REVIEWS

Episode #35 - Fleurs du Mal Original Airdate - November 26th, 2005 When Mayor Grange changes his stance on paving Gotham Park for a hospital and declares his campaign to "Green Up Gotham" its citizens don't seem to be acting like themselves. Note: Title translates to "Flowers of Evil." Reviews by The Penguin Media by Bird Boy Credits Written by David Slack Directed by Anthony Chun Music by Thomas Chase Jones Animation by Dongwoo Animation Co., LTD. Voices Rino Romano as The Batman / Bruce Wayne Alastair Duncan as Alfred Danielle Judovits as Batgirl / Barbara Gordon Tom Kenny as The Penguin Piera Coppola as Poison Ivy Mitch Pileggi as Commissioner Gordon Adam West as Mayor Grange (Uncredited) Screen Grabs Additional HD Images Pans Review "I trust my dad. And you're a little too into flowers to be him." If I had to explain this episode to a Batman fan that hadn't seen it, I would tell them it was a hybrid of the Batman: The Animated Series episodes Heart of Steel and House & Garden. I didn't feel it was a rip-off by any means, but we had Poison Ivy replacing the powerful and influential and of Gotham City with plant people. I liked the concept of them going to a 'happy plant world' where they were content to be among nature. There's something about Mayor Grange and Commissioner Gordon frolicking through flowers with The Penguin that just works. The face-sucking flowers are a dead giveaway for Poison Ivy, but there is still a little bit of mystery surrounding the details. Until Penguin 'wilts' he could be working with Ivy for reasons unknown and Grange and the others could have been brainwashed rather than replaced. The bigger reveal with Gotham's finest being greener than their uniforms was well-done and put everything out there. By the time Alfred kicked the flowers into the fireplace at Wayne Manor things were becoming clear. The Penguin was used well in this outing. His capture and replacement showed that Ivy would not discriminate in her quest to "Green up Gotham." One of those not part of the solution/part of the problem sorts of things. I was disappointed that Barbara and Ivy didn't have any interaction though. The plant Commissioner brought his daughter the flower, but outside of that, Pamela didn't go after her former best friend. On the extreme bright side, Batman and Batgirl worked very well together in this episode. After their experiences in The Laughing Cats, a stronger sense of trust seems to be there and while they are no Batman and Robin, there appeared to be a much stronger level of teamwork than we've seen up to this point. If one looks critically at the climax, parallels can be drawn to the first episode and Batman popping Joker's gas balloon in Gotham Bay. I hope the "highly concentrated herbicide" was designed to focus on Ivy's plant creations otherwise... The Batman killed every single plant in Gotham City! [ Back to Reviews ]

 

DC Comics on popgeeks.com