Another good episode, and a great introduction to the amazing Renée Montoya. Though she’s not quite as well known as the other main character BtAS introduced, Harley Quinn, Montoya is still a character that’s seen lots of success outside of this, her debut series.
After a brief introduction, the scene changes to an interrogation led by Lieutenant Hackle, who’s trying to figure out who bungled a sting operation and allowed the criminals to get away. The suspects are Detective Bullock, rookie Wilkes, and Officer Montoya. Oh, and Bullock blames Batman, to no surprise.
The first half of the episode plays heavily on Rashōmon, with each person telling a story that you can’t always necessarily believe. The second half follows Montoya as she puts together clues, finds Batman and the criminals, and helps Batman take them down. It’s basically a good ten minutes or so spent showing us how awesome this woman is, and it’s a fun, action-packed ten minutes, let me tell you. Definitely an enjoyable episode.
this is seventh episode in wikipedia and sites i am watching.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Batman:_The_Animated_Series_episodes
it was good we saw 3 p.o.v. for that event at first. Everyone was telling from their angels :)
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2019-09-19T22:57:30Z
[8.2/10] I do love me a good Rashomon homage. Having the events of a sting gone wrong (one involving Batman, naturally), told through the frame of three different officers’ recollections, is an outstanding conceit. It’s telling how Bullock overstates his own heroism, misrepresents his own missteps as owing to Batman, and above all tries to inflate his own prowess and throw blame at The Bat. It’s just as telling how the rookie cop, so overwhelmed and amazed, sees Batman as basically being supernatural, using something akin to magic and telekinesis to win the day.
And it’s especially revealing, then, how Officer Rene Montoya’s recounting of the events is the most accurate and matter of fact. This isn’t Montoya’s introduction as a character, but it’s definitely her coming out party. The episode does a great job at showing and not telling why she’s such a great officer: standing as the reasonable, by-the-book middle ground between Bullock’s anti-Bat bias and Wilkes’s “gee whiz, Dark Knight” starry-eyed wonder, holding her own in sticky situations, and figuring out the mystery before any of her fellow officers could.
Montoya becomes a fixture in the DCAU, and with a great outing like this one, it’s not hard to see why.
What I like about “P.O.V.” in particular is that it shows how a regular police officer could help in these situations without going nuts and turning normal human beings into supermen (however ironic that might be in this situation). Montoya is more level-headed and capable than Bullock or Wilkes, and holds her own against the criminals, but can’t handle a six-on-one assault on her own the way Batman can. Her efforts with the giant claw let her get a win, and in a way, it shows her using tech to her advantage in the same way Batman does. It’s a team effort, even if Batman handles more of the fisticuffs, since Montoya more than proves she belongs.
What’s interesting is how little of Batman there is in this one. I think he has a grand total of three lines here, and it’s nice to see the GCPD get a little focus this early. Making Batman a supporting character in the episode is a bold choice, and it really pays off in terms of broadening the world.
Beyond that, it’s a really cool episode visually. “P.O.V.” parcels out the events from the night of the sting nicely, and uses the growing flames in the warehouse to pull some really cool lighting tricks. The flames themselves jump off the screen (either that or I need to replace my T.V.). And the fight on the dock is well-done, with the character design for the head goon in particular standing out as particular menacing, especially when he starts taking aim at Batman.
The only complaints I have are that this is still a show meant for all ages, so there’s some convenient, and even cartoony ways that Batman’s foes (mostly the goons) end up being incapacitated while still clearly being safe and sound. And at the same time, the episode seemed to be setting it up as some sort of reveal as to whom the crime boss was here (I thought maybe it was the Sergeant who took Montoya’s badge who was orchestrating the whole thing), but they never really play it off.
Still, those are minor quibbles. Overall, this is a great episode that let’s a new, unheralded character take the spotlight and then shows why she deserves it.