Things open with a loud and exciting bang, as Wayne Manor is infiltrated by hired assassins looking to gun down Selina Kyle, Gordon’s one viable witness in the Wayne Murders. Alfred immediately begins kicking ass and taking names (and a bullet), showing that he truly does resemble Geoff John’s Earth One Alfred more than the prim-and-proper butler we’re used to. Bruce and Selina go out on the run, and Selina takes the future Dark Knight to the city for his first rooftop adventure.
On paper, that sounds awesome. On screen, it’s a bit rough, especially since Camren Bicondova still hasn’t quite developed the acting chops necessary to carry so many scenes. David Mazouz plays a great Bruce Wayne, and has several endearing moments that hammer home the fish-out-of-water aspect of his character. Bruce is smarter than the average twelve year old, but lacks Selina’s street smarts, and it shows. Moments of bad acting aside, I enjoyed their dynamic more than I thought I would. The problem is, it’s never a pairing that I wanted to see on the show. The future relationship between these two characters was left subtle enough, but I could never shake my frustrations with seeing Batlad and Catgirl on screen together.
Early on, I applauded this show for how seldom it cut back to Bruce Wayne. I felt that he was used perfectly in the early episodes, as this elephant-in-the-room that didn’t get much screentime. We should see some of his development, but when the series focuses in on him too long, the rest of the show loses its meaning, and we’re unkindly reminded that this is not a Batman TV series. Which is what we actually want, anyway.
