Beware the Batman: Secrets

“Secrets”. Beware the Batman. Cartoon Network 20 July 2013.

So, second episode and how does it manage? We’ve already seen the main plots established, but both (Gordon’s dislike of Batman and Katana’s training) move at slower pace this time so as to focus on the villain of this episode…and it’s an interesting take on an obscure foe.

Gotham is being plagued by a strange series of robberies. High end electronics are being ripped off, yet no one seems to be buying on the black market. Joe Braxton, a psychiatrist at Blackgate, is attacked during one of these robberies and his memories wiped with some kind of device. Batman, sensing a lead, starts digging and encounters Magpie (Grey DeLisle).

In what will be a continuing theme with the series, they have taken an obscure character and transplanted the motivations from other, although in this case it isn’t as pronounced. Magpie in the comics was museum curator Margret Pye. Driven mad by being unable to own the jewels that surrounded her daily, she took to dressing like the 1980’s (fishnet stockings, oversized sunglasses, tri-hawk mullet and looping earrings) and stealing jewels. In the show they have tossed all that; now she is Margret Sorrow. A kleptomaniac, she was part of a prison experiment to curb her unhealthy tendencies but only succeeded in making her feel no pain and use her fingernails as poisoned darts. 

A few reviewers have said they ripped off Catwoman for this take on the character, but here they just used some visuals (black leather) and a possible attraction to Batman. I found the experiment a bit of a stretch and the red herring character of Dr. Ravencroft to be fairly pointless. I also thought it was fairly cheap how the episode kept hinting that Ravencroft was Magpie, including having Batman finding evidence in her desk. The big reveal turns out that Cassie, Ravencroft’s assistant, is actually Magpie; an easy mistake to make since both women have almost the exact face and similar voices. 

Not awful all told, and the interaction between Batman and Gordon at the end is nice and shows them building some trust between the two.