Right now alot of people are looking at the live action side of DC as they have Supergirl superbombing at the box office , they've just released the trailer for Clayface and there a few weeks away from dropping Lanterns. Yet there is one more TV show that's coming back for it's second season that alot of people aren't talking about be it in a negative or a positive way and well I thought that i'd remind you about this show by doing a tie in review with the shows first season finale and so then join me as I review the episode that sees Batman finally call Alfred by his first name with the episode in question being called simply just "Savage Night" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is Harvey Dent finds himself facing jail time for murders committed by Two-Face and it's up to Batman , Barbera , Jim Gordon and Renee Montoya to get him to the court house safely and alive. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. This episodes plot to be frank isn't as good as it could have been as it does rely on you having past knowledge of the prior episodes which is a great if you were telling one whole story over the course of the season but alot of the time this show was telling separate stories and therefor it does make sense that this episode should follow suit in this regard. However even not taking that into account the episodes plot still isn't that strong as it doesn't feel like the plot of a the typical season finale rather it feels like the plot to an episode that could have been placed anywhere in the season order and it would have made just as much sense as this plot oddly enough isn't big enough for a season finale as it's just the characters trying to get this one person to the court house for his hearing on time and that's it and like episodes of Batman: The Animated Series also had episodes like this none of them were meant to be season finales therefor that show does get away somewhat with having episodes that are plotted like this one, the plot does have some upsides like the fact that it is this small scale story does make all the more interesting to watch as there's nothing big happening plot wise for alot of the episode with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Hamish Linklater as Bruce Wayne / Batman and Michelle C. Bonilla as Renee Montoya. Also starring in this episode is Krystal Joy Brown as Barbara Gordon , John DiMaggio as Harvey Bullock , Manny and The Joker , Eric Morgan Stuart as James Gordon , Jason Watkins as Alfred Pennyworth , Gary Anthony Williams as Arnold Flass , Diedrich Bader as Harvey Dent / Two-Face , Noshir Dalal as Back-Up Mobster and A Guard , Bumper Robinson as Goon 2 and Mobster 1 , James Arnold Taylor as A Client and Cedric Yarbrough as Rupert Thorne.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. This episodes acting was quite frankly alot more better then what it really had any right to be due to the fact that the actors in this episode do have alot of big shoes to fill from other Batman animated projects and to be fair they do do some really good work in this episode and not taking the other episodes into account this episodes actin could have been alot more better as we do know that alot of this episodes actors are a bunch of a really good actors in there own right and yet alot of the time they very feel miscast as is the case with Hamish Linklater or aren't used right like with Jason Watkins. With the best actor in the whole episode being oddly enough John DiMaggio as while he does have this really recognizable voice alot of the time in this episode you don't really know that it's him playing these characters as he does hide his voice alot of the time with the sign if a great voice actor being if they really can surprise you when it's revealed that they've really played a certain character and that's what John DiMaggio did in this episode as alot of the time he really doesn't use his very recognizable he gives his characters more of a different voice and it is with those voice really fitting those characters and it is something that really does shine though in his performance. With the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors has to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of the naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the really greats that are currently over at Studio IAM. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. As while the episodes animation well never ever be able to top the animation seen in Batman: The Animated Series it is hard not ignore the two animation wise as they do share a very similar style and yet with this episode the animation whilst it isn't bad it's also not all that good either as alot of the episode does feel really flat both interms of where the camera is placed and what it is that they do in the episode from an animation standpoint. Whereas in Batman: The Animated Series the camera would be placed in this unique places that would be impossible to do in live action without the need a lot CGI where as here the camera is always placed in a mid shot type angel which is fine for one or two shots but alot of the shots are like this with the makers of this episode not really getting all that creative with it's use of animation as while there are only so many thing that you can do with these characters in an animated setting here it just felt like the makers of this episode where just for lack of a better word here being lazy almost as if they had ran out of ideas in the previous episodes and just weren't bothered to be creative with this episodes animation and while granted having the episode be set at night as a good way to hide all of the flaws in the animation having things like a CGI background and a few CGI vehicles doesn't really help matter all that much, however when the episode does to do some really solid animation like of the character of Harvey Dent for example or the episodes that is when we get to see just how good that the animation in this episode really could have been.
This episode does of course end with them hinting that we'll be getting a much more darker version of The Joker in this forthcoming season. The teaser itself doesn't really give away what it is that he'll be up to in the season as we only see him testing Joker venom on various victims before he laughs at the camera which to be fair is all you need to do with a character as well as known The Joker as every one knows who he is anyways and given the fact that this show is meant to be set during Batman's early years as a hero it does make sense that he would come across him when he's a slightly more established hero with it even appearing from the teaser that we well be getting this more dark and twisted version of the character. This is something that should work as The Joker whilst yes he is meant to be funny his dark jokes are only meant to be funny to him and no one else as he is someone who has lost his mind and will therefor do anything to anyone just because he can do and given the fact that one of the makers of this show is Bruce Timm who helped to make him well known in the nineties it is safe to say that this version could be in safe hands, however tho there are somethings that the makers of this episode would need to get right about the character to make this version of work that being the fact that he has to be scary and not not just little kid scary either i'm talking someone who can make both the adults and the kids watching the show scared of him just by giving them a look as you don't want to be routing for this character you wan to be routing for Batman to stop his crimes and the second thing being the fact that he does need to be unpredictable if I can work out what his plan is before it's even revealed then it's not a good take on the character the plan needs to be as unpredictable as the character is and if the makers of this sow get those things right then this new take on the character will be a good version of the character to have.
