[7.3/10] Here’s the funny thing about this episode. I thought that the clown Dick and Tim ran into at the circus looked like Mad Hatter, but I thought it was just one of those random design coincidences. I have to give the ep credit for setting up the solution to its mystery well. I caught on by the second act, when it seemed clear that Miranda Kane was a red herring. I wondered who else could it be, given Roger Ebert’s ol’ law of conservation of characters for solving mysteries, when the clown’s interactions with Bullock tipped the audience off that he was the only other suspect (barring some sort of circus-wide collaboration.
And it makes sense! His explanation that animals are simple enough to the point that his mind control technology allows him to control them from afar is a good one. It fits with his past M.O., and provides a good excuse for him to mucking around in Dick’s old circus.
I also like that this is largely a Nightwing episode, with Batman as more of a supporting character. Bringing things back to the circus adds an extra emotional quotient to this one. At the same time, the show nicely sets his currently tense relationship with Batman, where Dick is joking about the obsession he’s inherited from his mentor, while Batman himself is as laconic and mission-focused as ever.
The catch is that while the mystery was a solid one and the psychological elements to Dick’s story were good, the rest of the episode didn’t do a whole lot for me. There was something more campy than enjoyable about Batman and the original Robin fighting gorillas and bears and jungle cats together. At the same time, Miranda is a complete waste of a character. The episode seems to hint at some conflict between Dick not wanting to turn her in as the most likely suspect given their childhood friendship. But for starters, she’s obviously a mislead for the true culprit, and for another, the episode needs to learn that you need more than a scantily-clad woman commenting that the hero is hot to establish romantic chemistry.
Still, there’s a little spark (no pun intended), in Batman and Nightwing having to fight off the circus crew and their various tricks, and I like that the Dynamic Duo uses a fire-breather’s display to mess up Mad Hatter’s mind-controlling tophat. The fact that Tetch is beaten up by a gorilla at the end feels like a nice bit of karma.
Overall, I enjoy the focus on Dick and the quality mystery at play, but a lot of the mind control circus animal shtick and Miranda-related false leads left me cold.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-04-22T22:21:32Z
[7.3/10] Here’s the funny thing about this episode. I thought that the clown Dick and Tim ran into at the circus looked like Mad Hatter, but I thought it was just one of those random design coincidences. I have to give the ep credit for setting up the solution to its mystery well. I caught on by the second act, when it seemed clear that Miranda Kane was a red herring. I wondered who else could it be, given Roger Ebert’s ol’ law of conservation of characters for solving mysteries, when the clown’s interactions with Bullock tipped the audience off that he was the only other suspect (barring some sort of circus-wide collaboration.
And it makes sense! His explanation that animals are simple enough to the point that his mind control technology allows him to control them from afar is a good one. It fits with his past M.O., and provides a good excuse for him to mucking around in Dick’s old circus.
I also like that this is largely a Nightwing episode, with Batman as more of a supporting character. Bringing things back to the circus adds an extra emotional quotient to this one. At the same time, the show nicely sets his currently tense relationship with Batman, where Dick is joking about the obsession he’s inherited from his mentor, while Batman himself is as laconic and mission-focused as ever.
The catch is that while the mystery was a solid one and the psychological elements to Dick’s story were good, the rest of the episode didn’t do a whole lot for me. There was something more campy than enjoyable about Batman and the original Robin fighting gorillas and bears and jungle cats together. At the same time, Miranda is a complete waste of a character. The episode seems to hint at some conflict between Dick not wanting to turn her in as the most likely suspect given their childhood friendship. But for starters, she’s obviously a mislead for the true culprit, and for another, the episode needs to learn that you need more than a scantily-clad woman commenting that the hero is hot to establish romantic chemistry.
Still, there’s a little spark (no pun intended), in Batman and Nightwing having to fight off the circus crew and their various tricks, and I like that the Dynamic Duo uses a fire-breather’s display to mess up Mad Hatter’s mind-controlling tophat. The fact that Tetch is beaten up by a gorilla at the end feels like a nice bit of karma.
Overall, I enjoy the focus on Dick and the quality mystery at play, but a lot of the mind control circus animal shtick and Miranda-related false leads left me cold.