"I Am the Night" Re-watch: "Mean Seasons" & "Critters"

 Batman The Animated Series

One thing I love about "Batman: The Animated Series/The New Batman Adventures" is that they tackle issues that you don't normally see on animated shows. They usually handle them very well. And then there are those times that they don't...

Batman: [watching a commercial featuring Paige Munroe] "Pretty girl."

Batgirl: "Don't you mean 'woman'? She was your age when she made that commercial, Bat-Boy."

A new villainess has hit Gotham. She goes by the name Calendar Girl and she is kidnapping some of Gotham's most prominent businesspeople. It turns out that Calendar Girl is a former "It Girl" and model, Paige Munroe. She's decided to take revenge on the people she blames for ruining her career when she aged out or turned 30. Can Batman and Batgirl stop her from taking her revenge?

I'd watch this video.

This episode introduces a new villain with Paige Munroe aka Calendar Girl. There is a Calendar Man from the comics who started as off as a joke-y, gimmicky villain and evolved into a Hannibal Lecter-esque serial killer, so he was probably deemed too mature for the animated series. I really enjoy Calendar Girl's look. It's basic and clean and I think that really works with her sleek dark hair, plain white mask and jumpsuit that changes based on which holiday she is modeling her newest caper after. It is kind of a refreshing change to see buff, Chippendale shirtless henchmen for a change. There should be equal opportunity scandalous outfits for the villains hired help. 

The voice cast for this episode is pretty stacked, too. Calendar Girl is voiced by Sela Ward from the shows "Sisters" one of the CSI's. There is Barry Bostwick aka Brad from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" as Irv Kleinman and Bernie Benson. Legendary actress Tippi Hendren from "The Birds" as Donna Day. That is nuts. Like, huge talent for a kids tv show in the late 90's.

Like I said in the intro to this post, the show would routinely tackle more adult subjects and usually do ok, but I think the topic of women aging in Hollywood and just sexism overall was maybe too nuanced for the show to do justice. I'm also not sure how I feel about Batman and Batgirl busting in on a "casting couch" situation that is played for laughs? It is definitely saying that there is no age limit on being attractive but it would help sell that if Calendar Girl was more confident in how she looks especially since you learn at the end of the episode she's not horribly disfigured, as is heavily implied. She's still a beautiful woman and her freaking out sort of lessens the impact of the lesson. Oh and it does throw in Bruce's retiring employee tossing out his toupee after Bruce gets rid of mandatory retirement once someone hits 65. See, men deal with ageism, too.

Grade: C

Robin: [after seeing the giant mutant cows] "Holy cow!"

Batgirl: "You had to say it."

Farmer Brown and his daughter, Emmylou, bring their genetically engineered livestock to the Goth Agricultural Expo. His plan is to use these giant animals to increase production. When the bull he displays escapes and rampages, he is banned from his work. A year later, large animals start terrorizing Gotham and all signs point to Farmer Brown. Can Batman and his allies put a stop to Farmer Brown before he brings Gotham to its knees?

A talking goat, not played for laughs.

This episode is weird and pretty bad. First off, Farmer Brown and Emmylou are just laughable caricatures and can not be taken seriously at all as villains. Farmer Brown is like Jed Clampett if he was a mad scientist. You can tell that the people who wrote this episode clearly have zero idea what real farmers are like and it is kind of offensive. 

From the start of the episode, I was scratching my head. Why did this guy get dragged into court because his bull got loose? This feels like a structural issue with the pen it was in, not like what he was doing was wrong. We use different things to help crops grow and to enhance animals. Not everyone loves it, but it's a fact of life and I can't see someone getting hauled into court for it, unless they slaughtered the bull and it started negatively impacting the people consuming the meat or using the products made from the animal. I am getting maybe a little too into the minutiae of this, but it doesn't make sense and it bugs me.

Then the giant mantises showed up and I was like ok, I see. They are going to do like a take on the old mutant monster movies from the '60's. That could work. (Sidebar, I thought it was ironic that there was a joke about Bruce forgetting his date's name right after an episode about ageism and sexism.) The problem with "Critters" is that it is designed to be campy but it takes itself way too seriously. There is a scene where a goat walks through the GCPD, that no one notices, comes into Gordon's office and talks to him and Batman. And no one bats an eye. Not even a raised eyebrow. There is so many missed opportunities for comedy and camp here. 

This episode is kind of terrible and I don't really want to spend any more time on it. You could skip it if you wanted and be A-OK.

Next up, Catwoman battles cultists and The Mad Hatter makes his first and only main villain appearance in TNBA.

What did you all think of these episodes? I have a feeling that "Critters" is pretty re-viled by fans but maybe someone likes it? Let me know in the comments.