TV Review: "Batman: Caped Crusader" Season 2 - Upping the Ante

The Dark Knight returns to Prime Video with another season of the golden age inspired "Batman: Caped Crusader." In following the escalation theory prevalent in the Batman mythos, this season ramped things up as our hero's war on crime reaches levels beyond common mobsters and murderers that test him physically and psychologically.

Much of what made the first season work carries over here, particularly the "Villain of the Week" format. Though I will point out there's more serialization involving two main villains. The first is the Riddler, who takes over Rupert Thorne's operations after the mob boss disappears. Riddler's way of running things leads to more chaos and death, especially when he goes full "Bonnie and Clyde" with who I would consider this show's version of Poison Ivy. But Riddler can be seen as a bridge between the traditional crime boss in Thorne and the super criminal best personified in the biggest enemy any Batman would face.
The Joker was teased in a post-credits scene at the end of last season and is seen throughout season two preparing his ultimate plan in the shadows before making a hell of a public debut at the start the two-part season finale. This has to be one of one the creepiest versions of the Joker put to screen. While carrying the character's anarchistic and nihilist traits, this is a much more subdued version in line with his first comic appearance. He hardly smiles and when he does it's more of a slight grin, which makes the moment we get a full-on laugh more significant. The way the Joker Venom is depicted is also unsettling as it draws out the victim's death and you can see the pain in their eyes and voice.

But there are plenty more bat-villains to enjoy this season. Much like last season, there's a mix of golden age villains, like Hugo Strange and the Mad Monk, and villains who came later like Roxy Rocket reinterpreted to fit that era (along with some other modern comic plot elements). I would say they even go further by taking villains who technically debuted in the golden age like Scarecrow and Mr. Freeze but redone in a more pulp style of the first year of Batman comics.
Along with the Scarecrow episode where Batman has to team up with Harley Quinn to stop him, another highlight episode for me was Jim Corrigan's transformation into the Spectre. Unlike the supernatural route that led to the misstep of the Gentleman Ghost last season, the Spectre comes out of a science experiment to extend one's life expectancy gone wrong. Targeting those the law failed to put away, he's essentially a ghost taking care of unfinished business; add in that the episode takes place on Christsmas Eve and it's a BTAS caliber twist on Dickens' classic.
While not a villain per se, this season introduces the character of Hattie Tetch, a gender bent version of the Mad Hatter. Unlike how they depicted the Penguin last season, Hattie shows real effort from the creators in differentiating her from her male counterpart. Instead of using hats or playing cards to control people though, she's a news personality who has some warped views on who the good guys and bad guys are. You can make your own cable news connotations there.

As you can probably guess, the villains kind of overshadowed our protagonist this season. Bruce does still get some development though as he slowly accepts he doesn't have to work alone. This mostly involves forming a partnership with the Gordons, but we also get a follow-up appearance by Carrie Kelley that highlights the benefits and pitfalls of the kid sidekick.

Those who enjoyed the first season of "Batman: Caped Crusader" should have no worries going into its second and most likely last season. "Caped Crusader" was always a holdover from a previous WB regime that we were lucky still got to see the light of day. But with the announcement of the Absolute Batman animated series, the writing's on the wall. "Caped Crusader" was nonetheless a great adaptation of one of the premiere superheroes. If there's one takeaway I got particularly from this season, it's a similar feeling I had rewatching the Nolan trilogy recently, that Batman's fight against corruption and chaos is a timeless one that we should feel inspired by.

Movie Review: "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" - Welcome Back Parker

After the events of "No Way Home", Peter Parker finds himself in new territory within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In many ways, "Brand New Day" delivers the MCU Spider-Man movie fans have been wanting to see while still carrying a divisive trope from the previous trilogy.

From beginning to end, this may be the most emotional Spider-Man film yet. With six total films (three ensembles and three solo), we're fully invested in Tom Holland's Spider-Man and his well-established spot in the MCU. After having to erase the world's memory of Peter Parker and deciding to seclude himself from those closest to him, he's been through a lot to say the least. Even Michael Giacchino's iconic Spider-Man score highlights the struggle, having a more somber tone rather than the triumphant one we're used to. This makes for some pretty heartbreaking moments, especially in his scenes with Zendaya's MJ; their chemistry remains on point, and I love how they're married in real life now. It leads to an existential crisis in the same vein as Raimi's "Spider-Man 2" (there's actually quite a few homages to that film) but inversed with Peter's powers evolving rather than disappearing. Besides the external threats, Peter's main conflict is finding the balance between the spider and the man. And if you pay attention to how much he wears the Spidey mask and when, it's a good indication of where his mind is at in the moment.

Style wise, it's for the most part a street level MCU Spidey film and there was clear influence from the PlayStation/Insomniac games. Peter's been operating for years, has a firm partnership with NYPD, and a rogue's gallery he's put behind bars (including Michael Mando finally suited up as Scorpion). The action scenes or just Spidey swinging look like they're ripped right from the games. But I think what most people will enjoy is seeing Peter left to his own devices. No longer backed up by Stark tech and mostly acting as a solo hero, Peter's had to rebuild himself from the ground up but it's still clear he's come a long way from the high school kid in baggy sweat clothes.

Of course, it's still the MCU which means we have wider connections to explore.
Filling the kind-of mentor role for Peter this time around, Jon Bernthal is back once again as Frank Castle/Punisher. It just makes sense to have the New York vigilantes cross paths and a history between the two is clearly established (and it's my headcanon Pete's had to have teamed up with Matt too at some point). If Happy was the annoyed big brother, Frank's more of an antagonistic big brother to Peter, setting him apart from past mentors. What really sells their partnership is Bernthal and Holland's own personal history, having worked together in the past and helping each other prepare to take on their Marvel roles.
Mark Ruffalo is also back as Bruce Banner, who Peter goes incognito to for advice on how to get his mutating powers under control. Unfortunately for Bruce, this puts him in the crosshairs of the film's villain, triggering a full savage Hulk transformation for the first time since "Infinity War". People who have been wanting that Hulk back will be happy to see it, and the fight between him and Spidey is an entertaining moment we can check off the Marvel movie bucket list, but I know few will absorb the tragedy of the moment. Pre and post transformation, Bruce comes across like an addict who fell off the wagon and in anguish over "his" actions. Ruffalo sells it so well, especially with how he keeps asking if he hurt anybody.

Sadie Sink plays our main villain, though I won't be spoiling who it is here. All I'll say is that her character continues to expand the mutant presence in the Sacred Timeline of the MCU and Damage Control's antagonizing nature toward it as seen in "Ms. Marvel" and "Wonder Man". That, and Sink's performance totally steals the show in the film's third act.
All that said, some of these wider connections do kind of hinder the street level aspect during the second half of the film. It's still all well put together, but it may lose viewers going in excited about the former as it plays into the belief that Sony overly relies on the MCU connections in the Spider-Man films.

"No Way Home" was always going to be a tough act to follow, but "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" proves there's still life in the web-head's film franchise. Full of action and emotion while setting up promising future developments for Peter and others within the MCU, we're given a must-see film as this year's Summer Blockbuster season starts to wind down.