Almost Got 'Im

Infobox Television episode
Title = Almost Got 'Im
Series =


Caption =
Season = 2
Episode = 35
Airdate = November 11, 1992
Production =
Writer = Paul Dini
Director = Eric Radomski
Guests =
Episode list =
Prev =
Next =

"Almost Got 'Im" is the thirty-fifth episode of the Warner Bros. animated television series "", which first aired on November 11, 1992, and was written by Paul Dini and directed by Eric Radomski. This episode features seven of Batman's rogues gallery, with four of them telling the stories of their "best" attempts at killing the Dark Knight, and the ending leading to a singular plot twist.

Plot summary

While hiding out from the police, The Joker, The Penguin, Two-Face, and Killer Croc gather at the criminals-only Stacked Deck Club to play cards and share theories about their mutual foe, Batman. Two-Face doubts that Batman is one person. The Penguin theorizes that Batman suffered some crime related trauma in the past. Croc believes that Batman is a robot. Poison Ivy then arrives and joins the game. Soon after, all five of the crooks begin to argue over who has come closest to killing Batman, and each tells their story.

Poison Ivy's story

Poison Ivy placed poison ivy gas inside pumpkins on Halloween, which went off when lit. When most of Gotham City started to feel the effects of the gas, Batman went to the city pumpkin patch to investigate, just as Ivy hoped he would. She attacked Batman with the gas, successfully weakened him, and almost unmasked him. Nevertheless, Batman remotely controlled the Batmobile to run down Ivy, and later pulled a breath mask from the vehicle. He subsequently captured Ivy.

Two-Face's story

Two-Face staged a robbery of the Gotham Mint for "$2,000,000 in two dollar bills." Batman, in an attempt to stop the heist, was overpowered by Two-Face's henchmen, the "Two-Ton Gang". Staying true to his personality disorder, Two-Face flipped his coin to see whether he would kill Batman or let him live, with a negative "tails" result. Two-Face took Batman's utility belt, strapped him to a giant penny and placed it on a catapult - "The coin lands face down, you'll be squashed flat. It lands face up, it'll just break every bone in your body..." In midair, Batman cut himself free of the ropes, using Two-Face's own coin which Batman had managed to steal. In return for apprehending Two-Face and his henchmen, and much to Two-Face's irritation, the Gotham Mint let Batman keep the giant penny.

Killer Croc's story

Killer Croc just said he threw a rock at Batman in a quarry. The other villains stare at him for a moment and continue telling their stories, while Croc mutters, "It was a BIG rock."

Penguin's story

The Penguin turned a zoo aviary into a home for dangerous birds in a plot to kill Batman. Pretending to attempt a break-in to the aviary caught Batman's attention; the Penguin sprayed Batman with a red gas out of his infamous "Umbrella Gun". Acting as though the spray were harmless, Penguin ran into the aviary, but then announced over a loudspeaker that in fact the red gas was a nectar eaten by poison-beaked hummingbirds, which were released to attack the Dark Knight. After being bitten several times, Batman threw a batarang at a sprinkler, where the water slowed down the small birds. Before he could inject himself with an antidote, he was attacked and viciously gashed by a cassowary. In desperation, Batman stabbed the flightless bird with one of the hummingbirds, incapacitating it. Batman chased after the Penguin outside, but the villain escaped, flying away via his umbrella.

Joker's story

The Joker and his gang took over and blocked off the set of a Gotham City late-night talk show, his gang holding the audience hostage and him hosting the show. The reason was to publicly execute Batman, whom the Joker had captured a few days earlier during a bank robbery. Batman is strapped to a "laugh-powered electric chair", which would fry him with electricity that rose in voltage the more the audience laughed. With the audience being forced to laugh at gunpoint, The Joker wanted more 'honest' laughter, and pumped the studio with laughing gas until "these people would laugh at the phonebook." He then had his assistant Harley Quinn read names out of the phonebook to elicit more laughter from the crowd. During this time, the Joker got so confident that he took out a sausage and began cooking it with the chair's steadily-increasing electricity until Catwoman broke into the studio and attacked him. While being thrown back, he dropped the metal rod he was using to hold the sausage right on Batman's lap. Too distracted at this point with Catwoman, nobody saw Batman use the rod to escape from the chair - too late, as the Joker was already fleeing the studio. Catwoman, starting to gain on him, was knocked out from behind by Harley Quinn. Then, in order to prove there is more than one way to 'get' Batman, he instructed Harley to take Catwoman to a cat food factory and strap her to a meat chopper. The Joker himself decided to hide out at the "Stacked Deck" for a while to lose Batman. He explains to the other villains that he will soon meet Harley at the factory, turn Catwoman into cat food, and personally deliver a can of it to Batman. The other villians are shown with looks of horror on their faces.

