However, Batman comes to rescue; while he fights, Tim escapes from being tied up by using wire cutters. Two-Face successfully hits Batman with a crane, and his men shoot up some barrels and set the dock on fire. Batman, stunned by the hit, summons the Batboat, gets himself and Tim on board, and activates the autopilot to return to the Batcave.
After they arrive, Tim slips into Wayne Manor and discovers Batman's identity; Batgirl then grabs him from the shadows and drags him back to the Batcave. He tries to reassure her that he can keep this a secret, but Batgirl pulls up his shirt to show he has stolen some money and a watch. Luckily, Batman doesn't care about it, and orders her to let him go. Tim declares that he can take care of himself, showing off his skill with a Batarang that he'd found after Batman dealt with some local gang-bangers.
Tim explains that his father used to work for "Puke-Face", but disappeared a few days ago. Batman discovers a key imprint in Tim's note, matching the type used in the lockers at Gotham Airport. Batman and Batgirl head out to confront Two-Face and his men, but they get away with the satchel from the locker.
Back at the Batcave, Batman discovers that "Shifty" Drake's prints match a corpse that turned up in the rivers near Metropolis. Tim hears, and realizes that his father is never coming home. The situation then gets worse as Two-Face appears on television demanding a $22 million ransom or else he will release a deadly gas.
Tim suggests that Two-Face might be hiding out at the Janus Theater, where he'd once followed his father to see where he worked. Batman and Batgirl head out, rejecting Tim's plea to go along. However, Tim follows them anyway, dressed in the old Robin uniform. He gets captured by Two-Face, but uses his Batarang to take down an overhead grate, taking out one of the goons and providing a distraction that lets him escape. Two-Face and his gang are rounded up as Batgirl pulls the wires at the last second, disabling the gas bomb.
The episode ends with Bruce training Tim, explaining that he's expected to give everything he's got, and then give more than that, and to follow Bruce's rules. Another figure watching from the shadows steps in — Dick Grayson.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Ascended Fanboy: Tim admires the Dark Knight and the original Robin, as shown by him looking at the suits in the glass case. By the end of the episode Bruce trains him in martial arts and takes him on as a protege.
- Badass Adorable: Tim's experiences as a street fighting urchin allow him to hold the fort as Robin and aid Batgirl and Batman.
- Badass in Distress: Tim, for this episode as he manages to free himself from Two-Face once Batman comes.
- Beyond Redemption: While Bruce doesn't outright say it, this seems to be his unspoken attitude towards Harvey Dent by this time. In the old days during BTAS, he would've shown restraint and tried to reason with his old friend to try to bring Harvey back into the light. By the time of this episode, Batman is done offering Two-Face second chances and gives him the same brutal treatment he gives any other villain, having apparently accepted that the Harvey Dent he knew is no longer coming back.
- Brutal Honesty: Bruce confirms for Tim that his father is dead.
- The Cameo: Dick appears briefly at the end.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Batarang Tim has.
- Chekhov's Skill: Tim's ability to wield a Batarang comes in handy during the climax.
- Composite Character: Tim Drake is a composite of his comic book counterpart and Jason Todd, the second Robin.
- Death Glare: Batman gives the new Robin this kind of look after the fight with Two-Face. It really did faze him
◊. - Donut Mess with a Cop: The episode opens with Tim stealing a policeman's donuts.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!:
- Tim Drake:Batgirl: Your father left you all alone?
Tim: Big deal. He's never around much anyway. I can take care of myself. - Another instance is when Batman and Batgirl are looking into Tim's father's file.Batgirl: Just like his son.
Batman: Looking for sympathy?
Batgirl: From you? Heaven forbid.
- Tim Drake:
- Everyone Has Standards: Tim's father was a petty crook, yet he took immediate action to prevent Two-Face from poisoning Gotham.
- He Is All Grown Up: Dick is in his late twenties at best and has a mullet.
- He's Back!: Dick Grayson in the end.Dick: Hey, no-one can be a boy wonder forever.
