Hugo Strange is blackmailing Judge Maria Vargas a Gotham City judge and she has been desperately seeking a tape that has incriminating material of her. Meeting up with the scum of Gotham to retrieve this incriminating evidence these nefarious thugs demand another hundred grand, because Vargas is twenty grand light. Thankfully for her Batman who has been hidden in the shadows for some time finally reveals himself and attacks the thugs. Vargas sees the tape on an I-Beam but before she secures herself she loses her balance and Batman has no choice but to save her, leaving the thugs free to flee the scene of the crime.
Gordon informs Batman that Vargas was just visiting The Yucca Springs Health Resort, and after some investigating Batman sets up an appointment to meet with the same Doctor that Vargas saw. Wayne meets up with Dr. Hugo Strange and is placed onto this machine that he is told from Strange that will lower his “defenses”. This machine can see thoughts and record them, and because of this Strange is able to discover that Wayne is in fact the Caped Crusader. After finding this out Strange contacts Gotham's worst villains and he plans to auction off the secret identify of Batman to The Joker, Two-Face and The Penguin.
“The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne” is one of my least favorite episodes of the great BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES. This straight forward narrative had a great concept, but the ending result left much to be desired. What could have made this episode better would have been seeing more of Batman’s Rogues gallery show up for the auction and bidding on Batman’s secret identity. At one point in this episode Hugo Strange just calls up The Joker and his answering machine picks up. I don't think that The Joker would have an answering machine let alone a number that people could reach him by. The ending of this episode for me was lackluster as well.
Even though this episode wasn’t as sharp as most of the other episodes of this Award winning series, there were still a few things that I did enjoy. I really enjoyed watching Alfred in this episode helping with Wayne and his investigation. Seeing Mr. Pennyworth locked up right next to Wayne was a treat to see. It was also enjoyable watching how fast The Joker, Penguin and Two-Face turned on Hugo Strange after they found out he could not deliver the secret identity of Batman. This episode may not be a gem but it still has it’s moments.