The episode on the whole isn't that bad as there are alot of good things in it like the friendship between Barbera and Harvey was really sweet something which does lead to Harvey dying a good guy as he gets shot in the back by Arnold Flass with his death being another high point in the episode as it is this long a drawn out death where we get to see the character shot not once but twice. This is something that does make his death all the more both satisfying and upsetting its upsetting in the fact that he didn't die as a villain he died trying to do the right thing by projecting someone who was just just trying to do right by him and yet at the same time it's satisfying due to the fact that it was this long a drawn out thing whereas if it was just over a in a few seconds it wouldn't have the same weight on the episode that it clearly does have due to to it being longer. The over truly good thing in the episode is the fact that we get to see Batman get pushed to the edge and still come back OK as we after Harvey is killed Batman takes Flass's gun and makes it look like he is going to shoot him which is something that would make sense as Harvey was Bruce's best friend after all and yet even so Batman fires the gun around Flass as a way to warn him and doesn't use the gun to kill him this was something that the makers if this episode really didn't need to do as the episode would still work without that scene but its the fact that they went the extra mile to add in a scene like that that does show you that even someone as dark as Batman can at times get pushed so far where he believes that that the only way to stop a criminal is not by the law but by killing them himself as that is how far that he could have gone in this episode and yet he manages to hold himself back thus being more human then the the criminals are.
The whole thing with Harvey refusing to go court for the crimes that he committed as Two-Face was a rather interesting thing to have in the episode. Yet the episode does drop this part of the episode just as quickly as it does start it which is a shame as it would have made the episode alot more interesting to see if it was mainly just Harvey struggling to cope with the fact that he committed all of these terrible crimes as Two-Face as while he knows that the two of them are vastly different people inside and out to the outside world both Harvey Dent and Two-Face are one in the same and seeing how the world would react to him doing these crimes is something that would have been an interesting angle to take in the episode given how high up in power Harvey Dent is. Yet the episode drops this aspect pretty soon after it starts it all for no good reason which just leaves us with a bland and generic episode of the show that has not that much going for it this is something that would have been OK if it was maybe the the first episode in the season as then you could argue that the season will only get better but this is the season finale this is where everything that's gone on in the season pays off and yet it's just left feeling like an average episode with the only thing that did make it interesting being stripped out of it for no reason as the makers of this episode really could have kept the fact that Harvey is struggling to cope with what he did as Two-Face and still have the episode go ahead as planned and then have it be that he decides to be fully Harvey again when he does save Barbera's life this is something that would have made his death all the more heartbreaking as while a few people will know that he died fully as Harvey Dent to the rest of the world he would have died as Two-Face.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty five minuets and fifty four seconds. This is pretty much the bogstandard running time for the show and to be fair this is an episode that really does need to have that long of running time just due to the fact that it does tie up some characters arcs in this first season but yeah it is hard to deny the fact that this episode really doesn't need to be this long as the episode doesn't have a plot that requires it be that this long as you very easily could tell this episodes plot in twenty two minuets and not have to cut anything that's all that important to the plot of the episode itself with the episode itself having more then enough plot there to cover this amount of running time in the first place. Yet even with this in mind the episode still doesn't use its running time all that wisely due to the fact that this episode really does doesn't its running time all that wisely as the episode doesn't take the time to fully fully develop which in all fairness it really didn't need to do as one could make the argument that the sow itself did that all of its episodes and it therefor wasn't needed in this episode but it still would have been nice if this episode did get some plot development with the makers of this episode being more focused on giving us scene between Harvey and Barbara then in giving us plot development. The same thing cannot be said for the episodes character development as the episode does take the time to give Batman of all people some character development as if you'll remember he does go through the entire season calling Alfred Pennyworth and yet at the end of this episode because of what he's seen Harvey do and what Alfred has just said to him he does very briefly call him Alfred with the rest of the episodes characters not really getting any kind of character development whatso ever but i really will admit that this episode really does gave some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / fell that the actual action thats actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty OK at best. This was something that was quite shocking as when you think of action scenes inn animated Batman films or TV show you do usually think of some pretty cool and yet there stuff and yet here it did feel like that the makers of this episode were holding themselves back when they should have been letting them selfs go as nuts as they wanted to do as they do have a character in Batman that does allow for that to happen. With the best action scene in the whole entire episode being the scene at the harbor as that's when we get to see Batman make good us of alot of his gadgets in fun fun ways like him using Batarang to knock someone out or he uses a hook that he fires from his gun to swig away to try and see where Barbara and Harvey are with us even getting a cool take down when Batman leaps of a container kicking a villain in the face which is a really cool thing to see in the episode and even tho the episode is largely set at the harbor the episode does make good use of it by giving an action scene that we haven't seen before with this being something that does make this episodes action scene feel different from all of the other action scenes in this show as by all rights this episodes action could have been really bad and yet it wasn't with the rest of the episodes action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while we don; have to wait to long to see what season two of this show is going to bring what we can say from the trailer is that it does look like we are in for one heck of a ride with Batman and that this episode wasn't the strongest episode to end this season out out on in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad this that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6 ,5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
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