YMMV / Arkham Patient Sessions

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Is Jeremiah Arkham really all there? Sure he seems mild-mannered, and he appears to be trying his best to cure the Arkham patients, but his lack of success in doing so, his demonstrable lack of professionalism (like his brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Dr. Death) and some of the extreme methods he takes (such as using Electric Torture on The Riddler) make one wonder just how pure his intentions are.
  • Scarecrow and Black Mask both suggest that Dr. Arkham has a hidden darker side, Black Mask even comparing him to Josef Mengele. When Arkham starts threatening to turn the violent inmates loose on Black Mask by telling them he knows Batman’s secret identity, Black Mask takes it as confirmation of his point.
  • The season finale has the Scarecrow psychology torturing Jeremiah Arkham into insanity, though Arkham’s family history and personal behavior as described by Scarecrow suggest Arkham may have always been at least slightly mad.
• Complete Monster: The Scarecrow, real name Dr. Jonathan Crane, is obsessed with causing fear in the masses. Inventing a fear gas, Crane proceeds to terrorize the people of Gotham City with hallucinations of their worst fears, committing murders along the way. When Batman captures Scarecrow, the latter spends his days psychologically tormenting the staff, including convincing an orderly to kill himself, while periodically fear-gassing people when he escapes. After fellow supervillain Dr. Death causes a mass breakout in Arkham Asylum, the Scarecrow kidnaps asylum director Jeremiah Arkham and locks him in the asylum's basement in order to drive him insane. Crane spends an extended amount of time drugging and torturing Arkham until he finally breaks, leading to his suicide. Afterwards, Crane escapes and spends a year terrorizing Gotham, culminating in destroying an entire neighborhood.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Jeremiah Arkham’s Electric Torture of the Riddler should be horrific, but it’s instead shown to be a masterwork of Black Comedy; Dr. Arkham's rules (shocking Riddler every time he so much as asks a question) are unreasonably strict, but the fact that he breaks his own rules and shocks Eddie just for the hell of it brings it back to funny. Meanwhile, the Riddler's smugness being steadily replaced by desperation not to get shocked again, and the fact that it keep happening despite his efforts, really make the whole incident funnier than it should have been.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Dr. Arkham sheepishly admits that neither he nor anyone else knows what, if anything, Dr. Destiny suffers from.
• He Really Can Act: This video series is a testament to Mr. Rogues’ skill as a voice actor. He demonstrates an impressive range of diverse voices and his performances as those characters feel every bit as real as if they were played by a professional VA.
• He's Just Hiding: Many fans refuse to believe that Jeremiah Arkham really committed suicide. To be fair, the news of his death came from Hugo Strange, who is hardly the most trustworthy source of information in the original comics.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Calendar Man is an unrepentant villain who’s not above making up outrageous lies about himself, but his backstory is surprisingly sympathetic: he grew up in poverty with parents who never cared about him, and he never had many friends or any romantic partners. Arkham theorizes that Calendar Man’s holiday crime sprees are just him lashing out in envy of others for having happy lives while he was forced to be alone and miserable.
  • Killer Croc is far from the most sociable fellow, but between the child abuse he suffered from his aunt and the torment that school bullies put him through in his youth, it's hard not to feel for him. What makes it worse here is that Croc has no control whatsoever over his animal urges and feels genuine remorse when others suffer because of his actions.
  • Jeremiah Arkham himself: sure, he’s far from a bastion of empathy or professionalism, but he still gets put through the ringer as the inmates routinely abuse, bully, and threaten him, culminating in Scarecrow kidnapping and torturing him until he’s gone insane. Arkham commits suicide not long after.
  • Dollmaker, despite being a serial kidnapper, is extremely pitiable due to his past social isolation at the hands of his abusive mother. It's clear that he genuinely doesn't understand that what he does is wrong, and he just comes across as sad and disturbed rather than evil.
• Moment of Awesome: Two back-to-back in Dr. Death’s session.
  • First, after Dr. Death proves to be insufferably full of himself even by Gotham villain standards, Jeremiah decides he’s had enough and gives him a BRUTAL "The Reason You Suck" Speech outlining all his failings as a villain.
    Dr. Death: I am ze greatest super villain ze city has ever seen! Ze first super villain! Ze original! I shouldn't be locked avay in zis verdammte madhouse! Do you remember, Herr Doktor? Do you remember mein brilliant crimes? Ah, ze good old days. Zat time I released a deadly mist upon ze entire city; infected everyone. Only vay zey could get ze antidote vas if ze city gave me $10 million! [chuckles] I would've gotten avay vith it, too, if only it vasn't for ze Fledermaus. Zese other so-called super villains, the ones who came after me, vat are zey? The Joker, a stupid clown! Stupid clown with stupid jokes! How can he be called Batman's nemesis? He's ridiculous! Is ein insult to me und ze Fledermaus! Und The Riddler, vat ein dummkopf! Reveals his crimes beforehand, most incompetent idiot I've ever seen! Und vat about zat Two-Face? Can't even make up his own mind! Have you seen him play vith zat coin, Herr Doktor? Like ein kinder! I tell you, Doktor, zese foes, zey aren't-
    Jeremiah Arkham: Oh, SHUT UP!
    Dr. Death: Was?
    Jeremiah Arkham: I said shut up! I'm so tired of your infernal babbling!
    Dr. Death: Was?
    Jeremiah Arkham: You always do this! You always go on about the old days, how you terrorized the entire city, and how you're a much better criminal than all the other lunatics in this place! Well, I've got news for you, Karl: no one cares! No one cares about you! No one even remembers you! The Joker, The Riddler, Two-Face... everyone knows of them, but Dr. Death? More like Doctor Who! Get over yourself, Karl! You're a loser, a has-been! Sure, you terrorized the entire city... eight years ago! I doubt even Batman remembers you now!
    Dr. Death: Now, wait a minute...
    Jeremiah Arkham: I mean, look at you! What are you compared to them? They have longevity. They're all unique, each with their own iconic gimmicks and personalities. And you... You're a generic Mad Scientist! You're dime-a-dozen! You even have the stereotypical German accent! What a joke!
    Dr. Death: I thought you were here to help me, not insult me!
    Jeremiah Arkham: You say you want out of here? Well, why won't you just escape like everyone else does?
    Dr. Death: I tried many times, but...
    Jeremiah Arkham: Oh, please. You haven't really tried. If you did, you'd be out of here by now. You know what I think, Karl? I think you're afraid to escape.
    Dr. Death: That is ridiculous! Vhy vould I be afraid?
    Jeremiah Arkham: I think you're afraid that everything I just said will turn out to be true! You'll turn out to be a generic mad scientist has-been, not enough to cut it in today's Gotham! I think you're afraid that, once on the outside, you'll finally realize once and for all that you really are nothing compared to the other super villains! You're afraid that you'll be no match at all for the Batman! You're afraid he'll just laugh in your face!
  • Then, not to be outdone, Dr. Death manages to knock Jeremiah out and start a mass breakout in no time at all, just to prove him wrong.