We’ve seen a lot more Detective Batman on Batman: Caped Crusader than we have in recent years and, admittedly, there’s some overlap with Scooby-Doo at times. But when Batman (Hamish Linklater) takes on an actual ghost, it requires importing a character from John Constantine’s Rolodex to set things right.
A West Side Charities armored truck is making its rounds when a glowing man on horseback shoots their engine, causing them to crash, and then disappears all the money they were transporting.
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The “Gentleman Ghost” robbery is front page news on the paper Bruce Wayne (Hamish Linklater) is reading during his financial meeting with lawyer Lucius Fox (Bumper Robinson). Business talk done, Fox asks him if he believes in ghosts. Bruce is dismissive. Fox asks Alfred (Jason Watkins) his opinion and he shares his belief in the supernatural, including an uncle who swore he saw his dead wife looking for their dog on the moors. Bruce makes a snide remark about their chumminess and Fox reminds him that his staff are people as well.
Outside, Fox tells Bruce he bought a property he plans on developing into low-income, single-family housing with amenities. He’s closing the deal later that week.
Dent’s Mayoral Hopes
In the District Attorney’s office, Harvey Dent (Diedrich Bader) fumes over a defamatory story in the Gotham Gazette. He scolds his assistant, Gormon (Jason Marsden), for letting the story run but Gorman argues Mayor Jessop has the papers in his pocket and they’ll run anything he wants. Since Dent has wealthy friends, he looks elitist in photos.
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Dent points out that two unions have withdrawn their support already due to these stories and photos. Gormon suggests a publicity event to paint him as a man of the people. Dent agrees and leaves for a lunch meeting.
Rupert Thorne (Cedric Yarbrough) is waiting for Dent when he gets in his car. He offers to help Dent win the election. Dent declines his offer on the grounds that he has morals. Thorne comments that morality works on a sliding scale and leaves, reminding Dent he always knows where to find him if he changes his mind.
Robbing the Poor
Batman tells Alfred that there were other armored trucks carrying more money out at the same time as the West Side Charities truck was hit. He decides to focus on the victims of the crime versus the loot itself.
Dent rides one of the commuter trains for the publicity event, discussing how the city’s working class is the lifeblood of Gotham. The other passengers don’t look enthused to have his company. A boy spots the Gentleman Ghost (Toby Stephens) on a parallel track. He apparates inside the train car and proceeds to rob them at gunpoint. When Dent tries to give his money in place of the citizens’, the Gentleman Ghost refuses to take money from someone of Dent’s status. He only seeks to steal from the poor.
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As he flees the train, the Batmobile appears and starts following him. Batman pulls up close and notices the crest on his saddlebags. The Gentleman Ghost leads Batman down a dead-end alley and rides through the wall, leaving behind a shower of paper cash burning up with a glowing blue fire.
No Ghosts Need Apply
In the Batcave, Alfred suggests the Gentleman Ghost is an actual ghost but Batman refuses to entertain the notion. He needs to find out information on the crest from the saddlebags.
On a drizzly, dreary day, Fox drives up to Heritage Hill, the property he’s buying. Russell Craddock (Toby Stephens) greets him at the door. He invites him in for a tour before they sign the papers. The crest above the door is the one from the Gentleman Ghost’s saddlebag.
At the Gotham Library, Bruce learns the crest belongs to the Craddock family. They were struck from the city’s list of founding fathers because, during the Revolutionary War, James “Gentleman Jim” Craddock became a highwayman. He believed wealth was his right and after gambling away much of the family’s wealth, he targeted people he believed were of a lower station than himself to rob. He was hanged at the Old Town Gallows.
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Leaving the library, Bruce tries to get ahold of Fox only to learn he’s at Heritage Hill, finalizing his land acquisition. Bruce orders Alfred to drive there as fast as he can while he changes into his Batman costume.
Heritage Hill
Fox notices a portrait of James Craddock as he and Russell are signing the land sale papers. Russell tells him James’s story. Suddenly, the building shakes, and blue flames shoot out of the fireplace. The portrait falls off the wall and the Gentleman Ghost emerges from the portrait’s back.
He accuses Russell of betraying the family name by selling Heritage Hill to Fox. Fox is insulted so the Gentleman Ghost decides he’ll die first. Batman leaps in through a window and names the ghost James Craddock. He still believes it’s someone masquerading as the ghost of Gentleman Jim.
