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"I am the Night" is the thirty-fourth episode of Batman: The Animated Series. It first aired on November 9, 1992.

Plot

File:I am the night despair.jpg

Batman wearily contemplates his life's decision.

On the anniversary of the death of Bruce's parents, Batman sadly sits in the Batcave. Alfred asks if he's okay, and Batman claims that he's tired. Alfred points out that Batman hasn't eaten or slept for a while but Batman says the problem isn't his body, but his spirit. He checks the newspaper and discovers that Penguin's conviction was overturned due to a technicality. Seeing this only makes Batman wonder if he's really doing any good. Alfred assures him that he is, but Batman claims that in spite of what he's done, the war against crime continues. Alfred gives Batman a package and sadly watches as his boss leaves.

Meanwhile, a young boy asks a couple people for some bus fare which he receives. Taking the money, he happily walks away claiming, "It works every time." As he walks along he sees a child wearing a Batman costume and scoffs at it. To this boy, Batman is a joke.

Out in Crime Alley, Leslie Thompkins accompanies Batman to place roses on the spot where his parents were gunned down. Batman tells her that he keeps wondering if it should be the last time. Leslie tries to assure him he's doing the right thing but Batman still argues against it. Meanwhile, the boy, Wizard, is assaulted by a couple thugs that demand payment for allowing him to work the corner. Wizard claims that he doesn't have the money so the thugs prepare to kill him. Batman stops them with ease but Wizard is ungrateful and one of the thugs falls on the roses left in memory of Bruce's parents. Angered, Batman takes Jimmy and hands her over to Leslie to take him into the Mitchell Street Mission.

File:I am the night fallen.jpg

Batman sadly stares down at his fallen friend.

Unfortunately, the fight makes Batman late for a police raid that turned out to be a setup and in the battle that takes place Gordon is severely wounded by mob-boss/gunman Jimmy "The Jazzman" Peake. Although Batman apprehends him, the damage has been done: Gordon's life hangs by a thread.

Gordon is taken to the hospital and Batman visits him feeling guilty over his failure to make it to the crime scene first. Barbara Gordon doesn't blame Batman for her father's condition, but Harvey Bullock does. Sadly, Batman decides that Bullock's words are the ones he should listen to.

Returning to the Batcave, Batman destroys his forensics equipment and screams in despair.

While Batman is wallowing in his self-pity, Jazzman is sent to Stonegate Penitentiary until his case can go to trial. Jazzman is not at all happy about this and knows that there's more than enough evidence against him to convict. A flunky of his tells him that there's a way out of prison and Gotham but Jazzman doesn't want out of Gotham until he takes his revenge on Commissioner Gordon: the man who caught him once before.

Worried about Bruce, who has been moping around for three days, Alfred calls Dick Grayson to try and comfort him. Dick tries to talk to Batman, but his despair is too great. Batman wonders about whom else he'll fail and when he'll die. As far as Batman's concerned, if he dies, there is no regret, but if someone else dies as a result of his failure to protect them, it's unforgivable. What's worse is that he's become little more than a marketing item for the tourist trade. Caught up in his despair, Batman decides that it may be time to quit.

Things take a turn for the worse when the Jazzman escapes from Stonegate through the sewers and heads for the hospital to finish Gordon. Learning that Jazzman has escaped, Dick goes to see Barbara and her father. Barbara is worried but Dick insists that only Batman can save Gordon. However, when he tells Bruce about it, Bruce refuses to even respond. Dick, fed up of his pleas falling on deaf ears, suits up as Robin to hunt the Jazzman down, but Batman comes to his senses at the last minute after realizing just how much danger his friend is in, and stops Robin, preferring to go after the Jazzman himself.

File:I am the night friends.jpg

Batman and James Gordon comfort one another.

The Jazzman arrives at the hospital (with a gun), and knocks a window cleaner out to steal his platform. He raises it until he is level with the window of Gordon's room, and prepares to finish the sleeping commissioner off with another gunshot. Fortunately, Batman arrives just in time and a violent fight ensues. Batman throws the Jazzman through the window and into the hospital room, where he pushes Barbara and the security guard aside and raises his gun once more. Barbara shields her father with her own body, but Batman throws a batarang directly into the gun just as the Jazzman fires, causing the bullet to backfire and destroy the gun, injuring the Jazzman's hand. Just before Batman and the Jazzman can resume their fight, Bullock bursts in with more guards, and the Jazzman is re-captured just as Gordon wakes up, much to Batman, Barbara and Bullock's relief.

