Episode 33: Robin’s Reckoning Part 2
Written By: Randy Rogel
Directed By: Dick Sebast
Original Air Date: 02/14/93

After seeing a perfect adaption of Robin’s origin story in “Robin’s Reckoning” part 1, where we got to see how Bruce and Dick met for the first time, part 2 continues the story of how Dick Grayson became Batman’s partner in crime fighting, and how Dick Grayson is on the hunt for his parent’s killer in both the present, and in the past. While “Robin’s Reckoning” part 2 is mostly a satisfying conclusion to this two-part story, I found that it just couldn’t compare to the greatness that was part 1. While it does have it’s moments, there really wasn’t too much of that great emotional drama found in part 2, which is really what made part 1 so strong, and I just couldn’t help but feel that there was a missed opportunity to include an iconic scene from Batman’s history in this episode, which would have helped make “Robin’s Reckoning ” part 2, almost as special as part 1 for me.

Part 2 of “Robin’s Reckoning” picks up right where we left off from part 1, where we saw Robin disobey Batman’s orders by leaving the Batcave to go look for Zucco. Batman notices right away that Robin is using the Batmobile’s tracer from his motorcycle to follow him, so he quickly shuts off the tracer to prevent Robin from following him any further. This doesn’t stop Robin from continuing his search for Zucco though, as Batman’s actions here make him even more determined to find Zucco on his own, just like he did before when he was a kid. Just like part 1, part 2 goes into a flashback sequence that shows Dick Grayson as a kid, who is now starting to get accustomed to living in Wayne Manor with Bruce and Alfred. The flashback sequence in this episode though, isn’t nearly as strong as the one we got in part 1. It’s a much shorter sequence, and it just didn’t have the same emotionally compelling story that the first one did. To me, the main purpose of this flashback sequence should have been to show how Bruce chose Dick to be his partner in fighting crime, and while we do get to see a little of that at the end of the sequence, it really came off as just an after thought, where the main focus was to show how Dick was able to find Zucco on his own as a child. There were some scenes in this flashback sequence that I felt should have been left out, so that other scenes that I know were cut from this episode could’ve been included, which I felt would have made this flashback sequence a lot more memorable.

The flashback sequence begins with Bruce and Dick doing some fencing training, which I thought was nice moment, since we got a little insight to how Bruce went about training Dick. Their training was cut short though, as Alfred informs Bruce that Lieutenant Gordon is here to see him. Gordon informs Bruce that he may not have to keep Dick much longer, since the Police department has gotten leads on Zucco’s whereabouts thanks to some wanted posters, and feels that if they don’t catch him tonight, Zucco will probably leave Gotham. Dick hears this whole conversation from outside the door of Bruce’s office, and knows that this may be his only chance to bring his parent’s killer to justice. So that very night, Dick decides to go looking for Zucco himself, by going to the area where the Police thinks he is hiding, and by showing different people the photo of Zucco from the wanted poster, saying he’s looking for his uncle. I liked how this sequence showed Dick’s strong determination to bring Zucco to justice, as well as his ingenuity to find him at a young age, but I felt that too much time was spent with Dick while he was on his search, and not enough time with him and Batman together once he actually finds Zucco, which was the best part of this flashback sequence.

During his search, Dick sees a woman being mugged in an alley by her employer, who thinks she has been keeping his money from him, and decides to help the woman by taking the guy out with his acrobatic skills. I usually don’t like it when in movies and T.V. shows, we see kids being able to outsmart adults in fights. Those moments usually comes off as corny and far fetched, but with what we now about Dick’s past as a circus performer, seeing him take out this guy was believable, and helped the scene play out well. After the fight, the woman shows her thanks to Dick by taking him to a Cafe to get some food. While there, a waitress recognizes the photo of Zucco, and tells Dick that he usually comes into the Cafe from a condemned building across the basin. Now knowing where to find Zucco, Dick makes his way to the condemned building that the waitress pointed out to him, and finally finds the man he’s been searching for.