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Batman attempts to fight the Gentleman Ghost but can’t land a punch while the ghost manages to hit him several times. When Batman does manage to strike him in the face, his hand instantly freezes. The ghost recognizes Batman’s fight training as that of the upper class so he retreats from the fight. He warns Batman he won’t be so retiring the next time they meet. He disappears into the fireplace, leaving Batman holding his frozen hand.
Rethinking the Situation
While Dent deals with the fallout of the publicity event, Batman bat-splains how to thaw his frozen hand to Alfred who reminds him he’s treated every wound Bruce Wayne and Batman have ever suffered.
Batman asks Alfred how he can stop a ghost. Alfred refers him to an expert, Linton Midnite (Cedric Yarbrough). Batman pays him a visit at his bookstore. Linton informs him he’ll need two things to be rid of Craddock. One, he’ll need to burn the original deed to Heritage Hill to break the bond between Craddock and this world. Two, he needs the blood of a nobleman. He gives Batman a book that contains the rite of passage from this world to the next. He warns him the magic of the ritual will fight back, finding weaknesses he didn’t know he had.
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Midnite holds out a stoppered test tube. In return for his counsel, he asks that Batman return the tube to him after he’s performed the ritual. He’s enigmatic about what it’s for, stating only that Batman will know.
Preparing the Ritual
Bruce returns to the Gotham Library and steals the Heritage Hill deed from the Historical Archives. Driving away, he asks Alfred where he’s going to find a nobleman in Gotham. Alfred volunteers the fact the Pennyworths trace their line back to the Duke of Devonshire. Bruce warns him the ritual could be dangerous but Alfred responds that he doesn’t frighten easily.
At the Heritage Hill family cemetery, Batman and Alfred light a fire and begin the ritual. Alfred cuts himself and drips blood on the deed. As Batman goes to put the deed in the fire, Gentleman Jim appears, extinguishing the fire and blowing the deed out of Batman’s hand. Batman taunts Gentleman Jim between taking hits. Hiding behind gravestones, Alfred tries to light the deed on fire again.
When he finally gets it lit, Gentleman Jim’s hands begin to burn with blue flames. As the deed burns more, his whole body is consumed, a dark cloud rising from where he stood. Before the entire deed burns though, the cloud gathers itself and rushes toward Batman. Alfred throws himself in the way and the cloud pours into him through his mouth. He falls to the ground and a gust of wind carries away the last corner of the deed, still unburnt. Alfred’s eyes open and glow with blue light.
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He rises up and addresses Batman with Gentleman Jim’s voice. He attacks Batman in Alfred’s body, telling him that Alfred’s fighting him internally, protecting a secret. Batman manages to pin Alfred and for a moment, Alfred emerges begging him to kill him before Gentleman Jim uses his body to kill Batman. Batman refuses.
A Boon For a Boon
Gentleman Jim regains control and flips Batman onto his back. Batman sees the last remnant of the deed nearby and fires a flare gun at it, setting it on fire. This drives the black cloud out of Alfred and into the air. Batman quickly uncorks the test tube Midnite gave him. The opening glows pink. It draws the black cloud in and Batman stoppers it again. Alfred has collapsed on the ground. Batman rolls him over. After a moment, Alfred revives. Batman’s first reaction is to scold Alfred. Getting a grip on his emotions, he admits he can’t do this job without Alfred.
With Batman’s help, Alfred gets up. Looking up, they see a figure high on a nearby hill. Batman tells Alfred to stay while he takes the test tube up to Linton Midnite. Midnite greets Jim with familiarity. Jim’s voice from inside the tube is panicked, protesting that Batman can’t leave him with Midnite, begging him to save him. Batman asks what Midnite plans to do with Gentleman Jim. Midnite says he probably doesn’t want to know. Batman agrees.
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In Dent’s office, Gormon reports he’s dropped another fifteen points behind Jessop in the polls and lost his biggest donors. The campaign is broke. Dent throws a paperweight at the wall in anger. He tells Gorram to leave him to think. Once alone, he picks up the phone and calls Thorne.
The entire 10-episode first season of Batman: Caped Crusader is streaming now on Prime Video.
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