[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batman_tas_s01e50_zatanna_0006.png]]
While Bruce and Alfred watch {{ComicBook/Zatanna}}'s magic act, Bruce remembers how he first met her while learning escape artist techniques from her father Zatara. She was clearly interested in him, and asked him to write... but he never did, and she had no way to find him since he was using the alias "John Smith."

The magic act concludes with an illusion in which the Gotham Mint and ten million dollars seem to vanish. The structure returns, but the money remains gone, and Zatanna is arrested on suspicion of setting the whole thing up to steal it. Batman breaks her out of the police van and enlists her help tracking down the real thief.

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!!Tropes in this episode include:
* AdaptationalMundanity: Since the original ''Batman'' animated series is significantly lower-key than the comics (and the FantasyKitchenSink the DCAU eventually turned into), the Zatanna that appears here has no literal magical powers like the comics character or when she returns in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' --she's just a very competent mundane illusionist.
* CallForward:
** In a flashback, young Zatanna does a card trick with young Bruce (under the alias "[[MrSmith John Smith]]") to predict his future. She thinks Bruce got "two of hearts" (it's implied that she set that up as an excuse to flirt with him), but he's got a Joker card.
--->'''Zatanna:''' ''[throws the cards in anger]'' It's a dumb trick anyway!
** In the same flashback, Bruce says that he's on his way to Japan for the next phase of his education. Bruce's time in Japan training in martial arts was covered in an earlier episode, "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE35NightOfTheNinja Night of the Ninja]]."
* ChairReveal: When Batman and Zatanna go to confront Kane in his mansion, they find him apparently sitting in a high-backed chair, but when Zatanna swings it around there's just a dummy and the speaker that was conveying his voice.
* CoolPlane: Kane's escape aircraft appears to be inspired by industrial designer Norman Geddes' "Airliner No. 4."
* DisappearingBox: In the flashback, Zatara's equipment includes one, which Zatanna hides in to eavesdrop on a conversation between her father and "John Smith." Zatara goes over and looks inside and there's apparently nobody in there, but he's not fooled and makes it spit her out.
* EscapeArtist: Zatara was a renowned escape artist, which is why Bruce chose to study with him. In the present-day portion of the episode, Batman gets several opportunities to demonstrate what he learned, including a scene where he's imprisoned by chains that Kane claims even Zatara couldn't have escaped.
* {{Expy}}: Montague Kane could be seen as one for Doctor Thirteen.
* FlatEarthAtheist: Dr. Montague Kane (magic is ambiguous in the original BTAS but beyond that, all bets are off). But to be fair, it's implied most of the magic he encounters really are illusions.
* HeroicVow:
-->'''Zatanna:''' What happened that made you put this on?\\
'''Batman:''' A painful memory and a promise.\\
'''Zatanna:''' I'd say you're keeping that promise pretty well.
* MarriedToTheJob: Zatanna says her career keeps her too busy to have a romantic relationship.
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The Joker card could be interpreted as a coincidence, or a genuine prediction of Bruce's future.
* MrSmith: Bruce uses the John Smith alias when studying under Zatara, who clearly knows it's a sign of his student hiding something.
* MythologyGag: The magic word Zatanna uses in her act is "Arbadacarba," the reverse of one of the standard stage magic words. In the comics where Zatanna has real magic, it's activated by speaking words backwards.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Montague Kane is modeled on Creator/OrsonWelles ([[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] with the name [[Film/CitizenKane "Kane"]]), probably because of Welles's own interest in stage magic.
* PickACard: In the flashback, Zatanna invites Bruce to pick a card from a deck and attempts to not only identify it without looking at it, but describe what it foretells about his future. Bruce fittingly picks [[CallForward Joker card]].
* PrettyInMink: A lady in the audience wears a gray fur coat.
* RetCanon: Zatanna as Bruce's childhood friend became canon in the DC Comics Universe.
* SecretKeeper: It seems Zatara knows a lot more about "John Smith" than he lets on. And eventually, so does Zatanna, after Batman says SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay.
* ShoutOut: The spiked pit appears to be a tribute to a similar scene from ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'', or perhaps [[Series/Batman1966 the live-action series]], in which the spikes turned out to be rubber.
* SoftWater: A pair of {{mooks}} fall out of a plane flying ''above the clouds'' and survive the impact with the ocean below.
* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Batman calls Zatanna "Zanna" -- a nickname only "John Smith" called her, which she claimed to hate.
* SmokeOut: Zatanna doesn't like long goodbyes any more than Batman does. At the episode's end, she drops a smoke bomb and disappears, leaving a note behind.
* StageMagician: Zatanna, and her father Zatara. Zatara has the traditional top-hat-and-tails magician look,[[note]]It was less of a cliché when he started out -- the character first appeared in 1938, in a back-up story in the same comic that introduced Superman.[[/note]] while Zatanna uses a femme version of the same look that shows off her legs more.
* StealthHiBye:
** Here we see Batman's first (chronological) example, when in the flashback Zatanna cuffs him to the wall, turns around, and remarks that if "John Smith" were a real escape artist, he would have broken free by now. She turns around to face him and of course he's no longer in sight.
--->'''Zatanna:''' Now you see him, now you don't.
** At the end of the episode, it's Zatanna who does this to Batman, leaving a note saying that she also hates goodbyes.
* SwordCane: Kane has one.
* TrapDoor: Kane opens one under Batman and Zatanna when they go to confront him.
* UncoveringRelationshipStatus: Batman uses the question of whether Zatanna has family or friends who can shelter her as an excuse to find out if she's currently in a romantic relationship.
* TheWallsAreClosingIn: In Kane's mansion, Batman and Zatanna get trapped in a pit where the walls move inward and have SpikesOfDoom on them. Lampshaded by Kane as being a bit of a cliché, "but effective."
* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: After Batman breaks her out of the police van, Zatanna worries aloud about a possible prison sentence for evading arrest. Batman simply replies that they can find the real thief and exonerate her, as if that would settle the matter. Indeed, when they turn in Kane at the end of the episode the police don't seem interested in Zatanna anymore.
* YouAnsweredYourOwnQuestion: Zatanna, asking Batman why he would help her:
-->'''Zatanna:''' What do you care about some leggy dame [[StockingFiller in nylons]]? Or have I answered my own question?
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