#REVIEW: “BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER – SEASON 2″

Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong

Rupert Thorne’s reign as the crime kingpin of Gotham City may be coming to an end, but the violence on the streets is only getting worse. If the GCPD have any hope of fixing things for good, then they will need to turn to and fully embrace the masked vigilante known as The Batman (Hamish Linklater).

And unlike last time, The Joker (Matthew Needham) has come to play.

I will not divulge much more specific details, but suffice to say, fans will be pleased with Season 2 of BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER. This season’s story is more streamlined and interconnected than its predecessor, and continues the first season’s bold swings and tweaks to the existing canon. While some may take issue with how trigger happy creator and showrunner Bruce Timm seems to be, I was consistently surprised by many of his choices here. For how predictable so much of the comic book and graphic novel genre has become on film and television, it was refreshing to see Timm not play into exactly what is expected.

Another element I appreciated – beyond the continued 40s detective noir setting and gritty aesthetic – is Timm expanding and extrapolating on the first season’s mature tone. He mostly does away with the supernatural elements and goes all in on grim, bloody chaos that feels in tune with many of Batman’s best offerings. This season digs deeper into the more psychological underpinnings of the character and even more so into the merry band of misfits and villains that surround him, and though it does not say anything monumentally new, it still remains compelling. It also gets a whole lot bloodier. While the animation is a little better finessed here versus the first season, there is still some jankiness to some moments versus others (specifically in the obviously digitally created sections). That style may entirely be the point and I might just be nitpicking, but it felt distracting more often than it should have.

Voice acting is great across the board, with Linklater really settling into his groove as Bruce Wayne and Batman. What started out as feeling like an impression of the immortal Kevin Conroy has slowly evolved into his own interpretation, which has just the right amount of gruff inflections and sardonic charm. He wisely gets much more time to play Batman this season and fits well with the tone Timm is going for. Returning voice work from Jason Watkins, Eric Morgan Stuart, Krystal Joy Brown and Michelle C. Bonilla is consistently strong, as are the litany of voices that make up the stable of Batman villains. I was not enthralled by Needham’s very distinct take on The Joker, but applaud the audacity of doing something so different to what’s come before.

Overall, this season of BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER was a solid expansion on the first season and an intriguing expansion of the lore. While it still does not hold a candle to Timm’s original take on the characters, it does more than enough to distance itself and be its own thing for older fans to enjoy. Here’s hoping he can continue to finetune into Season 3.

Season 2 of BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER is now streaming on Prime Video Canada.