INFO
Season 1/Episode 13 -- "Clayface of Tragedy" -- was written by Greg Weisman and directed by Seung Eun-Kim. It originally aired on Saturday May 7, 2005.
REVIEW
Season one of THE BATMAN came to an end with the episode “Clayface of Tragedy” -- the second of a two-parter which followed “The Rubberface of Comedy.”
As I said in my previous episode review (which you can read HERE), this series’ Clayface is essentially a substitute for Two Face -- a character who was allegedly off-limits to THE BATMAN‘s show-runners. So, TB’s Ethan Bennett -- a Gotham City Police detective and longtime friend of Bruce Wayne -- replaces the Harvey Dent/Batman dynamic that we know from comics, film, and television
The review continues after the jump!
In retrospect, the first season of TB ended much more positively that it began. The Joker -- who pretty much plays a big role in the storyline -- is still annoying as hell when it comes to both aesthetics and characterization. However, using him as the catalyst for Bennett/Dent becoming Clayface/Twoface is rather clever -- despite the fact that this “Joker Putty” stuff is pretty lame.
The Joker in Season 1 of THE BATMAN wasn’t anything to write home about, OK?
A barefoot, red-eyed, straight-jacketed Harlequin of Hate?
Whatever. Anyway…
Ethan Bennett and Clayface from THE BATMAN
Despite the fact that I personally dont' particularly care for the Clayface character, I will admit that it sort of sucked seeing Detective Bennett -- a character that I liked and invested in -- go down the drain (literally) in this episode.
If you invested an entire year in THE BATMAN’s first season (like me) hoping it would get better, “The Rubberface of Comedy/Clayface of Tragedy” sort of awarded those of us who stayed with it.
GRADE: B+
Bill Ramey -- AKA "Jett" -- is the founder of BATMAN-ON-FILM.COM.
