I missed the first few minutes of this episode (darn alarm clock) but I do see that this episode was a lot more action packed and enjoyable than the slightly boring first episode. Or maybe Magpie was just more interesting than the G-rated portrayal of Professor Pyg.
From what I saw, the episode started with Magpie attempting a robbery and Batman coming in to stop her. She's quick, agile and a fast fighter attracted to shiny objects and soon gets an interest in Batman's shiny belt. Batman offers a shiny set of handcuffs instead. Magpie gets away and Batman tends to the man she was attacking that now doesn't even remember his own name.
Meanwhile, Lt. Gordon is discussing Batman with his daughter Barbara Gordon who seems very interested in hearing all about how he defeated Pyg and Toad. Gordon insists he's not a hero, and anyone that takes the law into their hands has to be stopped.
Elsewhere Alfred (now walking with a cane and his legs in a cast) discusses Batman with Tatsu as well. Tatsu think he's as crazy as the people he catches. Tatsu isn't too crazy about being Bruce's bodyguard and chauffeur either but Alfred tells her to give it a chance. Bruce enters the room and based on the way Tatsu talks to Alfred, he determines that Alfred was her superior when they worked in MI6 together.
Later on Alfred tells Bruce that he was friends with her father in MI6, so that makes him her godfather. Bruce wished he knew this earlier and tell him that he hates secrets. Alfred tells Bruce that he is the very meaning of the word.
Lt. Gordon investigates Blackgate Prison and finds a batarang. He also finds some files, and one of them belongs to a criminal named Lunkhead.
Batman is in the Batcave investigating the man who lost his memory, and his name is Joe Braxton. He also found someone else involved named Bethany Ravencroft.
Later on Batman is out fighting the usual thugs and crooks when suddenly Magpie attacks him again. They start fighting it out again while Batman wants to find out more about her. Magpie runs off and tells him maybe she'll tell him if he can catch her. Magpie makes a bold leap off a building, but Batman ropes her legs, which makes her slam against a window. She says that she won't be caged again and uses her claws to cut the rope. She falls on a glass roof of another building, but is still alright and gets away. Batman determines that Magpie was a prisoner of Blackgate prison.
Lt. Gordon finds Lunkhead, a simple-minded criminal that now works stocking boxes. Barbara calls Gordon at the worst time since the buzzing cellphone gets the big guy's attention. Lunkhead says he's not a bad guy anymore and doesn't want to be arrested again, as he tosses boxes at Gordon. Gordon convinces him he just wants to talk and asks him if he remembers being experimented on while being in Blackgate. He asks if anyone else was being experimented on besides himself, and he mentioned there was a woman too. Her name was Margaret Sorrow.
Bruce has Tatsu drive him to visit Dr. Ravencroft. She is still not happy to be someone's chauffeur. Bruce pretends to be seeking therapy, and Ravencroft is glad to work on a celebrity. Alfred delivers a fake phone call to the office, pretending to be someone from the IRS talking about tax evasion. Margaret tells Bethany about this and when they leave Bruce behind, he searches the office for clues. He finds the watch Magpie stole from Braxton, and he finds a stapler that reads 'Miskatonic Psycriatic Hospital' on it, so he decides to check it out.
At the hopsital, Magpie attacks Batman again. During the fight, Magpie slashes Batman with his claws, which drug him and knocks him out. She finally steals his 'shiny shiny' belt. Batman wakes up being strapped down and with some sort of helmet on his head. Magpie lost her memories and says she uses the helmet to remove people's memories and them to her own. She activates the device and bids Batman farewell. As she leaves, Batman uses a lockpick to undo his straps and gets the helmet off, destroying it. Batman finds a case file lying around, and after reading it, he heads off.
Magpie is now strapping down Dr. Ravencroft and attacking her. Batman's batarang knocks Magpie's wig off, and she sees herself in the mirror confused to see that she is Margaret Sorrow. Suffering from some sort of split personality disorder, Margaret has no idea she was Magpie. Batman tells her that she volunteered in an experiment to remove the 'bad' out of her when she did time in Blackgate Prison, but even though she started a new life, the 'bad' came back to her in the form of Magpie.
Just then Lt. Gordon shows up and wants to take down both Batman and Magpie. Magpie tosses needles into Gordon's arm and makes a break for it. Gordon still wants to take Batman down, but our hero tells him to take care of Ravencroft while he chases after Magpie.
Magpie finds the destroyed helmet and is pissed off at Batman now. She declares that Margaret is gone now, and there is only Magpie. Their fight continues, and one of the devices in the lab sends her flying into one of the tables Batman was strapped on, which eletricifies her and knocks her out. Gordon arrives to arrest her. Batman asks if she will be sent to the same prison that made her how she is now. Gordon says it's justice. Batman asks if the same justice will apply to him. Gordon says he will let Batman go for now since he helped out, but the next time they meet he will arrest him. Of course by now, Batman is already long gone.
Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce watches over Tatsu and decides it's time to test her out.
Maybe I'm a sucker for action, but this episode was way better and much more fun than the first episode. Kudos to them for taking a lame-ass forgettable villain from the old 80's comics and bring her back with a more up to date look and style. She's a capable fighter and the whole thing about her forgetting who she was before she became a costumed thief attracted to 'shiny shiny' objects is a nice touch. I don't know how taking someone else's memories would somehow help you regain your own... but hey, she's insane. I do like how the episode made you think Dr. Ravencroft (similar hairstyle) was the culprit before it was revealed it was actually Margaret.
And in case you're wondering, the original Magpie was a jewel thief that stole shiny bird related jewels and replaced them with booby traps. She was much a villain for Superman as she was for Batman. She was killed off by another villain named the Tally Man.
 |
| yeah.... her new look is way better...... |
She was brought back for a short time during the 'Blackest Night' storyline in which several DC villains were brought back from the dead and turned into evil Black Lanterns.
Well, hopefully if she makes a big enough splash in this new series that she will come back, with her death being undone since hey, this is the New 52. They already ignored/undid the Ventriloquist's death so hey, why not? As for Lunkhead, he was in the Arkham Asylum Living Hell series... so talk about really obscure.
As for the other characters, it's good to see more of Gordon since he was a bit of a cameo in the last ep. Batman of course, is still new in Gotham so Gordon doesn't trust him and wants to take him down. It's surprising to see Barbara in this, and her interest in Batman of course, hints that she might someday become Batgirl. Not much to say about Tatsu yet, we have to see whenever she decides to become Katana.
As for Batman, I did like the scene where Bruce was looking at Ravencroft's ink splotches that psychiatrists usually have, and one of them reminded him of the night of his parent's deaths.
Overall, this episode was really good and I'm glad it was better than the first one. Hopefully similar to how the original Animated Series made Harley so popular that she eventually joined the actual comics continuity, this show can bring back characters like Magpie in the current comics as well.
As for Paige, she kept making fun of Magpie's 'shiny shiny' little catchphrase... and she still has to get used to the weird design of the whole show... especially Batman's design. She curious how Catwoman will appear in this show... although time will tell if we'll ever see any classic villains since this show wants to focus on either the old obscure bad guys like Magpie, or bad guys that are too new to have been in past cartoons like Professor Pyg. There was a little hint of Catwoman in Magpie as she slithered her hand all over Batman....but yeah, let's hope the real Catwoman does show up eventually.
No comments:
Post a Comment