Batman: Caped Crusader – Episode 7 “Moving Target” Recap & Review

Moving Target

Episode 7 of Batman: Caped Crusader starts with us over at the courts, with Barbara getting her morality code on with her father. Gordon is not happy that Barbara helped a criminal off in the court system, but she argues that the cops should have done a better job getting evidence on him to keep the guy behind bars. Gordon points out the black and white way of right and wrong, but it all comes to a head when a gunman shows up outside and targets Gordon. Thankfully, he’s stopped but it’s clear this is symptomatic of something much bigger in the works here.

The culprit happens to be someone called Floyd Lawton, a local who works contract jobs. It’s still unclear who hired him but there’s a hit out on Gordon. Bullock wants to hit back hard but Gordon is not so sure.  Montoya and Barbara both believe he needs to hide out in the Safe House for the time being. Gordon refuses, deciding to stick with his work in Gotham. Barbara complains, calling her father selfish for wanting to do his job.

Batman shows up to see Barbara, pointing out that the hit seems to have originated from the Black Gate Prison. There’s a long list of possible suspects, but it definitely seems to be personal. Batman shows at the prison and begins asking questions. He busts some heads and finds out there’s a guy in solitary called Muller. After the botched attempt, there’s a whole bunch of pros coming in that want to try and do this “the right way”. And that includes none other than Onomatopoeia.

Batman beats Muller, demanding him to reveal everything, while Gordon is eventually taken by Barbara and the other cops somewhere safe. While they leave, Batman does his best to try and catch up to them.

Despite the car getting attacked and an altercation with some of the foes, Gordon and the others seek refuge over at Wayne Gardens.  As they hide out in one of the houses, Barbara gets a taste of her own medicine when Montoya calls her out for being out of the real heart of Gotham, given she had a decent house on the other side of the river.

Before they can continue, Onomatopoeia shows with a bunch of goons outside, resulting in a big firefight to break out. Batman shows up too and while he fights Onomatopoeia, the goons inside fight with Gordon and the others. Batman comes out victorious, as does Gordon and the others, as the contract is cancelled. Turns out the real hit was actually out on Barbara, not Gordon.

Gordon saves his daughter before the killing blow is hit against her, while Barbara knocks the crooked cop inside down to the ground. Barbara shows up to see Muller, who was the person whom Barbara worked to get a good deal for behind bars, but he’s not happy. He lashes out and it eventually sees Barbara concede and realize that some people do deserve time behind bars.

The Episode Review

This episode works well to really hammer home how sometimes it really is as clear as black and white that villainy actions result in villainy justice to be dished out. Of course, we’ve seen from modern writers like those on Rings of Power and The Acolyte that the arrogant, selfish, nasty protagonists are those to aspire to so it’s nice to see Caped Crusader at least challenge this narrative across the episode.

The show does well to keep things interesting, and the arc that Barbara goes on here is certainly welcome to see her come full circle and accept that some in Gotham do deserve time behind bars.