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ive been waiting for this review for 2 years and im happy to see it wasn't nit picked to death and its main theme wasn't glossed over, Lock Up is a character I think deserved to come back at least one more time and his theming of the Justice system failing us but still addressing that using the extreme measures the criminals take back on them, isn't the solution to fixing their problem
I find it funny that Scarecrow is affraid of this guy. Also something about animation. Watching Lock Up lips move under that black mask seems wierd, or is it just me
I like how like most great Batman villains, Lock up represents an aspect of Batman himself but warped or inverted, in this case a warped version of Batman's own desire for upholding order. I like how his mask is even an inverse of Batman's, covering his mouth but not his eyes
That's just how some supervillains are e.g. Doctor Octopus to Spider-Man and Subjekt-17 to Superman and arguably Doctor Doom to Reed Richards, Magneto to Professor X and Sabretooth to Wolverine. In the DCAU Wonder Woman later gets Aresia.
@@Mansplainer2099-jy8ps The best supervillains usually. Joker would've made less sense as a Superman nemesis, for example. Which makes me wonder why Flash often gets praised for his rogues gallery. They barely complement him besides the ones w/ the same powers.
@@jp3813 _"The best supervillains usually."_ Well, it's all in the context, really, some dynamics work better as "total opposites", others "dark mirror images", others a bit of both. If you can find it, there's the interesting "Masters of Evil" conversation with Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross about an Astro City villain (it was in Wizard's Dark Book '98, I believe). _"Joker would've made less sense as a Superman nemesis, for example."_ True, although he has the Prankster who is like the "old-school" Joker. Also, there's Toyman. _"Which makes me wonder why Flash often gets praised for his rogues gallery. They barely complement him besides the ones w/ the same powers."_ I'm no expert on the Flash villains but I think it has to do with them being more like a team and some having kind of frenemy relationship with the Flash.
But ultimately it's the same misguided thought as the Accusation in the episode where all the supervillains sit court over Batman... he does so much more good than evil with his humanitarian efforts, it's not really his fault when a few bad apples abuse the help given to them. It wasn't his choice to make them criminals, he just offered the same help as for thousands of others.
@@Ugly_German_Truths agreed, alot of times abusing compassion is true villainy which is part of the reason why I think Lock-Up is a good batman Villain who see's the problem of the law doing less protecting the innocent from these super villains and more trying to get them out of their system in a hurry. His existence tackles the moral grey area created by the need for villains to return to be fought again and how it parallels our own reality where criminals are pitied instead of punished for the horrible things they do
I have a theory that the humiliation Scarecrow suffered at Bolton's hands inspired him to be much more terrifying than ever, giving rise to the iconic gruesome suit he would wear in The New Batman Adventures.
Honestly, this is one of my favorites. I love the idea of a villain so intimidating that even the likes of the Scarecrow are afraid of him. Plus, the climax on the Halsey is awesome.
This episode becomes even more fun to watch after reading the "Crimson Mist" comic, specifically the part where Vampire Batman easily kills Scarecrow by telling him "You don't know what fear is". I'm sure Lock Up read that comic and his reaction was "Give me five minutes with him, pal..."
Lock-Up is just so interesting as a concept. A former chief of security at Arkham turned security themed supervillain with a warped idea of how criminals should be handled. It's an interesting and thought-provoking idea, as Walter explained here
yeah, but I always feel when comic writers try to use him he always falls flat because they just turn him into a regular supervillain when I feel he should be an anti-villain. like the character stuck with me because of the ending where he ends up in arkham but is glad about it because he can now keep an eye on all the villains and I wish they expanded on that idea. have him be a villain that also keeps the other villains in line/inside arkham and he could be both a reluctant ally or enemy to batman depending on the situation.
One complaint I had with him is that when Batman says he shows no compassion to the Arkham inmates, Bolton should've said something like "And their victims? You think they were shown any compassion?" It would've made this conflict more nuanced and show how you can only give someone so many chances before they use them to inflict more pain onto others.
It's interesting to see how many great characters in DC started out in this series. Harley Quinn, Renee Montoya and now this guy. I think I can see why he wasn't used as often as the others.
Honestly he makes me think of a DC version of the punisher. Someone basically putting the law into their own hands. Wouldn't be surprised if Lock Up has killed somebody in the comics
@@aussiekola2370 DC has less anti-heroes because a guy who actually ends criminals for good would probably make Batman sparing the Joker a bit more questionable.
*Fun fact:* Lock-Up was introduced into the comics continuity even before Harley Quinn, appearing in Robin vol 2 24 as a surprise cameo. From then on, said character would have a greater role, as in the "No Man's Land" event.
I do admit Lock-up should've been Used for Jason todd team The outlaws with Him Jason todd and Adrian chase as the three of theme want to make gotham and the world a better place and set out to become the outlaws and Have it Lock-up being a father figure to Jason showing him what he needs to do when in the line of duty and Jason seeing Lock-up as the batman gotham needed
Lock Up is SO damn underrated. Like- There is so much you can explore with this character, and he's a got a really good parallel to Batman which poses really good questions on how the Batman goes about doing his job. He's essentially the Bat-man without any compassion towards the criminals he aims to stop. But at the same time, the dude also kind of brings up good points about how villains constantly escape Arkham, he's just way too extreme about it. I really wish they'd do more with this dude, I feel like he has a LOT of potential.
Bolton's also not going to be a push over. He's clearly a big strong guy. As a former prison guard, he's had some training. (I don't know more about the character, but it wouldn't surprise me if had a military background as well). So I agree. Lock-Up had a chance against Batman.
Honestly I kinda wished they could’ve played him up little by little before Bolton’s main episode. Like in a few episodes prior have Batman drop off a villain with Bolton meeting him at the door and little by little Bolton mentioning some changes he would recommend how to lock them up permanently as well during the fight with Batman mention previous incidents (like the joker fish) and expand upon the reality of the damage the city suffered and even possible loss of life and Bolton keeps hammering the point home to Batman that the extra step (murder) is needed to make Gotham permanently safe
I can see why this would be an interesting villain for Batman to fight. We don’t need to dive deep into certain plot holes some people love to bring up like how Arkham is like a revolving door. Really, part of me felt like had we seen him deal with certain other villains like Joker or anyone else in the “higher tier” it could help to sell how this guy can be a severely loose cannon. But I guess we would miss the sympathies we saw with the “not as strong” villains. Still, I am actually interested with how this ended. The idea that while most people would try and break out, he would apparently be the one who would make sure no one else gets out by being in the same Asylum cells as them. Could have made it interesting if there was a follow up and how he almost becomes a “lawful neutral” where you see him deal with some patients trying to escape (and then make it where he is either outsmarted or out maneuvered by whoever the villain of the episode would be). I guess I find myself fascinated by these kinds of characters. Those who want to do the right thing, but go to such lengths that it can show they are just as bad, if not worse, then those he goes up against.
Would have been interesting if he was in that trial of Batman episode. He would definitely would have been overpowered but I could see him trying to stop the other inmates.
Even if Lock-Up was considered a one-time character, I loved it nonetheless. I kinda wish that they gave this character a chance at a possible live-action adaptation if done right
They could of did so much, like Bolton said “before I got here Arkham asylum was a revolving door for lunatics” the writers could played on that and broke Gotham into factions of groups that support Lock up / condemns the justice system for allowing homicidal maniacs to escape and have another faction of people that think lock up goes to far, and needs be to arrested. So you have a moral dilemma.