- History Repeats:
- Once more a child becomes a material witness to a criminal overlord and nearly gets killed. Bruce takes the child in, offering Sacred Hospitality, and that child becomes Robin.
- Also once again, a new member of the Bat-Family is added as a result of a Two-Face scheme.
- Irony: Given Shifty Drake's fate in Metropolis, he left Gotham to get away from Two-Face's wrath, only to meet his end at the hands of Luthor or Mannheim.
- Literary Allusion Title: (Exodus 20:5 or Deuteronomy 5:9)
- Minor Living Alone: Tim has been living on his own for days, stealing food and hiding from a known criminal. Then he finds out that his father has died and is never coming back; while his father wasn't the greatest of parents, he was the only parent Tim knew. It's a small wonder Bruce takes him in first to get some sleep and a decent change of clothes, before adopting him.
- Mythology Gag: A pretty grim one. Tim Drake gets smacked once with a crowbar. In the comics, Jason Todd (whose origin story was embroidered a bit for this Tim) suffered a bad beating from the Joker wielding a crowbar as a prelude to his death.
- Noodle Incident: Tim wonders about what happened to the original Robin. He will get his answer in "Old Wounds".
- Oh, Crap!:
- Alfred, two times. One, when Tim is in the Batboat; and second is when he went up the Wayne Manor.
- Even Batman has it when he sees Tim dressed as Robin for the first time.Batman: Oh no.
- Origins Episode: This episode explains how Tim Drake became this continuity's second Robin.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Two-Face assumes that the new Robin is the old one having returned after a hiatus, despite the notable height and voice difference.
- Parental Abandonment: Tim's father has left town to flee from Two-Face, leaving Tim at the criminal's mercy.
- Right Behind Me: Batman and Batgirl talk about Tim's father without even realizing he's behind them, having heard all of it.
- Rule #1: Bruce Wayne and Tim Drake are sparring.Bruce: You work with me, Tim, you follow the rules. Rule No. 1: you give me everything you've got. Rule No. 2: Then you give me more. And Rule No. 3...[Tim lunges only for Bruce to take him down] I make the rules.
Dick Grayson: [Walk-In Chime-In] Watch out for that last one, kid. It's a killer. - Sacred Hospitality: Bruce risks his secret identity and brings Tim to the Batcave. Later on Tim gets a change of clothes, a meal, and a bed despite stealing some valuables.
- Sins of Our Fathers: Two-Face goes after Tim Drake for Tim's father's rebellion against Two-Face, threatening bodily harm and death, not only to get the key the boy holds, but for the senior Drake's reasonable in context actions.
- Stepford Snarker: Tim makes a lot of comments about his Disappeared Dad and implies that he was abusive, while also snarking about it. As his nightmares reveal, as well as the realization that his father is dead, Tim actually does care about his dad and is hurt that he left.
- Took a Level in Jerkass:
- Bruce twenty years ago comforted Dick about his parents dying, and how the pain gets easier with time. Here when Tim asks if his father is dead, Bruce merely gives him a Blunt "Yes", though he makes sure Tim gets a meal and a comfortable bed.
- A more subtle example would be Batman's treatment of Two-Face. In Batman: The Animated Series, Batman showed some restraint with Two-Face and would try to talk sense into his Harvey Dent side, based on their past friendship. Here, Batman's become cynical enough that he doesn't hold back anymore and delivers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Two-Face at the end.
- Two-Face, in turn, has grown considerably more monstrous from his earlier days as a "mere" crime boss with a Hair-Trigger Temper. Even at his worst in BTAS, he never threatened to murder all of Gotham for money (and his means, a gas attack, seems straight out of the Joker's playbook).
- Welcome Episode: Considering this episode takes place before the third skit from "Holiday Knights", so yeah.
- Would Hurt a Child: Two-Face shows it by ordering his men to kill Tim. Though he did flip a coin to decide whether or not to.
