The Last Resort
Episode #29 - The Last Resort
Original Airdate - March 4th, 2000
A number of Terry's classmates are being sent to a new innovative
boarding school. When Chelsea become sone of them, Terry discovers the
true horrors behind the school.
Media by Bird Boy
Review by J.Chen, aka The Overseer |
Credits:
Written by Stan Berkowitz
Directed by Curt Geda
Music by Lolita Ritmanis
Animation by Koko / Dong Yang
Voices:
Will Friedle as Terry McGinnis/Batman
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne
Rachel Leigh Cook as Chelsea
John Ritter as Dr. David Wheeler
David Faustino as Sean
Cree Summer as Max
Lauren Tom as Dana Tan
Don Harvey as Vincent
Sam McMurray as Chelsea's Dad
Adam Wylie as Boy
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Review
HIGHS: Some interesting ideas, Terry does something without the
suit.
LOWS: Yet another "teen angst" episode, shaky characterizations.
OVERALL: A teen problem episode with a few redeeming plot items.
It seems like forever since we last saw a new Batman Beyond episode, so
I was hoping for something good with "The Last Resort". It had one of
the best writers of Season 2 (Stan Berkowitz of "Lost Soul" and "Babel")
behind it, so naturally I was expecting something very enjoyable. As it
turns out though, this is a (groan) "teen issues" episode...season two's
been full of them. However, there are a few interesting twists that
raise this ep above mediocrity.
A wild car chase through the skyways of Gotham is an action of Sean, a
troubled teen from Hamilton Hill High School. This is just another
statistic in the trend of kids causing trouble in the future, and new
parental liability laws are really putting pressure on families to do
something about this problem. What better to do than...send them off to
someone else? In this case, the "someone else" is a new "tough love
ranch" just outside town that promises counseling to get kids back on
track. The regular school is becoming a virtual ghost town, and when
even Chelsea Cunningham gets sent away, the few remaining students begin
to question this place. Batman investigates, only to find out that the
place is being run more like a prison camp than a youth center. Sleep
deprivation, attacks on the kids' self esteem, and vicious guards are
all meant to keep the kids in line. For those who don't go with the
program, there's ISO, complete sensory blockout to turn kids into
vegetebles.
Batman himself can't go to the cops, so he goes in as Terry McGinnis to
obtain evidence of the harsh practices there. Unfortunately he runs into
some trouble with Sean over a past incident, and ends up with his cover
blown and imprisoned within the facility. ISO is in store for him until
he convinces his childhood foe to cooperate with him against the ranch
staff. Together they manage to bring down the authority of the man in
charge and save the kids.
The premise itself wouldn't have been bad if we didn't have so many
episodes dealing with teen problems already. Terry's supposed to be
getting more like Bruce and dealing with larger scale things, not
playing hall monitor. It just gets old after a while no matter how it's
modified, and that puts a definite damper on everything. Secondly, the
characters aren't that great this time around. Sean's near-lunacy is
well done, as well as Chelsea's desperation, but the boss of the ranch,
a psychologist, isn't explored much. So he wants to break kids'
spirit...is that it? Why are his views like that? We don't know. Plus I
felt he got off too lightly at the end, Sean almost kills him but the
toned-down policy of these Season 2 eps requires Batman to save the
doctor. And then Principal Nakamura at the high school seems like a big
jerk, he gets an opinion from Chelsea and has her shipped off.
What this ep does do is depict the aspects of the captive life well.
There are huge telescreens broadcasting images and degrading propaganda
to the kids, like something out of 1984 (Good book, read it if you can).
The black lined eyes of the deprived kids show the suffering caused by
lack of sleep. Unfortunately we never actually see someone experience
the dreaded ISO...it would have been an interesting experience to
depict. In this episode Terry once again relies on his own wit to get
himself out of a tough situation, proving he's not just a suit but the
man inside as well.
Overall, this is not a "must-see" event, this ep did some things well
and others not so well. It's just a matter of opinion whether the good
outweighs the bad; to me it balances out, so three stars is my final
decision.
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