Beware the Batman Review

Mania Grade: B-

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  • Epsiode: TESTS (Season 1, Episode 3)
  • Starring: Anthony Ruivivar, J.B. Blanc, Sumalee Montano, Wallace Langham, Bryton James
  • Written By: Jim Krieg
  • Directed By: Curt Geda
  • Network: Cartoon Network
  • Studio: Warner Brothers
  • Series:


because of the…you know….tests. In the episode

By Johnny Destructo     August 01, 2013

Ok, so there are two plots interweaving through the majority of this episode. One revolves around Bruce and Alfred testing (OMG that's the name of the episode!) Tatsu Yamashiro, aka Katana, to see if she would make an appropriate "helper" aka sidekick. 

Seems strange that a guy who really needs to keep his identity a secret would be using a hallway of overly elaborate death traps and really expensive sneaky tech like hidden doors behind fireplaces to test someone! What if she fails? What if she turns out to be evil? Why make her question exactly what it is that the supposedly normal billionaire Bruce Wayne is hiding? 

I would think that he would test her in ways that wouldn't implicate him or make her suspicious of him, like setting up elaborate tests in the city that have no connection with Wayne. For a fella who's so smart, he's not that sneaky.

The other aspect of this episode involves the introduction of Moon Knight. I mean Anarky, and his strange obsession with two borderline MR artistic destructionists (a word I just made up) and helping them cause…you guessed it: Anarchy in the street of Gotham. Daedalus Boch and Junkyard Dog are two hapless pawns in Anarky's game with Batman, and are mild distractions at best, but they do have some pretty amusing bits, despite being kind of annoying. Taking note of such an interesting name, I just had to google Daedalus Boch, and it turns out that like a character from the first episode LunkHead, Daedalus is a character from Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, called Doodlebug. He is "an artist who believes he receives visions of inspiration and then compulsively recreates them on whatever canvas they indicate, including people." (Thanks, Batman wikia page). Interesting that the creators of this show have such an affinity for this mini series by Dan Slott, but I like seeing new characters popping up in this animated series.

Anarky himself (look how anarchistic he is, he even spells his own name wrong!) considers himself a reverse version of the Batman. Bats is a matte-black-clad soldier of order while Anarky, a white-wearing warrior of chaos. He's basically the Joker from the Nolan films, mixed with several other villains from the Batverse, exhibiting overly elaborate plans and an egotistical nature. He's been searching "oh so long" for a worthy person to match wits with, but is Batman up to the task? Probably, if you know how comics and cartoons generally work.

Not the best episode of the bunch, but still a dollop of fun! This show is really coming into it's own.

The cool:
Queen Street Gallery? A nod to one Oliver Queen, I wonder?

"From cold war warrior to analyzer of sneaker-goo. I've never been prouder."

"Stupid hands!"

I love that the two artistic destructionists are left by Anarchy to keep Bats busy as A makes his getaway, but surrender immediately! Hilarious.
Batman's Bat-cycle Bat-helmet. I want that for my Vespa.

The not-so-cool:
Do people still say "homies"?

So a guy who is an "agent of Anarchy" shows up. Sound familiar, fans of the Dark Knight film? And his major end-game of the episode is basically the same set-up as the Dark Knight film? Ugh.

I'm sorry, did Batman just punch Anarchy and make him fall to his death? Again, that would have killed a person! But thanks to cartoon physics, of course the body is gone when he looks again. Ugh. I think I would have preferred Bats punching him and making him plummet, only to catch him with his bat-rope, but I guess this version just likes to almost kill everyone he fights.

The buh-wha?:
Tatsu passes her first test, that of agility, down a hallway of overly elaborate death-traps and when she's seen next, she is behind an semitransparent room divider, changing clothes. Into the exact same set of clothes she was just wearing. I'm going to go ahead and assume that, like Einstein, the characters in this show just prefer to not have to waste thought-power on their wardrobe, and not that the studio couldn't afford more than one set of civvies per character. ;)

The final say:
Bat-medium rare!


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MrJawbreakingEquilibrium 8/1/2013 1:02:27 AM

Those tests though might be for him to train himself as well.

ThePalestGray 8/1/2013 7:04:57 AM

 I do like this show, but it does nothing for the hole in my stomach left by the cancellation of Young Justice. Jussayin.

millean 8/1/2013 9:38:01 AM

This was the first episode I have seen.  Much better than I thought it would be.  I felt kind of like what ThePalestGray just said.  Jusssayin...


