat up and down episode.
Speaker 3: Yeah it's cool too because you also like get you.
Speaker 3: They also do a nice job at the end here
Speaker 3: because you know, you gotta have a little bit of puss.
Speaker 3: You gotta have a little bit of commentary on an
Speaker 3: episode where you have a cult leader in modern day, right,
Speaker 3: So they have this great bit of the end where
Speaker 3: the mad Mood is basically a scammer, right, He's like
Speaker 3: and it's kind of revealed that he's a scammer, and
Speaker 3: it's really tough because there's actually real and then you
Speaker 3: have this kind of really brutal ending where one of
Speaker 3: the followers like stabs the mad Monk to death when
Speaker 3: she realizes that it's fake, you know, And I just
Speaker 3: like yeah, like kind of crazy for a kid's cartoon.
Speaker 2: How dark This season.
Speaker 1: Is also like what Happened to Jail? That person goes
Speaker 1: to Arkham, which I get it because I.
Speaker 3: Mean, I mean Arkham is I guess it's like you've
Speaker 3: got Arkham or Blackwaad, that's your two options.
Speaker 1: Sound not to sound like one of those like New
Speaker 1: York Post right wing tabloids, but like soft on crime.
Speaker 4: Soft on crime. Look, I gotta be real, you know me,
Speaker 4: I'm laying them all out. I'm free at everyone.
Speaker 3: But it is inarguable that Gothham is not only soft
Speaker 3: on crime, it easily has the worst recidivism rates of
Speaker 3: anywhere in the world. Like, they just put you in Arkham,
Speaker 3: you break out two days later because the Joker has
Speaker 3: a fight with his boyfriend Batman, and then you're back
Speaker 3: in Arkham like three days later because you fucking got
Speaker 3: Joker tops in by your boss.
Speaker 4: Like it's a terrible system. It's not working for anyone.
Speaker 3: This is why the people are always asking what is
Speaker 3: Bruce Wayne doing for golf with those billions?
Speaker 1: Okay, let's go to a break and we'll come back
Speaker 1: and Rosie, you will tell us about some of the
Speaker 1: comic boles here and we're back. Some really deep cuts
Speaker 1: combined with some kind of new story framings.
Speaker 4: Yeah, really fun stuff, which.
Speaker 1: Has been I think for me the most fun. Wuld
Speaker 1: tell us about some of these these comics cuts.
Speaker 3: You know, so we touched on like the Terrible Trio, right,
Speaker 3: like you see these exacts, but you guys don't understand
Speaker 3: this is from the incredible era, like the late fifties,
Speaker 3: right of comics, like the issues when they first appeared.
Speaker 3: One of them is literally like that there's a a
Speaker 3: fox mask, a guy in a shark mask, and a
Speaker 3: guy in a hawk mask, and those of a Fox,
Speaker 3: Vulture and Shark and those are their names, right, and
Speaker 3: it's literally like them trying to drown Batman, Like these
Speaker 3: are outrageous, silly, silly characters. By they're like Sheldon mold Off,
Speaker 3: like really outrageous stuff. But interestingly, there's been like other versions.
Speaker 3: There was a version where actually one of Lucia's Fox's
Speaker 3: kids was one of the Terrible.
Speaker 2: Trio, you know, it was.
Speaker 3: They've been used a few times throughout, but it was
Speaker 3: kind of cool to see like a serious version of
Speaker 3: them here. The biggest one that we didn't really touch
Speaker 3: on is that the kind of reinvention of the Mad Hatter,
Speaker 3: like his Hatti touch, which is this kind of looking
Speaker 3: at basically like the Mad Hatter character Jervis Teuch And
Speaker 3: that's a very classic crazy DC character again from like
Speaker 3: the fucking forties, so that's why you're looking. That's like
Speaker 3: Bill Fingershit, So that's like a guy who loved.
Speaker 4: In the original version, it really is that crazy.
Speaker 3: Like he just loves to make weird hats and he
Speaker 3: had like this kind of Over the years, they did
Speaker 3: a lot of problematically mental health stuff, but throughout the
Speaker 3: comics a regular recurring feature if you were a fan
Speaker 3: of the short lived Batwoman show, Alice was actually like
Speaker 3: a ma like the daughter of the Mad how was
Speaker 3: actually like a massive antagonist in that show. So it
Speaker 3: was cool to see that. I also kind of like
Speaker 3: the podcast radio kind of reinterpretation. Also, I would say
Speaker 3: that one of the things that for me kind of
Speaker 3: really works as we're talking our way through this is
Speaker 3: really just how the episode sort of build because.
Speaker 2: You when you're watching them.
Speaker 3: I was just like, I feel like I just turned
Speaker 3: on halfway through a series, right, But those kind of
Speaker 3: like and I think in a way bringing in characters
Speaker 3: like Rock Sansert and bringing in you know, Hugo Strange
Speaker 3: who is like a massive villain, so I think those
Speaker 3: sort of things are really fun. But also like Matches
Speaker 3: Malone that is a deep cut, deep cut for the fans.
