TITLE: “Nocturne”
EPISODE DETAILS: Season 1/Episode 8
PREVIOUS: “Moving Target” (S1E7)
AIR DATE: Thursday, August 1, 2024
WRITERS: Halley Gross
DIRECTOR: Matt Peters
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Bruce Timm, James Tucker, J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves, Bruce Timm, Ed Brubaker, Sam Register, Jase Ricci
OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: When children start going missing at a Harvey Dent campaign event, Batman’s sleuthing into the underbelly of a local carnival hosting it uncovers something far more sinister.
CAST: Hamish Linklater as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Jason Watkins as Alfred Pennyworth, Mckenna Grace as Natalia Knight/Nocturna, Grey Griffin as Julie Madison, Diedrich Bader as Harvey Dent, Donna Lynne Champlin as Leslie Tompkins, Haley Joel Osment as Anton Knight, Cedric Yarbrough as Rupert Thorne and Waylon
REVIEW
“Nocture” was a difficult episode to review. On one hand, it’s a good, well-written episode. On the other, it’s tonally different from 8 of the 10 episodes in season 1 and feels a little out of place. I’m saying that most of the BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER episodes are relatively grounded and this one definitely is not. “Nocturne” features a character in Natalia Knight/Nocturna who is essentially a vampire. She doesn’t drink the blood of her victims but sucks the life force out of them.
The plot revolves around a circus where Nocturna and her brother Anton are part of one of the sideshows. Among the circus attendees are Bruce Wayne and his date Julie Madison who are there to support Harvey Dent as Gotham’s mayor. And of course, Harvey is there for a campaign appearance and fundraiser.
Also visiting the circus that night is a group of orphans led by Leslie Tompkins. Natalia has been luring some of the orphans away from their group and doing her vampire/sucking out lifeforce thing with them. The orphans are also a not-so-subtle nod — more like a sledgehammer on the head — to the various Robins in Batman history. Like, their names are Dickie, Jason (Jace), Stephie, and Carrie. Yeah. I’ve very much enjoyed the little Batman/DC nods, winks, and Easter eggs sprinkled in the episodes. The saying/calling of their names over and over again was a bit much.
Once it is discovered that some of the kids are missing, Bruce dons his Batman gear to find out what the hell is going on. This leads him to a confrontation with Natalia which ends kinda sad — but certainly shows a different, and compassionate, side of The Dark Knight.
“Nocturna” also features more of the Dent/Thorne subplot with Harvey having to make a choice. Thorne has asked him to dismiss a criminal case against one of his men in court the following day. Harvey will have to decide what is more important: doing the right thing or becoming mayor of Gotham. I won’t spoil it for you, but his decision does lead to a life-changing event.
As I said before, “Nocturne” is a good episode — hell, all of Season 1 of BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER is good to excellent. However, the supernatural stuff just felt out of place. But that’s certainly more on me than a reflection of this episode’s quality. – Bill “Jett” Ramey