Gordon tells Batman that they have to keep fighting and cannot give up. He tells Batman that he wanted to be like him, a hero. Batman tells him that he is a hero and leaves with a renewed spirit.

On his way home, Batman bumps into Wizard again, only to learn that the crook has reformed and is now heading back home, mostly because of what Batman did for him, and thanks the Dark Knight warmly.

Background Information

Trivia

  • Batman's words to Leslie, "I have promises to keep," echo the well-known first lines of the last stanza of Robert Frost's poem, "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening." The following line is "And miles to go before I sleep," so the reference is apt.
  • Upon seeing Gordon lying wounded, Harvey Bullock gasps "Oh my God!" The line is strange, since the censors usually forbid any curse words of religious references. This is the third such curse in the series, the others being "Heart of Ice" and "Birds of a Feather." (See List of "God!" utterances in the DCAU)
  • Seth Green, who voiced Wizard, would later go on to play another youth caught up in the criminal world: Scott Evil, the conflicted teen-angst filled son of Austin Powers' rival Dr. Evil.
  • Barbara Gordon made her second appearance in this episode.
  • The story arc "Batman: Officer Down," which ran through mainstream Batman comics several years after this episode's production, bears many similarities to this episode.
  • This episode was featured as a bonus episode on the 2-disc DVD of Batman: Gotham Knight.
  • The convict that the Jazzman confers with in prison strongly resembles Spider Conway from "Vendetta."
  • A boy is seen wearing a Batman costume in a take-away. How the manufacturers of the costume gained Batman's permission, if possible, to make it remains unrevealed.
  • Batman's tactic of defeating the Jazzman by throwing a Batarang directly into the barrel of his gun and causing it to explode and incapacitate his hand would later be used in "The Man Who Killed Batman" with Rupert Thorne and in the DC Universe Original Animated Movie, Batman: Under the Red Hood, only this time, Batman does it to Jason Todd/Red Hood to save the Joker's life.
  • This episode was featured on the VHS The Adventures of Batman and Robin: Batman - The Dark Knight along with "Perchance to Dream".

Cast

Actor Role
Kevin Conroy Batman
Robert Costanzo Detective Bullock
Bob Hastings Gordon
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. Alfred
ER Doctor (uncredited)
Mari Devon Summer Gleeson
Brian George Jazzman
Melissa Gilbert Barbara Gordon
Seth Green Wizard
Loren Lester Robin
Prisoner (uncredited)
Diana Muldaur Leslie Thompkins
Sal Viscuso Monk
Carmen Zapata Judge Vargas

Uncredited Appearances


Quotes

Batman: A weary body can be dealt with, but a weary spirit... that's something else.

Batman: Sometimes, old friend, I wonder if I'm really doing any good out there.
Alfred: How can you doubt it? The lives you've saved, the criminals you've brought to justice...
Batman: I've put out a few fires, yes, won a few battles, but the war goes on, Alfred. On and on...

Leslie Thompkins: Santayana says that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.
Batman: He also said a fanatic is someone who redoubles his efforts while losing sight of his goal.

Jazzman: Let's just say it was time to pay the piper.

Jazzman: It ain't going to trial. They got enough on me to play the funeral march.

Dick: Bruce! You stay down here much longer you'll be growing mushrooms in your armpits.

Batman: He's a friend. More than a friend. Jim Gordon's the same age my father would be if he hadn't... Now he's hanging by a thread. If I'd gotten there five minutes sooner...

Batman: I chose this life. I use the night. I became the night. Sooner or later, I'll go down. it might be the Joker, or Two-Face, or just some punk who gets lucky. My decision, no regrets.

Batman: When all is said and done, how much good have I accomplished? They sell T-shirts of me. I've become a cliché. More good for the tourist trade than the streets.

Batman: When you look too long into the abyss, the abyss looks back through you. Maybe it's time for Batman to return to the night that spawned him before anyone else gets hurt.

(Robin prepares to go after the Jazzman)
Batman: No, Dick. This is my hunt.

Gordon: Got to keep fighting. Never stop. What I try to live by. Maybe if I'd been younger, I could've been like you. Always wanted to be a hero.
Batman: You are a hero, Jim.

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