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Review
Although they may be long gone from the limelight or
even from the canon history of the Dark Knight, elements
from the Golden Age of Batman's history continue to
remain within fans' conscious as they're perpetuated by
internet meme fame. There has been a slight influence in
pop (meme) culture over Brave and the Bold's writers who
like to sneak in easter eggs, but for this episode's
teaser they really broke any withstanding subtlety and
just went for it. Batman and Robin are teamed up against
the color-casting villain Firefly (not the pyro
version). In order to defeat him Batman dons a different
colored suit each night because it makes him immune to
Firefly's color-based weaponry. It's a goofy and fun
romp through a reinterpretation of Batman's sillier
past, but I can only say it was enjoyable - to an
extent. It feels as though they tried to put too much
into it with focusing too much on the internet trend,
and then littering it with various "easter eggs" for
homages to various other things. It was a lot to take
in, without any real substance to tie it together. In
the end, I laughed, but with the feeling that I don't
really ever want to watch that teaser again.
For
the main story our favorite pint-sized fanboy, Bat-Mite,
returns to bring his mentor even more zany antics.
Though, oddly, no mention of his Green Arrow fandom from
the end of "Legend of the Dark-Mite." As last time,
Bat-Mite decides to be an interruptive little imp due to
Batman not doing anything exciting enough at the time.
For the most part, this part is very enjoyable even
though it does feel like a reuse of the beginning of
"Legend of the Dark-Mite," but it was different enough
to be entertaining in its own right. It was great to see
Bat-Mite read from the "Who's Who" comic, providing
decent information about the Ten-Eyed Man. It's
ultimately pointless since the Ten-Eyed Man has nothing
more to do with the episode, but still cool even if he
is far from any potential realism. From there on the
episode takes a turn into the titular (in)famous story
"Emperor Joker," based around the Joker acquiring powers
from Superman's annoying imp, Mr. Myxzptlk - who has so
far only been alluded to in Brave and the Bold. Instead,
it has been changed to the Joker gaining Bat-Mite's
powers. The only bit I didn't like from Bat-Mite's
recollection of the Joker and Batman's epic fights was
the involvement of Jason Todd.
Usually when
Jason Todd is brought up it's for a dramatic impact
since it is to solely illicit an emotional reaction from
Batman, but this entire bit was pointless. Not only
because Dick Grayson only became Nightwing earlier in
the season, but also because Bat-Mite simply makes a
mockery of it. It's recalled in a lighthearted tone, and
then he even alludes to the idea that he voted towards
Todd's death; Batman has no reaction. That's why, in the
end, it is simply pointless. It serves no benefit to the
story, is only vaguely related by the Joker connection,
and it has no emotional impact on Batman. Why bring up
such a dark moment? It was so uncomfortably shoehorned
into this episode. Maybe due to its premature
cancellation, it won't allow them to eventually feature
him as an actual character?
The story itself is
changed from a decades-old graphic novel to a half hour
fairly well it seems, obviously taking several liberties
to change elements to make it more related to the show
itself. I was actually very wary of the idea of the
Joker gaining Bat-Mite's powers because I had no idea
how they could possibly do it without it feeling just
too convenient, too contrived, or both. Surprisingly,
however, they managed to really pull it off in a way
that actually felt completely natural for this show.
Unfortunately, the rest of the episode felt very rushed.
Much like the teaser, it seemed as though they placed
too many references/jokes/homages without being able to
polish them and it results in an episode that is
difficult to really get in tune with. This was
especially difficult with the spontaneously crossing
over into a much darker tone with Batman continually
being killed by the Joker and resurrected. Of course,
this was part of the original story but it actually got
to a point where it felt like overkill (pun intended).
I've loved this show for not being afraid to get dark,
but it actually felt like it crossed a line into
gratuity when it came to the disturbing deaths that were
shown for Batman.
Overall, it was an enjoyable
episode. It felt rushed, and it has elements that I
actually will say I hate such as Jason Todd's
post-mortem cameo, and yet I still really enjoyed it.
The introduction of Harley Quinn took some getting used
to, and she's definitely far different than how we have
perceived Harley, but she wasn't bad. I feel that
Joker's musical number could have been cut out as it
lacked the charm that was present in nearly song from
the Music Meister episode, but it didn't take much away
from the episode.
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