"I Am the Night" Rewatch: "Read My Lips" and "The Worry Men"

Batman: The Animated Series

Oh my gosh you guys. We did it. We made it through the 65 episodes that comprise the first season of B: TAS. It's been a ride and we aren't done yet. I just wanted to acknowledge this milestone. I didn't make it through them quite as fast as I would have liked, but it feels good to have accomplished this and to have revisited so many amazing episodes. Let's finish this first season.

Batman: (Ventriloquist's voice): "Shut up, you blockhead!"

Scarface: "What did you say?"

The Ventriloquist: "It wasn't me! I didn't say that! My lips didn't move!"

Scarface: "So what? You're a ventriloquist!"

There's a new gang town led by the mysterious Scarface. The GCPD are at a loss, so Commissioner Gordon turns to Batman. After confronting and placing a tracker on Charles "Rhino" Daly, one of Scarface's goons, Batman is led to the gang's hideout. There he learns that the new boss is actually a Ventriloquist's dummy. After confronting the Ventriloquist, Batman deduces he has multiple personality disorder and believes he isn't in control of Scarface's actions. Can Batman stop Scarface and get the Ventriloquist the mental help he clearly needs?

Dummies

Just kidding. Batman throws the Ventriloquist in Arkham and at the end of the episode he's already carving up a new Scarface. This raises a lot of questions. Is Arkham like a summer camp for the criminally insane? It's like wood carving. And is it really a great idea to have someone who carves wooden dummies in that particular program? It may seem like I didn't like this episode, but I really did. For whatever reason, Batman diagnosing the Ventriloquist with multiple personality disorder really stuck with me. I totally understand that it was 1993 and as little as mental illness is really talked about today, it was even worse back then. I'd rather Batman keep his diagnoses vague, I guess is my pretty longwinded point.

Otherwise this is another really strong episode of B: TAS. It introduces another villain and I know I've said it before but it bears repeating. How many super heroes have this deep a rogues gallery that you could keep introducing them this far into a show's run. Batman's reaction to finding out who Scarface really is is priceless. It's rare to see Batman out of control of his emotions so seeing him sort of taken aback and unsure how to move forward is great. He isn't out of sorts for long, but it's still nice to see it, however briefly.

I really dug the callback to Batman's training with Zatara. It makes complete sense he would learn to throw his voice while training with the great magician. It makes for a really fun climax when Batman starts to throw his voice to confuse Scarface and the Ventriloquist.

The episode ends with a great action sequence culminating in Scarface being shot up by his own goons. That final scene of Scarface riddled with bullets is pretty haunting. It's a great homage to gangster movies and is also oddly disturbing.

Grade: A-

The Mad Hatter: "One, two! One, two! And through and through, the vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head, he went galumphing back."

Socialite Veronica Vreeland is back from a jungle excursion. While she was there, she was given wooden dolls called "worry men." If you place the worry men under your pillow at night, they are supposed to remove your worries while you sleep. Veronica distributes them to guests at her welcome home part including Bruce Wayne. When these same businessmen and entrepreneurs begin embezzling from their companies with no memory of it, including Bruce, Batman gets involved. When he finds out that Veronica got the worry men from a strange British man, he realizes they may not be legit.

Dolls!

This episode wraps up the best first season of any animated television show ever. Fight me. Sadly, it's pretty run-of-the-mill. It's not great, it's not terrible, it's just pretty average.

I always enjoy a visit from Gotham's most out of touch socialite Veronica Vreeland. Her return to Gotham party is probably my favorite part of the episode. It's so ridiculous and over the top. The jungle motif, everyone wearing safari outfits sans Bruce Wayne and his friend. I particularly enjoyed her incredulity at Bruce refusing to participate in her culture appropriation shenanigans. One of my favorite things the series goes back to is the ridiculousness of the fabulously wealthy. They are all basically caricatures except for Bruce Wayne.

Another standout part of the episode is the climax. I loved the giant puppets of Batman's Rogue's Gallery. It added a nice aspect of whimsy to what could have just been a paint by numbers battle sequence.

The rest of the episode is just OK. It feels really overstuffed from Batman's fight with the tribesmen that follows Veronica and the Mad Hatter to Gotham to the reveal that the Mad Hatter is even the one behind it. The whole thing is relatively anti climactic and knowing this episode is the wrap up to an exemplary first season makes it even more disappointing.

Grade: C

We have successfully made it through the first 65 episodes of "Batman: The Animated Series." Woot. I appreciate anyone who has taken this journey with me and is planning on continuing. Before we dive into the second season, we are going to take a look at the first B: TAS movie and my favorite Batman movie of all-time: Mask of the Phantasm.

I'd love to hear any comments you have in regards to this first season in general, the blog, etc. Share below!!