Batman: Caped Crusader, on Amazon
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Caution: spoilers

This 2024 series was developed by Bruce Timm, who executive produces the series along with J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves (director of the movie The Batman), among others. It is to some extent based on ideas Timm had in the 1990s, when he was producing "Batman: The Animated Series, ideas that were rejected at the time for being too mature for the show's target demographic. This series is also heavily influenced by film noir, and seems to be set sometime around the 1940s. The series is both episodic and serial in nature, and focuses on other characters just as much as Bruce Wayne/Batman (voiced by Hamish Linklater). Also, I think this incarnation of Batman can sometimes be a bit of a jerk, especially in how he talks to his butler, Alfred Pennyworth (whom he refers to by last name, and doesn't have as close a relationship with as he usually does in other incarnations). The show is definitely one of the darker interpretations of the character and his universe, including police corruption, and people actually getting killed. I think it's a pretty good show, with plenty of drama and character development, though I can't quite manage to love it, as I did "The Animated Series". And there are a couple of changes to some characters that I could imagine the anti-woke crowd getting upset about, but I don't care about any of that.

Season One
In the first episode, Oswalda Cobblepot, aka the Penguin (Minnie Driver) starts a gang war against Gotham City's main crime boss, Rupert Thorne. She wreaks quite a bit of havoc and destruction, but is ultimately apprehended by Batman. Then GCPD detective Renee Montoya is assigned to find a missing actress. Montoya is one of the few Gotham cops that Commissioner James Gordon knows is incorruptible. The two most crooked cops are Arnold Flass and his partner, Harvey Bullock (John DiMaggio), who work for Thorne, though for now there is no evidence against them. Anyway, the missing actress is eventually rescued. She'd been abducted by a fellow actor turned villain, Basil Karlo. (He's obviously meant to be Clayface, though I don't recall that name ever being used for him, as yet. And he's not the same Clayface I'm familiar with from "The Animated Series", but he is the original comic book villain and has appeared in other shows and stuff.) In episode 3, Batman has to stop an heiress turned catburglar named Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman (Christina Ricci). Then Mayor Jessop orders Gordon to form a task force to catch Batman. Gordon puts Montoya in charge of the task force, but eventually the Mayor orders him to put Flass and Bullock in charge. In episode 5, Gotham businessmen are disappearing. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne is ordered to get therapy from Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Jamie Chung). She turns out to be "Harley Quinn", a villain who is behind the disappearances. Before that is discovered, she starts dating Montoya, but eventually has to flee Gotham. The next episode is about a ghost. I thought it would turn out there was some more realistic explanation, but no, it was a ghost, who stole from the poor, for reasons. Batman gets help from Pennyworth to stop him, but has to make a deal with a mysterious man named Midnite. In episode 7, a hit is put out on Gordon. The first person to try to kill him was Floyd Lawton, who is slightly familiar to me as Deadshot, but here he is surprisingly quickly stopped. A more dangerous foe is some weirdo in a mask who likes to punctuate his actions with sound effects that are kind of like, you know, words you might see printed in comic books (or the 1960s "Batman" TV series). Wikipedia says the guy's name is Onomatopoeia, but I never heard of him that I can recall, and I don't think that name was mentioned in the show. Anyway, it turns out the hit wasn't on Jim Gordon, but rather his daughter, Barbara, a defense attorney. Throughout the season, District Attorney Harvey Dent (Diedrich Bader) is running for mayor against Jessop. He's friends with Bruce, but Barbara really doesn't like him. He eventually goes against his ethics to accept a campaign contribution from Thorne. He also hosts a carnival as a fundraiser, where children begin disappearing. One of the attractions is a scientist named Anton Night (Haley Joel Osment), with assistance from his younger sister, a creepy girl named Natalia (McKenna Grace). She drains energy from children, but is eventually stopped by Batman. In that episode, we also meet Bruce's old friend Leslie Thompkins, who runs an orphanage. And Thorne instructs Dent to drop charges against a criminal he's prosecuting. At the last minute, Dent decides not to do that, so Thorne's second in command, Tony Zito, throws acid in his face. In the next episode, Dent's personality is split in two, one good and one bad. (In fact the good side seems like a better person than Dent used to be when he only had one personality.) He goes on a killing spree, but is eventually stopped by Batman and sent to Arkham Asylum. In episode 10, as Dent awaits trial, Barbara steps up to defend him, but Thorne sends Flass and Bullock to kill him. Meanwhile, Barbara gets Batman's private phone number. At the end of the episode, we get a glimpse of a new villain, obviously the Joker. So I look forward to seeing what he gets up to in season two.

Well, I've said an awful lot. It's not many shows for which I give even brief descriptions of every episode, and I don't know if I'll do that with season two (whenever that comes out). But I thought it was important to introduce all the major characters. Believe me, I've left out a lot of details. I haven't even mentioned Bruce's lawyer, Lucius Fox. And... I'm not sure what else to say. It's just a really gritty and psychological take on the Batman universe, which I like a lot, even if not as much as some other iterations.