(10/22/09)
Killer Croc’s only true character spotlight is remarkably imbalanced. The first eight minutes involve a chase through a forest of grand stature, causing the rest of the story to hurry lest it fails to meet its twenty-two minute deadline. As a result, the sideshows are contrived embodiments of perfect morality while Croc is the coldhearted unambiguous monster that can only survive through deceit. Might things be more interesting were the morality skewed? Perhaps the band of outsiders might rejoice in Batman’s captivity, a mirror image of their prior lives that sets the scale in their favor, regardless of its moral drawbacks. Or at the very least, Croc might successfully maintain his charade so that Batman is successfully demonized by his new contemporaries.
But alas, these circus freaks have less depth than the similar collective in Hitchcock’s decidedly shallow Saboteur. They are not catalysts for probing the depths of Croc’s mind, nor do they have a noticeable impact on him. He remains a beacon of pure depravity the whole way through, and while the episode seems to argue that his lack of compassion to those who have endured similar trials as he is ultimately tragic, it also seems ultimately lazy. It is an unnecessary point to prove, solidifying Croc’s monstrosity when I don’t think anyone doubted it in the first place. It is a principle of Batman’s universe that his adversaries cannot change. Sideshow is a dull illustration of this principle.
The episode ends with Croc in Hannibal Lecter attire, being transported via helicopter. The seal boy, standing for banal childhood pathos, asks Croc why he did such things to his friends. He responds by saying he was just being himself. I like this ending. I at first took it as a worthless appeal to our emotions; we should feel bad for Croc because he just cannot be accepted anywhere. Obviously this is not effective, because Croc by nature is an immoral, violent person. But thinking about it further, that is what is so tragic about the ending. He is doomed to a state of monstrosity, both physically and morally. Perhaps if the story was not so formulaic it could have arrived at this conclusion in a more shocking manner.
Directorially this is a sign of things to come in Superman: the Animated Series. I do not usually associate Boyd Kirkland with riveting and inventive fight sequences, but Read My Lips and Sideshow are causing me to rethink that. As I have said before, sometimes Gotham City can be too confining. It can be so confining and homogenous, in fact, that action scenes are often interchangeable; rarely does a scene in which Batman disarms a thug and knocks him out depend on surroundings. Batman’s battle with Croc not only utilizes surrounding props, but it also expertly navigates through specific areas of the sideshows’ stronghold while always aware of the larger structure.
I feel that Sideshow and other hollow episodes of the series produced at about this period are both enticing and underwhelming. Enticing because they aesthetically foreshadow some of the DC Animated Universe’s high points, but underwhelming because of their banality.
The basic story is that Killer Croc is being transported to a penitentiary by means of train, and he ends up escaping and fleeing into the woods. Batman, as usual, is hot on his trail. He ends up meeting a kindly group of misfit circus performers who accept him into the fold. This is the kind of story that I’ve seen and read many times over, that archetypal tale of the outsider that finds a group to which he can belong, and all that nonsense. The twist in this episode is that Croc is an evil cruel-hearted person who is really out to take advantage of the performers’ kindness. This is even worse in a sense than the traditional route, because that means that Croc, who we spend most of our time with, isn’t much of a protagonist and he really has no sympathy, despite the pointless hints the episode drops to make it appear as if he’s got some heart to him.
What is even more absurd in my opinion is that the traveling band of misfits just happens to have a fund they’ve been saving up, giving Croc an awfully convenient criminal motive. Come to think of it, the band of misfits is also terribly clichéd. The little seal boy just happens to be nice and cute like most disfigured boys; the giant strong man happens to be nice and kind in the same vein of every gentle giant that has ever been put to film; the Siamese twin sisters argue with each other just like every character in film or television with a dual nature; and of course the elderly hunchback who leads the group is a sophisticated chap who quotes Shakespeare. These are all very familiar figures and really aren’t interesting characters. They’re mainly just foils for Croc, which is sort of ironic because Croc doesn’t have much of a characterization himself. What we have here is a cast of one-note characters, none of whom are the least bit original.
It’s always a relief when I watch this episode to find that Batman has finally entered the scene again after such a long absence. It’s frankly boring watching Croc and the circus freaks interact, and really, in such a bland story, action scenes are the only thing that can salvage the episode. Thankfully, they don’t disappoint. I find the staging of the final showdown between Croc and Batman to be very inventive and exciting, and it really helps me forget about how boring the episode as a whole is. Unfortunately, the excitement doesn’t last, and soon we’re at the end of the episode with Croc being carried off by a helicopter in a straightjacket. The last line of dialogue is the last attempt the writer makes to be profound, as Croc professes that he was only being himself. Now, if that was a stab at sympathy, it fails completely, as that is no excuse for the cruel behavior that Croc exhibits. On the other hand, perhaps it’s just a way of saying that Croc is so evil that he’s beyond change or redemption, in which case it’s certainly more meaningful, but makes me wonder why we needed an episode to affirm what is pretty easy to infer from episodes like ‘Vendetta’: that Croc is a bad guy.
I will give the episode points for the different locale. Sometimes Gotham City can be too confining, and the outskirt forest is a refreshing change of scenery. I love the sound effects and the attention to detail on the background art. I mentioned earlier how much I enjoy the fight scene at the end. In addition to being expertly directed, it’s also very well animated. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Dong Yang has really become a great studio at this point. Croc has never looked better, and it’s worth noting that the great studio Spectrum animated his spotlight episode ‘Vendetta’.
I don’t hate ‘Sideshow’, but I definitely dislike it. It’s unnecessary and pretentious, but I still have to give it points for the visual spectacle that it is.
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