Batman: The Animated Series
Episode 82
Lock-Up
It’s episodes like this that make people think the writers were running out of ideas. Lock-Up actually got worked into the comics after this episode but not really sure why. He was created for the show as an extremist version of Batman.
Lyle Bolton was the new security chief at Arkham Asylum but his methods were far too harsh for the inmates there. He gets fired from Arkham for being abusive to the criminally insane and sets out on a revenge scheme on Gotham. He doesn’t blame the inmates he blames the bureaucrats in Gotham who created them.
Calling himself Lock-Up he kidnaps reporter Summer Gleason, head of Arkham Asylum Doctor Bartholomew, Commissioner James Gordon, and Mayor Hamilton Hill. He believes each represents a layer of ineptitude that created the monstrous villains in Gotham City.
Batman and Robin are able to track Lock-Up down to an abandoned ship where everyone is being held. A fight breaks out and Batman wins. Lock-Up is then set to Arkham Asylum and he implies that’s what he wanted all along so he can forever keep an eye on the inmates there.
He’s just not an interesting villain and his motivation seems weak. Even the ending when he’s happy he can watch the inmates doesn’t make sense. He’s a patient/prisoner at Arkham, he has no authority over them. He can’t do any of the things he did to them as head of security. He can’t take away their privileges, confine them to their rooms, strap them down in their beds at night. What’s the point of watching them if he cannot stop them? Taking his frustrations out on the ones he kidnapped has logic but how many times can Commissioner Gordon and Mayor Hill get kidnapped before it’s a tired trope? Shows should really have a two kidnapping limit rule. On the third kidnapping, the person must be killed or believability goes out the window. Yes, it’s a children’s show so the death count is minimal which means, stop kidnapping people.
It’s toward the end of the series run so we never see Lock-Up again in the BtAS or the DCAU and rightfully so. He wasn’t a compelling villain. This is the last bad episode of BtAS. But as stated even previously, a bad episode of BtAS is far better than a good episode of many other shows.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
