Review: Beware the Batman “Games”

When Humpty Dumpty goes up against Batman, all of Arkham’s men won’t be able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

 Spoilers Below

Tonight’s Beware the Batman threw me for a bit of a loop. More often than not, it’s Batman and whichever sidekick he has, using their detective skills for the betterment of Gotham. However, “Games” puts all of the control into the unstable hands of Humpty Dumpty, who has put Katana, Batman, Gordon, Mayor Grange. and Tobias Whale into a game where one of the players was responsible for the death of a sailor. Things were going swimmingly, until Dumpty started to unravel from the game, and tried to take out all of the players.

Batman, again, seemed to be the only person capable who is able to use his brain and deduce a solution to a puzzle. Gordon was busy trying to save the Mayor, Katana was busy questioning Batman, and Whale was busy trying to save his own ass. Everyone just played themselves, and Batman was the only person who was willing to play the game and get out. The team was very close to losing because they were on their own agendas.

I thought the game that Humpty Dumpty was genius, even with the screw up he had with his own rules. How he forced Batman to his limits was something I haven’t seen before. From the trap doors in the holding rooms to the light-up floor room, the duck shooting, this was ingenious and pushed Katana to actually question the choices Batman was making. For a person like Katana to question Batman, who has come to trust Batman almost completely, something really terrible had to have happened. That terrible was that Katana started to think Batman was more worried about winning the game over saving the group.

And this interaction causes the first rift between Batman and Katana since Katana came in. Batman’s mental state is deteriorating because he’s losing touch with the man behind the mask. Katana is trying to relate Batman to Bruce Wayne, and Batman says he isn’t Bruce. Yeah, I would say that’s a problem as well. Katana is doing a great job at being a replacement to Alfred, but Bruce just will not listen to her, no matter what Katana says or does. Bruce has always been headstrong because he is on a level beyond what the others are capable when it comes to intelligence. That makes it really hard for Bruce to listen to anyone. And of course, Bruce gets really pissed when someone questions him, and that’s somewhat understandable.

That’s where “Games” shines. This is a side of the Batman that you don’t see very often, and it’s only in the most extreme circumstances, like Jason Todd dying, or Joker shooting Barbara Gordon. It’s great to see Batman fragile for a change, instead of emotional rock. We need more of the slowly unhinging Batman because more can be done with that. I am hoping for further devolution from Batman. I cannot say that I want to keep this different take on Batman, because these are the stories that rarely get to see the light of day.

There are only 10 more episodes until Beware the Batman ends. If things keep going on the line it’s on, this will be one of the most underrated Batmans of all time. “Games” is a great addition to the Batman mythos, and should be watched as soon as possible. You won’t be disappointed.