Diksha Sundriyal
Prime Video’s ‘Batman: Caped Crusader’ brings back Bruce Wayne and his crime-fighting alter-ego with a fresh twist, as we see the characters through a different lens. With each episode, a new threat to Gotham City is introduced. However, the show also follows an overarching storyline with Gotham’s ambitious DA Harvey Dent at its center. While Batman fights the criminals, he also focuses on Dent’s bid to win the elections and become the town’s mayor. Unbeknownst to him, other parties are also involved in this bid, and by the end, it leads to a very complicated and largely tragic situation for Dent. SPOILERS AHEAD
Harvey Dent Bites the Dust
Harvey Dent’s story begins with him being a successful DA whose ambition takes root as he presents himself as a strong challenger for the city’s mayor post. Soon, however, he discovers the challenges of the task and has to bow down to the things that he would usually not approve of. When his financials start to dry up, he is forced to accept Rupert Thorne’s offer to help him. Still, it also means that he must do favors for him from time to time, which includes letting criminals walk free by deliberately ignoring the evidence against them. Despite agreeing to it, Dent doesn’t comply with the demand when the time comes, and for that, he has acid thrown on his face, which throws him down a spiral that turns him into a villain.
Struggling to control his bad side, Harvey eventually ends up in prison and believes this is the best place for him. But then, Barbara Gordon shows up with a way to get him out of prison, redeem his image, and give him another chance to right his wrongs. Having served as the DA for the better part of the decade, Dent knows all the ills plaguing the system. As Barbara Gordon says, he knows exactly where the bodies are buried, and the only way he can balance the scales for himself is by exposing the corrupt ones in the government. By doing so, he would be accepting that he turned a blind eye to them even when he knew about them, but there is no other way around it.
Following his initial hesitation over the matter, Dent decides to proceed with the plan, especially after Bruce Wayne visits him at Arkham and converses about what’s right. The next day, Barbara arrives to take him to a safe place and prepare him to testify in court the next day. By now, Rupert Thorne and his men have been tipped off about Dent agreeing to testify, and they all know that the only way to stop their imminent downfall is to kill Dent.
Barbara and Dent are attacked the moment they step out of Arkham. Dent is briefly held by Flass and Bullock, but his and Barbara’s quick thinking gives them enough time to run away. They reach the dock, where they meet Commissioner Gordon, Detective Montoya, and Batman, who try to protect Dent as Thorne’s men converge in huge numbers. A fight ensues between both sides and after much back and forth, it seems like the danger has passed. Dent is hurt and cannot move quickly, but Barbara helps him. Meanwhile, Flass sneaks up behind them and points his gun at Barbara. When Dent sees it, he steps in front of her to save and takes the bullet.
Flass is overpowered by Batman, but the damage has been done. Dent, having already sustained injuries before, succumbs to the gunshot and dies as Barbara holds him in her arms. This is a huge shock for everyone, especially because with Dent gone, their hopes to root out corruption from Gotham are also gone. Dent was the only one who knew all the important pieces in the machinery working against law and justice, and with him dead, no one would take the mantle and come forward to expose all those people.
What Happens to Rupert Thorne?
Harvey Dent’s death leads Batman to an important realization. Previously, he’d always favored things to go down lawfully. He would catch the culprits but leave them for the law to decide what to do with them. However, Dent’s death shakes him up. Not only does he realize the scope of the challenge in front of him, but he also realizes that the law cannot always be trusted to deliver justice, not when the system is rotten to the core. This situation could have been mitigated with Dent’s testimony, but since that is out of the picture, a different approach has to be adopted.
If the criminals are not scared of the law, then something else must inspire fear in them, and Batman has to become that figure. The first season begins with Batman being an obscure entity that no one really knows about. He is considered a rumor, a tale told to scare lowly criminals. But by the end of the season, he has made himself pretty visible to the criminals as well as the keepers of the law. People like Commissioner Gordon, Detective Montoya, and Barbara Gordon can turn to him for help, knowing that while they may not be able to trust the people working with them, they can trust Batman to have their backs. For people like Rupert Thorne, however, Batman is the symbol of fear. If the criminals see him, they must run in the opposite direction, which is the image the show leaves us with in the end.
Following Dent’s death, we see a satisfied Rupert Thorne talking about how they dodged a bullet with Dent and how killing him at that point was the only way to protect him and the people that he works with/for. He believes that the danger has passed, and with Dent gone, no one else can challenge their authority. This is when Batman shows up, throwing a knife that cuts Thorne’s ear only by a touch, showing that this was not a miss but an intended move to show him that he is not off the hook just yet. While the law may find itself unable to get to him, Batman is not bound by that criteria and will exact justice no matter what. This scene also indicates that Batman has his eyes set on Thorne and will work actively on dismantling his whole operation and saving Gotham by getting rid of him and his organization.
Batman Caped Crusader Teases Joker in the Final Scene
With all that happens in this season, Batman has his work cut out for him in Season 2. And yet, he hasn’t faced his most terrifying enemy yet. Before the credits start to roll in the finale, we get a glimpse into a new villain who is sure to play a greater role in the coming season. In this scene, we see several people tied up to chairs with terrible smiles on their faces. One of them is still alive and laughs hysterically. He laughs and laughs until his lungs give way, and he dies with the same smile on his face. It turns out that all these people were injected with something that made them laugh to their death. The camera pans to a mysterious figure whose face is not visible, and he says, “Perfect” before the show ends.
This scene clearly references the iconic Joker, who, interestingly, remained absent from the first season. Considering that this season was supposed to establish Batman’s character and focus on character development, it makes sense that the creators of ‘Batman: Caped Crusader’ decided to keep the big guns like the Joker hidden away for the next season. The likes of Joker would be too big a challenge for Batman to battle in his early days. Moreover, these heavyweights would also attract most of the spotlight, leaving little to nothing for other characters who deserve their time in the spotlight and the character development.
This point is especially illustrated by how Harley Quinn’s journey unfolds this season. Usually, she has been portrayed as the sidekick of Joker, who serves as the inception point for his journey in the criminal world. This time, however, she is presented as entirely independent of Joker, with more focus on her background in psychiatry and how she uses it to get what she wants. The removal of Joker from the picture also opens more grounds for her to be seen as a more complex character who has a more human side to her rather than a petty criminal. It elevates her character and adds more depth and intrigue to it.
However, going forward, the stakes have to be raised, and this happens by bringing in characters like the Joker. The show, which has made a point of reinventing itself in every form, will bring a new twist to Joker as well, and this gives the fans something to look forward to, rather than seeing the same old rivalry between him and Batman play out. It will be interesting to see what Bruce Timm has in store for the character of Joker, and the final scene of ‘Batman: Caped Crusader’ only adds to that excitement.
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