Beware The Batman
#5 - Broken
Original Airdate - August 10th, 2013
Strange, life-size metal toy army men have started to appear all over Gotham...armed with real weapons. When Batman investigates, however, he discovers they are more than toys, but actual living people trapped inside an explosive shell. The clues all lead back to a former mob accountant named Humpty Dumpty (Matt Jones), who went insane when the Mob tried to silence him before he could testify. Now, he wants revenge, and one of the people he's targeted is Lieutenant James Gordon!

Written by Rick Morales
Directed by Michael Ryan
Media by Warner Bros. Animation

Analysis by Yojimbo:

This was a step up from last week. I'm still in it to watch more episodes!

The Positives:
-Interesting they spun another plot from a nursery rhyme (the first was Little Jack Horner in the pilot).
-I am loving the Gordon-Batman moments. From when he warns them about the bomb and Gordon's reaction is to arrest him but he's vanished. Then Gordon orders a bomb squad. Gordon's got some funny retorts in this one. The 'suggestion box' cracked me up.
-It was nice touch to show Batman waiting by the skylight rather than cut to scene with Tobias Whale and his goons.
-Even though we didn't see her, it was cool Batman identified one of the victims from the taxi scene as Marion Grange. In the comics, she later becomes a mayor with Batman's endorsement.
-Glad Alfred got in a moment. It was funny comparing how Tatsu sneaks up on Bruce in a previous episode with how she sneaks up on Alfred. She gets caught both times, too.
-It was a touching moment when Batman stays with Barbara and tries to console her in the garage.
-I was also surprised about the nods to Dumpty's house being demolished and his grandmother. In the comics, it was demolished by accident and his grandmother was abusive. Wonder if those two addresses are from the comics, too? But hey, Star City and Ra's al Ghul references! Neat.
-"The wall." I'm loving the Batcomputer. Sort of reminds me of LANOS from Green Lantern: The Animated Series.
-And yeah, guess that confirms it. The Soul Taker does have its magic powers from the comics.
-I get Dumpty was just a toy but I was surprised they could still get away with a suicide jump. With all those pieces scattered on the ground, did anyone else recall the ending of the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Fun and Games"?

The one negative aspect of this was that I didn't really buy how the attack on his life made Dumpler so criminally insane. I feel like we needed to learn a little more about his back story to understand (sans any knowledge of the comics version). I mean big deal, yeah I would be extremely paranoid but buying a one way ticket to nutso?