As the half hour depicting the infamous, now-iconic plight of Harvey Dent into the villain Two-Face, “The Killer Inside Me” finds itself in the unique position of finally marrying Batman: Caped Crusader‘s numerous dawdling storylines into one, cohesive story driving the deeper themes of its tumultuous first season. In that regard, “The Killer Inside Me” is exactly what it is expected to be – and for the most part, Caped Crusader‘s penultimate freshman episode delivers where many of its previous episodes fall short, resetting the season’s trajectory as it heads into its impending season finale.
Beginning in the dreams of a broken Harvey Dent, “The Killer Inside Me” takes its title quite literally, shifting its attention almost entirely over to the steadfast, slightly corrupt prosecutor trying to claw his way into relevance and win Gotham’s contentious mayoral election (which we learned in “Nocturne” he is still losing, despite reluctantly agreeing to work with Rupert Thorne). In doing so, Caped Crusader finally begins to explore some of its own premise through Harvey Dent, examining the line where Harvey Dent ends, and the resentful, angry and disfigured Two-Face begin.
Strangely enough, it shows what Caped Crusader has lacked for most of the season (save for possibly “Kiss of the Catwoman” and parts of “Nocturne”); through Dent and Two-Face, Caped Crusader starts to interrogate more interesting, complex questions about its characters, its musings on identity and purpose finally starting to surface as it observes Harvey’s aggressive mental collapse. By showing us the two sides of Harvey, Caped Crusader nakedly draws a lot of parallels between him and the show’s titular character – to the point it completely supersedes what the series, and this episode in particular, has to say about Bruce Wayne and his costumed alter ego.
Deidrich Bader is phenomenal in “The Killer Inside Me”; his performance captures the internal plight of Dent, even when the episode’s text isn’t engaging with it in interesting ways. It particularly shines when Bruce shows up to Dent’s apartment and convinces him to go to lunch in public with him. When Bruce begins to pepper him with questions about what he remembers from his disfiguring accent, Harvey’s mind begins to splinter, his paranoia, shame and failure taking on a visceral nature as he unwraps his bandages, and reveals his deepest scars (internal and external) to the world in all their gloriously awful fashion.
It’s a palpable moment, marrying the nascent ideas Caped Crusader has introduced about Batman and the genesis of his vigilante identity, funneling them into the show’s antagonist while also leaving itself room to explore the supposed protagonist of the series himself. It’s a really smart move for “The Killer Inside Me” to push Two-Face to the surface of Dent’s psyche when Bruce pushes him on a line of questioning; as Alfred points out to him, Bruce’s inclinations to push a fragile man over the edge in pursuit of justice puts a man on a slippery moral slope – the kind that just sent Dent running into the arms of the violent, hateful inner voice boiling within himself, the same kind ostensibly driving our protagonist for the past thirty-odd years.
Though not particularly subtle, it feels like the first time in ages Batman: Caped Crusader has explicitly turned its attention to the dichotomous identities of Bruce and Batman, and the sensitive, potentially dangerous places those two identities meet. And while it quickly takes a backseat to observing Dent’s crusade of vengeance (as well as the genesis of his coin-flipping form of ‘justice’), it works as a thematic observation comparing Batman and Two-Face, and the very thin emotional line (specifically, murder) that separates their extrajudicial actions.
At that, “The Killer Inside Me” is fairly perfunctory, sneering through a number of scenes of Two-Face exacting revenge on Thorne’s goons, until his inevitable showdown with Batman while pointing a gun at Thorne’s progeny. The Batman/Two-Face showdown leads to another strong moment, one where Harvey Dent resurfaces to contend with the horrors he’s committed, and begs for Batman to lock him up.
Oddly enough, “The Killer Inside Me” immediately backs away from that moment; though the episode doesn’t end on a ‘to be continued’ drop, it feels like a bit of an incomplete thought (especially when Barbara Gordon shows up to Dent’s cell, where the episode cuts to credits). The episode does a pretty solid job setting up an interesting dynamic between Two-Face and Batman – the former pointing out he’s done more to cull Gotham’s crime in one night than Batman’s ever done – and drawing parallels between the men behind their alter egos, but then hesitates at the moment where its threads and musings come together, which make for an abrupt, clumsy conclusion.
Nonetheless, “The Killer Inside Me” is a marriage of storytelling and character we’ve rarely seen in this first season; and in a way, is the episode that harkens back to the familiar old Timm formula from Batman: The Animated Series, where the pathos of its villain drove the emotional tenor of its most formative, definitive entries. However, Caped Crusader‘s attempt at doing this over the course of a season is a decidedly mixed bag; the absolute lack of Bruce’s influence on this half-hour speaks to that (as does the absence of any Gotham PD characters, outside of a forgettable, brief Renee appearance), and is ultimately what mutes the impact of Dent’s arc on this season a bit, and leaves the series feeling a bit on its heels as it heads into its season finale.
Grade: B+
Other thoughts/observations:
- The opening nightmare sequence was fun, but I wish it leaned harder into some of the darker elements we’ve seen in previous episodes. It’s just not unsettling enough.
- The same goes for Two-Face’s look – which occasionally is evocative and scary, but looks a bit underwhelming when seen in full profile.
- I do love how dingy Gotham PD’s offices are.
- “Didn’t I pay for my sins?”
- Caped Crusader continues to pull some fun deep cuts for Batman fans; this time, in the form of Maggie Cain.
- Batman getting thrown off a car and having a concussion should probably resurface in the season finale, no?
- “What we want or don’t want, isn’t always compatible with the greater good.” Ok, but show us instead of tell us, Batman: Caped Crusader!
- I wish the Batmobile in this series was cooler – its audio design is severely lacking, IMO.