Lock up didn't really go far but did inspire other DC Characters: Jason Todd's Red Hood, Two-Face's third personality the Judge, stealth hunter Rumor, Talon of the Court of Owls, The Balloon Man, the Police Commissioner played by Michael Chiklis, and others.
@@williamcrowe2576 Not just scary, but creates just as much of a problem as wild criminals do. I've gotten a taste of what being on the receiving end of that is like and I was lucky enough to be able to walk away from it relatively intact. Many others are not so lucky
@@keiththompson9435 In the Gotham TV Series he played a Commissioner who didn't tolerate corrupt cops and was a great ally but then got poisoned/corrupted through Alice's tainted blood. Also honorable mentions to Azreal and Chief Angel Rojas.
I like the part when Batman and lock-on meet for the first time and he propose batman to work together, like batman catches criminales and he locks them away, witch fits the beginning when he thanks Batman fir bring Scarecrow back to Arkham. He truly believe he was a hero and that Batman was gonna be in his side
Now see, the issue is that while his methods are wrong, he's right about the system being inadequate. The system being inadequate and corrupt is precisely why there needs to be a Batman. But the mere presence of Batman gives complacency to those in the system to not improve further.
I always like that the ventriloquist gets a little moment in this episode, and his bravery inspired the other villians, I can just imagine Two face being like “shit really? Wesker huh? I guess I’ll tell the guards as well”
If anybody has read HARLEEN, there’s an Arkham guard character that eventually snaps at the end after Joker kills one too many of his friends/coworkers, and tries to kill him. I always thought that would have been a cool redesign for the Lock-Up characters. So I’m happy you said pretty much the same thing here
I loved this episode as a kid because it gave scarecrow more depth because he did not have a really good backstory in the animated series. I loved the comics following the animated series because while I dont remember the issue I do remember that scarecrow freaked out when Lyle Bolton got locked in with him.
Dr. Bartholomew: "Since Lyle Bolton has gone too far in the exercise of his authority, we have replaced him with a guard with a greater capacity for self-control" Inmates: "Cool! And who is the loser taking care of us from now on?" Rorschach: "Hello" Inmates: 😢
@@youtubeuniversity3638 I'm saying these are older characters who are killer, some kill other joy. Older Harley Quinn killed innocent people and children. Sometimes take joy in it. One time Harley created a game boy bomb and sent it to a children's hospital. Harley Quinn also kills a teenage boy over something pity. Destroy entire neighborhoods on her own without the joker influence. They changed Harley Quinn for my insane killer who is similar to the joker but plays like it was just a game in the form of a childish demeter or teasing. Into an abuse victim who kills?
I loved the episode, but the actual villain was a despicable monster. Someone in a different video said that, when Harley Quinn calls you an animal, then you *know* you're messed up because she's endured the Joker's abuse. Honestly, that best sums up my opinions on Lyle Bolton. He was a man who became obsessed with his job to the point where he became worse than those he deemed were the scum of the earth. It's rare to see that kind of portrayal in children's media anymore. The closest I can think of to a villain who became worse than the people they were prosecuting is Emperor Belos from "The Owl House," so it's nice to go back and see, while people may have others' best interests in mind, they can also step right over the line and become just as horrible, if not worse, than those they fight.
Except Bolton isn't a monster, remember the people he's torturing are repeat offender criminals who've robbed, assaulted and even tried to murder people multiple times in this show alone, which become actual murders in the comics and more adult shows. Sure he seems evil until you remember the people in Arkham are super criminals who are so dangerous they need Batman to stop them as the Police can't and every time they escape it leads to more damage and harm to the people.
Nah. He's far from being worse. The criminals he brutalized hurt and kill innocent people Bolton only hurt those who killed innocent people so they wouldn't be able to hurt more, and hw never hurt an innocent.
That before when Harley Quinn is more satanic than the newer version. The older Harley Quinn created a Gameboy bomb to have joker give to children's hospital. That Harley ok killing innocence and children
Meh. Jonathan Crane himself isn't too difficult to traumatize. Why do you think he's compelled to spread fear as Scarecrow? Because on some level, he's always afraid himself.
I love this episode! Lyle’s personality very twisted and he makes a great antagonist! I like his costume a lot too. It’s a wonderful contrast to Batman’s. It a shame that we didn’t see him again!
Fun fact: during the no Man's Land storyline Batman resorted to putting lock up in charge of black gate prison to keep some sort of handle on the rampant crime in an otherwise lawless region with the kg beast serving as lockups enforcer. Of course as soon as the ruling declaring the Gotham area and no man's land was lifted one of Batman's first orders of business was to immediately take that apart and put lock up right back behind bars.
This may sound weird but I think this episode should have been the season finale rather than "Batgirl Returns". When looking back at season 3 as whole, it's had many villain reform episodes (house & garden, catwalk, riddler reform, harley holiday and second chance), with Batman seeing these rogues trying to reform but failing and going back to a life of crime. If this events had been reference by Bolton, it could not only give more valid points for his ideology but aalso give more meaning for the conflict between him and Batman, with dark knight refusal to accept Lock Up methods showing how strong is Batman's compassion. Even after seen many of his enemies failing to reform in this season, he still allows them to live and, by doing so, it gives a new chance to try to reform again.
The problem with this episode is that Bolton isn't really wrong when he says the Police are Incompetent and the Arkham Doctors are useless. There's a reason why the villains we see complaining about him are the likable, sympathetic ones and not the monstrous ones like Joker...its because we wouldn't see Bolton as wrong for terrorizing THEM.
Yup, if it was like the Joker, Croc or hell Scarecrow himself should've been a clue no one would've complained because yeah Harley and the Ventriloquist aren't that bad but compared to Poison Ivy, the Mad Hatter, and the Joker, they are the least threatening.
I'd argue Scarecrow is more pathetic than anything else and Harley is a lackey who happens to be hot. Plus i doubt they would be scared of him because those would the regular foes of Batman.
But he crosses the line as soon as he decides to punish the police and doctors, as oppose to going after Gotham's most dangerous criminals. Which seems to further indicate that he's really just bully, since he targets easy prey rather than going after someone his own size. Plus his "Liberal media" line really gives off vibes of the fanatical Gun crazy types, complete with again going after easy targets than actually seeking dangerous people that indeed kill people. Doubt Lock-Up would had actually taken on the Joker, Freeze, Ra's ghul or Bane knowing he would had gotten himself killed.
But that doesn't give him the right to abuse his authority and I also doubt abusing mentally insane peoples going to help make them less unhinged also as for the doctors being useless it's not really there fault cause if they were able to actually do anything then there wouldn't be any villians for batman to stop or not as many. At the end of the day he's a sadist who was unfit for his job
@@kingthe13 that might be true, but that’s what makes the concept flawed from the start. If you don’t want to look at the comics, watch Under the Red Hood. In it, Jason Todd has a similar argument, but in that case it’s for using lethal force and controlling rather than stopping crime. His idea you can argue with one way or the other, since it has good and bad points. With Lockup, they had to take something that was pretty logical or at least understandable then play cartoon villain with it for there to even be a flaw with Lock-up’s basic point.
The 2014 Gotham TV series had a similar character, Captain Nathaniel "The Executioner" Barnes, a GCPD Captain who went Punisher on Gothams criminals and was a big hulking figure.
The ending is similar to the end of the Spider-Man comic that first introduced the Punisher. As the character is taken away in a police van, he comments on how he’ll keep his eye on the inmate population.
