Plot summary: An ageing mob boss is torn between his ongoing war with Rupert Thorne, and the repercussions his son faces due to his drug business, while Batman tries to save his soul.
(Originally published on The Reel World August 16th, 2020)
Notes
Original Air Date: September 10th, 1992
Directed: Boyd Kirkland (4)
Written: Tom Ruegger (3) (story) & Garin Wolf (1) (teleplay)
Animation: Spectrum Animation Studio (3)
Music: Lolita Ritmanis (2)
Bruce Timm praised Boyd Kirkland’s direction and storyboarding, in particular his establishment of a sense of geography to Gotham.
Inspiration was drawn from Angels with Dirty Faces, A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life.
One of Boyd Kirkland’s favourite episodes to work on. Funny given a lot of fans dislike it.
Recap
Rupert Thorne and Arnold Stromwell’s mob rivalry is covered in a news report, with Jim Gordon stating that youth has the edge and Stromwell is in danger of being retired.
Stromwell goes from angry to furious when news turns to his missing son, Joseph. So much so, that he decides Thorne must have kidnapped his son.
Speaking of Thorne, he has a drunk, dishevelled looking individual tossed from his restaurant so that he can speak openly about an impending peace talk with Stromwell. He orders his men to kill Stromwell once the lights go out.
If you couldn’t pick out Kevin Conroy’s voice when the vagrant was being ejected, it becomes clear it was indeed Bruce in disguise and that he is listening in thanks to a listening device he planted.
On the way to the meeting, Stomwell laments his impact on Gotham, leading us into a flashback to his childhood. Young Arnie is nearly struck by a train while playing with his friend Michael and… we don’t see how it ends, because Stromwell snaps out of it.
Batman watches from atop a church. Heading inside, he tells a priest that that “he’s going to need you” in reference to Arnold. The priest says wishes he could give up on ‘him’. Who’s got money on the priest being Michael?
Stromwell and Thorne agree to talk alone, sending their men for a stroll. Arnold demands to know where his son is, tossing Thorne around a little. Thorne is adamant he doesn’t mess with family and switches the lights off, and moments later his men witness the restaurant explode.
Thorne celebrates his victory, unaware that Batman got Stromwell out, carrying him to safety as the fire department arrive. Thorne gets wind of Batman’s presence and sends his men out looking for him and Stromwell.
Arnie denies his involvement in the drug trade, claiming he makes candy. Batman drags him into a rehab facility where low and behold, Joseph Stromwell is a patient.
Arnold swears vengeance on whoever got his son hooked, but his estranged wife says he should look in the mirror. Batman enocourages him to disband his operation.
Stromwell takes Batman to his office and hands him incriminating records, but it turns out they’re fake as he grabs a rifle and tells Batman he’s a fool to think he’d go down easy.
Thorne’s men arrive and teargas the office, but Batman always packs a gas mask and works his way through the building taking their attackers out one at a time.
During the chaos, Stromwell flees into a railyard with both sides giving chase. He trips in the same spot as his childhood flashback, and Batman’s priest firend offers his hand.
Stromwell’s flashback replays, but this time with Michael shoving Arnold out of the way of a train but losing his leg in the process.
The priest confirms he is indeed Michael, and that he is Arnold’s younger brother (despite looking older than him), and the two embrace. Thorne tries to ruin the moment, but Batman takes him out.
The GCPD arrive and Arnold tells Gordon he’d like to give a statement as Batman looks on from the rooftops.
Best Performance
Eugene Roche takes centre stage in this one as a mob boss desperately trying to deny the fact he’s on the way out. He sounds suitably like an old-timey gangster, while also flying into fits of passion that might have been cringey if not for Roche’s delivery. Most importantly Stromwell doesn’t feel like he’s done a complete 180 when Batman, his estranged wife and his brother start to get through to him, and even before the turn comes, there’s enough quiet depression to hint at him possibly being redeemable.
Everybody brought it in this episode, but Roche did the most.
Ranking
This was the show’s first attempt at a mob war episode and I think they mostly pulled it off, while also flirting with doing an After School Special. But at the same time it’s surprisingly adult, with Thorne plotting a Godfather-esque hit on his rival in plain language rather than censor-friendly innuendo. Stomwell’s past and complex family dynamics are also more sophisticated than you might expect after a pretty inconsistent opening scene.
The most impressive part of the episode is the visual iconography, from the huge iron gates with an ‘S’ logo on them at the Stromwell estate, to the mob movie restaurant, to the enormous gothic church for Batman to skulk among the gargoyles. There’s far more camera panning than we’ve seen previously, and Batman looking on from up high makes it feel like a real location rather than just amorphous backgrounds.
Speaking of Batman, his little game of shadows is superb, playing dress up so he can plant a bug, moving across the rooftops, appearing out of nowhere once the lights go out in the restaurant, and standing around with his cape wrapped around him so he cuts an intimidating outline. His stealth takedowns on Thorne’s men in the final scene might be the best, most on-brand action in the show to date.
All of that works really well, but there are some issues with Stomwell’s erratic behaviour (though that’s arguably deliberate and attributable to his waning position in Gotham), and I think the flashback scene could have been a touch longer, or perhaps seen in three parts instead of two.
Part of me thinks this was better than ‘On Leather Wings’, but instinctively I think it’s not as good as ‘Pretty Poison’, so maybe I ranked THOSE two episodes wrong in the first place… I’ll leave the rankings where they are though, as the pilot achieved a lot without feeling too piloty, and for as good as the best moments in this episode are, it’s missing an extra something overall.
[Note: This episode’s ranking was lowered as part of taking stock after Episode 50]
- Two-Face Part I
- On Leather Wings
- Two-Face Part II
- Pretty Poison
- It’s Never Too Late (NEW ENTRY)
- P.O.V.
- Christmas with the Joker
- Be a Clown
- Nothing to Fear
- The Last Laugh
- The Under-Dwellers
- The Forgotten
Villain Watch
Arnold Stromwell (Eugene Roche) (first appearance)
I would call this about as good as a one-off villain appearance gets, but Stromwell will be back, albeit in a much smaller flashback role. While I think he was written and performed better in this episode than his recurring rival, I’m not prepared to put him ahead of Thorne on the overall rankings. Stromwell is certainly a villain, but he’s less villainous than Thorne, who has an additional two episodes on him. It’s still kind of crazy to me they didn’t opt for Maroni vs Falcone, but Stromwell is executed well enough that he feels like he belongs and has a believable history in the city despite this being his first appearance.
Rupert Thorne (John Vernon) (third appearance)
Three episodes of Thorne in a row and he remains a solid villain who will come in handy whenever they want to take a break from the more colourful rogues. Inevitably in a battle of two villains you end up siding with the lesser of two evils, and Thorne is the more despicable and underhanded. His ploy to betray his rival during a peace talk and attempt to gun him down even when it’s all over are excellent shitbaggery.
- Joker
- Two-Face
- Poison Ivy
- Scarecrow
- Rupert Thorne
- Arnold Stromwell (NEW ENTRY)
- Man-Bat
- Sewer King
- Boss Biggis
The Matt Signal 
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