BEWARE THE BATMAN “Control” Review

This might be Beware the Batman‘s more cinematic episode yet. But does that guarantee a good episode? Spoilers!

In this episode, The League of Assassins send a new agent into the field to retrieve the Ion Cortex device that they failed to get back in episode four. The agent’s codename is Cypher (James Arnold Taylor), and he has these green…tentacles that can allow him to, well, “control” someone’s mind and body, like a puppet and their owner.

Cypher’s target is none other than Jason Burr (Matthew Lillard). I feel bad for the guy. First, he gets hounded by ninja, and now this! Yeesh. So now Batman (Anthony Ruivivar) and Katana (Sumalee Montano) must rescue him without getting controlled themselves. However, Katana is slowly starting to gain feelings for Burr.

This was an episode I really wanted to like. I really, really did. It has so much going for it. The episode has a creepy tone with a creepy villain. Cypher’s power to control people (including their voice-box) leads to some disturbing scenes with people acting (and looking) like puppets. Not to mention it looks painful when he inserts his tentacles in people’s necks.

After seeing how much Burr was flirting with Katana, its cute to see her slowly turn around. Even a tough girl like Katana can appreciate a guy who keeps trying to impress her! Speaking of relationships, we also get a bit more development for Batman/Gordon (Kurtwood Smith), which is always a cool dynamic.

All the fights are really good, and the climax on the train is exciting. It also pulls a fake-out ending at the last second that I didn’t see coming. Also: twist ending involving Burr (although people familiar with Burr in the comics might not be surprised!)

So…a really appealing and high-quality episode. I think most people will enjoy it. I had two gripes though. Cypher is shown to be a sneaky villain who hides in the shadows, and no one ever sees him. The thing is…HE GLOWS NEON GREEN! Really? No, there is no way that he should be able to hide in the shadows!

My second gripe is that Katana, for the most part, looked really bad. What happened to her ninja training? She misses all the obvious signs that Cypher had been in the room, she ignored Batman’s direct orders more than once, and then gets captured and turned into a damsel in distress. Ugh.

Still, those complaints aside, it was a really good episode. Beware the Batman is becoming a really solid show. Keep it up!