In Kid's WB's infinite wisdom, an October full of reruns means that it's nearly Thanksgiving when this episode airs; plus, it's out of production order to boot. But those are really the only negative things you could say about this episode. Sure, there is a sense of "seen this before" with some aspects of it; a city infested with undead creatures reminds of THE BATMAN Vs. DRACULA (which was excellent). It not only harkens to zombie films, but a major Capcom franchise, RESIDENT EVIL, right down to some flaming buildings. But aside for that, this was simply a solid episode of Batman. No, not THE BATMAN, but a Batman cartoon, period. It had good animation, good acting, a tense plot and a sneaky little plot twist thrown in to boot. This season is almost nothing like the last at this point I find it hard to believe that the mere intrusion of Robin could change the show this much. Perhaps the creative staff has been informed that, yes, THE BATMAN is a stable hit, so they can stop shamelessly pandering to the network demographics and start treating the audience like it has a brain. At one point the villian all but mentions, "a bat in the belfry", as if to note how far removed this episode is from that abysmal pilot.
Even the beginning starts out differently, almost like an old TMNT episode, with Batman giving narration about his desperate, final attempt to save a flaming Gotham from zombies, when his own sidekicks seem to set upon him to stop him. Romano gives a good performance here, sounding grizzled and haggard.
The villian of the episode is, naturally, Dr. Hugo Strange, now an insane prisoner of his own Arkham after last season's finale, with his D.A.V.E. robot. In all honesty, Strange is much like the Ventriloquist here; every episode he's starred in has usually been good. The new VA does a good job of taking over for the deceased Frank Gorshin and we get a generably good and even chilling episode. Turns out Strange is asking for Batman to see him in Arkham, and that it is very important. After a conference with Robin & Gordon at the Bat-signal, Batman & Robin venture into Arkham; in a way it's a shame that they didn't take an ode to the comics have Batman refuse to let Robin enter, but it was probably plot requirement. Strange boasts about unleashing a gas throughout Gotham that'll turn everyone into zombies within 48 hours unless Batman administers an anti-dote; the last vial of it he smashes at their feet. I thought there was more up than it seemed, but immediately Batman & Robin are set upon by zombie-guards. Gordon, the police, even Batgirl are reduced to zombies and the Dynamic Duo fight for their lives with some downright awesome fight coerography. Seriously, why can't any Marvel TV shows get this good at fightin'; MTV Spidey is the only one that came close. Batman vows to get to the bottom of it, but finding clues to the antidote are hard. The Batmobile notes no odd air samples, and a test of Gordon's hair notes no poison in his blood. As time winds down and not even Alfred is safe from the zombie curse, Batman & Robin start to become more desperate, and decide to shake down Strange for info.
He tells them about his seized samples at the police HQ, but not before Robin is taken, too. Batman is left all along, but cobbles together his last ditch plan to release the gas via explosives at seperate points, and stows away in a "secret lair" seperate from the Batcave, but makes sense as he had all these secret locations where his Batomobile or Bat-Bot would slide out in past episodes throughout the city (almost out of STEAM DETECTIVES, if anyone has ever seen that). However, he can't seem to shake his two zombied sidekicks, who continue to attack and grumble at him. Almost to contrast his duality, he looks at one promotional poster that calls Bruce Wayne, "Gotham's White Knight". But what is it about Robin's grumbles, "Head...mess..." and Strange's boasts about finally defeating him?
At the last moment, surrounded by zombies, Batman pieces it together like THE USUAL SUSPECTS. The lack of proof of chemicals in the air or on Gordon. The immediacy of the first zombie attack. Nothing how Strange "messes with your head" and his taunts about Batman, who he is still fascinated with. Batman finally realizes that it's not Gotham that is under the spell of a gas, but himself. Strange had all but tricked him with setting up the engine of Gotham's demise and he was one button away from doing it. Done poorly, this could have come off contrived or even hokey, but instead it came off as a moodly Batman thriller. If there is any regular season episode that could convince those who hate this show that it actually has merit, it's this one. Hell, this is the best THE BATMAN since the DTV, IMO.
So Batman surrenders, allows the zombies to gas him with the antidote, and it all falls into place. At first dismayed at his "coming to the brink", Alfred reminds him that it was his quest to find "the truth" that allowed him to continue questioning what he experienced until he found it. After all, Robin had only been freed after Batgirl jumped him, and no one seemed able to overpower Batman himself for long. This episode was season-finale worhy and we still have half a season to go. So far it seems the writers have finally clicked something and are managing to make a damn good Batman show, even with the networks demanding a new kid every season. Aside for the aforementioned scheduling bits I really can't think of much not to like about this episode. If you missed it, wait for the rerun or just DL it somewhere. Just see it.
And Robin is still cool. It's amazing what 5 seasons of TEEN TITANS can do to get one to actually like a sidekick.
