The First Season of Batman: The Caped Crusader culminates in the attack on Harvey Dent (Diedrich Bader) and his transformation into Two-Face. Teased throughout the season, the cost of Harvey’s association to Rupert Thorne‘s (Cedric Yarbrough) comes due. In “The Killer Inside Me” we see Bruce Wayne‘s (Hamish Linklater) attempts to console his friend which only lead Harvey on a path of murder and revenge. And in “Savage Night” the plan to have Harvey testify against Thorne blows up when our crooked cops show up to kill Harvey leading to a showdown on the wharf and the apparent death of Two-Face.
Batman: The Caped Crusader hasn’t shied away from redesigning the look of characters, but minimalist approach to Two-Face fails to have the desired effect (especially given the build-up). While the psychological downward spiral of Harvey works well enough, especially when exacerbated by his fears of others’ opinions and the attack on his life, the character design is a real failing here for the one villain the show used an entire season to create (and then simply kill?). Both the episodes still work well enough, and tease that the Second Season will have more familiar faces including the Joker, but the season ends on a weaker note than I had expected.