Speaker 3: That's like, that's one of the first A like aliases
Speaker 3: he ever used. It's his fake criminal name when he's
Speaker 3: in the underground. So like they're doing a good balance
Speaker 3: of making it feel familiar but also kind of like
Speaker 3: you can still have fun, you can still google it,
Speaker 3: you can still go on you know, I hope you're
Speaker 3: all going on fan wikis and looking at all the
Speaker 3: great human made you know, histories of these characters, and
Speaker 3: it does feel like we're building to something, especially with
Speaker 3: the kind of small scale crime to big scale crazy
Speaker 3: that we get at. And where what do you feel
Speaker 3: like about these four episodes because I definitely ironically I'm
Speaker 3: now gonna go and watch them again.
Speaker 4: Because I'm actually kind of more into them now.
Speaker 3: We talked about it, which I feel like is how
Speaker 3: these shows are often best enjoyed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I I found them, you know, like I did
Speaker 1: find them a little light. But I particularly like Deep
Speaker 1: Cover just for again the crazy, the absolute craziness of
Speaker 1: like Bruce going undercover as Matches Malone and saving his
Speaker 1: like you know, leaving leaving his life behind for weeks
Speaker 1: at a time. Uh. And to me, that's kind of
Speaker 1: the that end. It points a really interesting way forward
Speaker 1: for this show that when it's good, it pulls from
Speaker 1: both deep cuts in new and interesting ways. And I
Speaker 1: kind of like too that we're so early in Batman's career,
Speaker 1: you know again Penguin Penguin being and the Matt Reeves
Speaker 1: Batman universe being such an inspiration. There's you're getting to see,
Speaker 1: which I'm a sucker for ever since Batman Year one.
Speaker 1: The kind of retelling of the relationships between Batman, Bruce,
Speaker 1: Wayne Gotham and his and his cast of villains, and
Speaker 1: that's really fun in this particular context of a kind
Speaker 1: of steampunk gangster Gotham, it's quite enjoyable. And I will say, look,
Speaker 1: the one thing that I keep thinking is, like, man,
Speaker 1: they're so sure, Like it feels like the episode's over
Speaker 1: ten minutes earlier than it should be.
Speaker 3: Yes, I do agree with that, like you do want
Speaker 3: more of it, which I think is a really smart
Speaker 3: way for them to make us feel. I also will
Speaker 3: say that I'm hoping that the second half gives us
Speaker 3: like more Batman moments, because the thing is, I don't
Speaker 3: need like, Look, we're always going to see Batman doing
Speaker 3: a fight. He's gonna be in a dog fight, he's
Speaker 3: gonna be doing this. I need to see him doing
Speaker 3: I'm not saying slice of life. I've got my slice
Speaker 3: of Life Batman. I've got my Wayne Family Adventures. I
Speaker 3: love that shit. To the Teen Titans books by Cami
Speaker 3: and Gabrielle if I want that shit, But like I
Speaker 3: do still need to see Batman just like sitting.
Speaker 2: In the glow of a Christmas tree or whatever.
Speaker 3: You know, you need to see Batman in those like
Speaker 3: silent moments, the moments he's drinking a coff of he's
Speaker 3: drinking a cup of coffee, or he's Robert Pattinson's Batman.
Speaker 3: He didn't have cozy quiet moments.
Speaker 4: He had. He's out, it's Halloween, he can't stop.
Speaker 3: He's crashing into bridges like I need to know a
Speaker 3: little bit more about this Batman, what drives him.
Speaker 2: What is his tone like.
Speaker 3: For now, he's a bit more of just an inspect
Speaker 3: which I think works in other people's stories.
Speaker 4: But I want to know more.
Speaker 2: About Batman this still. But I do love I love the.
Speaker 3: Eccentric and eclectic cast of characters, so I'm not I
Speaker 3: don't want it to be all Batman, but I think
Speaker 3: I need a little bit more Batman as we head
Speaker 3: into more of what is clearly going to be a
Speaker 3: Joker story, so I feel like Batman has to be
Speaker 3: an important part of that.
Speaker 1: I completely agree with that assessment. Well, I can't wait
Speaker 1: to keep watching this show. Super fun to your book,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna watch Younger probably finish it this weekend. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's super fun and I can't wait to see more.
Speaker 1: On the next episode of Extra Vision, we're diving into
Speaker 1: the biggest news of the week, and next week it's
Speaker 1: our D twenty three coverage and what we expect to
Speaker 1: be a reveal of the full cast or the or
Speaker 1: at least the full core.
Speaker 4: Cast of the X Men Question X Men Question.
Speaker 1: We expect that to happen. That's it for this episode.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. X ray Vision is hosted by Jason
Speaker 1: Concepcion and Rosie Knight and is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
Speaker 3: Our executive producers are Joel Monique and Aaron Kaufman.
Speaker 1: Our supervising producer is Abuzafar.
Speaker 3: Our producers are Common, Laurent Dean Jonathan and Fay Wag.
Speaker 1: A theme song is by Brian Vasquez, with alternate theme
Speaker 1: songs by Aaron Kaufman.
Speaker 3: Special thanks to Soul Rubin, Chris Lord, Kenny Goodman and
Speaker 3: Heidi our Discord moderate them