Plot summary: Batman goes undercover as ‘Matches Malone’ to obtain intel on The Riddler, who has been leaving a trail of bodies left and right.
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Notes and Trivia
Episode: 13 (S2.E3)
Original Air Date: July 31st, 2026
Directed: Christopher Berkley (4)
Written: Tyrone Finch & Bryce Abood (2)
Animation: Studio Grida (7)
Music: Frederik Wiedmann (13)
Matches Malone is Batman’s long-time criminal alter ego for undercover operations, including a few episodes of BTAS, though he only uses the name in ‘Shadow of the Bat‘. The alias dates back to 1972, the work of the incredible Denny O’Neil.
You’d be forgiven for not understanding Nygma’s riddle. The US Army nicknamed their most commonly used grenades “pineapples” during World War II.
Mark Desmond was the poor sap who Riddler shot up with Monster Juice (aka The Blockbuster Formula), and was arrested after Batman hit him with his car a billion times.
Joker watches Batman at the end of the episode in the exact spot that Batman stood watching Rupert Thorne at the end of Season One, albeit with a full moon above him.
Recap
Bruce goes undercover in Blackgate prison as ‘Matches Malone’ to try and get intel on The Riddler from Mark Desmond, as Nygma has dramatically increased gangland violence in Gotham.
‘Matches’ finds himself defending Dez from multiple attempted murders, earning his trust enough to get an introduction to Riddler after they escape the prison together.
Unfortunately a distrustful Riddler immediately shoots ‘Matches’ and takes Dez on a jewellery heist, but this allows Batman to spring into action. Nygma believes this is proof Dez snitched and kills him before escaping.
While Bruce has info on Riddler now, he is clearly left shaken by his experience in prison, quietly grieving the loss of his criminal acquaintance.
Episode Ranking
I liked Bruce intently studying mob movies to get into character, and Alfred helping grill him on his fake backstory. Never forget Al was an actor before he was a butler. I especially like that Bruce won’t answer to his own name, only responding to the line of questions about his past, as this is the sociopathic behaviour that makes this character so compelling. It all works, too, as his schtick is laden with plenty of slang that’s no longer really used, such as ‘Bulls’ (cops).
We have all the usual cliches here; shivs, lead pipes, the mess hall, the laundry room, the yard, getting tossed into solitary, the guards being in on it and looking the other way. Evading spotlights during a frantic escape. None of it is bad by any means, but what really makes this story click is that Bruce genuinely bonds with Dez. It’s unclear how long he’s in Blackgate for, but enough to fend off four attempts on Dez’s life, and for a ‘passage of time’ montage of them playing chess, going about their chores and staring at the ceiling for hours. Bruce really did the time here, and this man became his friend. Hell, I think he was smiling to himself during the breakout. And when all is said and done they refuse to end on anything but him mourning Dez. No platitudes to undercut the moment.
Batman hitting a grenade in flight with a Batarang at the start is one of those obligatory classic moves you simply have to give to them; that is the kind of psychotic thing he’d be able to do. But it’s actually key to the story too, as he sort of replicates it by tossing a rubber ball with pinpoint accuracy to knock a gun out of one of the inmates’ hands, subconsciously tipping Dez off to him being Batman. It’s a really affecting death scene, with Dez using his dying breath to call ‘Matches’ his best friend in the world, ahead of his long-time pal Riddler, and Batman closing his eyes after he slips away. Plus he never actually confirms Dez’s accusation, so he kind of protects his secret to the end, but I like to think not denying it was his own form of a kindness to a dying friend.
This is obviously nitpicking, but Dez taunts Flass in an interrogation scene early on, blatantly implying he works for Rupert Thorne in front of Renee Montoya and Barbara Gordon. Both heavily suspect him of being dirty already, but it feels quite a bit thing to just go ahead and do and never follow up on. The scene also gives us our first curse word of the show when Flass flies off the handle at Dez. As I’ve said before, the mature content doesn’t offend me in any way whatsoever, but it feels broadly unnecessary to intentionally restrict your audience, and it feels odd to pivot into it after a generally family friendly Season One. All the same goals are achieved if he says “You piece of…” and then gets cut off. Take Riddler’s murder of Dez, for example: We get a close-up of Eddie holding the gun and opening fire, and then cut to a shot of the wall and see Dez getting shot to shit via silhouette. Infinitely more effective than showing him get turned to Swiss cheese ‘on camera’.
Maybe I need to watch Season One again to see if Frederik Weidmann was always better than I gave him credit for, because this is now three episodes in a row where I made note of the music being solid, though still not up to Shirley Walker standards. I think it helps to be able to play into the jazz stylings that come as an expectation for the era.