As Dick peaks into the window of the condemned building, he sees Zucco frantically packing up his belongings before he leaves Gotham, and realizes he better hurry and call the Police before Zucco skips town. But as Dick makes his way to a nearby payphone, he accidentally steps on a soda can, which Zucco hears, who then makes his way outside the building, and grabs Dick before he can make the phone call to the Police. Zucco recognizes Dick right away as his material witness, and tells him that he was just about to leave town because of him, but now it looks like his travel plans would be changing. But before Zucco can do anything to Dick, we just see a black fist punch him right in the face, which then turns into a cool entrance by Batman. A nice touch about Batman’s costume in this scene, was how it was different than the costume he usually wears in the series, since this is taking place in the past. His cape and cowl are all black with no blue tint, and the bat logo on his chest is missing the yellow circle. It harkens back to the classic Batman design by Bob Kane and Bill Finger which I love, and is also similar to the new design he would get in “The New Batman Adventures” series later on. After Batman punches Zucco, Dick is at first shocked to see Batman, but then immediately charges Zucco to get a few punches in himself, while screaming at him “I hate you!” Zucco is able to push Dick out of the way, but after doing so, Dick grabs onto a railing that suddenly beaks, and then falls into the water below. Seeing Dick fall into the water, Batman knows he has to save Dick first before he apprehends Zucco, even though he knows Zucco will be gone after he rescues Dick. Batman is able to save Dick by jumping in the water after him, and using his grapple to pull them both out before they fall down a waterfall. But when they return to the spot where they left Zucco, they see that he is now long gone.

Once Dick sees that Zucco has escaped, he is at first disappointed that Zucco got away, but then that disappointment quickly turns into anger, as he then turns to Batman and starts hitting him in the chest out of frustration, as well as yelling at him, asking him why he let Zucco go. This was a great moment between Batman and Dick. Joey Simmrin, who voiced young Dick Grayson in these two episodes, did a great job of showing Dick’s frustration and anger once he found out Zucco got away. He really brought out the pain Dick was feeling in this moment, and made this one of the standout scenes of Part 2, as you realize Dick was more concerned about bringing Zucco to justice, than he was about his own life. Batman, understanding how Dick feels, doesn’t say anything to him, or tries to stop him from hitting him, but silently realizes he has found someone with the same sense of justice that he has, and just calls in the Batwing to pick them both up.

Batman then takes Dick back to the Batcave, and tells him he’s the second person who has ever seen it, with Alfred being the first. He then asks Dick how badly he wants Tony Zucco, and Dick, a little bit confused, asks Batman who he really is, which then compels Batman to pull off his mask, revealing to Dick that he is actually Bruce Wayne. Dick is at first shocked by this, but then Alfred comes into the cave, and tells Bruce that he takes it that Dick’s stay with them would now be indefinite, which brings a smile to both Bruce and Dick’s faces. While it was a cool seeing Batman reveal his identity to Dick on screen, this is also where I felt the episode missed out on a great opportunity to include the iconic moment from the comics of Batman having Dick take an oath by candle light, having him swear to uphold justice, and to become his partner in crime fighting as Robin. I also thought it would have been really cool to see a short scene with Dick going out on patrol as Robin for the first time with Batman, but sadly, those were two scenes that had to be cut from the episode due to time restraints. I really wished those scenes could’ve been included in this episode instead of so much time being spent with Dick searching for Zucco as a kid. For me, the inclusion of those two scenes would have definitely helped in making this episode almost as strong as part 1, as I’m sure they both would have been memorable dramatic moments for this flashback sequence.

After Batman reveals his identity to Dick, the episode returns to the present, where we see Robin on his motorcycle more determined than ever to find Zucco on his own. There was one small bit of dialogue here that Robin says to himself that I really liked. Before he zooms off to find Zucco, Robin says to himself that he’s been taught by the best, of course referencing Batman. I just like that line because it showed that even though Batman is probably the 2nd least person Robin likes right now after Tony Zucco, he still shows that he’s grateful for all the training he’s received from Batman over years, and is something that he’s always remained grateful for, even when they are not on the best of terms. Robin is able to put his detective training from Batman to good use here, as he is able to find Zucco’s current location, by going to the apartment of the crook he and Batman captured in part 1 at the construction site, and use his telephone to call Zucco and trace the call, which reveals his location.

The final sequence of “Robin’s Reckoning” part 2 has both the highlight of the episode, and one of the worst moments of the episode. The highlight features Robin at the end, and the worst moment features Batman at the beginning of the sequence, which shows that Batman wasn’t at his best this night. After Robin traces his phone call to Zucco, we next see Zucco stressing out in his hideout at an abandon amusement park with his men, can’t believing that he just returned to Gotham, and Batman is already on his tail. But as Zucco is yelling at his men about how terrible Batman is, he hears a creaking noise coming from the ceiling of his hideout, and tells everyone to remain silent. He next grabs his machine gun and starts shooting the ceiling like a madman until he’s out of bullets, which then causes the ceiling to collapse, and reveals Batman as the one making the creaking noise, as we see him fall through the ceiling to the ground, hurting his knee on the fall. I didn’t really like how they had Batman make all that noise as he was hiding in the ceiling, as I think he would have had better stealth skills than that, no matter how old the building is. I also didn’t really like it because for the rest of the episode, Batman is regulated to just limping around trying to hide from Zucco and his men. I understand that for the story there had to be something to prevent Batman from capturing Zucco first, so that Robin can confront him and be the one to take him down, but I just wished it was written in way that didn’t show Batman getting hurt like it was his first night out on patrol.

