In these two episodes, the running backstory of the battle against corruption in Gotham City comes to the foreground.
Firebug (pretty sure they never actually give him a civilian name) is not really the subject of the first episode. He's just a living pawn in the game between the good cops, the bad cops, and Batman. He's the plot device that helps the good cops realize just who is on whose side. The good cops fall out of favor with the mayor, who is losing ground to Harvey Dent's mayoral campaign, and the mayor takes the powerful "Task Force" against vigilanteism out of their hands and puts the bad cops in charge.
Dr. Quinzel's role as part of the Good Cops is expanded, only to reveal that she is, in fact, rather a villain herself. Or at best an anti-hero, kidnapping and psychologically torturing wealthy ****heads into giving away all their money before killing themselves. As such, she dovetails with one of the other running themes of the series: rich people being ****heads.
Exactly what methods beyond some coercion and classical conditioning therapy she is using to effect these wild changes in behavior is entirely unclear, the behaviors are inconsistent, and her control of her subjects is pure plot magic (certainly for the era the show is set in). This is a glaring weakness in the episode, but I guess the showrunners couldn't resist using some handwaving to send a version of King Tut jabbering down the streets of their oh so dark series.
Quinzel, and the patients she slowly drives mad, fit one of themes of the show. She never has some sharp psychotic break with reality. She becomes the person she is step by step by decisions based on her own beliefs and experiences. Harley Quin is no sudden break from her persona as Dr. Harleen Quinzel. It's a clear choice logical dictated as the next step when she reaches an impasse in the treatment of some of recalcitrant patients and sickness in the city that they represent. In her way, she believes she's doing the city a favor by removing dangerous unhealthy elements.
Isn't that what Batman believes?
Isn't that what even Bullock and Flass believe, as they try to prevent threats to the current corrupt--but stable--status quo?
P.S. You have to be fast on the pause button, but if you are, you can catch a lot of nice easter eggs when they are researching old newspapers on microfiches, which contain headlines that refer to incidents in old BTAS episodes (e.g., "BOYLE OUT AT GOTHCORP" and "RARE FLOWER BELIEVED FOUND AT PRISON CONSTRUCTION SITE").
2 comments:
My deep Hal-Jordan-loving thoughts on wealth: while it's true that the wealthy as a whole could give away more of what they own - and I generally feel they should - I consider it very suspect when people heap an obligation of generosity on others but never seem to feel any such obligation themselves. Like, I get that the rich can give away much more without feeling the squeeze, so if there's a person in need, ideally a rich person would help. But in cases where they don't, then it falls to people of lesser means to help, or not. And everyone is subject to judgment for whether they're even trying.
My man Hal spent every penny he managed to save in GL v2 #125, to set up a security system around a Qward gateway that would detect Sinestro's arrival. My man Hal sets a good example.
- HJF1
Hal walks the walk, or flies the flight, in his case.
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