Beware the Batman: "Secrets" Review

Magpie as she appears in this episode

Hey everybody! I'm Ryan Howitzer and you're in The Line of Fire! I know this review is super late, but at least I got it out. Anyway, this week's episode of Cartoon Network's Beware the Batman was another pretty good episode. In fact, all the strengths of the last episode return on full force in this one. However, so do some of the weaknesses.

First of all, let's talk about some new characters that are introduced and explored. This episode gives us the first actual in-depth look at Lt. Jim Gordon (voiced by Kurtwood Smith). Gordon feels that Batman should be arrested because he takes the law into his own hands. Kurtwood Smith gives us a great performance as Jim Gordon...but not as good as Bryan Cranston. We also meet Barbra Gordon who is voiced once again by Tara Strong. Barbra is her usual cheerful, Batman-obsessed self and Strong is brilliant as usual.

Barbra as she appears in the show

 The two big characters we get to know in this episode are Magpie and Tatsu Yamashiro (Katana). Magpie is an acrobatic thief with multiple personalities and the main antagonist of the episode. She has a really tragic back story and she's pretty entertaining. Tatsu, we find out, knew Alfred when she was a child.

Oh how little you know about him...

 In those days, Alfred worked for Mi6 and was partnered with her father. Tatsu is not yet wise to the fact that Bruce is Batman. She sees him as weak and continually makes remarks about how boring her job is.

This episode has many strengths. Once again, the action is superb. The animation is looking better and better as well. We see more of Bruce's awesome detective skills as he pulls a Sherlock Holmes reading on Tatsu and even notes the features he finds attractive on a woman. Anthony Ruivivar and JB Blanc are still turning in solid performances as Batman and Alfred respectively. The story is very good at showing you both the big and small pictures simultaneously. The main plot of the episode is resolved at the end of the 30 minutes, but we already know that there's more in store for Batman.  However, my complaint about the villains still stands. Magpie felt even more like a stand-in for a much better villain than Pyg and Toad did. With her acrobatics, fighting, romantic interest in Batman, and Grey DeLisle voice, she feels like a poor man's Catwoman. With her multiple personalities and tragic back story, she feels like a poor man's version of Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman. I'm not saying that Joker needs to show up now (though that would be awesome), but make these D list villains act different from much better A listers. That being said, it was announced at Comic Con that more and more familiar villains will start showing up in later episodes. Hopefully, some of these D listers will actually be unique in later episodes too.

All in all, it's another solid episode. The show has tons of potential and if things continue to go the way they do, it'll be a great show. My only complaint is again about the villains. All in all, 8.5/10. Until next time, this is Howitzer reminding you to keep your head down, because you're in The Line of Fire!