Review: Beware the Batman “Animal”

When all else fails, do as Batman does. Even if that means get yourself thrown in prison.

Spoilers Below!

Yeah, so I am going to just come out and say it. Batman finally went bat shit crazy. This is the culmination of the last four episodes, where Batman kept losing touch with himself. Well, this finally came full circle tonight.

For Batman to get completely unhinged, you knew something major had to happen. Batman goes toe to toe with Dent’s SCU outside the security company that The Key stole an encryption program from, that will let him use any computer in the world. Then, Batman turns himself into Dent directly and incapacitates all of the officers that were surrounding Dent, Finally, he takes a good few minutes, and turns Killer Croc’s face into Frank Mir’s, after Mir got his face turned into hamburger meat by Brock Lesnar at UFC 100.

All of this time, Batman has been losing touch with himself, but “Animal” has set Batman back on track with the return of Alfred. Batman obviously needs that grounding that Alfred gave him. Alfred was the moral compass that Batman used as a definitive right or wrong. Without Alfred telling Batman what he should or shouldn’t do, Batman ran rough shot. All of the sleepless nights, unnecessary fights, and Batman coming close to punching Killer Croc to death in Blackgate Prison.

Then again, Harvey Dent isn’t without blame. Dent has been a one man crusade to put Batman behind bars. However, Batman proved that the only way that Dent will put him in jail would be if Batman wanted to be in there. The events of tonight, including Gordon forcing Dent into getting officers in Blackgate to help Batman, will only lead to the psychosis that Dent has developed. Speaking of which, I am surprised there was nothing more of Anarky’s “alliance” with Dent. I was expecting more expansion on that story, but there was a lot of Batman to go around.

Where most of Beware the Batman focused on Detective Batman, “Animal” took a step back, and showed a more primal, more vicious Batman. I thought this was a great time to show the apex to this small arc because it allows time to clean the slate before the final stretch of the season begins and ties everything together. Hopefully, the number of episodes that don’t have anything to do with the main arc of the season.

So, the downward spiral Batman was on comes to an end, and Croc made a break out of Blackgate. Hopefully, Alfred can bring stability back to Batman, and return him to form. Batman really needs that going forward. This was a great episode, even though it’s mostly on its own when it comes to the arc of the story.