I really want to say i liked this episode but as we will see, some of the pros are also cons.
What worked:
1. Voice talent for this episode was unmatched. Having David Faustino (aka Bud Bundy from Married with Children), the late John Ritter and Rachel Leigh cook (By the way, what happened to her? She hasn't been in any good movies since She's All That) was awesome.
2. The school setting was kinda cool, felt like a old creepy type of concentration camp mixed with a futuristic feel.
3. The Hamilton Hill drop of students felt kind of creepy also, like a Halloween special.
4. Terry using his talents outside the suit was refreshing because it shows that he has learned some skills from Bruce as in detective work.
5. The Sean character was interesting, especially the laugh. Pretty freaky.
6. The "backlash" teen issue is a realistic issue which still occurs every generation.
What didn't work:
1. The whole letter to the principal was kind of "stupid" to me. Chelsea may not be the brightest, but most students would not have put their name in the email. Instead they would have sent it from a dummy e-mail account. Secondly, if her dad is an editor, she would have made the e-mail sound more professional instead of "Un-schway! that's what i think of this new solution". Not very bright from a editor's daughter.
2. The first pro that is a con is the school setting. Would a parent really enlist their kid into a detention type of school? Wouldn't the parents check out what type of facility or classrooms this new school provides? Would parents allow their children to be manhandled by security guards (ex. visiting parents scene which allowed Terry to sneak in)?
3. Why are all the security guards uniforms generic? It seems like those same guard outfits have been used several times in Batman beyond.
4. Where do you hire such security guards? That's not to say that there aren't some weird/ mean people out there willing to beat kids and treat them like prisoners but would a realistic person really be willing to take a job like that? Even if they interviewed and were not hired, wouldn't they at least alert the media or officials of some type of corruption? Realistically, It kind of takes away the whole idea of why Batman needed to be the whistle blower on the place.
5. The Vincent character was pretty useless as a villain because Batman takes him down without much of a fight. If he is supposed to be "Mr. Bad ass" security guard he didn't show it.
6. Wouldn't Vincent have checked the contents of the backpack or at least put a visitors backpack in some type of security locker instead of a cleaning closet?
7. What was Sean thinking? He states, "the only reason why i stayed in was to get at Wheeler" How did he expect to accomplish that? With the way the prison was run, that was close to impossible.
8. There is no explanation of who Dr. Wheeler is, nor his motivation for treating students like prisoners. Secondly, why would Wheeler hold on to incriminating evidence instead of just destroy it right on the spot?
9. Lets talk Economics for a second (this is in reference to pro number 3). A public school would obviously be concerned that most of their students have now transferred out of Hamilton high school. Why? Economically, no parents means no primary source of income. So wouldn't the school at least check into this matter? Would a principal be so willing to just "red-flag" students? Publicy, this is not good Personal Relations with parents out there, because they would see Hamilton high as a school that cannot solve their children's problems. Is that really what Hamilton high wanted? Maybe not. But that's the effect. So wouldn't Hamilton high at least put some type of limit or check into the private schools methods to see what there doing effectively instead of just having the school become a ghost town? I know this goes beyond the premise of a "kids show" but still, with so many great episodes before, it makes you wonder.
10. It was a shame for the great voice cast to do a mediocre job. It's not their fault though as much as it is the writers.
11. Couldn't Sean figure out Terry was Batman? It doesn't take a genius. Terry tells Sean, "you go" and then all of a sudden Batman shows up. Sean knew Terry wanted to stay behind, but for what? Sean knows Terry couldn't handle the guards by himself, so Terry had to have had some type of "edge/advantage" to even the odds. Again, most episodes it's hard for anyone to figure out Terry is Batman, but this time it's pretty obvious.
Overall this is not one of the best episodes. I really wanted to like it but just too many cons outweigh the pros.
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