It seems Bolton only picked on the inmates who were physically weak (Scarecrow, Harley, Wesker), but how would he have fared against The Joker, Two-Face, Croc, the much more notorious members of Arkham?
He could probably take Joker and Two Face, but Croc or Bane would definitely be too much for him. In this setting, Bane is already tough enough to go toe to toe with Batman even without his venom
@@potaterjim I mean, in one comic, Joker just got into a normal prison and one of the big, tough inmates tries ot pick on him. Joker beats him to death with his shoe. Also, Bane usually is tough enough to go toe to toe with Batman, with th e Venom giving him the edge in raw power.
@@undertakernumberone1 Joker in Batman TAS isn't as hardcore as later versions of the character. He's dangerous, but he's also kinda cowardly and has a fairly low tolerance for physical pain. In one episode a pudgy, balding, middle-aged salaryman actually manages to intimidate Joker so badly that he begs Batman for help. I could see TAS Joker possibly being victimized by Bolton. He's not amazing in hand-to-hand and in Arkham he doesn't have access to his weapons or henchmen to give him an advantage.
I wonder will we get Batman Unchained FanScription because I want to see Scarecrow, Poison Ivy who should be like Sil from the movie Species and a subplot where Selina is pregnant with Bruce’s child
Lock Up (the character) looks like he came from a 90s comic book design. Hulk body, shoulder pads, metal armor and chains, fists bigger than his head, always gritting his teeth and snarling.
His character design (and personality) to me, looks like it might've been inspired by Judge Dredd, who debuted in the 70's but definitely was the precursor to most of the popular 90's "extreme" anti-heroes.
Apparently Lock-Up was voiced by Bruce Weitz who is best known for his role Detective Michael "Mick" Belker on Hill Street Blues. He also voiced the character Porg on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.
I feel that Lock-Up has been one of the most underutilized villains in the show and in the comics. A villain or anti-hero who could show another reflection of Batman's inner reflections, like Joker showing off his insanity to his logical reasoning, or Two Face's two-sided personality to the connection between Bruce and Batman in a constant battle for the face at all times, Bolton could be another reflection as to what happens when Batman uses intimidation and torture methods too far. While Batman will use his fear tactics and brutality to his advantage, he still knows when to hold back. Bolton on the other hand goes as far as possible without any consequence of his actions and seemingly seems to revel in it all. It's a shame he couldn't have been given more room to grow in the comics or the show.
As for the episode itself, I enjoy it. Very rarely does BTAS get philosophical, but when it does, it's damn good. I love that Batman's newest foe isn't an an anarchist, a gangster, a mad scientist, a corrupt businessman, an eco-terrorist, or even just a spoiled rich kid looking for excitement: He's an unhinged authority figure who sees criminals through black and white lenses and takes authority too much in his hands. A lot of people say that he's like a darker version of the Caped Crusader if he lost all sympathy for supervillains and treated himself as the only trustworthy enforcer of the law, but I think he's also a mocking parody of Judge Dredd who was popular at the time.
Yeah, the costume does match Dredd. I also get shades of Azrael from him, someone who decrees that a more extreme form of justice must be meted out to truly stop madmen who forsake the laws of decency. Of course even Azrael never went after politicians, cops and journalists just for not seeing things his way.
I think he's a parody of the edgy Punisher-style heroes that were in vogue in comics through the 90's. (Dredd being a fairly early example.) His costume even looks like it was designed by Rob Liefeld, what with the huge shoulder pads and chains.
They under utilize Lock Up so much in the comics! They have great seeds laid out for them to create a powerful anti hero for Batman to battle, as well as other villains!
ive been waiting for this review for 2 years and im happy to see it wasn't nit picked to death and its main theme wasn't glossed over, Lock Up is a character I think deserved to come back at least one more time and his theming of the Justice system failing us but still addressing that using the extreme measures the criminals take back on them, isn't the solution to fixing their problem
Lock-up is a villain that I've always found interesting and he has a lot of potential. If WB made a Batman film set almost entirely in Arkham, he would be an interesting villain to utilize. Perhaps in a team-up with Hugo Strange trapping Batman inside with all of the other villains.
Lock up is in the gray area of sympathetic villain. You can see his point about tightening the reins, but at the same time they're all are not incurable monsters like the Joker, or killer Croc. Harley in particular just needs mild sedatives, and positive role models around her and weekly therapy. I'm sure eventually she would become a well balanced person and no longer need anything to stay that way. But someone like lock up on her ass will just get her even more paranoid and self destructive.
This is the version of Harley Quinn that is almost as bad as the joker who created the Gameboy bomb and gave it to the joker to distribute to children in child hospital and that love killing children and innocence
A lot of the points that you and a few other commentators made are all the reasons that make this episode so great; similar to the episode "Trial", it creates a character that brings up an important topic that's still easy to debate about, even to this day. While Bolton's methods are seen to be wrong, he is right about the broken system of Gotham City that's responsible for the Rogues and the crimes they've committed. At the same time, while it's great that Batman sympathizes with some of his foes, at the same time, it's hard to do so considering all the innocent lives they've taken over the years.
I loved that little moment where Bruce stops a rampaging Bolton during the hearing at the start of the episode by tripping him up leading to his capture before getting taken out of the building. I think he casually knocked a chair over for him to trip on. Just little details like that to keep his identity secret was pretty well done.
I wonder if they were giving us hints about Dick Grayson becoming Nightwing throughout this season; with the weird way he acted at the beginning of Second Chance and the "Another villain courtesy of the Wayne Foundation" joke in this episode
Best line of the episode belongs to Batman, following what we've already seen about the compassion and hope for rehabilitation he has for (most of) his villains: "I was BORN to fight YOUR brand of 'order'!"
While i agree that a way must be found to keep tighter a leash on the immates from escaping they also needed to be shown the compassion and dignity Batman shows them, to slowly but surely fix the problem.
@@magallanesagustin4952 Then a ds would be more practical and have less impact on the other inmates(at least one ought to be salvagable) rather than mere torturing which achieves nothing.
I would had loved to see him around more but with a crew this time around consisting of the victims of the villains. I also would had loved to see him talk to the news after he got fired so he can talk about the effect of the villains constant escapes on the citizens of Gotham.
I wish they could've brought him back in the Judgment Day episode instead of Two-Face as the Judge, or one of the Cadmus arc episodes of Justice League Unlimited.
This character reminds me a little of the TV show Gotham. Captain Barnes kinda had this view by the end of his character arc. Though they went with a different character I think
Lock-Up was eventually added into the Comics of the main DC Universe, sadly he isn't use much, which is a shame since I really do think he have potential.
I’ve been looking forward to when you’d be getting to this episode. Regardless of how you feel about the character himself, what I really appreciated about this episode was how it touched upon a subject that few shows tend to put a spotlight on: correctional abuse.
Honestly I thought Lock-Up started off with potential but for me it really dragged in the middle and ended pretty anticlimactically however I did like at the very end when he ended up in Arkham. One more thing I didn't necessarily care for was how feeble and cowardly they portrayed Scarecrow. I get they were trying to hype up Bolton by basically saying that if the self-proclaimed master of fear is afraid of him then he must be a big deal, but ultimately I think it just made Scarecrow seem less of a threat. It's really a shame too because after Dreams in Darkness, Scarecrow barely had any appearances at least until The New Batman Adventures where the character was significantly improved upon.
