Clayface's body is deteriorating and he commits thefts for a cure.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Alas, Poor Villain: Clayface is as tragic as ever.
- Animation Bump: It's one of Studio Junio's best episodes. One of the reasons Clayface episodes were so few in number was because of how expensive it was to animate him satisfactorily.
- Disney Villain Death: Clayface goes out this way, falling from the top of a cliff into the sea.
- Driven to Villainy: Clayface is committing robberies to pay for a procedure to restore his degenerating form, but when Batman offers to help him, he rejects the offer.
- Elemental Shapeshifter: Averted. In Feat of Clay Clayface could apparently change his limbs into metallic substances. Here, it seems he's incapable of pulling even that off due to his body slowly breaking down.
- Irony: Clayface rejects Batman’s offer of a cure, and then steals the necessary item for it from Batman’s own company.
- It Only Works Once: Batman drives Clayface off during their fight on the subway with a device that freezes and hardens his body. When he tries to use it again in the final battle, Clayface knocks it out of his hands and out a window before he can.
- Literally Shattered Lives: After Batman mostly freezes him, Clayface manages to jump out the window of the building they're in, into the back of a passing dump truck, breaking into chunks. Justified since he's, y'know, clay.
- Large Ham: Clayface is a large, hulking monster with a presence to match.
- Love Martyr: Stella is a former medical consultant who fell in love with Matt Hagen during a shoot and is now trying to help him, despite the fact that he is abusive, manipulative and self-centered.
- Loving a Shadow: Stella Bates is an infatuated former colleague of Matt Hagen's, who sees something in Clayface that he lost long ago.
- Manipulative Bastard: Clayface knows Stella is head over heels for him and deliberately recites lines from his old movies to make her think he loves her. Despite this, he does go berserk when Batman accidentally strikes her.
- Monster Fangirl: Stella Bates is one of these, though she hopes to restore Clayface back to his Matt Hagen identity.
- No One Could Survive That!: Clayface falls into the ocean and dissolves. At the time the episode was produced, this was considered to be it for Clayface, although he did make one more appearance in the second series.
- Out-of-Character Alert: A young security guard catches what he thinks is a thief burgling his boss's safe, until he sees his boss telling him to get back to his post. The guard is about to leave when he notices his boss's accent is gone and remembers he is on vacation in Hawaii. The "boss" knocks him out by throwing clay at him.
- Parental Bonus: Alfred drily remarks that "perhaps she enjoys mud baths" when Batman brings up Clayface's female accomplice.
- Power Perversion Potential: Batman wonders about Clayface's new female accomplice:
Batman: What's her stake in this?
Alfred: [completely deadpan] Perhaps she enjoys mud baths.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: Somewhat jarringly, and it's this episode's one weak point. As noted, Alfred is blithely indifferent to Clayface's plight, making dry jokes about it when even Batman pities him.
- Save the Villain: Batman tries to save Clayface at every encounter, but Clayface rejects his help each time. In their last encounter, he is too far gone physically and plummets to his doom after his arm is torn off in the rain.
- Shoot the Television: Stella was watching one of Matt Hagen's movies (a romance about a female doctor falling in love with her patient - Hagen's character). Clayface appears and screams at her to shut off the TV as he smashes it, saying it's not him anymore.
- Shout-Out:
- Clayface reveals the first name of his accomplice when he shouts, "STELLAAAAAAA!"
- And "Dr. Bates once owned a motel..."
- Clayface's containment suit makes him look like the Oscar statuette.
- When Clayface tries smothering Batman, his head bursts out of Clayface's body in a way reminiscent of the chestbursters from the Alien films.
- The climax takes place on a cliffside laboratory with pouring rain and lightning, a stock mad scientist trope since the days of silent films.
- The old Matt Hagan film Stella is watching has the Warner Bros. Vanity Plate.
- Super Doc: Stella Bates, a medical consultant on some of Matt Hagen's films, has the know-how to assemble a laboratory to treat his unique condition by creating some sort of shell he can place himself in.
- Tragic Villain: Clayface, continuing the theme from his 2-part debut episode.
- Unsportsmanlike Gloating: As a contrast to the general reaction of "Aw, poor Clayface!" Alfred is totally comfortable with Matt Hagan dying in a horrible fashion. When Alfred brings him a snack, Bruce explains that Clayface's body is loosing its ability to hold together, to which Alfred replies, "How grotesque! ...Tea?"
- Unwanted Rescue:
Batman: I can make you human again. The offer still stands.
Clayface: I don't need your help, Batman!
Batman: Have it your way.
- Villain Decay: Justified; Clayface's body is breaking down at the molecular level, making him far less threatening than he used to be. Bruce is sympathetic, Alfred... less so.
- Villain Has a Point: During the climatic battle against Batman, Stella tries to stop Clayface from killing him. In turn, Clayface pegs Stella on only being infatuated with who he used to be. While in-character with his usual abusive nature towards those who care about him, he's also not entirely wrong to say Stella's love for him is debatable.
- Visual Pun: Alfred cooks a goose dinner for Bruce, but won't be able to make it as he picked up a break-in at the bank.
Alfred: Please don't take this the wrong way, sir, but your goose is cooked.
