Ricky Church reviews the second season of Batman: Caped Crusader…
After a couple of years away, Prime Video’s Batman: Caped Crusader returns with its second season in this film-noir inspired take on Gotham City. The second season improves upon the first, pulling in more familiar characters into the series and examining Batman’s psyche as the dangers rise. The writing and character work are well done with some exceptional voice talent that heightens the noir era the series is pulling from with even darker stories and elements.
Picking up from season one, Batman continues to fight crime as a power vacuum in Gotham’s underworld escalates the city into turf wars while more and more colourful villains make their mark on Gotham. There’s a great emphasis on his character growth as he adapts both to the new villains and how the city perceives him, particularly with his allies. This Batman tries to strike the balance between being a solitary figure and learning how to rely on others, a feat that does not come easy to him as he is still firmly entrenched in his single-minded drive to do it all himself.
Hamish Linklater once again gives a great performance as Batman. This season he feels much more comfortable in the role as he finds ways to make it his own, especially when he plays Bruce Wayne and makes their vocals sound different. He does well with Batman’s dark and brooding nature, but knows how to open up Batman’s vulnerabilities and worry when he’s wearing the cape and cowl. Other standouts among the cast include Jason Watkins as Alfred, Eric Morgan Stuart as Gordon, Jamie Chung as Harley Quinn and Wunmi Mosaku guest starring as Roxy Rocket.
Like season one, many of the episodes are case-of-the-week with an overarching story throughout as Batman and the GCPD try to stop Gotham’s gang wars. The cases’ noir tones provide the right amount of darkness and mystery to make them grounded while still fantastical. The mysteries themselves are quite interesting, with even the supernatural aspects of a couple episodes feeling in better place than last season’s, and pay homage to many of the popular film noir tropes with its pulpy action, femme fatales and bittersweet endings. The new takes on some classic villains, such as The Riddler, are handled nicely to make them fit within this world like with the new explanation for how Riddler got his famous moniker.
Of course, though, we can’t talk about the season without mentioning The Joker who made a teasing appearance in season one’s finale and has played a prominent role in the trailers. Caped Crusader takes its time building Joker up to be worthy of Batman’s archnemesis and by the time he does fully make his presence known, Batman’s skills are truly put to the test. As with many interpretations of Batman and Joker’s rivalry, its success lies in their differing philosophies and how those are just as significant in their battles as Batman’s strength or Joker’s dedication to a laugh.
Joker’s obsession with Batman in this series is intriguing and examined well as Joker is presented as a dark reflection of Batman, offering a potential look at who he could become. As announced last weekend at SDCC, House of the Dragon‘s Matthew Needham voices Joker and does an incredible job with his cold deliveries conveying how intelligent and threatening he can be.
The animation is smooth and detailed with exciting action sequences. The new character designs are fun and the dark atmosphere of the colours harkens back a little to Bruce Timm’s career breakout with Batman: The Animated Series, though nothing can still touch the masterpiece of that classic. Even still, between the writing, cast and animation the second season of Batman: Caped Crusader has plenty longtime and new fans of Batman will enjoy as it greatly improves on the first.
Batman: Caped Crusader season two will premiere all episodes on July 31st on Prime Video.
Ricky Church
