Episode 31: The Cape And Cowl Conspiracy
Written By: Elliot S. Maggin
Directed By: Frank Paur
Original Air Date: 10/14/92

One of the many great things that “Batman The Animated Series” has done that I always love about it, was how for certain episodes the producers would sometimes adapt classic stories from the comics, and in turn make those stories into classic episodes of “Batman The Animated Series.” Prime examples being “Appointment In Crime Alley,” and the classic Joker story, “The Laughing Fish.” But every once in a while there would be an episode that would be adapted from the comics, where it makes you wonder that out of all the classic Batman stories told in the comics, why would they decide to adapt this one into the show? “The Cape And Cowl Conspiracy” is such an episode that makes you think that. I personally don’t think that “The Cape Cowl Conspiracy” is a horrible episode, at least not as bad as how director Frank Paur thought of it, going as far as  wanting to kill it in the script stages, but there’s not really anything great about it that makes a lasting impression on you, as the main villain and the overall story are not the show’s best.

The basic story for this episode is pretty similar to the comic it was adapted from called, “The Cape And Cowl Death Trap,” from Detective Comics #450, with only a few differences. I always prefer it when stories from the comics are being adapted for T.V. shows or movies, that they remain faithful to the source martial that it’s adapting from as close as possible, so I got to give “The Cape And Cowl Conspiracy” credit for being pretty faithful to the comic for the most part. The story revolves around Josiah Wormwood, a hired criminal who specializes in using deathtraps to interrogate and get the information he needs out of his victims, and we get to see how effective his methods are right away, as the episode opens up with him using a deathtrap of quicksand at a miniature golf course, against someone who was supposed to pick up and deliver 750,000 dollars in bearer bonds for humanitarian aid to starving refugees. This of course gets the attention of Commissioner Gordon and Batman, and when Gordon describes the method of the interrogation used on the victim, Batman knows right away that the criminal is Wormwood, and quickly devises a plan to capture him before he delivers the stolen bearer bonds to the person who hired him.

Batman pays a visit to one of Wormwood’s associates named Wacklaw Josek, also known as the Baron, to see if he knows the whereabouts of Wormwood. This was a pretty cool and funny sequence, as Batman interrupts the Baron’s speech at a fund raiser by swinging in and grabbing the Barron, and then carrying him across the main dinner table as he smashes his head into a cake, all while the crowd is looking on and laughing at him as Batman takes him outside. The only thing that wasn’t great about that sequence was the playful music that was going on in the background. The music in “Batman The Animated Series” is something that you’ll rarely hear me complain about, but the music in this sequence was a bit too cheerful, and just didn’t fit to what was happening on screen. Another funny bit happens in the next scene as Batman is interrogating the Baron, and we see that Batman has him hanging from a billboard by his suspenders. It was definitely a funny image to see, but we also got see here the contrast in the interrogation methods used by Batman and Wormwood. Both use extremely different methods (Batman’s being the most entertaining though) but they both get the results they need. After Batman get ‘s the information he needed from Josek, he lets him down from the billboard and advises him to leave Gotham for a while. But as Batman leaves, we can visibly see that Josek is extremely angry, and has the look of someone who wants to get back at Batman for humiliating him in public.

Josek wastes no time in planing his revenge against Batman, as we next see him meeting with Wormwood, to hire him to steal Batman’s cape and cowl. Wormwood is curious as to why Josek wants him to steal Batman’s cape and cowl, but Josek keeps that information to himself, unless Wormwood is willing to tell him how he was able to steal the bearer bonds. Wormwood is not willing to revel that information either, so he just decides to take the job, even though he’s dying to know why Josek wants Batman’s cape and cowl.

The next scene is probably the highlight of the episode for me, as the Bat-signal makes it’s first appearance in “Batman The Animated Series.” I love the look of the Bat-signal used for the series, as it had the classic Bat-symbol over the yellow logo, that looked really cool in the night sky. After Batman makes a comment to Gordon about the signal, Gordon tells him not to worry about it, and shows him a note left by Wormwood, which tells Batman his location hidden in a riddle. This method used by Wormwood to get Batman’s attention, seemed to be pulled straight out of the Riddler’s arsenal, and I found that it didn’t help give Wormwood any unique style to his character, or to how he commits his crimes like other Batman villains, making him seem like a cheap knockoff. But as usual, Batman is able to figure out this riddle with no problem, and heads out to an amusement park called Traintown  to confront Wormwood.

At the amusement park, we get to see the the first of two traps that Wormwood uses against Batman in the episode. The first one here at Traintown puts Batman trapped in a train car as a woman is tied up on the tracks with an oncoming train heading towards her. Wormwood tells Batman that he will remove the woman from jeopardy if he simply removes his cape and cowl, but Batman is able to escape from the train and make it to the woman just in time before the train hits her. But as Batman goes to lift her up, he finds out that the woman was nothing more than a hologram. Realizing he’s been tricked, Batman then tries to find Wormwood’s location, but all he sees is a car speeding out of the park, and knows now that he just has to wait for Wormwood to send him another note before he can catch him. This sequence at Traintown was actually not in the original comic, and I found that it was a rather unnecessary sequence for this episode. I will explain why I felt this scene was unnecessary later in this review, but overall it felt like it was just there to eat up some time.

