Plot summary: With Batman firmly in the public eye a GCPD taskforce is formed to capture him, but the people of Gotham are put in harm’s way in the process.
Notes and Trivia
Episode: 4(S1.E4)
Original Air Date: August 1st, 2024
Directed: Christina Sotta (2)
Written: Ed Brubaker (2)
Animation: Studio IAM (3)
Music: Frederik Wiedmann (4)
Firebug and Firefly are in fact different characters in the comics but obviously the latter has become far more prominent.
The concept of the GCPD staging fake crimes as bait to try and capture Batman is taken from ‘Batman: Year One’.
Several of the GCPD officers are transplanted directly from Gotham Central (co-written by Ed Brubaker), namely Romy Chandler, Marcus Driver and Jim Corrigan.
It’s a real cameo fest as Jack Ryder reads the news and Fleischer-era designs for Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen appear at the press conference. The Lois model is also taking quotes from Harvey Dent later.
Harley name drops her old college professor, Dr. Crane, aka Scarecrow.
Recap
Following Batman’s publicised attack of cops last episode, Mayor Jessup forms a taskforce to capture the Caped Crusader, led by Renee Montoya.
Batman sees straight through their staged crimes, so Montoya brings in Dr. Quinzell to build a psychological profile, and she suggests a costumed villain would make better bait.
Detective Flass takes this to the extreme, staging an escape by the arsonist Firebug who immediately sets fire to an apartment building.
Batman tries to capture Firebug and rescue trapped children, but in the end Bullock & Flass end up vaunted as heroes for killing the ‘escaped’ criminal, and gain control of the taskforce.
Episode Ranking
I’ve said in many mediums that over-serialisation has been a huge detriment to modern television, particularly the streaming model that wants you to keep watching so just bleeds each instalment together and none of them are memorable. Thus it stands to reason one of the things I like about this show is that it is largely episodic… However! There is actually an ongoing narrative that has run through every episode so far involving the GCPD and to a lesser extent Batman.
Flass & Bullock are confirmed to be working for The Penguin in the first episode, which ends with Rupert Thorne seizing the criminal underworld, which Jim Gordon alludes to here. Then we met Renee Montoya, one of the only honest cops in Gotham, and saw the gruesome twosome deliberately ignore her call for backup and then swoop in to steal credit for the arrest at the end. There was also a subtle allusion to Montoya’s sexuality, which comes up again here as Jim Gordon cuts Bullock off as he says “You really think these men are going to take orders from that…” Now maybe he was just going to call her a bitch or whatever, but to me it’s pretty clear what they were driving at. There’s also a line from the mayor here that 100% hints at Jim Gordon being a diversity hire as commissioner. And then last episode we had Flass attempting to murder Catwoman only for Batman to step in, and that attack being caught on camera, dragging our hero into the public eye when the debut episode established most didn’t believe he was real, setting up the events of this episode. Extremely good shit!
They really up the ante here, with tax dollars wasted on PR points for the Mayor as Montoya and her crew pretend to mug each other to try and trap Bats, who just watches from the shadows and looks cool as hell. The fake car chase is even worse because it’s actively dangerous even if they are using blanks given how recklessly they’re all driving. Of course the real headline is Flass & Bullock letting a dangerous criminal out of jail to start a real fire in a real apartment building full of real people, falsifying that he escaped, and later being covered in praise for accidentally killing him to ‘save the day’.
On that subject, I’ll discuss the villain more below, but the flaming building works really well as an exciting set-piece for the third act, with Batman having to avoid both the blaze and police gunfire as he tries to rescue innocent residents in trouble. The fire mostly looks good, though some of it is a little too obviously CGI. I understand nothing is hand animated anymore, but they’re still trying to emulate that look for the most part, so when you’ve got an obvious flash animation it sticks out. Still, lots of nice ‘can’t go that way!’ moments, and of course the hero prioritising saving ordinary people over all else, something sorely lacking from most modern superhero media. It’s a nice bonding moment for Bruce and Jim Gordon too as the commish has our hero dead to rights but instead helps him rescue some kids.
