I know she's supposed to be an adult so why is she still acting like a small child? It's like they came up with the idea of Batman having to fight a child but to get it past the cencors they went the "but she's a 3000 year old vampire" route. I'm not blind to all the things wrong with Batman. Like having a 12 year old sidekick square off against multiple armed villains and stuff but the concept of Baby Dahl is really bothering me.
[7.3/10] So I really like the idea of this one. As with the first Baby Doll episode, there’s something sympathetic and tragic about Baby Doll believing that she’s found a kindred spirit in Croc, someone who she thinks he’s shunned because he’s different, only to find that he rejects her and doesn't take her seriously the same as everybody else. The fact that she frees him and then turns on him when he betrays her trust has an almost Shakespearean, mythic quality to it.
But the execution of it just isn’t great. For one, it feels like both Baby Doll and Croc have reverted to their prior forms before the moving events of the last outings for each of them. Croc still being a jerk and a criminal isn’t crazy -- that’s kind of the point of his escapade with the circus folk, but he still seems a little more generic and jerky than in the depths we saw from him last time.
In the same way, Baby Doll seemed like someone who’d had a breakthrough when we last saw her. The episode puts a fig leaf on this, having a particularly rude patron of a hotel where she’s working set her off and maybe contribute to a psychotic break. But it’s still disappointing to see her return to form so quickly (and suddenly have access to so many plaything-like doomsday devices.)
Still, the strength of the idea makes this one watchable if nothing else. I like Baby Doll suffering under the fact that she wants to be treated as a normal person despite her condition, and thinking that Croc, facing similar circumstances, would understand her in a way no one else would. Their crimes and run-ins with Batman and Batgirl are pretty generic until the final act, but it’s a cool premise.
There’s also something low-grade disturbing about their relationship, which I appreciate. The fact that she still acts like a little kid while clearly envisioning a romantic relationship with Croc makes them feel particularly skin-crawly together. Adding in Croc’s physical abuse and threats of the same makes this one unnerving in a way that adds to the discomfort and pathos of the doomed mutual acceptance Baby Doll is trying to achieve here.
That said, a lot of the beats of the relationship come off fairly generic. Baby Doll wanting Croc to spend more time with her, only to discover him hanging out with floozies at the docks is the short of cheap and convenient infidelity drama you might find on a soap opera.
Baby Doll’s reaction to it, isn’t though. I like her revenge being a one-way death pact, where having discovered that even her supposed kindred spirit doesn't love her leaves her ready to destroy him, and herself, and all of Gotham with them. There’s a Madea quality to it, and again, I can appreciate the classical tragedy sense that comes with it. The skirmish in the warehouse fits with similar ones in this series, but Baby Doll saving Batman, and the near miss with the fans give it a little extra flavor.
Overall, the execution here is just lacking compared to the show’s other high points involving both of these villains (and the change in voice actors doesn't help that), but the power of the central idea is enough to make it solid enough if not outstanding.
Shout by SoNickBlockedParent2022-02-13T05:49:49Z
The concept has legs, but the execution feels lacking. The end product is still decent - unlike the S:TAS episode "Action Figures" - but it still leaves me wondering what this concept could have been turned into with a more capable writer at the helm