Plot summary: Dick Grayson at last tells the story of how he and Batman parted ways and he adopted the Nightwing identity.

(Originally published on The Reel World July 24th, 2021)

Notes

Original Air Date: October 3^rd, 1998

Directed: Curt Geda (5)

Written: Rich Fogel (4)

Animation: Koko Enterprise Co., LTD (14) & Dong Yang Animation Co., LTD. (56)

Music: Shirley Walker (45)

The events of this episode (and ‘Sins of the Father’) are also told in the 5-part mini-series ‘The Batman Adventures: The Lost Years’, written by Hilary J. Bader, which released earlier in the year.

The second of two episodes to feature the entire Bat-Family in the same episode after ‘Over the Edge‘

Joker ends up being the final villain fought by both versions of Robin in the show, and the missing one, Jason Todd, in the comic book continuation written by Paul Dini & Alan Burnett.

Recap

Robin takes out two thugs but a third gets the drop on him and escapes… only to run straight into Nightwing. Tim at last asks what happened between Dick and Bruce, as the latter has refused to open up about the subject.

Dick is more willing though, recounting his college graduation, attended by Barbara, Alfred and even Lucius Fox, but no Bruce, who was busy doing Batman Things.

Making matters worse, Dick was forced to leave an intimate dinner with Barbara shortly after to assist, teaming up with his grouchy mentor to battle The Joker… who gets away.

Chasing down one of Joker’s henchmen, Bruce is a little too brutal with him in front of his wife and young son. Dick pleads for him to ease up and then splits when he refuses.

A distraught Dick tried to talk to Barbara about the problem, but he couldn’t really say much without revealing his secret identity, so left again, frustrated.

Concerned, Babs asks Bruce what’s going on, so he reveals the Batcave to her and that he had deduced she was Batgirl too! She’s bowled over and thrilled to be trusted.

Thus Bruce & Barbara teamed up to stop Joker and his stolen experimental military weapon while Dick was off pouting.

Thankfully Dick arrived on the scene just in time to save Babs’ life after Joker hurled her off the roof. The trio rally and take Mistah J and his goons down and destroy the weapon.

Dick is furious Barbara being put in harm’s way and the hypocrisy of Bruce revealing his secret to her. Dick goes as far as to punch his mentor out, storming off and leaving Gotham and his Robin costume behind.

Back in the present, Dick realises the mugging victim from earlier was the same henchman that Bruce was too rough on in the past. The man reveals Bruce gave him a job and turned his life around.

Best Performance

In an episode that’s entirely about Dick Grayson declaring that enough is enough and breaking out on his own… it’s Tara Strong that shines brightest. Afforded the opportunity to show off her range, she is playful and sultry at dinner with Dick, before shifting over to the emotional maturity of going to Bruce for help, then back into the trademark sass of Batgirl, before finally matching the energy of Kevin Conroy and Loren Lester’s argument. It’s an understated, brilliant performance.

This is some of Loren Lester’s best emotional work, but he’s always better at the slightly douchey ladies’ man stuff, and can’t do quite enough to boost Dick’s sympathy levels to maximum.

Mark Hamill is on top form and had he appeared for a few more minutes, he’d probably have stolen this one.

Episode Ranking

I can’t help but compare this to ‘The Lost Years’ comic mini-series, which works a little better as it has more time to play out, making the ‘break-up’ more of a slow boil, and also delves into Dick’s extensive training to develop his own set of skills beyond what Batman taught him. Plus Bruce deduces Barbara is Batgirl by playing tennis against her, and that’s pretty rad!

Most of the major beats still play though, primarily the inherent tragedy of Dick suffering under Bruce’s rules, but still obeying them, leaving his dinner with Barbara to help fight Joker, and not revealing their secret even when he desperately needed to open up to her… only for Bruce himself to casually spill the beans. Everything is on his terms. Always.

Worse still, Barbara has always been enthralled by Batman, and seemingly chooses him over Dick, even if that isn’t literally the case. It’s a classic blame game where nobody is right and emotions are running too high for anybody to listen to reason. They needed to communicate but couldn’t find a way to do so. Bruce knew about Barbara and never told Dick, who only confronts the truth about his own messed up situation now that it’s re-framed for him with his girlfriend being the one placed in the line of fire.

It’s also full of little details like Dick living off a trust fund after parting ways with his billionaire benefactor (thanks to the settlement over his parents’ ‘accident’), Joker having never met Batgirl before due to her sporadic outings, and the genesis of Bruce beginning to look to Barbara as his main sidekick even before Dick quits.

For me the moment that doesn’t quite play is Dick punching Bruce to end their partnership, which works much better in the comic. They’ve absolutely teased some friction between Bruce and Dick in the past, and the events of this episode alone make Batman look bad, but the punch comes across a little unnecessary, with Bruce legitimately dumbstruck and looking like the innocent victim despite how messed up their dynamic has always been. You should be saying ‘Good For Her Him’.

I also don’t really like the ending as to me it in no way rebalances the scales. Dick had witnessed any number of acts of kindness on Bruce’s part, and his general altruism was never in doubt. The grudge was about his personal treatment of Dick, and without a true kiss and make up scene, I don’t buy Nightwing just letting go of his resentment.

This is another ranking that may raise eyebrows, because if you’re making a highlight reel of the show’s biggest moments and ongoing themes (perhaps something for me to do when I finally wrap all of this…), this is ENORMOUS, and the episode does provide plenty of fun character analysis, but there are too many little things tugging it downward in my opinion.

