BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER: Episodes 1.1-1.3

BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER a new animated series on Amazon Prime. It’s an excellent iteration of the Batman series with each episode showing the caped hero battling one of his classic villains. The first three episodes of Season One extol the values of justice, honor, goodness, sacrifice, duty, and hope, and their triumph over evil. The story is packaged in a very high-quality animated package that’s a delight for new and old Batman fans alike. However, the series has some edgy action vioelnce and brief but mostly light foul language.

Episode One introduces the audience to a flurry of characters including Batman/Bruce Wayne, his butler Pennyworth, Police Commissioner Gordon and his daughter Barbara who’s a lawyer, hotshot District Attorney Harvey Dent, the Penguin, and Rupurt Thorne, the overarching criminal villain of the first season.

After the opening scene showing the shadowy Penguin questioning one of his men, the first episode begins with low-level criminals moving illegal goods at a warehouse, Their boss has told them that the police might raid the warehouse in the morning. As they go about their work outside, Batman arrives, fights them and knocks them unconscious, with the intention of leaving them for police. After he defeats the henchmen, however, the building they were in blows up, and Batman escapes.

This explosion turns out to be one of multiple explosions that recently have occurred. All the properties were owned by crime Boss Rupert Thorne. This leads Batman to believe a new crime boss may have arrived in town.

Bruce Wayne is next seen boarding the yacht for the Iceberg Lounge, a luxury nightclub run by Oswalda Cobblepot, a female signer also known as “The Penguin.” The Penguin is holding a police fundraiser for Gotham City. So, Police Commissioner Gordon, his daughter Barbara, District Attorney Harvey Dent, and some police detectievs are all there. The event is revealed to be a way for the Penguin to butter up the police force, many of whom are on her corrupt payroll. Dialogue wth her henchmen reveals she embezzles money from these types of events to fund her criminal empire.

While on the ship, Bruce Wayne snoops around for clues but is forced to bail when the Penguin, her bodyguard and her two sons come around the corner. This leads to an extremely intense scene where the Penguin punishes one of her sons for selling out her operation by locking him in a chest and having him dumped into the ocean. He can be heard screaming and struggling as the chest sinks to the bottom of the ocean.

The other son is the real mole, however. After seeing how his criminally insane mother punished his brother, he turns to Commissioner Gordon and Barbara to get his mom arrested for her criminal activies. The Penguin, however, finds out that her other son has betrayed her and reveals a large cannon on the top of her ship that she’s been using to blow up Rupert Thorne’s property. She sets her sites on the Gotham police headquarters where her son is being held.

Batman arrives at the ship to stop the Penguin from launching the cannon and fights all of her henchmen as the cannon charges up its shot. He then fights the Penguin head-on and tries to stop her from firing the cannon.

Episode Two introduces a new character to the Batman legend, Detective Renee Montaya, a hardworking, incorruptible detective on the police force. Montoya is investigating the disappearance of famed actress Yvonne Francis. Bruce Wayne was the last person to see Francis alive, so Montoya interrogates Burce. Bruce’s lawyer interrupts the questioning, and Bruce leaves the precinct station.

Detective Montaya next visits the city’s filmmaking section. She wants to interrogate the people who worked with Francis. Montoya’s first visit is with the leading man of the missing actress’ new movie, Basil Karlo. Karlo shares that he doesn’t have any information about Yvonne’s whereabouts but heard she had fallen in with the wrong crowd. He then cuts the meeting short, blaming a prior engagement with his director.

Detective Montaya interrogates the director’s female assistant about Francis. She reveals that Karlo didn’t have an appointment with the director. Suspicious of Karlo’s behavior, Montaya finds Karlo’s address and visits his apartment for further questioning.

When she arrives at Karlo’s apartment, she hears a scream and a thud. After breaking down the door, she finds Karlo dead, stabbed in the back. Batman, who had arrived at the scene of the crime, chases the caped killer over rooftops but is unable to catch up with him before he can escape.

Brief scenes show others working on the movie getting killed before returning to Montaya’s investigation. She discovers Karlo had been working with a doctor to fix his unattractive face that kept him from being a leading man in the entertainment industry despite his acting talent. The doctor, however, is revealed to have been a conman who took Karlo’s money without delivering results.

Detective Montaya visits the doctor’s apartment to ask him questions and is let in when she arrives. However, after a couple of rounds of questioning, she uncovers the real killer. A fight ensues, with the killer threaten both Montoya’s life and the actress, Yvonne’s life. Of course, Batman appears, and it’s up to him and Montoya to save everyone’s life, including their own.

Episode Three introduces Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman. Selina’s father was rich, but he went to prison and now she struggles to fund her extravagant lifestyle, including her caustic German maid, Greta. So, Selina has turned to a life of high-profile jewel robberies.

The episode opens with Bruce Wayne attending a museum event where his family’s jewels are on display. A reporter, however, makes a horrible joke about Bruce’s mother. Bruce responds by punching him in the face, landing him in court-ordered therapy for the felony assault.

While in therapy, Wayne faces flashbacks of the night his parents died. His response as a child was to commits himself to punishing criminals for revelry in evil. He of course doesn’t share these thoughts or flashbacks with the therapist, however, and keeps his walls up.

Eventually, she ends up admitting he completed his court-ordered therapy. She also concludes he’s not a threat to himself or society. However, she advises Bruce to continue with therapy and allow himself to actually receive help. Bruce, however, bitterly declines.

Meanwhile, Batman faces off against Catwoman and catches her while she’s in the act of robbing a rich couple’s vault. He’s able to track her down and deliver her to the police. Selina Kyle ends up in court but is let off scot-free when the District Attorney Harvey Dent decides not to press charges.

After her release, Bruce Wayne as Batman sets up a trap for Catwoman by announcing he’s pulling his family jewels from the museum display at the end of the week. As he predicted, Catwoman goes after the jewels. Can he foil her plan and send her to jail?

The first three epsidoes of BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER are superbly crafted. They have compelling storylines, engaging characters and high-quality animation. There are also moments of pathos as the young Bruce Wayne confronts his trauma after watching his parents shot dead. The concern of Bruce’s butler/guardian, Arthur Pennyworth, for his young charge is touching.

The first three epsidoes also provide an excellent look at the need for justice in this world and ways that goodness prevails over evil. Though Bruce Wayne aka Batman has flaws, he presents a strong example of honor, integrity, sacrifice, and duty. Meanwhile, the criminals are portrayed in a negative light, with there being no question of who’s considered good or bad.

Furthermore, there is little to no foul language in each episode. There is a comment from Playboy Bruce Wayne’s therapist on whether he has any feelings of live or lust for the women he dates. However, Batman’s desire to face off against criminals does lead to some strong cartoon violence in the first three episodes of BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER. Also, the series has some politically correct, woke, anachronistic casting, although it seems to be set in the late 1930s. For example, the series turns the Penguin into a white woman, and Commisioner Gordon and his daughter are black. The series also has some other DEI background characters.

All in all, therefore, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older chldren.