Almost Got 'Im

Almost Got 'Im is the thirty-fifth episode of the Warner Bros. animated television series Batman: The Animated Series, which first aired on November 11, 1992, and was written by Paul Dini and directed by Eric Radomski. This episode features seven of Batman's rogues gallery, with four of them telling the stories of their "best" attempts at killing the Dark Knight.

Plot summary

While hiding out from the police, The Joker, The Penguin, Two-Face, Poison Ivy and Killer Croc gather at the criminals-only Stacked Deck Club to play cards and swap stories about their mutual nemesis. Each one has an "Almost Got 'Im" story when it comes to trying to do in Batman.

Poison Ivy's story

Poison Ivy placed poison ivy gas inside pumpkins on Halloween, which went off when lit. When most of Gotham City started to feel the effects of the gas, Batman went to the city pumpkin patch to investigate. There, Ivy attacked Batman with the gas, and successfully weakened him. However, Batman programmed the Batmobile to run down Ivy, and later pulled a breath mask from the vehicle. He subsequently captured Ivy.

Two-Face's story

Two-Face staged a robbery of the Gotham Mint for "$2,000,000 in two dollar bills." Batman, in an attempt to stop the heist, was overpowered by Two-Face's henchmen, the "Two-Ton Gang". Staying true to his personality disorder, Two-Face flipped his coin to see whether he would kill Batman or let him live, with a negative "tails" result. Two-Face took Batman's utility belt, strapped him to a giant penny and placed it on a catapult. In midair, Batman cut himself free of the ropes, using Two-Face's own coin which Batman had managed to steal. In return for apprehending Two-Face and his henchmen, and much to Two-Face's irritation, the Gotham Mint let Batman keep the giant penny (the DCAU origin of the giant penny seen in many classic shots of the Batcave.)

Killer Croc's story

Killer Croc's simple tale is one of throwing "a big rock" at Batman in a quarry, a story which fails to impress the other villains.

Penguin's story

The Penguin turned a zoo aviary into a home for dangerous birds in a plot to kill Batman. Pretending to attempt a break-in to the aviary caught Batman's attention; the Penguin sprayed Batman with a red gas out of his infamous "Umbrella Gun". Acting as though the spray were harmless, Penguin ran into the aviary, but then announced over a loudspeaker that in fact the red gas was a nectar eaten by poison-beaked hummingbirds, which were released to attack the Dark Knight. After being bitten several times, Batman threw a batarang at a sprinkler, where the water slowed down the small birds. Before he could inject himself with an antidote, he was attacked and viciously gashed by a cassowary. In desperation, Batman stabbed the flightless bird with one of the hummingbirds, incapacitating it. Batman chased after the Penguin outside, but the villain escaped, flying away via his umbrella.

Joker's story

The Joker and his gang took over and blocked off the set of a Gotham City late-night talk show, his gang holding the audience hostage. Batman went to save the people in the set but, as in Two-Face's story, was overpowered and strapped to a "laugh-powered electric chair." He then took over the show as host. With the audience being forced to laugh at gunpoint, The Joker wanted more 'honest' laughter, and pumped the studio with laughing gas until "these people would laugh at the phonebook." He then had his assistant Harley Quinn read names out of the phonebook to elicit more laughter from the crowd. During this time, the Joker got so confident that he took out a sausage and began cooking it with the chair's steadily-increasing electricity until Catwoman broke into the studio and attacked him. While being thrown back, he dropped the metal rod he was using to hold the sausage right on Batman's lap. Too distracted at this point with Catwoman, nobody saw Batman use the rod to escape from the chair - too late, as the Joker was already fleeing the studio. Catwoman, starting to gain on him, was knocked out from behind by Harley Quinn. Then, in order to prove there is more than one way to 'get' Batman, he instructed Harley to take Catwoman to a catfood factory and strap her to a meat chopper. The Joker himself decided to hide out at the "Stacked Deck" for a while to lose Batman. He explains to the other villains that he is getting ready to go meet Harley at the factory, and "turn Catwoman into cat food."

Finale

Template:Spoiler At this point Killer Croc stands up, saying "I don't think so", and proceeds to throw the Joker across the room, revealing himself to be Batman in a Killer Croc suit. However, it would seem Batman sacrificed everything to get this information, as he finds himself alone in a bar confronted by his deadliest foes, all itching to get him and in a perfect position to do so. Unfortunately for the villains, they in turn are confronted with multiple loaded guns as it is revealed that every other patron of the bar except for them is a police officer, among them Harvey Bullock and Police Commissioner Jim Gordon - the whole thing was a sting operation. As the villains are arrested, Batman went to the cat food factory to save Catwoman from Harley Quinn.

The episode ends on a humorous note, as Catwoman makes a pass at Batman, only to turn and find he has pulled one of his trademark dissappearing acts. She then smiles, shakes her head and mutters to herself, "Huh. Almost got 'im."

Cast

Trivia

Every time the viewer gets to see Two-Face's hand, he always has 2 deuces (twos), and two face cards, a play on his name. In one shot he also has a four (two times two) and is seen puts "half and half" cream in his coffee.

The Joker's hand at the end is four aces and a Joker. Every time we see his hand he always has at least one ace (due to cheating). He also cheats by looking a Harvey's (Two-Face) hand.

The Penguin's and the Joker's stories all happened recently, with the Penguin having freshly escaped from his crime a few weeks before and the Joker's being just the night before (he must have planned for this). Poison Ivy's story is set the previous Halloween, and Two-Face's story happened some undetermined time ago. Since Batman was acting as Croc the whole time it is safe to say that the story is made up, but it actually fits a scene in "Sideshow" although that was made/aired later than this episode.

The story told by Two-Face was retconned into the Batman comics. The giant penny was originally associated with the villain Penny Plunderer, but has since been changed in the comics following this episode.

Ivy makes a reference to the group that she and Two-Face used to date (while Harvey Dent was still the District Attorney).

Killer Croc proves to have a fascination with assualting Batman with rocks, suggesting it as a punishment for Batman in the episode Trial.

External links

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