BEWARE THE BATMAN “Twist” Review

This is the penultimate episode of the Toonami Beware the Batman marathon. This is the beginning of the end. SPOILERS!

After the events of the previous episode, Batman (Anthony Ruivivar) continues to investigate Deathstroke (Robin Atkin Downes), letting Gotham continue to believe that Bruce Wayne is dead. Meanwhile, an injured, now insane Harvey Dent (Christopher McDonald) puts Gotham City on martial law, with Anarky (Wallace Langham) egging him on. Will Batman and Katana (Sumalee Montano) be able to take on Deathstroke while being hunted by the Gotham Police and the Special Forces Unit?

This is the first episode of a multi-parter that closes out the first, and unfortunately final, season of Beware the Batman. As one would expect, the writers make sure that this is an epic way to go out. Batman is put in a very bad situation, being hunted by literally all sides. There is no easy way out.

The personal stakes also get higher when Batman discovers that Deathstroke and Alfred (J.B. Blanc). have some personal history. Deathstroke isn’t after Batman for kicks, he’s after the caped crusader to prove himself to Alfred. Its the kind of meaty stuff that keeps the villain’s motivation from becoming generic.

Finally, Harvey Dent finally grows into a cool character. Yup, I said that. After being injured, Dent becomes unhinged, and completely ditches any cover of being a nice guy – he’s intense, and only wants to kill Batman. He goes after other people with political power with creepy abandon. McDonald sells Dent’s rising insanity.

It’s nearly a perfect episode. Yes, there is a lot of set-up, but as a two-part episodes, that is to be expected. The finale will be great.