Batman and Robin: Episodes 6 and 7

Episode 6: Target Robin

“This is Barry Brown, with some new hot tips and cold facts!”

It’s weird to return to this once more, a series of Boy’s Own set pieces with any attempt at humour, irony or characterisation verboten. It’s just capture, escape, inconclusive set piece after inconclusive set piece and, while it’s all very entertaining and carries you along, it’s clear that the plot makes no sense and simply cannot do so in this format. Barman and Robin are simply reacting to events with no real detective work at all; how many times have they discussed Barry Brown as a suspect and failed to do anything?

We begin with an outrageously perfunctory cliffhanger resolution and a captured hood. It’s about time for the token female to appear so here’s Vicki Vale- But Batman, bring male and thus in charge, forbids her from taking a photo for some reason. He then dons a suspiciously accurate disguise as the captured Hood and proves how stupid the other hoods are as they fail to notice that “Mac” is a deeply unconvincing actor- although that may be entirely non-diegetic as Robert Lowery is pretty dire.but soon, after some chaotic scenes, Robin escapes with Bruce- so the Wizard fires Nolan and Evans for incompetence, because that’s what super villains do.

The plot resumes its circular way and Barry Brown reveals another crime location and another cliffhanger trap, this time with gas. This is utterly perfunctory stuff.



Episode 7: The Fatal Blast

“You know, if I didn’t know Bruce Wayne so well, I’d think you and he were the same man.”

So Batman has weird gas masks and an acetylene torch in his person- was the utility belt a thing in 1949? We soon move on to a scene of Barry Brown visiting Commissioner Gordon and spending the entire scene behaving like a red herring, which he obviously is; we know the Professor is the Wizard as it’s all but shown yet again here.

The Wizard’s new wheeze is to extort money by using his remote control machine to stop all trains going through Gotham Station- and the only train the budget stretches to is a steam one, which is pretty damn cool. The Wizard is a twonk, though, insisting that he never makes mistakes (ahem!) and he won’t tolerate it from his underlings.

We get a scene with Vicki Vale (the only female character since, well, she last appeared) that leaves me utterly agog. She’s following Batman and Robin until they stop her and “confiscate” her key, so she can’t follow them and do her job, and the subtext here is that she’s a woman and thus a child who needs to be prevented by male authority from doing man’s work. Wow. Yes, she outwits Batman But in the style of a rebellious naughty child. Not only that, but she notices Batman is driving Bruce’s car. That’s a staggering piece of carelessness from this uniquely thick Batman.

Still, the plot must go on, and it’s nearly cliffhanger time. So Batman rescues rail tycoon Harrison and they both go to a cabin for some reason. And a bomb blows up. Of course it does.