Wormwood does get Batman’s attention with another riddle about his next location, which Batman is able to solve with no problem again, and makes his way to DeLarue’s Wax Museum where he finds another one of Wormwood’s deathtraps waiting for him. Now this sequence in the wax museum was in the original comic, and I found it to be more entertaining to watch than Wormwood’s first trap at the amusement park, since we get to see Batman be put in greater danger here. As Batman enters the museum, he gets locked in a room by Wormwood, who reveals to Batman that he is now locked in a room with a 20,000-Wat light bulb shining down on him from the ceiling. As the light starts to melt all the wax in the room, Batman starts to feel the heat of the bulb, and tries to make several attempts to escape, but to no avail. Wormwood tells Batman he will shut off the light if he removes his cape and cowl, but just as he says that, Batman figures out a way to shatter the bulb by throwing one of the metal frames that a wax figure was on at it, which became available after the wax figure had melted. But Batman can’t relax just yet, because when he shattered the bulb, he triggered the release of a toxic nerve gas that begins filling the room. Seeing no way out of this one, Batman gives in to Wormwood’s demands, and removes his cape and cowl. As Batman gives Wormwood his cape and cowl, his identity is still kept safe though, as he had another mask on just in case, which to me looked a lot like the mask Zorro wore, which was pretty cool, but it still looked a little strange seeing Batman in another mask while still wearing his Bat-suit. Wormwood doesn’t really care about Batman’s secret identity, so once he gets the cape and cowl, he immediately flees the scene before Batman can find him, and all Batman can do afterwards is let out two strange growls in frustration, that sounded extremely odd coming out of his mouth.

Back at Josek’s office, where Wormwood has delivered to him Batman’s cape and cowl, Wormwood asks Josek one more time to tell him why he wanted Batman’s cap and cowl in the first place. Again, Josek replies to him by saying he will only reveal that information if Wormwood tells him about the bearer bonds. Wormwood finally agrees to tell Josek, and reveals to him the location of the bonds, as well as to who he is going to meet there. Wormwood then shows Josek the key to the locker in which the bearer bonds are being held in, and then demands Josek to tell him what he’s going to do with the cape and cowl. Josek turns his chair away from Wormwood, and then starts laughing to himself. But when he turns around again to face Wormwood, he tells him, “I’m going… to where them.” At this moment Josek reveals himself to actually be Batman, who has been playing Wormwood for a fool this whole time, just to get him to spill the beans about the bearer bonds, which Batman was able to recorded on tape. While I thought this was a good twist to the story, and the reveal of Batman during this moment, as well as the shots of him chasing down Wormwood here were very cool, I do have two problems about this twist. The first being the point I mentioned earlier about the first deathtrap sequence being unnecessary. If Batman’s plan all along was to impersonate Josek, and let his cape and cowl be captured by wormwood, why didn’t he just give Wormwood his cape and cowl during that first deathtrap sequence at the amusement park? If he was going to give them to Wormwood anyway, he could have done it on the first attempt like how it was done in the comic, instead of going through two deathtraps needlessly. That’s why I felt the first deathtrap sequence was in there just to fill up some time. The second problem I have with the reveal of Batman being Josek, is the same pet peeve I’ve mentioned before in other reviews about characters disguising themselves as other characters, where they are able look just like them with a rubber mask, and are able to perfectly mimic their voice. And this instance is even more unbelievable, because Josek physical appearance is extremely different than Batman’s, but yet Batman is able to look just like him, and then go back to his normal appearance in a manner of seconds. This may be an issue that doesn’t bother a whole lot of people, but it is something that always bothers me when it happens on the series. And unfortunately, it wont be the last time either.

The final action sequence that plays out between Batman and Wormwood as they fight for the locker key was a good one for the most part, as we see that Wormwood is no match for Batman in a physical fight. But the fight got a little silly at the end when they start fighting each other with dumbbells. During the fight, Wormwood accidentally throws himself out a window, and Batman has to help him back in. But before Batman helps him back in completely, Wormwood tries to get one more punch in, but Batman is able to block it easily, and throws him into a pool back inside the building, where he subdues Wormwood for good.

One thing that I thought this episode did better than the comic was how it ended the story. At the end of the episode we see Gordon talking to Wormwood in his cell about how the person he was supposed to meet for the bearer bonds sang like a bird, and identified Wormwood as the person he was going to meet. But before Gordon goes, he has a package for Wormwood. Wormwood finds on top of the package a note that is just like the ones he uses that says, “Confinement will speed your reform, but long, cold nights will be the norm, so here’s a thing to keep you warm.” Confused by the note, Wormwood opens the package to find that it is none other than Batman’s cape cowl inside, sent to him by Batman. Once he sees it, Wormwood throws it to the ground in disgust, knowing he’s been outsmarted by Batman. I love how Batman wasn’t just content with having Wormwood locked up in jail, but wanted to have some fun with him too. Great stuff.

While “The Cape And Cowl Conspiracy” isn’t the best story to adapt from the comics, there are still some things that I did enjoy about the episode. The problem with the episode is that the good things about it are just short moments, like the Bat-Signal, Batman’s reveal as Josek, and the ending. But the things that make a great episode, like an engrossing story, good characterization, and an interesting villain, were sorely missing in “The Cape And Cowl Conspiracy.”

Score: 2.5/5