[8.5/10] I like a villain with a cool gimmick, and Ian Peek has a superb one. The ability to walk through walls is something plenty of heroes and baddies have deployed (Kitty Pryde is the character who comes most easily to mind), but the idea of having a gossip columnist or, more charitably, a yellow journalist using those abilities makes for a more interesting antagonist. It allows the show to get creative visually and physically with how Peek interacts with the world, while also raising interesting questions about his role here.
To the point, one of my favorite parts of the episode is when Terr is encouraging Bruce to help him go after this guy, and Bruce responds, “He’s not really a criminal; he’s a journalist.” Now, granted, that’s an oversimplification considering he’s (1.) illegally surveilling people in their private spaces and (2.) uh...tried to murder Terry not long ago. But still, there’s an interesting idea here, about what would happen if somebody got superpowers and used them to neither be a hero or a villain, but just kind of a pest.
Granted, the show gets away from that pretty quickly, since this is a superhero show and we need combat and fireworks or else! That said, even when it devolves into the action material, the show goes to some really interesting places. There's a good design choice to make Peek’s invisible form shimmering and transporter-esque, which gives him a distinct look. Just the scene where he skulks around the DA’s office to spy on the informant has a neat spy-like element to it. And his fight with Terry is particularly creative and visually fun, particularly the clever move to start an explosion that will blow right through Peek but act with concussive force against Batman.
Peak can’t use that physical transparency forever though. That’s the other thing I like about Peek as a villain -- there’s a cost to what he’s doing. He’s upped a level in villainy when it’s revealed that he killed the Wayne-Powers scientist who made his tech in order to steal, but the fact that his overuse of the magic belt that allows him to go incorporeal has left lingering effects, which eventually fell Peek more than anything Batman does, make it feel like karmic punishment. Once again on this show, there’s a Twilight Zone quality to it, particularly in the horror of Terry racing through the building to try to save a falling Peek who, as Bruce speculates, will eventually end up at the center of the Earth. Aside from the cheesy “inside” quip, there’s real pathos and terror when Terry tries to pull him up from the ghostly and ghastly plummet, but Peek can’t concentrate long enough to be saved. It’s a cool sequence with frightening implications.
That’s all before you get to the superb stakes in this one! I enjoy the implicit lesson here, where Terry's mom scolds him that he wouldn’t appreciate this gossip-mongering if he were the target of it, only for Peek to end up surreptitiously surveilling the Bat Cave and threatening to expose Terry and Bruce’s identities. It adds some real risk to a villain who’s more of a physiological or even societal harm than a physical one.
It leads to all kinds of great things, like Terry telling his family that he’s Batman and only getting laughter in return, or Bruce getting to play badass one more time with Peek and getting the truth out of the thief. The show, of course, isn’t going to out Terry with so many more episodes to go, but their reactions to the threat help give it force.
Overall, this is a really cool idea for a villain in an episode that realizes nearly every bit of potential from the implications of that sort of antagonist. Definitely a stand out.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-05-31T18:33:46Z
[8.5/10] I like a villain with a cool gimmick, and Ian Peek has a superb one. The ability to walk through walls is something plenty of heroes and baddies have deployed (Kitty Pryde is the character who comes most easily to mind), but the idea of having a gossip columnist or, more charitably, a yellow journalist using those abilities makes for a more interesting antagonist. It allows the show to get creative visually and physically with how Peek interacts with the world, while also raising interesting questions about his role here.
To the point, one of my favorite parts of the episode is when Terr is encouraging Bruce to help him go after this guy, and Bruce responds, “He’s not really a criminal; he’s a journalist.” Now, granted, that’s an oversimplification considering he’s (1.) illegally surveilling people in their private spaces and (2.) uh...tried to murder Terry not long ago. But still, there’s an interesting idea here, about what would happen if somebody got superpowers and used them to neither be a hero or a villain, but just kind of a pest.
Granted, the show gets away from that pretty quickly, since this is a superhero show and we need combat and fireworks or else! That said, even when it devolves into the action material, the show goes to some really interesting places. There's a good design choice to make Peek’s invisible form shimmering and transporter-esque, which gives him a distinct look. Just the scene where he skulks around the DA’s office to spy on the informant has a neat spy-like element to it. And his fight with Terry is particularly creative and visually fun, particularly the clever move to start an explosion that will blow right through Peek but act with concussive force against Batman.
Peak can’t use that physical transparency forever though. That’s the other thing I like about Peek as a villain -- there’s a cost to what he’s doing. He’s upped a level in villainy when it’s revealed that he killed the Wayne-Powers scientist who made his tech in order to steal, but the fact that his overuse of the magic belt that allows him to go incorporeal has left lingering effects, which eventually fell Peek more than anything Batman does, make it feel like karmic punishment. Once again on this show, there’s a Twilight Zone quality to it, particularly in the horror of Terry racing through the building to try to save a falling Peek who, as Bruce speculates, will eventually end up at the center of the Earth. Aside from the cheesy “inside” quip, there’s real pathos and terror when Terry tries to pull him up from the ghostly and ghastly plummet, but Peek can’t concentrate long enough to be saved. It’s a cool sequence with frightening implications.
That’s all before you get to the superb stakes in this one! I enjoy the implicit lesson here, where Terry's mom scolds him that he wouldn’t appreciate this gossip-mongering if he were the target of it, only for Peek to end up surreptitiously surveilling the Bat Cave and threatening to expose Terry and Bruce’s identities. It adds some real risk to a villain who’s more of a physiological or even societal harm than a physical one.
It leads to all kinds of great things, like Terry telling his family that he’s Batman and only getting laughter in return, or Bruce getting to play badass one more time with Peek and getting the truth out of the thief. The show, of course, isn’t going to out Terry with so many more episodes to go, but their reactions to the threat help give it force.
Overall, this is a really cool idea for a villain in an episode that realizes nearly every bit of potential from the implications of that sort of antagonist. Definitely a stand out.