I think this is an objectively compelling Batman story and one of the best episodes in the show. It is yet another episode that lacks a sexy villain, though they likely felt their version of The Riddler counts. Some people hate the Batman vs The Mob stories and just want to see colourful costumed rogues doing insane shit. That’s fine. I think there are plenty of very good gangster stories across Batman’s near-century history. Is this one of the very best of those? Probably not. But it’s worth a look for sure. I am still far too much of a sucker for the old Hollywood aesthetic of my current reigning number one, but I’ll slot this in just behind it.
- … And Be a Villain
- Deep Cover (NEW ENTRY)
- The Stress of Her Regard
- Kiss of the Catwoman
- Rocket’s Red Glare
- Brute Force
- The Night of the Hunters
- Night Ride
- The Killer Inside Me
- Moving Target
- In Treacherous Waters
- Savage Night
- Nocturne
Best Performance
This is a three-hander between Hamish Linklater, Ronan Raftery and Zach Lazar Hoffman. All three really bring it.
God help me, I’ve come to appreciate how hard Linklater is trying to be a cool Batman. He’s not even close to one of the greats, but it works in this show, and even if the voice itself can sometimes hit the ear wrong, he’s obviously a fantastic actor, which helps guide him through most scenes, especially something like this where Bruce is going through some complex feelings. But it’s not him.
Hoffman is solid as a rock, sounding every bit the mobster tough guy Dez is intended to be. He’s prickly but there’s a decent enough dude in there. He’s really good at gradually opening up to Bruce and particularly at his death scene.
But Raftery was my favourite here. More below on their choice of characterisation for Riddler, but Raftery did exactly what they asked of him, bringing an enthusiasm to organised crime, screaming in an almost euphoric fashion while on the job. What really sealed the deal was the way he interacted with his subordinates, trying to yuck it up with them in a transparently threatening way. The switch between his juvenile outbursts and cool as a cucumber when it’s time to do a murder is just great stuff. He even feigns some friendly empathy towards Dez when recruiting him for the heist, only to again screech at him when he won’t just die in the line of fire, livid that he survived so many hit attempts in prison. He may not be The Riddler we know and love, but he sure is an unrepenting asshole. This is a compliment.
Rogues Roundup
The Riddler (Ronan Raftery) (second appearance)
Oh hey, he did a riddle! It was a really bad one! Just like most of the ones he did in BTAS! Actually I guess the question about how you fix a leaky boat (‘you plug it’ [plug is also slang for murder]) counts as well. Two bad riddles!
I’m still not sure why they chose to make his defining characteristic over the top aggression, but it is a nice touch that his men disapprove as they’re dying in skirmishes with the cops more as a result. In fact, Eddie shot one of them himself when Batman grabbed him in ‘Brute Force‘ which we now know is to make sure nobody snitches if captured. It also retroactively makes Rupert Thorne look better because one of the goons points out he left Eddie in charge and regardless of their feelings towards Nygma, they’d never go against Rupes. Big Boss shit.
And then on the other end of the spectrum, Dez says they need to tell Thorne that guys aren’t following the rules, establishing that Eddie is tearing up the criminal code of conduct and doing what he wants. Oh, and the tantrums! He’s constantly screaming at his men, even killing one. He tosses a table and fires a tommy gun wildly at the ceiling after getting bad news. I really like him lying to Dez’s face by telling him Vic took the night off so they could use an extra pair of hands. Vic of course being the guy he killed earlier in the episode. Then he kills Dez, first shouting at him, and then slipping into eery calm, adamant he’d found his rat despite the tragic truth that Dez in fact never said a word.
For all my questions about why they’d apply this personality to Riddler and ignore the, ya know, riddles, he is a total snake. Raftery plays him well. He’s violent, unhinged and dangerous. As I said last time, it’s only that he’s called The Riddler that knocks him back. Maybe that’s unfair? How much do you have to honour previous iterations of a character? When do they stop being that character? He does do those two bad riddles! I dunno, man! I’m going to move him up a bunch of spots.
- Clayface
- Harley Quinn
- Roxy Rocket
- Catwoman
- Two-Face
- The Riddler (↑)
- Firebug
- Rupert Thorne
- The Gentleman Ghost
- Flass & Bullock
- The Terrible Trio
- The Penguin
- Hugo Strange and the Monster Men
- The Joker
- Onomatopoeia
- Jim Corrigan
- Nocturna
Title Card
