Recap / Batman: The Animated Series E58 "Shadow of the Bat: Part 2"

Robin discovers that Gil Mason is working with the mob and goes after him, running into Batgirl. They discover Batman has been captured and Mason is working with Two-Face to frame Commissioner Gordon. Batman and Robin now have to trust in their new ally.

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Tropes:

• Adaptation Origin Connection: A junior novelization of this two-parter reveals that Gil was the cop who forgot to sign off on the raid warrant that led to the release of Rupert Thorne's henchmen at the beginning of "Two-Face, Part 1", thus contributing to Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face.
• Big Damn Heroes: Batgirl arrives before Gil can shoot Gordon dead. Batman and Robin then arrive while they're pinned down by ensuing gunfire.
• Crazy-Prepared: Two-Face has explosives rigged to flood the subway. Just in case.
• Death by Secret Identity: Gil is in a coma, but nonetheless he's incapacitated so that he can never reveal Batgirl's identity as Barbara.
• Dramatic Unmask: Gil pulling off Batgirl's mask.
• Failed a Spot Check: Averted. Two-Face doesn't miss how the supposed hood addressed Robin by name. He realizes this is Batman in disguise and immediately tries to take advantage of him still being tied up.
• Genre Blindness: Batman admits he should've known Two-Face was behind this conspiracy because it's the perfect two-part plan to take over Gotham: take out Thorne to consolidate the gangs and replace Gordon as police commissioner with a loyal stooge.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Oh, Mason, never underestimate the Batfamily.
  Gordon: You piece of scum! I may not be around to stop you, but I know someone who will!
  Mason: I wouldn't count on it, Gordon, there's been a recent decline in the Bat population. [gets disarmed by a batarang]
• Irony: See Russian Reversal.
• Never Say "Die": Gil Mason is in a coma by the end of the episode and never returns.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Gil in response to how angry Two-Face gets over being called "Harvey."
  • Batgirl when she realizes she's too late and that Gordon has been abducted.
  • Gil again when he rips off Batgirl's mask.
    Gil: Barbara?! I didn't know it was you!
    Barbara: Would it have made a difference, Gil?!
• Outside Ride: Batgirl tries hitching a ride by landing on the roof of a moving bus, but as she's never done anything like this before, she almost slips right off.
• Papa Wolf: When Gil gloats to Gordon that (as the new Commissioner) he'll take good care of Barbara in her father's absence, Gordon is nothing short of livid at the mere thought.
• Pin-Pulling Teeth: When told to "bury" Batman, Batgirl and Robin, a thug pulls the pins off two grenades at once using his teeth.
• Reverse Psychology: Batgirl attempts this on Robin after he tells her to stay home. It doesn't work.
• Running Both Sides: Two-Face's plan. First, he gets rid of all mob bosses so he can consolidate the gangs under him while having Gil, who's his stooge, take over the police as commissioner.
• Russian Reversal: Gordon gets in a good line after Batman knocks a large decorative silver dollar off the facade of the Gotham Mint and squashes Two-Face with it.
  Commissioner Gordon: That's a first, a coin flips Two-Face.
• Save the Villain: Batgirl gets the unconscious Gil off the boat before it crashes, but she admits she thinks he deserves to be left to die.
• Series Continuity Error: After Batman squashes Two-Face with the Gotham Mint's giant silver dollar, Gordon claims that for once, a coin has flipped Two-Face instead of the other way around. This is actually the second time in the series he's been beaten that way, the first coming at the end of his flashback story in "Almost Got 'Im".
• Shut Up, Kirk!: After Gil promises to take good care of Barbara.
  Gordon: You piece of scum! I may not be around to stop you, but I know someone who will!
  Gil: I wouldn't count on it, Jim. There's been a recent decline in the bat population.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Robin and Batgirl keep sniping at each other. Given how they end up, this leans in to Belligerent Sexual Tension, too.
• That Man Is Dead: Two-Face flips out at Mason calling him "Harvey."
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Gordon finds Gil to be even worse than Two-Face, saying he can at least see Two-Face's bad half.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In the first part, a rally seemingly being held to raise bail for Gordon, Batgirl saw a car full of black-masked gangland assassins suddenly tear through the plaza and open fire with machine guns on the speakers' stage. Gil Mason was nearly shot, but the bullets hit the podium instead of him. Batgirl chased one of the assassins into an alley and managed to unmask him, but he escaped just after she got a good look at his face. In the second part, Robin reviews a videotape of the rally in the Batcave and gets suspicious when he plays the tape in slow motion and sees Mason duck behind the podium before the masked men reveal their guns to the crowd; his suspicions are confirmed when Barbara visits Gil's apartment and sees the very assassin she unmasked lounging in Gil's armchair! It turns out that Mason has been secretly cooperating with Two-Face, and the men in masks were Two-Face's own goons; Mason and Two-Face had arranged for the conniving deputy to be shot at so that no one would ever suspect that Mason had been in on the plot as well.
• Writers Cannot Do Math: A coin that size would weigh a ton and crush Two-Face entirely to death.

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