We are taking a few days off from publishing new content for the holidays, so enjoy some of our favorite Christmas-themed writing over the past 11 years! Merry Christmas to all!
Today we’re looking at the second episode of Batman: The Animated Series, “Christmas with the Joker.”
1. A Joker Who Jokes
In recent years we’ve become accustomed to a Joker who’s simply a murderous psychopath. We’ve only see the darker facet of the character in things such as The Dark Knight and Scott Snyder’s recent stories “Death of the Family” and “Endgame.” This means a Joker who jokes is kind of new and refreshing. The first thing he does in the episode is make fun of Batman with his Jingle Bells parody, and he continues to do things that make you chuckle throughout the episode, such as when he has an automated crowd cheer the fact that he decided to steal himself a new family. This is a character who works best when juxtaposed against something happy, which is why having him actually make you laugh works really well, and it’s also why setting his introduction against the backdrop of Christmas works as well.
2. The Awful Lawfuls
Batman: The Animated Series is a smart show. It understands, for example, in this episode you don’t need to tell the audience who the kidnapping victims are for them to care. Knowing that the Joker is trying to hurt someone and that Batman wants to save them is all you need to know. On the other hand, it adds something to the story if you know who they are. The episode is slightly different if you watch the series consistently and can identify the characters. Another example of a moment that has an extra layer of significance if you’re familiar with the characters and the history is at the end of the episode where Joker slips and almost falls into a vat. He’s caught by Batman, and that moment is a direct reference to both “The Killing Joke” and 1989’s Batman which this show was spawned from.
3. A Dark Knight
For everything I just said about the Joker being great in this because he’s funny and makes jokes, know that he also baits a woman into believing she’s changed his mind about killing a bunch of people and then laughs in her face saying “it’ll be even more exciting when it [the train the people are on] crashes.” This is still a kids show that threatens to kill people which when stated that way is super weird, but it’s the balance of having real consequences on the line for our heroes that makes them that much more heroic. It isn’t just Batman stopping a train from blowing up anymore, it’s Batman preventing a train with someone’s mother on it from blowing up and that makes the audience much more emotionally invested.
4. It’s like a Nolan film
This episode is like a Nolan film because Batman is really bad at detective work this time around. It’s really my only criticism of this episode. We get to the end and Batman just says he doesn’t know what to do, it’s up to The Joker now, and only a miracle can save the hostages. THEN JOKER JUST BASICALLY TELLS THEM WHERE HE IS! And do you know where he was? He was at the Laffco Toy Factory. I’m just saying if I’m Batman and I fight a guy who dresses as a clown, I might check a place like that before I just give up. It’s just the kind of logical leap that really works for the kids watching the show and really doesn’t for the adults.
5. Bat-Man
I’m proud to say this show is not a above taking part in the greatest of visual puns. At one point in the episode Batman picks up a baseball bat and starts whacking Joker’s drone toys. This is the kind of fan-service I need in my life.
