|
Review
The teaser, which surprised me at its presence, gives us
the introduction to the madam of magic known as Zatanna,
she and the Dark Knight team up to take down the
similarly magical villain Abra Kadabra. Not much can be
said about it other than that it's a short, but very fun
romp and a great introduction to Zatanna. It seems they
didn't worry about putting too much complexity into the
introduction of these characters so as to not take away
from the main story. However, I have to note that I
sensed some influence from Harry Potter. No, not simply
because it deals with wands and wizardry, but rather the
taunting from Abra Kadabra about Zatanna having to speak
her spells came off as very similar to the taunting by
Severus Snape to the young, and incorrigible, Harry
Potter during their short showdown in The Half-Blood
Prince.
The main story starts with the
introduction of the omnipotent superheroes known as
Spectre and Phantom Stranger, the latter voiced by the
Bat-legend Kevin Conroy, whom recently had a guest role
on the show in "The Super-Batman of Planet X." This
time, however, he's not an interpretation of our horned
cowl-wearing hero. They exchange a foreboding monologue
about Batman that is pulled off with a proper amount of
eeriness that captivates the viewer's fascination, but
never comes across as over the top. This is not only
appropriate because exaggerated theatrics would be
uncalled for, but also unneeded because it would
over-power the point that this is supposed to focus on
Batman. Once finished with their mysterious mystical
monologue, we're finally introduced to Batman's
involvement in the story - only we don't know it. At
least, if you don't listen to the voice, as Batman is in
disguise. This is actually a strange way to introduce us
to Batman's investigation, since Batman is in disguise
of a Priest giving a deathly ill criminal his last
rights. Even though it's a clever ruse, it really shows
the least respecting version of Batman that we've seen
on the show so far. Considering it is seen as a sacred
right to some religions, it's actually very surprising
for this more friendly Batman to audaciously deny
someone their religious beliefs.
Eventually
Batman eventually gets the bit of information he needs,
although it's a bit poorly handled. The audience has
already been told that Joe Chill was responsible for the
death of Batman's parents, and because of this we're
left to assume that when Batman hears "chill," he knows
exactly what is going on. However, it turns out that
he's unaware of Joe Chill completely, and so it would
have been best to not reveal this to the audience either
- even though we might have already suspected. Even more
disappointing is that despite getting the feeling that
Spectre and Phantom Stranger would be ambiguous in their
involvement of these events, they directly interact with
Batman to eventually answer everything for him. We only
get a mere tease of our favorite Detective doing what he
does best. It should be noted, though, that their
attempts to preserve continuity were well done, as we
see Thomas, Martha and Young Bruce mere moments before
the tragic incident in a way that consistently meshes
with the flashbacks seen in "Invasion of the Secret
Santas." The art is slightly difference, especially in
their faces, as the flashbacks were most likely meant to
have little detail in mind, but their clothing
appearance has been accurate replicated. Nice work,
guys.
The episode inevitably ends with Batman
tracking down Joe Chill at a villainous auction filled
with several notorious rogues of Batman's mythos. The
Dark Knight then shows us a side of him that hasn't been
depicted on the show before; his vengeful side. Batman,
overwhelmed with understandable anger, takes it upon
himself to exact a brutal form of justice on Chill, even
revealing his identity so that Chill knows exactly what
is happening and why. Of course, our beloved Caped
Crusader can't go through with it, and eventually shows
mercy on Chill. This inadvertently turns the table on
the criminal, as Chill runs towards the other villains
that had gathered for the auction and asks for help,
vaguely explaining that he's responsible for creating
Batman. This inevitably leads to Joe Chill being killed,
though accidentally, but still shockingly tragic.
Overall, the episode has its fair share of flaws
that apparently serve to hasten the pace, which makes me
think that this episode should have been written so that
the introduction by Phantom Stranger and Spectre should
have started the episode, as opposed to the Zatanna
romp. However, it still turned out fanastically due to
some clever writing, brilliant depiction of a dark tone
that they haven't delved into much since season 1, and
the unexpected use of Joe Chill.
I know that, so
far, I've praised most of the episodes of season 2, if
not all of them in some way or another, but I've
attempted to properly gauge the good and bad with each
episode. It simply seems that season 2 has been full of
far more consistently solid writing than season 1 had,
and "Chill of the Night" continues to solidify that
theory. It's not without its problem areas, like all
episodes, but this is truly one that will most likely be
seen as a defining episode for the series, no matter how
many seasons it may last.
[ Back to Reviews ]
Batman: The Brave and the Bold and related characters are property of DC Comics and WB, 2001 - Present Day.
The World's Finest and everything relating to this site - copyright,
1998 - Present Day. Proudly hosted by toonzone and popgeeks. Contact us.
include('/home/worldsfinestonline/public_html/includes/friends.php'); ?> |
|
|
|