“I told her to be careful. Bad things happen to people in
Crime Alley.”Industrialist Roland Daggett (Ed Asner) won’t take no for an answer, so after Gotham City declines his bid to rezone Crime Alley, he hires a pair of goons to level the block at precisely 9 p.m. Little does Daggett know, though, that this evening holds a special significance for Batman, and he has an annual appointment to keep with the neighborhood physician Dr. Leslie Thompkins (Diana Muldaur).
There’s a trio of episodes from Batman: The Animated Series that always ran together for me – “It’s Never Too Late,” this one, and “Paging the Crime Doctor.” They’re all underworld episodes, and the latter two star Leslie Thompkins, but more importantly none of them left an impression on me. I’d always gloss over these on rewatches, but I’m really glad to go through the series again because “Appointment in Crime Alley” is actually a great episode. You might not think it to look at it, since it’s not written by Paul Dini, nor does it feature a big-name villain, but that’d be an underestimation. And if I didn’t know we have so many perfect episodes down the pike, I’d wager this might be a new “Top 10” episode.
“Appointment” is written by comics veteran Gerry Conway, who’s best known for creating Killer Croc and The Punisher as well as killing Gwen Stacy, and what’s not immediately apparent is that he’s working from a story written by Dennis O’Neil, a man who probably belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Batman stories (if only for creating Ra’s al Ghul with Neal Adams). That’s a colossal assembly of authorial talent, but director Boyd Kirkland is no slouch, either, he of “Joker’s Favor” and “Beware the Gray Ghost.”
Kirkland’s direction here is really quite amazing, creating a great atmosphere of suspense as he continually reminds us of the ticking clock governing the action of this episode. Add to that a notably remarkable score by Stuart Balcomb, which makes long scenes without dialogue all the more punchy (and often literally, given Batman’s nocturnal activities). This is a very fluid episode, one that works exceptionally well, and it does so without much pomp or flair. Indeed, there’s a “just another night” feeling to this episode, showing what Batman’s nights are like when he isn’t involved in saving the city on a macro scale. It’s small acts of heroism, only some of which add up to the larger plot, showing that Gotham City is a massively dysfunctional place in need of a protector even if all the colorful rogues are incarcerated.
Yet as much as the episode goes for the quotidian, there’s something pointedly noteworthy about this particular evening, and I believe this is the first time that BtAS has gone into the concrete specifics of what happened to Thomas and Martha Wayne. We’ve known that they died and that Batman feels intensely guilty about this, but seeing the details – even in newspaper clippings – carries a power that those earlier dreams and flashes could only glimpse. Moreover, tethering those feelings to Leslie Thompkins, who struggles to do good in a part of town on which Gotham has entirely given up, anchors Batman’s drive for justice in his core optimism that there are still good people in Gotham, even in the darkest part of town. It’s a lesson that Ben Affleck’s Batman needed to relearn – “Men are still good...” – and indirectly this episode shows why it’s so important for Batman to remember that. As much as the city would seem to fall apart without its caped crusader, Batman is continually reminded that there are others who, in their own small way, are holding the city together. It’s damned poetic that one such hero held Bruce Wayne together after his parents died.
The episode closes with the revelation of Batman’s appointment in Crime Alley, and if you haven’t figured it out yet, there’s a spoiler here, but it’s one you’ve probably seen in other adaptations of Batman – The Dark Knight returns to Crime Alley once a year to lay flowers at the spot where his parents were gunned down. It’s a theme that originated in the O’Neil story back in 1976, but it’s chill-inducing here; no matter how many times I’ve seen a variation of this image, be it in Tim Burton’s Batman or in the Arkham City game, it’s sobering to see the humanity and the tragedy of Batman laid bare in a moment of remembrance. “Appointment in Crime Alley” does it in a moving way that reinforces the optimism of Batman, particularly important for a young audience seeing this animated show.
Writer: Gerry Conway
Director: Boyd Kirkland
Villains: Roland Daggett (Ed Asner), Nitro (David L. Lander), and Crocker (Jeffrey Tambor)
Next episode: “Mad as a Hatter,” in which the vorpal blade goes snicker-snack.
🦇For the full list of Batman: The Animated Series reviews, click here.🦇
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