User Reviews

I was actually shocked to see just how negative the response to this episode was! I honestly think this may be one of my more enjoyable episodes of the series, here's why... it's a break from the more well known and slightly overused rogues gallery, it's animated fantastically and the script is fresh with an emotional flare in the form of the Underweller children. The Sewer King is a really nasty guy and the fact that he deluded himself into thinking he was doing the right thing for those children makes him even worse; he also has a relatively unique look to him, essentially being an amalgam of ideas we've seen before rolled into one. It's different and I can't really give it enough praise for that. A decent to strong 8/10

I've seen this episode being discussed as one of the shows worst and I simply have to disagree. I think the biggest reason I enjoy the episode more than many is Batman himself. It just stood out to me that of all the time villains you see on this show, this is the one that pushes Batman to the point where he is seriously tempted to kill him. The Sewer King is the one he sees no redemption in whatsoever.

It's also one of the shows darkest where The Sewer King is taking advantage of orphaned children, having them dressed as leprechauns to steal, and cruelly punishing those who disobey by exposing them to bright lights. Batman the Animated series stands out in general by it's noir style where it would make things like the TV coverage in black and white, and here this style is used at it's most effective here where Batman finds the childrens hideout, where you see the joy in them seeing Batman and interacting with each other, while he takes pictures to show the conditions they are forced to live in and you see the grim looking pictures in black and white. It's a brilliant way to show the different perspectives.

Is it a perfect episode? No. The Sewer King is very much a one and done character and its easy to see why he never returned. You don't really see why he is motivated to do some of the horrible things he does like you do with villains like say Two Face, the Penguin or The Joker and that does make him far less memorable and the stuff where he has pet crocodiles that can kill at his command is very Saturday Morning Cartoony which is at odds with the rest of the tone.

Ultimately it's an episode with flaws and there's definitely better episodes out there, but this is far from one being one of it's worst. In fact, I recomend seeing it. I like things that explore Batman as a character and seeing him admit he had to resist the urge to kill is a very human layer to me and it's something that made this series as strong as it is. It's also well animated and has its own unique charm in my opinion because of the innocence of the children that are forced into crime and the scenes where one of the children Batman rescues has to live with Alfred is fun to watch.

Story: At the start, it annoys me how kids' feet always get stuck in ropes of something. It's just lazy and unrealistic. Great main theme song though. Interesting premise and I enjoy the Alfred and leprechaun scenes. Batman vs the crocodiles is cool and quite brutal with him snapping their jaws. I love how personal and angry Batman gets with the case. The ending is sweet. (7/10)

Characters: Alfred dancing at start is great. Sewer King has a cool voice and he's an extreme literal love-to-hate villain. Batman's expression when he first finds the kids is great. Would've liked to see more of Sewer King, he was a good villain. The kid's line at end is cringeworthy though. (8/10)

Animation: Strong animation at the start. The spit is a cool feature. Really cool image of Batman with shadows on his face. Sewer King's movements are silly though. (7/10)

Verdict: 7/10

This episode gave me a strong reminder of the conditions for the character of Jean Valjean from "Les Miserables." There were too many similarities between that kid Batman rescued and Valjean. The Sewer King reminds me of Javert, and his brutality.

This was one of the earliest scripts written for Batman Animated Series. Tom Ruegger (Executive Producer/Writer) of this show created the story of this episode with Sean Catherine Derek as the story editor.

Sean Catherine Derek brought in writers Jules Dennis and Richard Mueller to write the script of this episode. Sean Catherine Derek also worked on the script as story editor. Unfortunately, BS&P (Broadcasting Standards and Practices) didn't approve the script. They took a lot out of this episode. Producer Bruce W. Timm was extremely upset about the changes made by BS&P. BS&P added several "silly" scenes and (For Example, Chicken scene in the beginning, crocodile fight, etc.) to the episode. That is a disgrace to the original effort done by the writers of this episode. But some brilliant scenes written by Jules Dennis and Richard Mueller did end up in the episode. This includes from the scene where Batman finds the secret door to the scene where he brings young boy to the batcave and final scene with Batman and Sewer King.

It is the scene when Sewer King says "Why? Why?" and Batman replies "I don't pass sentence. That's for the courts. But this time - THIS TIME - I am sorely tempted to do the job myself." Batman's extreme anger towards Sewer King in this scene is brilliant, because of Sewer King's extreme cruelty towards innocent children. The suffering of these innocent children reminded Batman of his misery in his childhood when he lost his parents. Through this, we the audience explore into the emotional depth of Bruce Wayne. Despite the "silly" changes made by BS&P against the wishes of the writers, I give 10 out of 10 due to the brilliant final scene written by Jules Dennis and Richard Mueller with Story Editor Sean Derek.

The writers (Jules Dennis, Richard Mueller, and Story Editor Sean Catherine Derek) of this episode are the same writers who wrote Episode "The Forgotten." Through "My family" sequence Episode "The Forgotten", we can see the misery that Bruce Wayne went through his childhood. Like the episode "The Underdwellers", several changes were made to Episode "The Forgotten." This was also against the wishes of the writers. Fortunately, "My Family" sequence written by the writers did end up in the released version which allows to explore into the true vision of the writers. Only the scripts written by Jules Dennis, Richard Mueller, and Sean Derek that properly ended up on the screen were "The Cat and the Claw part 1" and "The Cat and the Claw part 2." So we can disregard the silly moments in this episode, because those moments weren't part of the intentions of the writers of this episode. I also love the animation of this episode. This was the first episode to be animated by Studio Junio. Studio Junio went on to animate episodes like Dreams in Darkness, Mudslide, Blind as a Bat, Avatar, Baby Doll.

I also love how batmobile was hidden inside a trash bin so that his enemies won't find where his batmobile is.

Due to the original efforts by writers, animation done by Studio Junio, and Music by Stuart Balcomb & Lars Cutterham, I rate the episode 10 out of 10.