...And Be a Villain

I'll admit I did not like the first episode. But this episode perfectly nails ClayFace. Wow what a love letter to the character's origin and inspiration. For those who don't know, ClayFace aka Basil Karlo was based off the then famous horror actor Boris Karloff who played the original Frankenstein and Mummy. This episode very much captures the horror essence.

For starters, Basil looks very similar to what Boris Karloff looked like. He is also type cast as "just a horror actor because he didn't have the face for mainstream" which A) was a problem with Basil Karlo in the comics and B) was originally a hindrance for Karloff's career before he finally transitioned out of horror. Furthermore because it is age rated at TV-14 it ramps up the creepiness more of Clayface/the horror. And finally, it drops tons of original horror Easter eggs like calling Karlo the man with 1000 faces (since he's a horror actor in tons of makeup/prosthetics) which was the nickname of Lon Chaney, the most famous horror actor prior to Karloff. Furthermore, Basil wears a mask and appears deformed when in disguise much like original Phantom of the Opera and Mr. Hyde, both originally played by Lon Chaney. Meanwhile Karlo's makeup guy Jack is a spitting image of Jack Pierce, the famous horror makeup artist who worked with Boris Karloff to create the look and costume of the Mummy, Frankenstein, as well as the WolfMan and many other creatures from that era.

The episode plot is very much a true detective fashion that plays out like the silver age of ClayFace where the actor Basil Karlo fakes his death to twart suspicion of the murders he commits and Batman must uncover the truth that Basil is behind the murders.

I was ready to write off this show, but this episode has renewed my hope.

Compared to the first episode, the second chapter is much darker, intriguing and centered in the right dimension.

Batman finds himself having to follow an interesting and unpredictable case, features that enhance the talents of the masked detective making the pace of the story tighter and the development more enjoyable and compelling.

A true horror-tinged crime story that manages to keep the tension high from the beginning to the end.

To sum up: an excellent second episode that confirms and enriches the good premise of its predecessor, the road taken is definitely the right one. The hope is that it will continue to improve.