"I Am the Night" Rewatch: "Pretty Poison" and "The Underdwellers"

Batman: The Animated Series

These two episodes are an interesting dichotomy. The first is in my top ten favorite B:TAS episodes of all time. The second is by far my least favorite and maybe one of the worst episodes the series ever produced. I don't think I've ever watched them back to back and doing so really made the faults in the second that much more glaring.

This episode features the animated series premiere of one of Batman's most famous Rogue's and the premiere of one of the series most, if not THE most prolific writers.

District Attorney Harvey Dent is proud to break ground on the new Stonegate Penitentiary. Five years later, Stonegate is open and Harvey is dating Pamela Isley. Bruce Wayne meets the happy couple after some adventuring and after Pam has made her exit, following one steamy for a cartoon kiss, Harvey announces he's going to marry her despite only knowing her a month. He then promptly passes out in his chocolate mousse. The DA has been poisoned and all clues lead to his wannabe fiancé. Batman tracks her down and learns Pamela Isley is actually Poison Ivy. Ivy's holding a grudge against Harvey since the building of Stonegate almost led to the extinction of the Wild Thorny Rose. It's up to Batman to stop Ivy and get the antidote to save Harvey and himself after Poison Ivy plants one on him.

Getting Fresh

This episode marks the first "story by" credit for Paul Dini. Dini is known for penning some of the series most memorable episodes, including giving us the definitive Mr. Freeze origin and introducing Harley Quinn into the Batman mythos. So, it's not a huge surprise that this episode is so successful.

The whole episode is really deftly plotted. There are great bits scattered throughout. I love the police rolling out and Bullock coming back for his doughnuts. The conversation that Harvey and Ivy have regarding Bruce juxtaposed with him fighting crime as Batman. Bullock interrogating the restaurant staff. Ivy's plot is simple yet intricate at the same time. I love her using the petals of the Wild Thorny Rose for the poison and the antidote. The Rose Cafe! 

A great debut episode for Dini and Poison Ivy.

Grade: A

Deep breath. Let's do this.

The citizens of Gotham City are under attack by leprechauns. Wait. No. They are children who are living underground and being subjugated by a one eyed, alligator loving creep called the Sewer King. It's very Oliver Twist. Batman gets involved when he catches one of the urchins and takes them back to Wayne Manor. This leads him to confront the Sewer King and lead the other captive kids to freedom.

What was it Coco Chanel said about accessories?

The biggest problem with this episode is that tonally it is so off. The episode makes it relatively clear that the Sewer King is abusing these kids, but the majority of the episode focuses on these weird slapstick-y moments. I get that it's a heavy topic for a kids cartoon, but either figure out a way to handle it, which I'm confident the writers could've or just avoid it. That is fine too. 

I don't even know what to make of Frog, the kid that Batman catches, and his adventures in Wayne Manor. He's giving Alfred a hard time, Batman's having a good chuckle, and then he gets ahold of a musket and Batman gets to give him a hard anti-gun talking to. It's so all over the place that you can get whiplash watching it. 

The Sewer King doesn't help. He's a pretty lame villain and his final confrontation with Batman is the definition of anti-climactic. He ends up escaping at the end of the episode, but he's never seen again. Likely because everyone involved knew that he was a giant dud. 

Oh and Batman legit thinks Frog is a leprechaun for a little bit. I can't.

Grade: D+

I have to say, it's nice to get "The Underdwellers" out of the way early on. Does anyone love this episode? Is it anyone's favorite? I'd love to know.

Next up: GCPD cops are crazy y'all and that amnesia story!