Recap / Batman Beyond S 2 E 6 Hidden Agenda

The Jokerz have a new boss, and he isn't all that funny. His name- well, his nickname- is Terminal, and he's both competent and rather high-strung, dropping one of his underlings off a building (the guy survives) for questioning him. In his regular life, he's Carter Wilson, model student. But his success at school belies failure at home; his mother is emotionally abusive and considers any failure an unacceptable sign of weakness. Even getting a nearly-perfect score, second highest in school, isn't enough for her, so Carter takes out his frustration in his Terminal identity against the one student who scored higher, Maxine "Max" Gibson.

Max, on the other hand, doesn't care about the test scores. She has a hobby; trying to figure out Batman's secret identity via a computer program she created. She's figured out that the Bat is a Legacy Character and that he's probably connected to her school, but the fact that she happens to be showing off the program to Batman escapes her. She does determine that Terry leads a double life, but his delinquency record leads her to the entirely wrong conclusion that he's Terminal.

She tries to use this to blackmail Terminal to stop his murder attempts, but Carter Wilson is more amused at her mistake than anything. Luckily, Batman arrives in time, and he and Max defeat the Jokerz. In the ensuing fight, Carter's makeup is washed away, revealing his true identity. Carter is arrested, and Max lets Terry know that she's figured out his actual secret identity...and she wants to help him out. Like by making excuses for Dana about why he missed yet another date.

Max: One more thing. You call me "Robin," I'm outta here.

Terry: No problem...Alfred.

Tropes:

• Abusive Parents: Carter's mother is of the emotional variety.
• Call-Back: Max says she put together her program because she needed a hobby and "It beats macrame." Way back in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Joker's Favor", Harley Quinn suggested the Joker can take up macrame as a hobby.
• Deducing the Secret Identity: Double Subverted. After Max retools her Batman tracking program, Max incorrectly deduces that Terry is Terminal, the leader of the Jokerz gang that's been targeting her, based on obvious signs he's living a double life. Carter, the actual culprit, wasn't even on her radar. In the end, when Terry, as Batman, saves her from the gang, she finally figures it out and becomes Terry's Secret-Keeper.
• Education Mama: Terminal's mother forces him to adhere to incredibly high standards and treats him getting the second-highest grade in the whole school as though he flunked altogether.
• Freudian Excuse: Carter becoming a Joker is implied to be a result of dealing with his mother's high expectations and emotional abuse. Upon learning Max beat him for Valedictorian by one literal point (and he already dealt with a nasty fallout with his mother for losing first place on test scores), he plans to kill Max in order to be the best and please his mother somehow.
• Internal Reveal: Given Terry's final line in this episode, it's clear that Bruce at one point told him about his old butler/closest supporter offscreen.
• Motive Misidentification: Max and Terry think the Jokerz are after her because of her Secret Identity discovery program. It's revealed early on that they were only after her because she did better than Carter in a test, and didn't even know she was working on a program until they were told about it.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Max is right that Terry's living a double-life. However, she thinks he's with the Jokerz rather than the new Batman. Although, she eventually figures out the truth.
• Second Place Is for Losers: Terminal's actions are moved by the fact his mother thinks that second place just means first loser. Even though Carter did better than hundreds of other students, she considers one student (Max) doing better than him as a sign that he's a loser himself.
• Secret-Keeper: Max becomes one to Batman's identity.
• Too Clever by Half: Max is smart enough to work out a surprising amount about Batman - including the fact that it's a new Bat, which a surprising number of people don't realise, and that he's associated with the school. She also thinks that she can blackmail Terminal, who she thinks is Terry, into leaving her alone.
• Too Dumb to Live: While under the belief Terry is a Joker and after they nearly killed her, Max sends him a message asking him to meet her at the park, where she's alone and hasn't told anyone her plans, and at night to discuss his "secret."
• Unknown Rival: Max has no idea why Terminal is mad at her; getting a perfect score didn't really matter that much to her and she'd have been happy if their places were swapped, but to Carter (and more importantly, his abusive mother), having anyone do better than him is an unforgivable crime.
• With Friends Like These...: Terminal's supposed friends at school waste no time in mocking him and saying they always thought he was a loser after he gets arrested.