"I Am the Night" Re-watch: "Love Is a Croc" & "Torch Song"

 The New Batman Adventures

Who would have thought that two of the episodes I'm covering in back to back blog posts deal with fire? What a coincidence! Let's get right into it!!

Batgirl: "Are you sure about this?"

Batman: "So far all their robberies have been near water. Baby Doll's playing towards her man's strength."

Batgirl: "What do you suppose they do on a date?"

Batman: "... I don't want to think about it."

Baby Doll is attempting to live a normal life, but her child star past continues to haunt her and she... struggles dealing with it in a healthy way. When she sees Killer Croc at a hearing, she feels a kindred spirit and the two misfits become Gotham's own Bonnie & Clyde. Can Batman & Batgirl bring the duo down or will strife from within do it for them?

This makes me uncomfortable.

The episode that introduced Baby Doll was grand. It was written by the master, Paul Dini, and it made something that could have come off as really cheesy and weird, pretty great and a little heartbreaking. This episode was written by the late, great Steve Gerber, creator of Howard the Duck. He tries to insert the same pathos into this episode, but it doesn't really work. 

I know you're all waiting and on pins and needles for my character redesign corner, so I won't disappoint you. Both Baby Doll and Killer Croc land firmly in the "meh" column for me. I really thought Baby Doll's original design was perfect. The curly, Shirley Temple style hair, was perfect. Like the other redesigns, this just feels unnecessary and like kind of a downgrade overall. Killer Croc is a little more successful, but not much. I like that he is a deeper, olive green, rather than the blue/gray/green of B: TAS, but otherwise, there isn't a lot of detail, which is my main complaint with a lot of these redesigns. 

It makes sense that Baby Doll would be drawn to Killer Croc. They are both outcasts mainly due to their appearance. They don't feel like the fit into society. It's an interesting team up. I did think it was kind of strange that they were airing Killer Croc's sentencing hearing on TV. Is that something that happens? I'm curious, so if you know, let me know in the comments. She does get there mighty fast. Maybe, her place was real close to the courthouse? This is the kind of shit I think about. No one should be shocked.

This episode is fine. It's not reinventing the wheel. The main issue is that Baby Doll and Killer Croc have no chemistry. They really play up the creep factor of it, which is great, but that's it. I just felt like there needed to be more and from Baby Doll's last episode showed there could be more. The action is tight. Because Croc is pseudo indestructible, Batman can be a bit rougher than usual so that amps things up in a great way. 

An inoffensive episode of TNBA.

Grade B

Barbara Gordon: "So Dad's got me registering items they found in Lynn's apartment. And guess what, there's an invoice to an address on the east side of town.

Bruce Wayne: "Interesting. What are you doing tonight."

Barbara Gordon: [imitating the Brain] "The same thing we do every night, Pinky."

Bruce Wayne: "What?"

Barbara Gordon: "Never mind."

Garfield Lynn is obsessed with his ex, the biggest pop star in Gotham, Cassidy. He's a pyromaniac who doesn't take her rejection well. Can Batman and Batgirl stop Lynns, the newly christened, Firely before he burns down Gotham in his twisted attempt to get her back?

Firefly. Scary.

I'm just going to say it from the top. This is the worst episode of TNBA, so far. Let's start with some positives:

One thing I love about TNBA is the deepening relationship between Batman and Batgirl. These two episodes are great examples of that. I loved the moment when Batgirl saves Cassidy at her concert, the look of pride is heartwarming. I really enjoyed the hammering home of how uncool and not hip Bruce Wayne truly is. The episode begins with him having zero idea who Cassidy is, dragged to her concert by his flavor of the week. Then, the "Pinky and the Brain" reference that Babs makes, completely sailing over his head. How nice that they can do that since both franchises are owned by Warner Bros. It's a nice moment that shows Bruce being kind of imperfect and relatable.

The rest of the episode is a letdown. So much of it just makes no sense. There is zero nuance. Lynns is just emotionally unstable from the jump. He attacks Cassidy moments before she goes on stage, calling her a tramp right before she goes on stage. Almost getting violent. Then, they just let him go work the pyrotechnics for the concert? What? Why would he not have been escorted out immediately? He's volatile and of course he tried to burn her alive in front of the crowd. Who's surprised?

Then there is the moment when Batman visits Cassidy and she tries to pull a Chase Meridien on him, but like way worse. She's scared. She's flirty. She's shameless. Batman rejects her and he's a creep. It's a whirlwind and it doesn't really work. She's tossing around fire puns. I don't get it. We are supposed to be wanting this woman to live but...

Can someone tell me why Batgirl is modeling in that doorframe?

It's not a big surprise that an episode centered around Firefly is bad. We should just move on.

Grade: D

Next up, we meet Roxy Rocket and Bane is back.

What did you all think? Am I going too hard on these redesigns? On "Torch Song?" Let me know in the comments.