After introducing Bruce Wayne to his new fiancée, Pamela Isley, over dinner, Harvey Dent falls into a coma from being poisoned. When it’s revealed that the poison came from a flower that was thought to be extinct instead of the restaurant’s food, Bruce Wayne begins to suspect that the new love of his friend’s life is not all that she seems.
The importance of this episode goes beyond its own individual story. In addition to offering the series debut of Poison Ivy, “Pretty Poison” serves as our introduction to Harvey Dent in this world of story and lets us know the strong friendship that exists between Dent and Bruce Wayne. This is obviously a very important point and it was wise of the writers of this series to introduce us to the Dent character and show what he means to Bruce well before his eventual turn into Two-Face.
Even with the absence of the superpowers she is known for in the comics (and will be known for in subsequent episodes of this series), the character doesn’t suffer at all here. Her driving motivations and belief that plants are just as, or perhaps more important than humans (even referring to humans who’ve killed plants as “murderers”) are all still intact. On top of that, she is still just as deadly and just as seductive as she’s ever been. Ivy had Dent asking her to marry him after only knowing her for a week and she almost put Dent away for good.
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INFO
Episode: #5
Original Airdate: September 14, 1992
CREDITS
Written by Paul Dini & Michael Reaves (story); Tom Ruegger (teleplay)
Directed by Boyd Kirkland
CAST
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne/Batman
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. as Alfred
Bob Hastings as Commissioner Gordon
Ingrid Oliu as Renee Montoya
Richard Moll as Harvey Dent
Diane Pershing as Pamela Isely
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As for the story told within this particular episode, it contains one of my favorite incarnations of Poison Ivy in any medium. Simplicity serves her quite well in this episode. For a while now, whenever I’ve heard someone say that Poison Ivy “can’t work” in a Batman film that emphasizes realism, I would always point to “Pretty Poison.” In this story, Ivy has no superpowers. She is not naturally poisonous, as she uses a lipstick made from a poisonous flower. She is not naturally immune to plant toxins either and has to give herself the antidote every time she uses the lipstick. The only supernatural element of this story is a giant, man-eating plant that Poison Ivy keeps in her greenhouse.
As an added bonus in this episode, there’s a particularly cool and funny sequence in which Dent and Isley discuss the perpetual tardiness of Bruce Wayne while unbeknownst to them, Bruce (as Batman) is busy chasing down a helicopter containing an escaped convict. It’s a nice little treat for Bat-fans and is inserted into a very solid episode that faithfully and effectively introduces us to Poison Ivy while also laying the emotional groundwork for Harvey Dent’s eventual transition