Scarecrow is one of the villains they pretty much had to kneecap in this series. He's often depicted as one of the most truly evil of Batman's villains and in some interpretations he's actually quite a capable fighter both in hand to hand combat and with scythes and other weapons. However, here he's essentially just a guy with different chemicals to do all the work for him, so it's not exactly had to make him look feeble.
Despite Bolton's promise to keep an eye on them from the inside promising they'd never slip by again, they still did. All because they felt there was no further use for Bolton's character
Lock-Up in Arkham Asylum surrounded by people terrified of him. I hate to be the criminal who shares a cell with him. The episode overall is good. Not my all time favorite but good.
Batman: "You are definitely insane to have managed to terrify even the scarecrow himself, Bolton!" Bolton: "I'm just doing the job you should be doing! Giving your enemies the terror they need to get to uphold the law!" Poison Ivy: "THIS BASTARD MADE ME WATCH HOW HE KILLED ONE OF MY CHILDREN BY PICKING OUT ITS PETALS ONE BY ONE!!!" Robin: "Calm down, Ivy. If you want another child, I'll leave you my seed with plea..AUHH" *Gets smacked by Batman*
Maybe it's me, but, I think this character is strong enough to headline a Batman Animated movie. As you said, give him a backstory where he might have had an unfortunate incident with one of Batman's villains, and vows to make sure villains like the kind in Arkham asylum never see the light of day. Blur the lines of good and bad, shades of grey. I think it could make for an interesting story.
I could easily see him as a major threat, to where I'm disappointed he didn't appear in Arkham Aslyum or Arkham City. Imagine an entire building booby trapped with all kinds of locks, traps and everything else to ensure you can't get out.
@@thefanwithoutaface8105I always thought that he could've worked in Arkham City as he could be the chief of the T.Y.G.E.R guards with him having a final battle at Wonder Tower before dying in the explosion.
I think _Mask of the Phantasm_ actually did use a similar concept to that. Except it was with mob bosses and not the supervillains. *Spoiler* Not counting the Joker
I love something people pointed out. The inmates that seem to suffer the most at his hands are the weakest inmates in Arkham. Come on big man, try to break Joker or Killer Croc why don't ya?
Bolton kept the criminals in check in a way, his methods were too brash. I am certain Gotham wouldn't be upset if he roughed up the Joker considering the lives he ruined
I wish that this was two separate stories. One solely focused on the enquiry of how Bolton treats the inmates and a follow up where we see him become Lock Up
Like many others this was one of my favorite episodes. Someone like Batman but he just works for the system and is also more brutal and terrifying. Glad someone so articulate and knowledgeable covered this. Everyone is surprised the villains were scared of him but I wasn't it makes total sense that you have someone else like Batman out there but just with loose screws lol.
Lock Down was one of the more memorable villains from the series. He only had this one episode but it's such a good episode and a great character, especially considering the moral grey area here. Most of the other villains are just evil but Lock Down is a misguided anti-hero who actually believes he's doing the right thing by keeping the criminals locked up. I wish he had been in more episodes and I feel they could have done more with the character than what we saw here.
As horrific as Bloton’s methods are, I can’t help but think he has a fair point. I mean how many people are going to get hurt until Arkham Asylum or the authorities realize their methods are greatly flawed.
@@Brasswatchman Not saying what he was doing was the right thing but since they keep re-offending I can see why someone like Bolton would think this is the right course of action.
Thoughts on Lock-Up?
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A pretty naunsed episode that really deserves more thought.
ive been waiting for this review for 2 years and im happy to see it wasn't nit picked to death and its main theme wasn't glossed over, Lock Up is a character I think deserved to come back at least one more time and his theming of the Justice system failing us but still addressing that using the extreme measures the criminals take back on them, isn't the solution to fixing their problem
Definitely an interesting character.
I find it funny that Scarecrow is affraid of this guy.
Also something about animation. Watching Lock Up lips move under that black mask seems wierd, or is it just me
@@Gojiro7 yeah because maybe he should have appeared in the Justice Lords episode
I like how like most great Batman villains, Lock up represents an aspect of Batman himself but warped or inverted, in this case a warped version of Batman's own desire for upholding order. I like how his mask is even an inverse of Batman's, covering his mouth but not his eyes
That's just how some supervillains are e.g. Doctor Octopus to Spider-Man and Subjekt-17 to Superman and arguably Doctor Doom to Reed Richards, Magneto to Professor X and Sabretooth to Wolverine. In the DCAU Wonder Woman later gets Aresia.
@@Mansplainer2099-jy8ps The best supervillains usually. Joker would've made less sense as a Superman nemesis, for example. Which makes me wonder why Flash often gets praised for his rogues gallery. They barely complement him besides the ones w/ the same powers.
@@jp3813 _"The best supervillains usually."_
Well, it's all in the context, really, some dynamics work better as "total opposites", others "dark mirror images", others a bit of both. If you can find it, there's the interesting "Masters of Evil" conversation with Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross about an Astro City villain (it was in Wizard's Dark Book '98, I believe).
_"Joker would've made less sense as a Superman nemesis, for example."_
True, although he has the Prankster who is like the "old-school" Joker. Also, there's Toyman.
_"Which makes me wonder why Flash often gets praised for his rogues gallery. They barely complement him besides the ones w/ the same powers."_
I'm no expert on the Flash villains but I think it has to do with them being more like a team and some having kind of frenemy relationship with the Flash.
Honestly i like that aspect too but sometimes i feel it’s been used WAY too much.
“Another fine villain made possible by a grant from the Wayne Foundation”
Quite possibly Robin’s best line in the series.
But ultimately it's the same misguided thought as the Accusation in the episode where all the supervillains sit court over Batman...
he does so much more good than evil with his humanitarian efforts, it's not really his fault when a few bad apples abuse the help given to them. It wasn't his choice to make them criminals, he just offered the same help as for thousands of others.
@@Ugly_German_Truths agreed, alot of times abusing compassion is true villainy which is part of the reason why I think Lock-Up is a good batman Villain who see's the problem of the law doing less protecting the innocent from these super villains and more trying to get them out of their system in a hurry. His existence tackles the moral grey area created by the need for villains to return to be fought again and how it parallels our own reality where criminals are pitied instead of punished for the horrible things they do
Definitely one of the funniest Robin lines
I have a theory that the humiliation Scarecrow suffered at Bolton's hands inspired him to be much more terrifying than ever, giving rise to the iconic gruesome suit he would wear in The New Batman Adventures.
Hi! ^_^
Never saw Johnathan so scared as
Heck.
Bolton put the fear of god in him.
I like that theory.
@@nehemiahpouncey3607 Considering Scarecrow is regularly one of the more genuinely evil of Batman's villains, I'd say he had it coming.
I've been looking forward to this episode
"I WAS BORN TO FIGHT YOUR BRAND OF ORDER."-BATMAN
*chills* everytime
L Batman
Honestly, this is one of my favorites. I love the idea of a villain so intimidating that even the likes of the Scarecrow are afraid of him. Plus, the climax on the Halsey is awesome.
This episode becomes even more fun to watch after reading the "Crimson Mist" comic, specifically the part where Vampire Batman easily kills Scarecrow by telling him "You don't know what fear is". I'm sure Lock Up read that comic and his reaction was "Give me five minutes with him, pal..."
Speaking of the Vampire Batman I thought of a new character called the Bat king along with a monster league.
Ironically, if Lockup existed on that world then VampBatman probably murdered him as well.
This guy and max stan from Batman
Beyond could relate.
