A new round against the Penguin
What They Say:
The Penguin steals a new police helicopter and Bruce Wayne goes temporarily blind.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Closing in on the end of the first “season” of the series, this episode is one that clicked for me as we get our lead presented in a different way than usual. And because it comes from a story by Len Wein, who as I said previously is one of my favorite writers from my younger days in comics with some of his creepier stories both with Batman and elsewhere. The episode is also one that shows us a different way of looking at our lead character while also serving as the final episode of this overall run where the Penguin would be a bad guy. His reformed side is what we largely get from everything after that so Penguin fans can savor this, though we knew he was on this path for a bit before this episode.
The opening minutes of this are interesting as we get Bruce at an event showing off a new military helicopter prototype that his company has designed. The military tech side was still big at this point for the character even as it feels contrary to his personal ethos. The demonstration starts off well enough but it goes bad when the Penguin hijacks the thing and everything goes south on the ground – including when an explosion happens right in front of Bruce, blinding him for the time being. That puts Batman out of commission just as the Penguin has a high-tech weapon he can flit about the city in. Reducing Bruce to being stuck at home in his robe, listening to the Penguin’s exploits on the radio, is brutal for him. You know he can’t handle this for long and ends up enlisting Dr. Thompkins to help him with a crafty little addition of nonsense to go under his mask that will let him see in a different way.
This does make things difficult for Bruce as Batman because his vision is skewed with it being red-tinted and the like, so he’s not on his usual game. But he’s at least in the game. And as we know from how Bruce operates, everything he does ends up making him more dangerous in the long run as he views these as challenges to surmount. So going after the Penguin, first in the Batwing and then on the ground for a while, works well because he suffers some real hits but keeps clawing after Penguin. But the real fun comes toward the end when Penguin realizes that Batman’s blind – as his gear has lost its charge – and just the way he moves makes it clear. It’s a bit of luck more than anything else but it works out in an engaging way as Batman has to deal with unfamiliar settings and an opponent that knows just how week he is.
In Summary:
Now, obviously, there was no danger of Batman being killed or remaining blind beyond the episode so the fun comes in just seeing how everything is handled in the moment. I like that he does improve as time goes on because he does have the right skill set to do so but that he doesn’t become the best every right from the start – or even by the end. It’s luck and carefulness combined with strategy that lets him win the day and survive – barely, considering how close it gets along the way. I continue to like Paul Williams’ Penguin performance but am looking forward to seeing/hearing him take on the other side of the character in future episodes.
Grade: B+