Finale

At this point Killer Croc stands up, saying "I don't think so", and proceeds to throw the Joker across the room, revealing himself to be Batman in a Killer Croc suit; however, it would seem Batman sacrificed everything to get this information, as he finds himself alone in a bar confronted by his deadliest foes, all itching to get him and in a perfect position to do so. Unfortunately for the villains, they in turn are confronted with multiple loaded guns as it is revealed that every other patron of the bar is a police officer, among them Harvey Bullock and Police Commissioner Jim Gordon - the whole thing was a sting operation. As the villains are arrested, Batman goes to the cat food factory to find Catwoman, bound, gagged, and strapped to a conveyor belt. He saves Catwoman from Harley Quinn.

The episode ends on a humorous note, as Catwoman makes a pass at Batman, only to turn and find he has pulled one of his trademark disappearing acts. She then smiles, shakes her head and mutters to herself, "Huh. Almost got 'im."

Cast

Reception

Sandra Dozier calls the episode "charming" and praises it for showing "the origin story for the Bat Cave's giant penny." [Sandra Dozier, " [http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/batmanvol2.php Review of "Batman: The Animated Series" (Volume 2)] ," "DVD Verdict" (February 10th, 2005).]

DVD release

The episode features a commentary on the DVD release. [Steve Butts, " [http://dvd.ign.com/articles/585/585398p1.html "Batman: The Animated Series", Volume Two: The Dark Knight swings into action once again] ," "IGN" (February 8, 2005).]

Trivia

* Every time the viewer gets to see Two-Face's hand, he always has 2 deuces (twos), and two face cards, a play on his name. In one shot he also has a four (two times two) and is seen pouring "half and half" cream in his coffee. He also has two guns pointed at Batman.
* The Joker's hand at the end is four aces and a Joker. Every time we see his hand he always has at least one ace (due to cheating). He also cheats by looking at Harvey's (Two-Face's) hand.
* The Penguin's and the Joker's stories all happened recently, with the Penguin having freshly escaped from his crime a few weeks before and the Joker's being just the night before. Poison Ivy's story is set the previous Halloween, and Two-Face's story happened some undetermined time ago.
* Two-Face's story is based on an original Two-Face deathtrap from the comics where both Batman and Robin were tied to the penny that was catapulted onto spikes. However this time they used the radios to create a "negative magnetic field" to repel the spikes and cause them to land "good side up", snapping the ropes and defeating Two-Face.
* Two-Face tells Ivy that they let Batman keep the giant penny, thus providing a new origin for the piece of memorabilia he keeps in the Batcave.
* Ivy makes a reference to the group that she and Two-Face used to date (while Harvey Dent was still the District Attorney), an event that occurred in the episode "". Two-Face remarks to Ivy that half of him wants to strangle her and the other half wants him to run her over with a truck.

References

External links

* [http://www.tv.com/batman-the-animated-series/show/363/top.html "TV.Com fan episode rankings"]
*
*
*
* [http://wf.toonzone.net/WF/batman/ "Batman: The Animated Series/The New Batman Adventures" at The World's Finest]
* [http://www.legionsofgotham.org/indexTOONS2 "Batman: The Animated Series & The New Batman Adventures" at Legions Of Gotham]
* [http://anbat.toonzone.net/ The Animated Batman]
* [http://www.batmantas.com "Batman: The Animated Series" Official Website]
* [http://www.batman-superman.com/batman/index.html "The New Batman Adventures" Official Website]
* [http://www.batman-superman.com "The New Batman Superman Adventures" Official Website]
* [http://www.tv.com/batman-the-animated-series/show/363/summary.html?q=batman "Batman: The Animated Series" at TV.com]
* [http://www.tv.com/batman-gotham-knights/show/5420/summary.html?q=batman "Batman: Gotham Knights" at TV.com]
* [http://www.batmanytb.com/animated/index.php "Batman Animated" at BYTB: Batman Yesterday, Today and Beyond]