Current Events > So, Telltale's Batman: The Enemy Within. *unmarked spoilers for seasons 1 and 2*

(+) Yeah! (+)

Last year, me and a friend of mine played through Batman: The Telltale Series. I was wary of it at first, but by the end of the first episode, I was hooked - honestly, Telltale's Batman might be their best game since The Walking Dead season one. If you haven't played it, then stop reading this and find a way to get through it - watch a playthrough, grab a copy for yourself, anything. It had some hiccups, starting around episode 3 there were a bunch of glitches and technical issues and the last gen port was delayed for a good while (which is no longer an issue, as I think Telltale games are now exclusively current gen). But overall, I loved that game - it wasn't afraid to fuck with canon in some interesting and unexpected ways. Thomas Wayne as a corrupt asshole, who willingly injects mind-altering drugs into people so he can institutionalize them and buy their land? That's super fucked up. We've had Thomas Wayne as Batman, but we haven't had Thomas Wayne as a bad guy - at least not to my knowledge. And the Vicki Vale twist? That was awesome. Establish a brand-name character as the series' big bad. Loved it.

So, season 2 kicks off with a treat. The Riddler is instantly introduced, voiced by Robin Atkin Downes, you have your obligatory Batman action scene, and then when Gordon busts in, he's followed by Amanda Waller who jumps on his ass and berates him for however he entered the premises. So far, it looks like that's how Gordon's subplot will play out - Amanda Waller and Jim Gordon are at odds with each other, and you have to toe the line between them.

Alfred is shown to have some sense of PTSD, and it's done very tastefully. During the Batcave segments, you get snapshots of him struggling with feelings of hopelessness and irrational fear. Looking at the Children of Arkham mask with what I interpreted as anger, fear and maybe a little bit of shame on his face, struggling to get through the Lucius Fox recording and trying to keep busy - it's heartbreaking to see how the last season affected him.

However, there are some aspects of this first episode that I didn't like so much.

First of all, Telltale's ability to forge their own canon strikes again, and this change wasn't something I liked. Lucius Fox has a daughter who's coming to work for Wayne Enterprises, and it's here that Bruce asks him to take a look at this device Riddler left him - a device that emits micro-particle frequencies or some shit. What do you know, it's incredibly dangerous and Lucius ends up dying. The reason I'm not a fan of this is because Dave Fennoy's surprise appearance as Lucius in the first season is one of my favorite moments - I love it when Dave Fennoy shows up in a Telltale game, Lee was fucking awesome and I always love to hear the hints of his voice in the characters that Dave Fennoy portrays.

But it's also because the game has gone through the trouble to give Lucius a young, wisecracking daughter character who - according to him - is even better at developing tech than he is. I know people are going to get pissed at the young black female character who's depicted as so much better than her father, the well-established canon character that most fans know and love, but the reason I don't like this isn't because "Mary Sue! Feminism!! SJWS!!!" - it's because I fucking hate "the next generation" plotlines. Mortal Kombat X? Hated the story for the most part, because I hate D'vorah as a character and for the bullshit she gets away with in the game, but mostly because Cassie Cage, Takeda, Kung Jin and Jaqui Briggs rubbed me the wrong way. It's always "I have to overcome this difficulty and live up to the reputation that my well-established parent character is known for/gain their approval!", every time it appears, so you know she's going to be a cheap replacement for Lucius. I hate that.

But the thing that bugs me the most is how they use Lucius' funeral as a way to bring John Doe back into the picture.
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Before I get into this part, I want to make something clear. I'm aware that John Doe is The Joker. The reason I dance around using "The Joker" is because in the initial trailer/interview piece, the Telltale staff have been calling him the proto-Joker and stuff like that. I think this take on The Joker has some sense of humanity, and a life outside of his monstrous dick moves as The Joker - so until we hit that point where he snaps and starts to call himself The Joker, I'm thinking of him as John Doe or the proto-Joker.

Now, with that being said - how does the proto-Joker come back into the picture? He shows up at Lucius' funeral and starts cracking inappropriate jokes to his bereaved daughter. I know you're meant to hate him, because he's being telegraphed to become the Joker, but I found it to be in incredibly poor taste from a meta standpoint. Introduce a shitty legacy character, kill off the old one, then have someone attend his funeral and make it all about them. Fuck that story decision, Lucius deserved better.

Also, I'm not hot on the Joker storyline. For what it's worth, the way Telltale have been doing the story so far? I commend them for it. They're not afraid to fuck with canon in order to tell their version of a Batman story. I also acknowledge that with John Doe's existence, a Joker story was inevitable - hell, even if he didn't appear last season, a Joker story was inevitable because he's one of the most well-known aspects of Batman. Despite that, I mention it because we all know the way that Joker stories go - one of the reasons I appreciated season 1 is because they made something of an effort to make a compelling Batman story without the Joker, and I appreciate letting Lady Arkham take the main stage instead of shoehorning The Joker in right at the very end. It was the Children of Arkham's show through and through, and they made a great choice by not letting the Joker hijack it. Now we're doing the Joker story, and while I like where it's going and acknowledge that it was going to happen sooner or later, I can't help but be a bit wary because I've already seen how this goes more than once. This is more of a YMMV nitpick if anything, but I thought it bore mentioning.

Really, the most egregious thing about The Joker taking centre stage is that he had to kill off The Riddler at the end of episode 1. What a waste - Robin Atkin Downes' Riddler was a delight, and it sucks to see him check out so soon. I think, whether the season ends up being good or bad, that this season's Riddler is going to stand out as one of the better aspects of it. It's a great depiction, IMO.

There are a couple things I didn't get to mention, like the kickass music, the new Relationship aspect and Alfred's re-design, but I think I'll leave it at that. I really enjoyed this episode, and I hope the season is good, but fuck what they did to Lucius and I hope that the rest of the season's villains can carve out their own niche independent of John Doe. I recommend grabbing it if you liked season 1 of Telltale's Batman, but be prepared for some story fuckery if you do - the Telltale canon was pretty benign and even awesome in Season One, but so far in Season Two it's been hit and miss.
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bump
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It was wow

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One last bump
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