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THE BATMAN EPISODE REVIEW
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5.5: "A Mirror Darkly"
ORIGINAL U.S. AIRDATE: November 3, 2007 EPISODE: 5.3 SYNOPSIS: "The Flash makes a visit to Gotham City." REVIEWER: Bill Ramey POSTED: Tuesday, November 6, 2007
“It’s a Saturday morning cartoon aimed at kids. It’s a Saturday morning cartoon aimed at kids.”
This is what I keep telling myself over and over each and every time I watch THE BATMAN. Because that’s what it is and what it intends to be: A Saturday morning cartoon aimed at kids. And that’s perfectly OK by me. For the most part, THE BATMAN -- while aimed at kids -- is done so well that it can be enjoyed by Batman fans of all ages. For example, last season’s introduction of Robin was done quite well. And this season’s first two episodes (the one with Superman was a two-parter) were very enjoyable and not “kiddied-up,” if you will. Sadly, that’s not the case with The Batman’s latest team-up titled “A Mirror Darkly” which featured The Flash making a visit to Gotham City in a very “kidied-up” and somewhat silly episode. In short, The Mirror Master (a rather cheesy villain to be perfectly frank) turns up in Gotham intent on carrying out a dastardly -- and ridiculous -- crime. Basically, he’s going to use some sort of machine (which reminded me of Mr. Freeze’s giant “Freeze Ray” in BATMAN AND ROBIN) to trap Gothamites in mirrors and then rob ‘em. Yes, I’m serious. Despite a plot that had me rolling my eyes, I thought The Flash was handled quite well. While it’s never stated outright which version of The Flash this is, it was obvious to me that it was the Wally West incarnation of The Scarlett Speedster. If you like a light-hearted take on the character -- one that spouts off quips and one-liners regularly -- then you’ll certainly like THE BATMAN’s interpretation of him. The only issue I had was that between The Flash and Robin, their “funny” wisecracks got old pretty damn quick. All in all, “A Mirror Darkly” gets a big ’ol “meh” out of me. In this “Season of Super Team-Ups,” let’s hope future episodes are more like the ones with Superman and Green Arrow rather than this latest installment.
BATMAN IN COMICS, and ON-FILM.NET.
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