After a bumpy night in pursuit of The Penguin (Paul Williams), Batman and Robin take the Batmobile in for repairs. Their mechanic, Earl Cooper (Paul Winfield), owes Batman for saving his life, but Penguin imperils it when he deduces that Earl might be his conduit to rubbing out the Dark Knight once and for all.
“The Mechanic” is such a strange episode, not because it does anything outlandish or controversial, but because it takes Batman into the dense quotidian by focusing on the question no one was asking – “Who changes the tires on the Batmobile?” If you stop and think about Batman’s world too long (and believe me, I’ve done that), you start to ask questions about the practicality of the universe and how things really work, but I wouldn’t say it’s essential storytelling that we learn all about a figure like Earl Cooper, particularly because I think most people assume that Bat-maintenance falls under “other duties and responsibilities” in Alfred’s job description. Or that, y’know, Batman does it himself. But no, “The Mechanic” takes the subject very matter-of-factly, approaches it soberly, and ends up being largely forgettable when it’s never revisited by the show.
The character of Earl Cooper is a classic example of overcomplicating a simple answer to a question no one asked. It’s the kind of story that could work really well if it’s developed thoughtfully and adds a new layer to the Batman universe, but “The Mechanic” doesn’t seem interested in plumbing thematic depth. It’s just a very straightforward story about a mechanic who happens to work for Batman. This episode is competent, and it does what it needs to do, but it’s a little like doing a story about the janitor in whose closet Clark Kent changes into Superman. You’d expect that Earl Cooper might know who Batman is, but that’s never addressed; one could imagine a version of this story, as Christopher Nolan did, in which Lucius Fox fills this role and comes to learn something new about his billionaire employer.
The introduction of Batman’s mechanic exists almost exclusively to set up the main premise of the episode, in which The Penguin sabotages the Batmobile in order to remotely control the vehicle and steer Batman to a fiery demise. This sort of kooky gag has always worked well on this show, whose larger-than-life villains have been at their level best when they’re maniacally committed to a single peculiar scheme. (See, for example, “Joker’s Wild,” in which Joker’s casino heist has nothing to do with the contents of a hotel’s vault.) There’s nothing intrinsically Penguin about this episode, which has often been a cause for lament from me, but somehow this episode succeeds regardless in that respect. Then again, hadn’t we just seen that dastardly plot a year earlier in Batman Returns? It’s not the only reprise from that film, either; we get a reocurrence of Penguin’s rubber ducky sewer boat – which is specifically a Penguin feature, and which looks fantastic in this episode.
The fun and frankly awesome visual of the rubber ducky boat ends up sailing into a whirlpool, which doesn’t make any sense in the context of a sewer, which is maybe a more apt metaphor than the episode’s creators intended. At its core “The Mechanic” has a good idea or two, but the episode sails away from the show writ large. It features some campy good fun from The Penguin, but the truth of the matter is that Earl Cooper is actually kind of boring once you get past the fact that he’s the Batmobile’s mechanic. But if nothing else, this episode does remind us that when Batman rides a motorcycle, his helmet has built-in Bat-ears. Because of course it does.
Writers: Laren Bright, Steve Perry, and Randy Rogel
Director: Kevin Altieri
Villain: The Penguin (Paul Williams)
Next episode: “Harley and Ivy,” in which a harlequin comes down with a bad case of poison ivy.
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