Batman: The Animated Series- Mad as a Hatter

 "Gotta do what Mr Hat says!"

Yet another strong episode this time around as another member of the Batman's traditional rogues gallery is introduced in animated form. And, as with Mr Freeze and Clayface, this is done with considerable nuance and sensitivity. Not only that, but it's a nice little guest starring role for Roddy McDowall... and indeed for Kimmy Robertson, Lucy in Twin Peaks!

As ever when I discuss incels, I must emphasise that there's nothing inherently bad or creepy about lonely men who find it difficult to approach or attract women, whether from shyness or something else. Such men are perfectly capable of being decent, of not choosing the path of bigotry and poisonous Andrew Tate- style ungentlemanly behaviour. 

Jervis Tetch, though, is not one of those decent men: he is, in modern parlance, an incel. Yes, his beloved Alice has friend zoned him, but she has the right to her own free choice. None of us has the right to demand the attentions of another, let alone the creepy mind control that Tetch employs, even after earlier deciding that it would be wrong. And Alice's boyfriend, Billy, may be a "jock", but he gives every sign of being a decent sort. Men and boys like Tetch- and alas, there are many of them- need to seek better role models and start behaving like gentlemen. Because, bound up with misogynistic assumptions though it is, the concept of a "gentleman" is perhaps not something to be discarded in this imperfect world.

This is a short but nuanced treatment of a theme that is, if anythung, even more relevant today. Plus it has loads of Lewis Carroll references. What's not to love?

Twin Peaks: Laura's Secret Diary

 "He never exercises. He never washes his car. And he doesn't even own a sports coat!"

By Twin Peaks standards, this is a fairly par episode, despite the fascinatingly surreal opening. And yet there's so much happening.

Oh, there's plot. Harold Smith openly tells Donna about Laura's secret diary... and Donna confides in love rival Maddy of all people. Ben Horne persuades Agent Cooper to handle the ransom for poor Audrey, luring him to his death. We meet a delightfully eccentric judge. Josie is up to something with her cousin from Hong Kong. And then there's Hank abd the bizarre fight at the end.

But there's also pathos. Leland feeling such unbearable grief that he killed Jacques Renault, who wasn't even Laura's killer. There's weirdness, with Audrey's only scene being shot very trippily, with Jean shooting his colleague suddenly. Jean is quite the character, to put it mildly.

Yet what lingers in the mind is the humour, the subtlety of it. Lucy's love troubles with Andy and Dick, our twoabsurd comedy characters, are quietly hilarious. And then there's the little sub-plot of the secret restaurant critic. 

I very much suspect we're not exactly going to see all the threads drawn together. But I'm still loving this.