"I Am the Night" Rewatch: "Be a Clown" and "Two-Face" Parts 1 & 2

Batman: The Animated Series

B: TAS was different from a lot of animated shows on at the time or before. It wasn't afraid to tell adult stories. It didn't try to dumb things down for it's audience. It told stories with legitimate pathos. It refused to tie things up with a neat bow in 22 minutes, or in some cases, 44 minutes. That's right, it also told two part stories and we've reached the first of those two parters in our B: TAS rewatch and it is one of, if not the best, of the bunch. But first...

 

The Joker is back! Which is good news for us, but not great news for Mayor Hill and his son Jordan.

During a press conference touting Gotham Towers and a newer, safer Gotham,  Mayor Hill is almost taken out by some rampaging thugs. During some press remarks after, Hill makes the mistake of equating Batman and the Joker, something Joker doesn't take kindly to. He decides to show the Mayor just how different he is by sneaking into the Mayor's son Jordan's birthday party disguised as Jekko the Clown. Partygoer Bruce Wayne thwarts his plan to blow up everyone but can't stop Jordan from sneaking away with the disguised Clown Prince of Crime.

The Adventures of Joran and Jekko

It's sometimes hard to be objective when dealing with a Joker B: TAS episode. The Joker is such a great character and Mark Hamill kills every line, so it's easy just to place a mark in the win column and move on. Doing that does a disservice to the show and the character.

This isn't a terrible episode, by any means. Joker being so offended that the Mayor would dare compare he to Batman that he would decide to blow up everyone at a birthday party is very Joker. I also really liked Jordan being so drawn to Joker as Jekko. It makes a lot of sense that a boy neglected at home would see a kindred spirit in someone who seems to have the life that they want. I also thought it was interesting that Joker ushers the kids away from the pool before lighting the birthday candle of death. Does Joker have a soft spot for kids? His actions with Jordan later in the episode shake that a little, but I thought it was a detail that deserved pointing out. It could simply be the writers didn't want to go that far as Joker directly threatening children, which seems most likely.

I'm also a fan of when Joker drawers civilians into his twisted world. It works, even though in this case it does sort of play like a trial run for the superb "Joker's Favor" coming up later in the season.

I wasn't as into Mayor Hill as absentee, neglectful dad. It felt super cliche and lazy. I get that it happens, but you want more imagination from your television writers. The episode does sort of fall apart in the back half of the episode. The conclusion feels rushed as does Jordan's turn from Jekko fanboy to Batman sidekick. A thrilling showdown on a moving roller coaster doesn't save the climax from feeling like a jumbled mess. Batman is also showing some Snyder-esque moves in regards to the Joker who walks away from his rollercoaster car tumble because of some water not because the Dark Knight is super concerned. 

Grade: B

This is it. The series first two-part episodes. Fitting for the story of the downfall of one of Gotham's most well known citizens, District Attorney Harvey Dent.

Dent is on the campaign trail and trying to take down noted crime boss, Rupert Thorne. He's found love with a new woman, Grace LaMont. Things seem to be going well. But something is wrong with Harvey. He's blacking out and allowing his anger to overtake him. These public, violent outbursts are troubling and concerning to everyone. It turns out that a childhood incident caused Harvey to stop expressing his anger, shoving it down until it manifested itself into an alternate personality, Big Bad Harv, a coin flipping aggression machine. Thorne catches wind of this after sending his gal Friday, Candice to tail Dent and dig up dirt. He attempts to use the information to blackmail Dent leading to Big Bad Harv instigating a confrontation at an abandoned  chemical warehouse. Batman attempts to intervene, but can't stop an explosion that horribly disfigures one side of his friends face, turning him into Two-Face.

You can hardly notice it.

These two episodes are landmark episodes in the run of the show. It really embraces adult storytelling and these two episodes are some of the best the show has produced because of it. 

The episode looks at mental illness in a way that was surprising for an animated series of the time and surprising re-watching it today. It's never played for laughs. Is it the most realistic portrayal of dissociative personality disorder? No. It doesn't really have to be. It doesn't vilify it. It doesn't say you are intrinsically bad. I also enjoyed this idea that anger in and of itself isn't bad. It's an emotion we all feel and it's something that can be expressed in a healthy way and that's where Harvey runs into problems.

When Harvey has his outbursts, it is very affecting. This is a character we know. A good friend of the protagonist of the series. When he has these episodes, they are genuinely startling. You don't know how to feel. 

What happens to Harvey is tragic and the show doesn't present any easy answers. Harvey has felt for a monster for a long time. Now his outward appearance reflects that and he believes that a life of crime, taking out Thorne by employing similar tactics is the thing to do. He rejects Grace and Bruce. This is the first villain the series has shown who have ties to Batman and it makes things even more tragic. The second part jumps ahead six months and at first, it's surprising that Batman hasn't caught him yet. But as soon as he talks to Alfred about Two-Face's latest heists at one of Thorne's front companies, you can hear that his heart really isn't it. He doesn't want to go after his friend. Conroy sells the hell out of the pain and the guilt that Batman feels. 

These episodes deal with Two-Face in a very ambiguous way. You empathize with him in a way that you haven't with the other villains the show has introduced up to this point. I don't think that he is handled in this way going forward which is unfortunate, but you keep waiting for that moment of redemption. That moment that shows that Harvey can transcend Two-Face. You get these flickers. Two-Face stops Thorne from shooting Batman, but refuses to let the law deal out justice, something Harvey would have. He wants the coin to decide. It's a haunting image. Grace at Two-Face's side, the coins scattered around them. 

I could keep going, but I think you guys get the gist. From the first episode, you knew that B: TAS was a really good Batman adaptation. "Two-Face" proved that it was going to be a classic Batman adaptation. 

Grade: A

I turn it over to you all. Do the writers sometimes use the Joker as a crutch story-wise? Do you agree that the "Two-Face" two-parter is really something special? A turning point for the series? Let me know in the comments.

Next up, a tale of two crime bosses and the debut of a classic Bat villain.