THE BATMAN has no hope of outdoing the Timmverse Batman and probably never will. But what it can do, and has done too little of, it take those rare areas or characters that Timm missed or botched and try to score a hit off that. The Trio could be one of them. After all, THE BATMAN has gotten watchable episodes out of D-List fodder like Cluemaster, Gearhead, and Spellbinder. They've done better with D-Listers, in fact, than A-Listers like Joker, Penguin, and Catwoman. IMO, of course.
Having written this about a day before watching this episode, I think it is worth saying that they didn't do so badly by the Terrible Trio themselves. Unfortunately, the episode envoked the Timmverse in other ways, with heavy reminders of Batman Beyond episodes, "Splicers" and "The Winning Edge". And that is never good because BEYOND was naturally always superior. Still, this episode was better than some of the JL team-up's and was entertaining. Furthermore, it focused on Batgirl and showed that she can be sassy without being irritating, a distinction that was lost in her debut during Season 3 and sometimes during the 4th.
The episode starts with an attack on some college kids at a beach by what appear to be animal-creatures; a wolf, a shark, and a vulture. As a twist to mix things up, the vulture is actually a girl (originally, the Trio were all men), and that helped keep things a little unique. I liked how the girl at first thought the "shark" was in a costume until the last second. Once it makes the news, however, Batman is quick to investigate, and it hits close to home for Barbara as the attacks are connected to her new school. She has apparently just entered college, a fact Batman seemed ignorant of. She has always been rather independant but certain moments during the series almost hint that Batman doesn't care for her as much, at least enough to keep abreast of her life. In a way she plays the role that Grayson played in TAS, as in that show, he was also in his freshman year of college, too.
The biggest departure for the Trio, besides the fact that they are actually mutating into animals via a bastardization of Kirk Langstrom's formula, but that their motives were different. Originally, they were three well privaleged youths who turned to crime out of sheer boredom & seeking of thrills. Here, they are outcasts seeking revenge on college dorm jerks who push them around. I suppose it makes more sense, but this motivation has been overdone to death for years since Columbine (to be frank) and it has quickly become a cliche. There is that sense that the Trio are overreacting and not simply avenging injustices, though. What ruined THE TERRIBLE TRIO in B:TAS was not playing with their motivation well, which was unique. In THE BATMAN, the motivation was handled, just made somewhat more generic.
As for Kirk Langstom, I actually liked the revamp that THE BATMAN did for him. Having him be such a bat-freak that he becomes obsessed with Batman and wants to out-Bat him was unique, made him seem more like a stalker than a Lizard rip-off (which he usually was). Sadly, after his debut episode, Man-Bat hadn't been used well since. This time he is trying to make amends, swearing he was not behind the Trio and agreeing to make an antidote for Batman (who seemed to believe him awfully quickly).
At times I had to remember this is a different kind of Batman, as he was literally making wisecracks with Batgirl; as I have said before, this Batman seems to act as if DKR never happened and he is in "costumed cop" mode, a fact that Fox outright tells him. That is not to say that approach to Batman hasn't been done for years and lacks it's fans; Grant Morrison is using that approach for his BATMAN run. I usually am not and it does take some getting used to. The episode had some good lines and some sweet action sequences with the Trio; action pacing has usually been THE BATMAN's strength and it continues to be so here.
The episode even seems to end in a way similar to "Splicers", with the "leader" being overwhelmed by an OD of animal-mutagen stuff. Again, these sorts of things just remind me of better, earlier shows and that is never a good thing for THE BATMAN. Granted, aside for that, it was an enjoyable episode. It had better animation and action than the TAS version of the Terrible Trio, so I guess we could call it a success. This was also the first episode of the season without Robin, and that was good, giving him a rest.
t:
RAWR!!!
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