Plot summary: Dick Grayson at last tells the story of how he and Batman parted ways and he adopted the Nightwing identity.
Each Saturday and Sunday Matt Waters recaps an episode of the legendary Batman: The Animated Series, building an overall ranking along the way. Plus best performances, the ever-popular Villain Watch and more!
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Notes
Episode Title: ‘Old Wounds’
Original Air Date: October 3rd, 1998
Directed: Curt Geda (5)
Written: Rich Fogel (4)
The events of this episode (and ‘Sins of the Father’) are also told in the 5-part mini-series ‘The Batman Adventures: The Lost Years’, written by Hilary J. Bader, which released earlier in the year.
The second of three episodes to feature the entire Bat-Family in the same episode.
Recap
Robin takes out two thugs but a third gets the drop on him and escapes… only to run straight into Nightwing. Tim at last asks what happened between Dick and Bruce, as the latter has refused to open up about the subject.
Dick is more willing though, recounting his college graduation, attended by Barbara, Alfred and even Lucius Fox, but no Bruce, who was busy doing Batman Things.
Making matters worse, Dick was forced to leave an intimate dinner with Barbara shortly after to assist, teaming up with his grouchy mentor to battle The Joker… who gets away.
Chasing down one of Joker’s henchmen, Bruce is a little too brutal with him in front of his wife and young son. Dick pleads for him to ease up and then splits when he refuses.
A distraught Dick tried to talk to Barbara about the problem, but he couldn’t really say much without revealing his secret identity. Concerned, Babs asks Bruce what’s going on, so he reveals the Batcave to her and that he had deduced she was Batgirl too!
Thus the pair teamed up to stop Joker and his stolen experimental military weapon while Dick was off pouting. Thankfully he arrives on the scene just in time to save her life.
The trio take out Mistah J and then bicker about secrets and putting Barbara in harm’s way. Dick goes as far as to punch his mentor out, storming off and leaving his Robin costume behind.
Back in the present, Dick realises the mugging victim from earlier was the same henchman that Bruce was too rough on in the past. The man reveals Bruce gave him a job and turned his life around. After holding a grudge for five years, this is apparently enough for Dick to at last forgive Bruce.
Best Performance
In an episode that’s entirely about Dick Grayson declaring that enough is enough and breaking out on his own… it’s Tara Strong that shines brightest. Afforded the opportunity to show off her range, she is playful and sultry at dinner with Dick, before shifting over to the emotional maturity of going to Bruce for help, then back into the trademark sass of Batgirl, before finally matching the energy of Kevin Conroy and Loren Lester’s argument. It’s an understate, flawless performance.
This is some of Loren Lester’s best emotional work, but he’s always better at the slightly douchey ladies’ man stuff, and can’t do quite enough to boost Dick’s sympathy levels to maximum.
Mark Hamill is on top form and had he appeared for a few more minutes, he’d probably have stolen this one.
Ranking
I can’t help but compare this to ‘The Lost Years’, which works a little better as it has more time to play out, making the ‘break-up’ more of a slow boil, and also delves into Dick’s extensive training to develop his own set of skills beyond what Bruce taught him. Plus Bruce deduces Barbara is Batgirl by playing tennis against her, and that’s pretty rad!
Most of the major beats still play though, primarily the inherent tragedy of Dick suffering under Bruce’s rules, but still obeying them, leaving his dinner with Barbara to help fight Joker, and not revealing their secret even when he desperately needed to open up to her… only for Bruce himself to casually spill the beans. Everything is on his terms. Always.
Worse still, Barbara has always been enthralled by Batman, and seemingly chooses him over Dick, even if that isn’t literally the case. It’s a classic blame game where nobody is right and emotions are running too high for anybody to listen to reason. Bruce knew about Barbara and never told Dick, who only confronts the truth about his own messed up situation now that it’s re-framed for him with his girlfriend being the one placed in the line of fire.
It’s also full of little details like Dick living off a trust fund after parting ways with his billionaire benefactor thanks to the settlement over his parents’ ‘accident’, Joker having never met Batgirl before due to her sporadic outings, and providing an origin for Bruce beginning to look to Barbara as his main sidekick even before Dick quits.
For me the moment that doesn’t quite play is Dick punching Bruce to end their partnership, which works much better in the comic. They’ve absolutely teased some friction between Bruce and Dick in the past, and the events of this episode alone make Batman look bad, but the punch comes across a little unnecessary, with Bruce legitimately dumbstruck and looking like the innocent victim despite how messed up their dynamic has always been. You should be saying ‘Good For Her Him’.
I also don’t really like the ending as to me it in no way rebalances the scales. Dick had witnessed any number of acts of kindness on Bruce’s part, and his general altruism was never in doubt. The grudge was about his personal treatment of Dick, and without a true kiss and make up scene, I don’t buy Nightwing just letting go of his resentment.
This is another ranking that may raise eyebrows, because if you’re making a highlight reel of the show’s biggest moments and ongoing themes (perhaps something for me to do when I finally wrap all of this…), this is ENORMOUS, and the episode does provide plenty of fun character analysis, but there are too many little things tugging it downward in my opinion.