@@nehemiahpouncey3607 could be related
@@autumbreeze1129 they think the same
Thing kind of.
But max takes his up a notch and
Turn it to 11.
Lock-Up is just so interesting as a concept. A former chief of security at Arkham turned security themed supervillain with a warped idea of how criminals should be handled. It's an interesting and thought-provoking idea, as Walter explained here
yeah, but I always feel when comic writers try to use him he always falls flat because they just turn him into a regular supervillain when I feel he should be an anti-villain. like the character stuck with me because of the ending where he ends up in arkham but is glad about it because he can now keep an eye on all the villains and I wish they expanded on that idea. have him be a villain that also keeps the other villains in line/inside arkham and he could be both a reluctant ally or enemy to batman depending on the situation.
One complaint I had with him is that when Batman says he shows no compassion to the Arkham inmates, Bolton should've said something like "And their victims? You think they were shown any compassion?" It would've made this conflict more nuanced and show how you can only give someone so many chances before they use them to inflict more pain onto others.
It's interesting to see how many great characters in DC started out in this series. Harley Quinn, Renee Montoya and now this guy. I think I can see why he wasn't used as often as the others.
Given the level of police brutality today, Lock Up would be a very timely character.
Max stan from Batman beyond
Is similar to him.
They both relate to the same problem.
Honestly he makes me think of a DC version of the punisher. Someone basically putting the law into their own hands. Wouldn't be surprised if Lock Up has killed somebody in the comics
Don’t forget the condiment king
@@aussiekola2370
DC has less anti-heroes because a guy who actually ends criminals for good would probably make Batman sparing the Joker a bit more questionable.
Those who fight against monsters should take care. Least they become monsters themselves.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Truer words have never been spoken my friend.
Or in this case typed
yeah, dont stop evil, just keep enabling it
5:22 "He held me over a can filled with termites! You hear me?! TER-MITES!!!!"
That might be one of my favorite lines in this episode.
Me too
Pretty much max stan is his forecester.
They relate to what's going on.
@@nehemiahpouncey3607 blow it all up!
@@srstriker6420 LoL.
*Fun fact:* Lock-Up was introduced into the comics continuity even before Harley Quinn, appearing in Robin vol 2 24 as a surprise cameo. From then on, said character would have a greater role, as in the "No Man's Land" event.
I do admit Lock-up should've been Used for Jason todd team The outlaws with Him Jason todd and Adrian chase as the three of theme want to make gotham and the world a better place and set out to become the outlaws and Have it Lock-up being a father figure to Jason showing him what he needs to do when in the line of duty and Jason seeing Lock-up as the batman gotham needed
@@comicbookreviewer4856 that’s not a bad idea but I guess you have seen the Rewriter’s second Arkham knight rewrite?
@@srstriker6420 no but i still think the arkham knight should,ve been ras al ghul
Wasn't he on the Arkham game?
@@nehemiahpouncey3607No.
Lock Up is SO damn underrated. Like- There is so much you can explore with this character, and he's a got a really good parallel to Batman which poses really good questions on how the Batman goes about doing his job. He's essentially the Bat-man without any compassion towards the criminals he aims to stop. But at the same time, the dude also kind of brings up good points about how villains constantly escape Arkham, he's just way too extreme about it. I really wish they'd do more with this dude, I feel like he has a LOT of potential.
5:50. To be fair, it was Batman’s first time confronting this new enemy; so he didn’t know what to expect.
Bolton's also not going to be a push over. He's clearly a big strong guy. As a former prison guard, he's had some training. (I don't know more about the character, but it wouldn't surprise me if had a military background as well). So I agree. Lock-Up had a chance against Batman.
Lock Up was scary to me. The abusive aspect especially. The fact Scarface was scared of him was so chilling to me.
No kidding I seen prisoners be treated fairly and some none
"He held me over a can of termites! Termites!"
Honestly I kinda wished they could’ve played him up little by little before Bolton’s main episode. Like in a few episodes prior have Batman drop off a villain with Bolton meeting him at the door and little by little Bolton mentioning some changes he would recommend how to lock them up permanently as well during the fight with Batman mention previous incidents (like the joker fish) and expand upon the reality of the damage the city suffered and even possible loss of life and Bolton keeps hammering the point home to Batman that the extra step (murder) is needed to make Gotham permanently safe
I would’ve loved that too.
I can see why this would be an interesting villain for Batman to fight. We don’t need to dive deep into certain plot holes some people love to bring up like how Arkham is like a revolving door. Really, part of me felt like had we seen him deal with certain other villains like Joker or anyone else in the “higher tier” it could help to sell how this guy can be a severely loose cannon. But I guess we would miss the sympathies we saw with the “not as strong” villains.
Still, I am actually interested with how this ended. The idea that while most people would try and break out, he would apparently be the one who would make sure no one else gets out by being in the same Asylum cells as them. Could have made it interesting if there was a follow up and how he almost becomes a “lawful neutral” where you see him deal with some patients trying to escape (and then make it where he is either outsmarted or out maneuvered by whoever the villain of the episode would be).
I guess I find myself fascinated by these kinds of characters. Those who want to do the right thing, but go to such lengths that it can show they are just as bad, if not worse, then those he goes up against.
Would have been interesting if he was in that trial of Batman episode. He would definitely would have been overpowered but I could see him trying to stop the other inmates.
Even if Lock-Up was considered a one-time character, I loved it nonetheless. I kinda wish that they gave this character a chance at a possible live-action adaptation if done right
They could of did so much, like Bolton said “before I got here Arkham asylum was a revolving door for lunatics” the writers could played on that and broke Gotham into factions of groups that support Lock up / condemns the justice system for allowing homicidal maniacs to escape and have another faction of people that think lock up goes to far, and needs be to arrested. So you have a moral dilemma.
Maybe as a side villian kinda like penguin was in the new Batman movie right? That’d be sick lock-up is such an underrated hero
Lock up didn't really go far but did inspire other DC Characters: Jason Todd's Red Hood, Two-Face's third personality the Judge, stealth hunter Rumor, Talon of the Court of Owls, The Balloon Man, the Police Commissioner played by Michael Chiklis, and others.
Zero tolerance can be a scary.
@@williamcrowe2576 Not just scary, but creates just as much of a problem as wild criminals do. I've gotten a taste of what being on the receiving end of that is like and I was lucky enough to be able to walk away from it relatively intact. Many others are not so lucky
What does Commissioner Scali have to do with Batman?
He even got Harley and the others
Shaking in fear in the corner.
@@keiththompson9435 In the Gotham TV Series he played a Commissioner who didn't tolerate corrupt cops and was a great ally but then got poisoned/corrupted through Alice's tainted blood.
Also honorable mentions to Azreal and Chief Angel Rojas.
Such a great episode.
Crazy to see how scared the villains were of Lyle.😮
And among those scared is THE SCARECROW of all people.
@@grw18 bingo 😂
Max stan is pretty much starting
What Bolton couldn't finish.
@@grw18 no seriously wtf did he even DO to him???
I like the part when Batman and lock-on meet for the first time and he propose batman to work together, like batman catches criminales and he locks them away, witch fits the beginning when he thanks Batman fir bring Scarecrow back to Arkham. He truly believe he was a hero and that Batman was gonna be in his side
Now see, the issue is that while his methods are wrong, he's right about the system being inadequate. The system being inadequate and corrupt is precisely why there needs to be a Batman. But the mere presence of Batman gives complacency to those in the system to not improve further.
...Holy shit, this deserves more likes! Excellent and succint description of the Batman Paradox!