After Batman falls through the ceiling, he is only able to escape from Zucco on pure luck, as Zucco’s gun ran out of bullets right when he was about to shoot him. Batman throws some smoke bombs and is able to make his way out of the building and into the amusement park, where we pretty much just see him hide from Zucco and his men, while he tries to patch up his wound by using a piece of wood and his cape. While Batman did get hurt like an amateur, he is still able to show that he can fight while wounded, as he is still able to take out all of Zucco’s men by knocking one out, and by tying the other two up on a carousel. Once Batman has tied up Zucco’s men on the carousel, he tries to get out of there before Zucco spots him, but doesn’t get very far thanks to his knee, and Zucco is able to spot him on the carousel as it’s spinning around.

The final few minuets of this ending sequence is the highlight of the episode for me, as we get to see Robin take down the man who killed his parents in a very cool way. Just as Zucco is about to open fire on Batman and his own men on the carousel, Robin comes crashing through a billboard at the amusement park, grabs Zucco by the collar, and starts dragging him across the dock of the park while he’s still on his motorcycle. This was such an awesome way for Robin to enter the scene, and I just loved the images of him dragging Zucco on his bike. It was a great way to show how much he hated this man. I also liked how the music played during this sequence as well, as it stared off with playful carnival music as Zucco watched the carousel spin, but then quickly changed into a great dramatic score as Robin started to drag Zucco from his motorcycle. After he brings Zucco to the edge of the dock, Robin gets off his bike and starts to rough Zucco up a bit, which was very cool to see, as he was pretty much acting like Batman here. With the way he fought, the way he talked, and even in his facial expressions, you really saw the hatred he had for Zucco during this scene, where it actually made you wonder if Robin would actually kill him. But right when it looks like Robin is about to finish Zucco off, Batman comes to the scene, not looking very threatening as he walks over to them leaning on a piece of wood while limping, telling Robin not to let his emotions get the best of him. I loved Robin’s response to Batman here, telling him to stuff his advice, and that he can’t know how he feels because of his stone cold heart. While Robin quickly apologizes for his remarks to Batman, you know that he meant every word that he said, as we will see later on in the series, when he and Bruce have a falling out, and he leaves to become Nightwing. I thought it was a great way to foreshadow what was to come for Batman and Robin’s partnership. But even though Robin apologizes for what he said to Batman, he still has the look on his face that he’s going to finish Zucco off. But as he hears the sound of Police sirens making their way to his location, he just tosses Zucco aside, and leaves him cowering in fear as the Police take him into custody.

The final scene of the episode wraps up this two-part story nicely, as Robin tells Batman that he was right for not taking him along, knowing that he would take capturing Zucco too personally. But Batman goes on to reveal to Robin that the reason why he didn’t bring him along, was because that Zucco has taken so much away from him, caused him so much pain, that he couldn’t stand the thought of Zucco taking Dick away too. I did like that this was the real reason why Batman didn’t want to bring Robin along, as I think Batman would have trusted Robin enough to keep his emotions in check and do the right thing when he confronts Zucco, which he did do for the most part. I also thought the reason Batman gave worked well for this story, because we got to see that Batman does have a heart, despite what Robin thinks, and was a good note to the end the episode on. I also thought it was a nice touch to have Batman not even look at Robin in the face as he was telling him this, showing that it’s not easy for Batman to say things like that to the people he’s close to. Not knowing what to say after he hears that, Robin just simply tells Batman, “Come on partner, it’s been a long night.” Which it was, as we see Batman and Robin walk away from the dock, as the sun rises from the background.

Even though “Robin’s Reckoning” part 2 mainly gets remembered for not being as good of an episode as part 1, part 2 did have some great moments. I thought the scenes where Batman rescues Dick as a child and reveals his identity to him, and the final confrontation Robin has with Zucco at the end, were for me, some of the series’ best memorable moments. The voice acting of Loren Lester and Joey Simmrin as Dick Grayson was again superb in this episode, and it just might have been Loren Lester’s finest performance as Robin from entire series. So while “Robin’s Reckoning” part 2 isn’t a perfect episode like part 1, and I felt that there were some missed opportunities to include some really great scenes, it is still an engaging episode, which nicely wraps up a great two-part story about one of the greatest characters ever created for the Batman universe. Robin the boy wonder.

Score: 3.5/5