- The Laughing Fish
- Mask of the Phantasm
- Over the Edge
- Almost Got ‘im
- Heart of Ice
- Harlequinade
- The Trial
- Riddler’s Reform
- Double Talk
- Shadow of the Bat Part I
- I Am the Night
- Robin’s Reckoning Part I
- Baby-Doll
- Sins of the Father
- Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero
- The Man Who Killed Batman
- Perchance to Dream
- Two-Face Part I
- Torch Song
- You Scratch My Back
- Bane
- Batgirl Returns
- A Bullet For Bullock
- Joker’s Favor
- Read My Lips
- Feat of Clay Part II
- The Ultimate Thrill
- Catwalk
- The Demon’s Quest Part II
- Harley and Ivy
- Robin’s Reckoning Part II
- House & Garden
- Beware the Gray Ghost
- Mean Seasons
- Old Wounds (NEW ENTRY)
- Growing Pains
- Holiday Knights
- Second Chance
- Mad as a Hatter
- Heart of Steel Part II
- Appointment In Crime Alley
- Two-Face Part II
- Pretty Poison
- Deep Freeze
- Harley’s Holiday
- Lock-Up
- Shadow of the Bat Part II
- Feat of Clay Part I
- Cold Comfort
- His Silicon Soul
- Off Balance
- Vendetta
- Birds of a Feather
- Joker’s Millions
- Heart of Steel Part I
- Never Fear
- On Leather Wings
- Love is a Croc
- See No Evil
- The Clock King
- It’s Never Too Late
- Make ‘Em Laugh
- Joker’s Wild
- Eternal Youth
- The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy
- The Cat and the Claw Part I
- Zatanna
- Day of the Samurai
- Avatar
- The Demon’s Quest Part I
- The Mechanic
- The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne
- Terror in the Sky
- P.O.V.
- Christmas with the Joker
- Fear of Victory
- Be a Clown
- The Worry Men
- What is Reality?
- Fire From Olympus
- Animal Act
- Night of the Ninja
- Mudslide
- The Cat and the Claw Part II
- Nothing to Fear
- The Lion and the Unicorn
- Prophecy of Doom
- Cult of the Cat
- Tyger, Tyger
- Blind as a Bat
- If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?
- Dreams In Darkness
- The Last Laugh
- Cat Scratch Fever
- Moon of the Wolf
- Paging the Crime Doctor
- Time Out of Joint
- Sideshow
- The Under-Dwellers
- The Forgotten
- Showdown
- Critters
- The Terrible Trio
- I’ve Got Batman in My Basement
Villain Watch
The Joker (Mark Hamill) (seventeenth appearance)
Need I do more than offer up the quote “Do I hit your kids? … Oh… actually, I do…”?
Joker is theoretically an afterthought of this episode, which is devoted to the downfall of Bruce and Dick’s relationship, but being the delightful Murder Clown he is, he’s able to shine in spite of having such minimalist material, commanding audience attention.
It’s fitting that the Dynamic Duo’s greatest adversary would be the last one they faced together, while also acting as a trial by fire for Barbara as her capability as Batgirl begins to rise. He is the Alpha and the Omega… or something like that.
- The Joker
- Harley Quinn
- Mr. Freeze
- Poison Ivy
- The Ventriloquist
- Catwoman
- Two-Face
- Bane
- The Riddler
- The Phantasm
- Baby-Doll
- Mad Hatter
- Clayface
- HARDAC (and Randa Duane)
- Ra’s al Ghul
- Calendar Girl
- Roxy Rocket
- Killer Croc
- Firefly
- Penguin
- Scarecrow
- Lock-Up
- Lloyd Ventrix
- Rupert Thorne
- Count Vertigo
- Clock King
- Nivens
- Roland Daggett (and Germs & Bell!)
- Enrique el Gancho
- Josiah Wormwood
- Talia al Ghul
- Sid the Squid
- Queen Thoth Khepera
- Maxie Zeus
- Jimmy ‘Jazzman’ Peake
- Tony Zucco
- Man-Bat
- Rhino, Mugsy and Ratso
- Hugo Strange
- Red Claw
- Arnold Stromwell
- Mad Bomber
- Tygrus
- Kyodai Ken
- Condiment King/Pack Rat/Mighty Mom
- Farmer Brown (and Emmylou!)
- Grant Walker
- Gil Mason
- Nostromos (and Lucas!)
- Cameron Kaiser
- Dr. Dorian (and Garth)
- Mad Dog
- Ubu
- Thomas Blake
- Professor Milo
- Romulus
- Arkady Duvall
- Sewer King
- Boss Biggis
- Montague Kane
- The Terrible Trio
Plugs
Eager for more long-form coverage of Batman? Why not check out my podcast with Mike Thomas, The Tape Crusaders, which reviewed every Batman movie and delved a tiny bit into the animated series.
My other recap column, Marvel Mondays, concludes coverage of Loki this week with an overall series review.
There Will Be Movies continues Ben & Matt’s look back at the 90s each Wednesday. This week it’s Boyz n the Hood.
The Reel World 