A Touch Of Curaré
Episode #11 - A Touch Of Curaré
Original Airdate - May 15th, 1999
A deadly assassin is sent to Gotham to kill the husband of Barbara
Gordon, Sam Young. Barbara must reluctantly accept help from Batman to
keep Sam alive.
Media by Bird Boy
Review by Tim "Two-Face" Leighton |
Credits:
Written by Hilary J. Bader
Directed by Dan Riba
Music by Shirley Walker
Animation by Koko Enterprise Co., LTD., Dong Yang Animation Co.,
LTD.
Voices:
Will Friedle as Terry McGinnis
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne
Melissa Disney as Curare
Paul Winfield as Sam Young
Stockard Channing as Comm. Barbara Gordon
Victor Rivers as Master Assassin
Larry Cedar as Manor Cop
Brian George as Lieutenant
Mark Monathan Davis as Virtual Anchor
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Review
A sword-wielding assassin makes her way through Gotham with one thing in
mind - KILL BARBARA'S HUSBAND. In a nutshell, that's what this whole
episode is about. Make note that you pronounce "Curare" as "CURE-RAR-AY".
#1 problem of this episode? At first, I felt that we never learn why
Curare is hunting Barbara's husband, Sam - it turns out it was revealed
in one scene, but it went by so quickly that you have to watch it again
to catch it. In the end, Curare fails her assassination attempt, of
course...never to learn of who sent her.
Curare is very reminiscent of Ra's Al Ghul - of course, they have
excellent sword-handling abilities in common. But what else? She's
Arabic (everytime she's on screen, Arabic rock-music is played) and
belongs to a league of assassins. Could she be one of Ra's' followers,
50 years later? Or even Talia, perhaps? It's possible. But we never
learn anything about her. She was unmasked during the episode, but we
never got to see anything - only Terry did.
Sounds crappy huh? Why would an episode with such a lame plot get the
good rating I gave it? Well, this episode is the first to feature
Barbara Gordon in a large role - we get to learn more about her present
and her past. Of course, we knew most of this already...she and Dick
dated, then they had a falling out (direct reference to "Old Wounds"),
and then she dated Bruce for a while - but, like Dick, she grew sick of
his brooding attitude, so she left him, cold turkey. (This also hints at
the fact that Dick is still alive - but what about Tim?) What's new,
though, is that we learn that, when in costume, she was shot...and, of
course, being the greedy little Bat-fans we are, "WE WANNA KNOW WHAT
HAPPENED!"
Action sequences are great, and the hinting at past events was nice.
Curare is worthy of re-appearing, but only if we learn more about her.
So, three stars is this district attorney's final ruling.
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