Speaking of Gordon, him walking into the briefing room only to find Batman casually examining their evidence on him and the brief pause before a chase begins is the single coolest thing to happen in the season for my money. And don’t think we didn’t spot Jim catching his breath by leaning against what will ostensibly one day become the Bat Signal!
I’m really glad they chose to bring Harley back one more time before her big episode, and that her profiling of Batman is essentially right on the money. Plus the teases of what’s to come next week… And while I don’t think they were wholly successful in their season-long goal to make Harvey Dent a recurring character so his downfall stings more, I did like him using this whole debacle to dunk on his opponent in the mayoral race.
So yeah, a lot to discuss, and a really solid episode, but I think lacking the compelling major villain of the previous two episodes holds it back a smidge, as Firebug takes a backseat to police corruption, which is well executed throughout the series, but I’m a sucker for the fun of the costumed freaks. It’s also a lot less of a Batman story, which makes sense given Brubaker’s Gotham Central sensibilities, but I would have liked them to have found a way to punch up his handful of lines. It’s fine to minimise his screen time, but when he does appear you need to maximise his minutes.
- … And Be a Villain
- Kiss of the Catwoman
- The Night of the Hunters (NEW ENTRY)
- In Treacherous Waters
Best Performance
I struggled here, neither because there was an abundance of excellent candidates, nor because nobody was any good. There were a LOT of characters voiced by a large number of actors, and every single one of them was good, but that did result in it being difficult for anyone to stand out. You’ve got fun but too brief appearances by Jamie Chung and Tom Kenny as Harley and Firebug, and solid but not amazing work from Hamish Linklater, Eric Morgan Stuart and Michelle C Bonilla as Batman, Jim Gordon and Montoya.
With nobody else leaping out at me I think I’m going to look to the pair of dirty cops. John DiMaggio is always fun as the weaselly Bullock, but Gary Anthony Williams really sells what a deplorable piece of shit Flass is, so he gets the nod. Both are cocky, but Flass is far more sinister than Bullock without being remotely cartoonish. There’s just something about him concocting a sham escape and nonchalantly declaring they’ll try something else entirely if they fail to catch Batman.
Rogues Roundup
Arnold Flass & Harvey Bullock (Gary Anthony Williams & John DiMaggio) (fourth appearance)
Pretty cool to have a Batman cartoon where there is a corrupt police presence THIS prevalent and evil. Bullock is greedy and possibly homophobic, demanding Montoya’s task force be given to them, Flass goes rogue and releases (and arms!) Firebug, and both taunt him before allowing his escape. I can’t put my finger on precisely why I find the notion of Flass slashing their own tyre and then having Bullock punch him to sell the lie so disturbing on top of the more obvious transgressions, but I do! Oh, and then just casually saying they’ll try something else if the whole thing doesn’t work. Powerfully evil.
From there you’ve got Bullock pretending to have not heard Gordon’s orders and switching off his radio, Flass giving false kill orders, and of course, murdering Firebug after he surrenders to stop him from talking, being declared heroes and getting that taskforce they wanted in the first place. Fuuuuuck these guys.
Firebug (Tom Kenny) (first appearance)
I like how tweaked this little freak is; compulsively flicking an imaginary lighter in his cell, and then of course him hallucinating a happy world on fire. It’s really effectively done. It’s also extremely creepy when he’s standing at the window while subtle choir music plays.
Much like when Firefly showed up in TNBA, I like how fire provides an entirely different and more dangerous type of challenge for our hero, as he may be able to punch a dude in the face, but he can’t do much against a force of nature. Just the act of navigating the building becomes a real issue, and while Bats briefly confronts Firebug, he can’t actually get near him so gives up.
- Clayface
- Catwoman
- Flass & Bullock (↑)
- Firebug (NEW ENTRY)
- Rupert Thorne
- The Penguin
- Harvey Dent
Title Card
The Matt Signal 
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