Ace in the Hole
Episode #41 - Ace In The Hole
Original Airdate - Aug 19th, 2000 - Second Season Finale
Bruce recollects how he acquired Ace after he goes missing. Plus Terry
discovers a horrifying 'underground' sporting event.
Media by Bird Boy, James Harvey
Review by J.Chen, aka The Overseer |
Credits:
Written by Hilary J. Bader
Directed by James Tucker
Music by Kristopher Carter
Animation by Koko / Dong Yang
Voices:
Will Friedle as Terry McGinnis/Batman
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne
Bill Smitrovich as Ronny Boxer
Jim Wise as Maddie
Sean Donnellan as Virtual Announcer
Pete Onorati as Ozzie
Chick Vennera as Chauffeur
Tasi Valenza as Female Cop
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Review
HIGHS: Pretty interesting plot considering a dog is the focus, a good
check into the relation between Bruce and Ace.
LOWS: Seemingly childish premise might turn some people off, unoriginal
end fight.
OVERALL: A decent episode to break the summer reruns.
Contrary to some statements I've seen online, this is NOT the start of
the new season, just an unaired episode left from last year's batch.
Anyway, being used to sleeping past air time for months now, I
reluctantly dragged myself up to check this one out. I'll admit when I
found out that the dog was the focus here I was ready to dismiss it as
another one of the less mature and more "cartoony" eps from last
season's end. Fortunately that's not entirely the case.
It starts with Bruce going to the chiropractor, and Terry is left
outside to watch Ace. Suddenly the dog gives chase to an odd man nearby.
Terry tries to restrain the beast, but the man pulls a gun and fires.
Terry drops low to avoid the shots, and Ace chases the stranger all the
way to his car, and then runs off. Bruce thinks Ace may have somehow
recognized this man, and checks the computer files. The guy turns out to
be a major dog fight gambler in Gotham...a Mr. Boxer. Terry has to go
out to shut him down, while Ace is out wandering the streets. This sets
up the main plot of the episode...now I'll comment on a few points.
• Terry goes undercover to find out about this dog fighting league. He
wraps his arms with fake bandages and adopts a rough streets
accent-classic Batman tactic. Good to see Terry use his brains here.
• This dog fighting organization is a cruel business. We see scenes of
the proprietor deliberately provoking the animals to make them more
aggressive. He shows no concern for the dogs, even when his assistants
mention the dangers here he just shrugs it off and says there's plenty
more where he came from. This isn't some kiddie theme...it's a real
problem.
• We see how Bruce first met Ace. Trained by Boxer to be a fighting
machine, Ace is about to risk death in the ring when the police raid the
match. The dog escapes during the confusion into the snowy streets.
Bruce is paying his annual visit to the site of his parents' death long
ago. It can be assumed that he would keep doing so up until now, but
it's still great to see confirmation that Bruce still remembers. As he
lays flowers on that spot, Ace saves the old man from a Jokerz gang
member. Cool origin story...my only complaint? The butler/chauffeur just
looks kind of goofy. Oh well...Alfred was one of a kind.
My biggest gripe about this episode however, is the end battle. Terry
tracks down the dog fighting mastermind, and must face...a giant dog?
This aspect is corny and ruins the dark feeling set by earlier scenes.
The creature is drawn rather poorly too...I wasn't scared by its
appearance, rather the thing was laughable. This scene is almost exactly
like the TNBA episode "Cult of the Cat"...which isn't exactly a
compliment.
In my opinion, this was an alright ep, I found it satisfactory for
injecting some freshness into the boring rerun season, and pretty good
as an exploration into Bruce's companion. Personally I'd like to see
more gritty and hard-hitting stories like from BB's early run, but I'll
accept this one for now.
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