I always like that the ventriloquist gets a little moment in this episode, and his bravery inspired the other villians, I can just imagine Two face being like “shit really? Wesker huh? I guess I’ll tell the guards as well”
If anybody has read HARLEEN, there’s an Arkham guard character that eventually snaps at the end after Joker kills one too many of his friends/coworkers, and tries to kill him. I always thought that would have been a cool redesign for the Lock-Up characters. So I’m happy you said pretty much the same thing here
I loved this episode as a kid because it gave scarecrow more depth because he did not have a really good backstory in the animated series. I loved the comics following the animated series because while I dont remember the issue I do remember that scarecrow freaked out when Lyle Bolton got locked in with him.
This was actually one of my favorite episodes from the Batman animated series.
Dr. Bartholomew: "Since Lyle Bolton has gone too far in the exercise of his authority, we have replaced him with a guard with a greater capacity for self-control"
Inmates: "Cool! And who is the loser taking care of us from now on?"
Rorschach: "Hello"
Inmates: 😢
Punisher: hold my m60
"I am not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me!"
Lol 😂😂😂😂
BWF
Spawn: “Mind if I volunteer?”
The part where they only speak up when the idea of Bolton continuing to work there hits them. That abuse won't ever stop unless they speak up.
It would be more like an abuser complaint about getting a new relationship with a being in abuser
@@majesticgothitelle1802...pardon?
@@youtubeuniversity3638 I'm saying these are older characters who are killer, some kill other joy. Older Harley Quinn killed innocent people and children. Sometimes take joy in it. One time Harley created a game boy bomb and sent it to a children's hospital. Harley Quinn also kills a teenage boy over something pity. Destroy entire neighborhoods on her own without the joker influence.
They changed Harley Quinn for my insane killer who is similar to the joker but plays like it was just a game in the form of a childish demeter or teasing. Into an abuse victim who kills?
I loved the episode, but the actual villain was a despicable monster. Someone in a different video said that, when Harley Quinn calls you an animal, then you *know* you're messed up because she's endured the Joker's abuse. Honestly, that best sums up my opinions on Lyle Bolton. He was a man who became obsessed with his job to the point where he became worse than those he deemed were the scum of the earth. It's rare to see that kind of portrayal in children's media anymore. The closest I can think of to a villain who became worse than the people they were prosecuting is Emperor Belos from "The Owl House," so it's nice to go back and see, while people may have others' best interests in mind, they can also step right over the line and become just as horrible, if not worse, than those they fight.
Except Bolton isn't a monster, remember the people he's torturing are repeat offender criminals who've robbed, assaulted and even tried to murder people multiple times in this show alone, which become actual murders in the comics and more adult shows.
Sure he seems evil until you remember the people in Arkham are super criminals who are so dangerous they need Batman to stop them as the Police can't and every time they escape it leads to more damage and harm to the people.
Nah. He's far from being worse. The criminals he brutalized hurt and kill innocent people
Bolton only hurt those who killed innocent people so they wouldn't be able to hurt more, and hw never hurt an innocent.
That before when Harley Quinn is more satanic than the newer version. The older Harley Quinn created a Gameboy bomb to have joker give to children's hospital. That Harley ok killing innocence and children
@@tvccreator_elysius To be fair, the witches were living in peace until Belos arrived to fuck everything up.
I like how instead of the usual detective works Batman just” yeb it’s got to be Bolton”
The man made scarecrow afraid of him, what an absolute beast
He's an antihero like a big ass punisher without the guns instead having locks lmao. So damn dope.
Meh. Jonathan Crane himself isn't too difficult to traumatize. Why do you think he's compelled to spread fear as Scarecrow? Because on some level, he's always afraid himself.
I like the moral questions raised by the villain's modus operandi in the episode. That alone makes it a solid addition to the show's run.
Quite possibly one of the best hidden gem epiodes of BTAS
Man, this episode hits a LOT different in 2023...
I love this episode! Lyle’s personality very twisted and he makes a great antagonist! I like his costume a lot too. It’s a wonderful contrast to Batman’s. It a shame that we didn’t see him again!
I really like this character. He's like a more extreme version of Batman and it's interesting to see how it conflicts with Batman's own moral code.
Fun fact: during the no Man's Land storyline Batman resorted to putting lock up in charge of black gate prison to keep some sort of handle on the rampant crime in an otherwise lawless region with the kg beast serving as lockups enforcer. Of course as soon as the ruling declaring the Gotham area and no man's land was lifted one of Batman's first orders of business was to immediately take that apart and put lock up right back behind bars.
This may sound weird but I think this episode should have been the season finale rather than "Batgirl Returns". When looking back at season 3 as whole, it's had many villain reform episodes (house & garden, catwalk, riddler reform, harley holiday and second chance), with Batman seeing these rogues trying to reform but failing and going back to a life of crime. If this events had been reference by Bolton, it could not only give more valid points for his ideology but aalso give more meaning for the conflict between him and Batman, with dark knight refusal to accept Lock Up methods showing how strong is Batman's compassion. Even after seen many of his enemies failing to reform in this season, he still allows them to live and, by doing so, it gives a new chance to try to reform again.
The problem with this episode is that Bolton isn't really wrong when he says the Police are Incompetent and the Arkham Doctors are useless.
There's a reason why the villains we see complaining about him are the likable, sympathetic ones and not the monstrous ones like Joker...its because we wouldn't see Bolton as wrong for terrorizing THEM.
Yup, if it was like the Joker, Croc or hell Scarecrow himself should've been a clue no one would've complained because yeah Harley and the Ventriloquist aren't that bad but compared to Poison Ivy, the Mad Hatter, and the Joker, they are the least threatening.
I'd argue Scarecrow is more pathetic than anything else and Harley is a lackey who happens to be hot.
Plus i doubt they would be scared of him because those would the regular foes of Batman.
But he crosses the line as soon as he decides to punish the police and doctors, as oppose to going after Gotham's most dangerous criminals.
Which seems to further indicate that he's really just bully, since he targets easy prey rather than going after someone his own size. Plus his "Liberal media" line really gives off vibes of the fanatical Gun crazy types, complete with again going after easy targets than actually seeking dangerous people that indeed kill people. Doubt Lock-Up would had actually taken on the Joker, Freeze, Ra's ghul or Bane knowing he would had gotten himself killed.
But that doesn't give him the right to abuse his authority and I also doubt abusing mentally insane peoples going to help make them less unhinged also as for the doctors being useless it's not really there fault cause if they were able to actually do anything then there wouldn't be any villians for batman to stop or not as many.
At the end of the day he's a sadist who was unfit for his job
@@kingthe13 that might be true, but that’s what makes the concept flawed from the start. If you don’t want to look at the comics, watch Under the Red Hood. In it, Jason Todd has a similar argument, but in that case it’s for using lethal force and controlling rather than stopping crime. His idea you can argue with one way or the other, since it has good and bad points. With Lockup, they had to take something that was pretty logical or at least understandable then play cartoon villain with it for there to even be a flaw with Lock-up’s basic point.
I'm honestly waiting for Make Em Laugh; one of my favorite episodes
The 2014 Gotham TV series had a similar character, Captain Nathaniel "The Executioner" Barnes, a GCPD Captain who went Punisher on Gothams criminals and was a big hulking figure.
Some actually thought of him as The Judge, Two-Face's third personality, cuz he kept saying guilty.
