Batman: Caped Crusader – Episode 9 “The Killer Inside Me” Recap & Review

The Killer Inside Me

Episode 9 of Batman: Caped Crusader starts with Harvey Dent presented as the new Mayor of Gotham City. However, all of this is a dream as Dent wakes up to find half his face bandaged up and his dreams of being the Mayor gone up in flames.

Dent stays in his apartment, angry and desperate for vengeance against all those who wronged him. Among those in the firing line is the new acting District Attorney, Peter Mitchell.

Two weeks later, Gordon is angry that the police have nothing on Dent’s acid attack. Montoya contemplates whether Dent was into dirty deals (which we know he was) but everyone rests on the idea of this was specifically linked to the election to get him out the picture.

Bruce shows up to see Harvey Dent and decides to take him out for a meal. He believes this is the right thing to get Dent back in the swing of things. However, Harvey isn’t really in the mood to eat, and he grows paranoid, distrusting everyone around him.

Bruce also has another agenda here, wanting to find out what Dent knows about his attacker. Harvey eventually loses his temper and rips off his bandages, tormenting a poor waitress who ends up crying. Eventually he leaves after Bruce realizes that Dent is very much a broken man.

Back at the Batcave, Alfred questions the morality of using Dent while he’s so broken like this. In fact, Dent decides to begin dishing out his own morality, going after a crook in the streets and shooting him in the leg. The victim refuses to bet the guy’s life on a coin flip, hence the outcome.

Dent’s real motive here is to find Thorne and his cronies. The first step to that is Tony Zito. After questioning Emil, Dent beats him to a pulp and heads off to find the crime boss. Thorne isn’t bothered though, believing Harvey Dent won’t be able to get near him through all of this.

Dent does find Tony Zito quite easily and ties him up in a chair in the middle of a room, pouring alcohol all around before lighting a match. Dent high-tails it out, shocked that he managed to do this as he drives away. Batman is unable to get near him either when he jumps on his car.

Batman feels responsible for setting Dent on this path and remains vigilant, determined to stop Harvey no matter what. As for Thorne, he finds out about Zito’s death and the other gangsters, and sets out to try and bolster security.

Unfortunately, Dent gets the upper-hand here and after shutting off the lights, works to eliminate each of the guards one by one. Dent speaks to Zito and tells him he wants justice, calling himself the judge, jury and executioner. Thorne’s son, Matthew, shows up and gets in the way of his father. This hesitation manages to serve as a distraction for Thorne long enough for Batman to blast through the rooftop and confront them both.

When Dent is arrested for his crimes, following a brief altercation with Batman, his lawyer shows up to see him… and that happens to be none other than Barbara!

The Episode Review

The penultimate episode finally sees Barbara show and it looks like business is about to pick up here for the finale, which I’d imagine will continue on from the cliffhanger ending we receive in this chapter.

Seeing Dent’s descent into madness and becoming Two-Face is definitely a nice touch and it’s fitting to see Barbara appear as Dent’s lawyer, given her arc has depicted her as someone who wants to do right by the law. This angle is a nice way of adding some tension to the fold and it’ll be interesting to see what direction this one takes.