[2024 Edit: Way too low. Especially if I’m rewarding more controversial episodes for their great character studies. This one even has The Joker instead of a one-and-done villain! Honestly just swapping this and ‘You Scratch My Back‘ would feel right… Yes, fuck it, let’s do that!!!]

1. The Laughing Fish
2. Mask of the Phantasm
3. Over the Edge
4. Almost Got ‘im
5. Heart of Ice
6. Harlequinade
7. The Trial
8. Riddler’s Reform
9. Double Talk
10. Shadow of the Bat Part I
11. I Am the Night
12. Robin’s Reckoning Part I
13. Baby-Doll
14. Sins of the Father
15. Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero
16. The Man Who Killed Batman
17. Perchance to Dream
18. Two-Face Part I
19. Torch Song
20. Old Wounds (NEW ENTRY)
21. Bane
22. Batgirl Returns
23. A Bullet For Bullock
24. Joker’s Favor
25. Read My Lips
26. Feat of Clay Part II
27. The Ultimate Thrill
28. Catwalk
29. The Demon’s Quest Part II
30. Harley and Ivy
31. Robin’s Reckoning Part II
32. House & Garden
33. Beware the Gray Ghost
34. Mean Seasons
35. You Scatch My Back (↓)
36. Growing Pains
37. Holiday Knights
38. Second Chance
39. Mad as a Hatter
40. Heart of Steel Part II
41. Appointment In Crime Alley
42. Two-Face Part II
43. Pretty Poison
44. Deep Freeze
45. Harley’s Holiday
46. Lock-Up
47. Shadow of the Bat Part II
48. Feat of Clay Part I
49. Cold Comfort
50. His Silicon Soul
51. Off Balance
52. Vendetta
53. Birds of a Feather
54. Joker’s Millions
55. Heart of Steel Part I
56. Never Fear
57. On Leather Wings
58. Love is a Croc
59. See No Evil
60. The Clock King
61. It’s Never Too Late
62. Make ‘Em Laugh
63. Joker’s Wild
64. Eternal Youth
65. The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy
66. The Cat and the Claw Part I
67. Zatanna
68. Day of the Samurai
69. Avatar
70. The Demon’s Quest Part I
71. The Mechanic
72. The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne
73. Terror in the Sky
74. P.O.V.
75. Christmas with the Joker
76. Fear of Victory
77. Be a Clown
78. The Worry Men
79. What is Reality?
80. Fire From Olympus
81. Animal Act
82. Night of the Ninja
83. Mudslide
84. The Cat and the Claw Part II
85. Nothing to Fear
86. The Lion and the Unicorn
87. Prophecy of Doom
88. Cult of the Cat
89. Tyger, Tyger
90. Blind as a Bat
91. If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?
92. Dreams In Darkness
93. The Last Laugh
94. Cat Scratch Fever
95. Moon of the Wolf
96. Paging the Crime Doctor
97. Time Out of Joint
98. Sideshow
99. The Under-Dwellers
100. The Forgotten
101. Showdown
102. Critters
103. The Terrible Trio
104. I’ve Got Batman in My Basement

Rogues Roundup

The Joker (Mark Hamill) (seventeenth appearance)

Need I do more than offer up the quote “Do I hit your kids? … Oh… actually, I do…”?

Joker is theoretically an afterthought of this episode, which is devoted to the downfall of Bruce and Dick’s relationship, but being the delightful Murder Clown he is, he’s able to shine in spite of having such minimalist material, commanding audience attention. He’s in full cartoon mode, wearing a pilot’s outfit and yucking it up to the max. It’s lovely.

It’s fitting that the Dynamic Duo’s greatest adversary would be the last one they faced together, while also acting as a trial by fire for Barbara as her capability as Batgirl begins to rise. He is the Alpha and the Omega… or something like that.

1. The Joker
2. Harley Quinn
3. Mr. Freeze
4. Poison Ivy
5. The Ventriloquist
6. Catwoman
7. Two-Face
8. Bane
9. The Riddler
10. The Phantasm
11. Baby-Doll
12. Mad Hatter
13. Clayface
14. HARDAC (and Randa Duane)
15. Ra’s al Ghul
16. Calendar Girl
17. Roxy Rocket
18. Killer Croc
19. Firefly
20. Penguin
21. Scarecrow
22. Lock-Up
23. Lloyd Ventrix
24. Rupert Thorne
25. Count Vertigo
26. Clock King
27. Nivens
28. Roland Daggett (and Germs & Bell!)
29. Enrique el Gancho
30. Josiah Wormwood
31. Talia al Ghul
32. Sid the Squid
33. Queen Thoth Khepera
34. Maxie Zeus
35. Jimmy ‘Jazzman’ Peake
36. Tony Zucco
37. Man-Bat
38. Rhino, Mugsy and Ratso
39. Hugo Strange
40. Red Claw
41. Arnold Stromwell
42. Mad Bomber
43. Tygrus
44. Kyodai Ken
45. Condiment King/Pack Rat/Mighty Mom
46. Farmer Brown (and Emmylou!)
47. Grant Walker
48. Gil Mason
49. Nostromos (and Lucas!)
50. Cameron Kaiser
51. Dr. Dorian (and Garth)
52. Mad Dog
53. Ubu
54. Thomas Blake
55. Professor Milo
56. Romulus
57. Arkady Duvall
58. Sewer King
59. Boss Biggis
60. Montague Kane
61. The Terrible Trio