This was one of my favorite underrated batman episodes
4:41 "I'm not locked in here with you... YOU'RE locked in here with ME!"
01:25 I always remember Lock Ups's HUGE apartment! No wonder he was pissed when he lost his job - he must have been on a great salary.
I love how, apart from the first scene, Lock-Up's mouth and nose are always visible through his mask. It makes me wonder how he's able to breath.
The ending is similar to the end of the Spider-Man comic that first introduced the Punisher. As the character is taken away in a police van, he comments on how he’ll keep his eye on the inmate population.
It seems Bolton only picked on the inmates who were physically weak (Scarecrow, Harley, Wesker), but how would he have fared against The Joker, Two-Face, Croc, the much more notorious members of Arkham?
He could probably take Joker and Two Face, but Croc or Bane would definitely be too much for him. In this setting, Bane is already tough enough to go toe to toe with Batman even without his venom
@@potaterjim I mean, in one comic, Joker just got into a normal prison and one of the big, tough inmates tries ot pick on him. Joker beats him to death with his shoe.
Also, Bane usually is tough enough to go toe to toe with Batman, with th e Venom giving him the edge in raw power.
Like most bullies, he only goes after the ones weaker than him.
@@undertakernumberone1 Joker in Batman TAS isn't as hardcore as later versions of the character. He's dangerous, but he's also kinda cowardly and has a fairly low tolerance for physical pain. In one episode a pudgy, balding, middle-aged salaryman actually manages to intimidate Joker so badly that he begs Batman for help. I could see TAS Joker possibly being victimized by Bolton. He's not amazing in hand-to-hand and in Arkham he doesn't have access to his weapons or henchmen to give him an advantage.
@@christinaflibotte6446 Exactly.
Yes! More of this incredible Month! Bat-May rules!
I wonder will we get Batman Unchained FanScription because I want to see Scarecrow, Poison Ivy who should be like Sil from the movie Species and a subplot where Selina is pregnant with Bruce’s child
Lock Up (the character) looks like he came from a 90s comic book design. Hulk body, shoulder pads, metal armor and chains, fists bigger than his head, always gritting his teeth and snarling.
His character design (and personality) to me, looks like it might've been inspired by Judge Dredd, who debuted in the 70's but definitely was the precursor to most of the popular 90's "extreme" anti-heroes.
Exactly. Like he was designed by Rob Liefeld.
Apparently Lock-Up was voiced by Bruce Weitz who is best known for his role Detective Michael "Mick" Belker on Hill Street Blues. He also voiced the character Porg on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.
Weitz also voiced Intergang boss Bruno Mannheim on "Superman: The Animated Series".
Rip Kevin Conroy 🦇🙏🏼
I feel that Lock-Up has been one of the most underutilized villains in the show and in the comics. A villain or anti-hero who could show another reflection of Batman's inner reflections, like Joker showing off his insanity to his logical reasoning, or Two Face's two-sided personality to the connection between Bruce and Batman in a constant battle for the face at all times, Bolton could be another reflection as to what happens when Batman uses intimidation and torture methods too far. While Batman will use his fear tactics and brutality to his advantage, he still knows when to hold back. Bolton on the other hand goes as far as possible without any consequence of his actions and seemingly seems to revel in it all. It's a shame he couldn't have been given more room to grow in the comics or the show.
I think that’s because Jason Todd exist…he is a direct result of system but obviously his insanity makes point at Batman
Baby doll for me is the most underutilized.
As for the episode itself, I enjoy it. Very rarely does BTAS get philosophical, but when it does, it's damn good. I love that Batman's newest foe isn't an an anarchist, a gangster, a mad scientist, a corrupt businessman, an eco-terrorist, or even just a spoiled rich kid looking for excitement: He's an unhinged authority figure who sees criminals through black and white lenses and takes authority too much in his hands. A lot of people say that he's like a darker version of the Caped Crusader if he lost all sympathy for supervillains and treated himself as the only trustworthy enforcer of the law, but I think he's also a mocking parody of Judge Dredd who was popular at the time.
Yeah, the costume does match Dredd. I also get shades of Azrael from him, someone who decrees that a more extreme form of justice must be meted out to truly stop madmen who forsake the laws of decency. Of course even Azrael never went after politicians, cops and journalists just for not seeing things his way.
I think he's a parody of the edgy Punisher-style heroes that were in vogue in comics through the 90's. (Dredd being a fairly early example.) His costume even looks like it was designed by Rob Liefeld, what with the huge shoulder pads and chains.
They under utilize Lock Up so much in the comics! They have great seeds laid out for them to create a powerful anti hero for Batman to battle, as well as other villains!
0:30 that pause felt SO awkward, like I could feel the stare coming my way.
It’s interesting seeing some of these iconic villains scared of someone that’s not Batman
ive been waiting for this review for 2 years and im happy to see it wasn't nit picked to death and its main theme wasn't glossed over, Lock Up is a character I think deserved to come back at least one more time and his theming of the Justice system failing us but still addressing that using the extreme measures the criminals take back on them, isn't the solution to fixing their problem
Lock-up is a villain that I've always found interesting and he has a lot of potential.
If WB made a Batman film set almost entirely in Arkham, he would be an interesting villain to utilize.
Perhaps in a team-up with Hugo Strange trapping Batman inside with all of the other villains.
Lock up is in the gray area of sympathetic villain. You can see his point about tightening the reins, but at the same time they're all are not incurable monsters like the Joker, or killer Croc. Harley in particular just needs mild sedatives, and positive role models around her and weekly therapy. I'm sure eventually she would become a well balanced person and no longer need anything to stay that way. But someone like lock up on her ass will just get her even more paranoid and self destructive.
This is the version of Harley Quinn that is almost as bad as the joker who created the Gameboy bomb and gave it to the joker to distribute to children in child hospital and that love killing children and innocence
A lot of the points that you and a few other commentators made are all the reasons that make this episode so great; similar to the episode "Trial", it creates a character that brings up an important topic that's still easy to debate about, even to this day. While Bolton's methods are seen to be wrong, he is right about the broken system of Gotham City that's responsible for the Rogues and the crimes they've committed. At the same time, while it's great that Batman sympathizes with some of his foes, at the same time, it's hard to do so considering all the innocent lives they've taken over the years.
I loved that little moment where Bruce stops a rampaging Bolton during the hearing at the start of the episode by tripping him up leading to his capture before getting taken out of the building.
I think he casually knocked a chair over for him to trip on. Just little details like that to keep his identity secret was pretty well done.
I wonder if they were giving us hints about Dick Grayson becoming Nightwing throughout this season; with the weird way he acted at the beginning of Second Chance and the "Another villain courtesy of the Wayne Foundation" joke in this episode
Best line of the episode belongs to Batman, following what we've already seen about the compassion and hope for rehabilitation he has for (most of) his villains:
"I was BORN to fight YOUR brand of 'order'!"
I think this would’ve been stronger two-parter that focused heavily on Lock-Up and actually seeing his brutal practices. Not bad though. Super solid.
While i agree that a way must be found to keep tighter a leash on the immates from escaping they also needed to be shown the compassion and dignity Batman shows them, to slowly but surely fix the problem.
It will work for at least some of them otherwise why even have Arkham?
And how about their victims? Did they show any compassion to them?
@@magallanesagustin4952
Then a ds would be more practical and have less impact on the other inmates(at least one ought to be salvagable) rather than mere torturing which achieves nothing.
