BATMAN – 89-BLACK WIDOW STRIKES AGAIN

 

BATMAN – 89-BLACK WIDOW STRIKES AGAIN

An okay episode but nothing really funny despite some hammy lines and a fairly good bat fight (Robin’s getting punched in the stomach by two henchmen and yells for Batman) and a good cliffhanger (the spiders are climbing up the duo’s torsos ready to strike or eat them (?). I’m amazed that in the cliffhanger and even in other places, the camera men are not afraid, this time, to focus on Burt’s crotch. Despite their bravery, Ward’s problem is very noticeable at times. George Raft does a cameo in the bank as a customer. Tallulah Bankhead doesn’t have to do much really…she had her brain neutralize and her paralyzing spray and her spiders and the whole spider motif is creepy enough. I can imagine ABC warning the makers of the show not to make this too scary but as a kid I was petrified anyway, but honestly she’s not really menacing enough, nor scary enough and certainly does not have the edge Catwoman has. Mr. Cash, the first banker attacked, asks if the Dynamic Duet (!) will help get his money back! Black Widow is known to Gordon and to Batman and even Robin it would seem but none of them has met her. She must be new in town. The idea of the rubber fake senior citizens outside on the porch in rocking chairs is creepy and a good one for this show. Aunt Harriet has a semi prominent role here. Alfred uses the name Commish Gordon calling them as if that would fool even Aunt Harriet! A routine episode but certainly entertaining enough and with enough of a different set of sets for the house of Black Widow to be fresh. Just nothing outstanding here other than the hench men’s name: Daddy Long Legs, Trap Door, and Tarantula. This could have been horrifyingly bad or horrifyingly scary. It’s neither to be honest but an okay episode. One note: Robin just lets Black Widow walk out after Batman is paralyzed. I guess he was afraid she’d use the spray on him. With no designs on Batman, she rubs Robin’s chin and calls him cute!