I would had loved to see him around more but with a crew this time around consisting of the victims of the villains. I also would had loved to see him talk to the news after he got fired so he can talk about the effect of the villains constant escapes on the citizens of Gotham.
I wish they could've brought him back in the Judgment Day episode instead of Two-Face as the Judge, or one of the Cadmus arc episodes of Justice League Unlimited.
This character reminds me a little of the TV show Gotham. Captain Barnes kinda had this view by the end of his character arc. Though they went with a different character I think
Lock-Up was eventually added into the Comics of the main DC Universe, sadly he isn't use much, which is a shame since I really do think he have potential.
Yeah like he should have been in the Justice lords episode and maybe Cadmus recruited him
I’ve been looking forward to when you’d be getting to this episode. Regardless of how you feel about the character himself, what I really appreciated about this episode was how it touched upon a subject that few shows tend to put a spotlight on: correctional abuse.
This episode is very relevant today, what with what happened yesterday in the New York subway.
Anyone else think that Lock-Up could've been the DC Comic's version of The Punisher?
Very good concept, and they made sure to give it justice with that climax.
Honestly I thought Lock-Up started off with potential but for me it really dragged in the middle and ended pretty anticlimactically however I did like at the very end when he ended up in Arkham. One more thing I didn't necessarily care for was how feeble and cowardly they portrayed Scarecrow. I get they were trying to hype up Bolton by basically saying that if the self-proclaimed master of fear is afraid of him then he must be a big deal, but ultimately I think it just made Scarecrow seem less of a threat. It's really a shame too because after Dreams in Darkness, Scarecrow barely had any appearances at least until The New Batman Adventures where the character was significantly improved upon.
Scarecrow is one of the villains they pretty much had to kneecap in this series. He's often depicted as one of the most truly evil of Batman's villains and in some interpretations he's actually quite a capable fighter both in hand to hand combat and with scythes and other weapons.
However, here he's essentially just a guy with different chemicals to do all the work for him, so it's not exactly had to make him look feeble.
Always wondered if this character went anywhere in other media.
Yes he did
He did but sometimes the writers forget about him
Here's the episode I've been waiting this year for!
Robin: Another fine villain made possible by a grant from the Wayne Foundation.
Batman: 😡
Robin: Only kidding.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Watch it, Robin. That same Wayne behind the foundation is also the reason why you're in college, let alone have a home.😂😂
Despite Bolton's promise to keep an eye on them from the inside promising they'd never slip by again, they still did. All because they felt there was no further use for Bolton's character
I remember they did a similar character to Lock-Up in The Batman called Rumour.
It is one of my favorite episodes. An anti-hero who causes nightmares to all villains in Arkham. The end is creepy in a positive way.
it would be fun if Walter one day decided to cover Superman TAS, he could call it "Super-May".
Or even the 2004 Batman cartoon
@@srstriker6420 Oh yeah that's a good show too. 👍
Wow. Even Scarface is scared of Lyle Bolton.
Lock-Up in Arkham Asylum surrounded by people terrified of him. I hate to be the criminal who shares a cell with him. The episode overall is good. Not my all time favorite but good.
Batman: "You are definitely insane to have managed to terrify even the scarecrow himself, Bolton!"
Bolton: "I'm just doing the job you should be doing! Giving your enemies the terror they need to get to uphold the law!"
Poison Ivy: "THIS BASTARD MADE ME WATCH HOW HE KILLED ONE OF MY CHILDREN BY PICKING OUT ITS PETALS ONE BY ONE!!!"
Robin: "Calm down, Ivy. If you want another child, I'll leave you my seed with plea..AUHH" *Gets smacked by Batman*
Ahahahah!
"See No Evil" dealt with personal issues and grey mortality. So it would have been possible.
Maybe it's me, but, I think this character is strong enough to headline a Batman Animated movie. As you said, give him a backstory where he might have had an unfortunate incident with one of Batman's villains, and vows to make sure villains like the kind in Arkham asylum never see the light of day. Blur the lines of good and bad, shades of grey. I think it could make for an interesting story.
I could easily see him as a major threat, to where I'm disappointed he didn't appear in Arkham Aslyum or Arkham City. Imagine an entire building booby trapped with all kinds of locks, traps and everything else to ensure you can't get out.
@@thefanwithoutaface8105I always thought that he could've worked in Arkham City as he could be the chief of the T.Y.G.E.R guards with him having a final battle at Wonder Tower before dying in the explosion.
I think _Mask of the Phantasm_ actually did use a similar concept to that. Except it was with mob bosses and not the supervillains. *Spoiler*
Not counting the Joker
I love something people pointed out. The inmates that seem to suffer the most at his hands are the weakest inmates in Arkham. Come on big man, try to break Joker or Killer Croc why don't ya?
To be fair about killer croc…idk he would be able handle him
I think that’s why they chose them. To show Lock Up is too brutal. If it was for real psychos we would be on his side.
Exactly. Even if he has a point, Bolton is still just a petty bully in the end.
Bolton kept the criminals in check in a way, his methods were too brash. I am certain Gotham wouldn't be upset if he roughed up the Joker considering the lives he ruined
Actually Bolton doesn't have the balls to mess with any of the real villains like joker or croc
@@D-class9341 Since Bolton did not appear in a lot of episodes, that can not be said. I think a Bolton vs. the Joker could have been interesting
I wish that this was two separate stories.
One solely focused on the enquiry of how Bolton treats the inmates and a follow up where we see him become Lock Up
I still wish the Arkham Knight had been Lockup finally tired of all these Arkham games where all the villains escape
Even Johnathan crane scared of this
Guy.
All them years of putting fear into
People got to him.
Karma is a b*tch ain't it Johnathan?😂
Like many others this was one of my favorite episodes. Someone like Batman but he just works for the system and is also more brutal and terrifying. Glad someone so articulate and knowledgeable covered this. Everyone is surprised the villains were scared of him but I wasn't it makes total sense that you have someone else like Batman out there but just with loose screws lol.
A great episode with a rather underrated antagonist.
Other episodes and iterations explored this as well. I wish they could’ve gone deeper with it, but I’m glad they had this episode.
Lock Down was one of the more memorable villains from the series. He only had this one episode but it's such a good episode and a great character, especially considering the moral grey area here. Most of the other villains are just evil but Lock Down is a misguided anti-hero who actually believes he's doing the right thing by keeping the criminals locked up. I wish he had been in more episodes and I feel they could have done more with the character than what we saw here.
Fun fact: Lock-Up's VA also voiced Bruno Mannheim.
Who’s Bruno Mannheim
@@dwainsimmons3447He's the leader of Intergang from Superman TAS. He often works with Darkseid or his minions who give him enhanced weaponry.
Will we have Super-May next year for Superman: the Animated Series?
Lock Up/Mr Bolton really pulled a "I'm not stuck in here with you. You are all stuck in here with me!" at the end of the episode.
As horrific as Bloton’s methods are, I can’t help but think he has a fair point. I mean how many people are going to get hurt until Arkham Asylum or the authorities realize their methods are greatly flawed.
He does. But notice how he seems to bully the weakest villains - Harley and Wesker in particular - the most. That's not reform. That's just sickness.
@@Brasswatchman I've seen Harely take down a room full of thugs and Wesker weld a machine gun using puppetry. I think they can handle themselves.
@@Vanghool87 Even when they're handcuffed and medicated?
@@Brasswatchman Not saying what he was doing was the right thing but since they keep re-offending I can see why someone like Bolton would think this is the right course of action.
Great to see that Bolton is a boss in the new Arkham game.