• Airdate: September 30, 1992
• Director: Frank Paur
• Writers: Sam Graham & Chris Hubbell

     Batman confronts some thugs attempting to steal a Faberge egg but is attacked by a South American Vulture, allowing the thugs to escape. Elsewhere, two children, Sherman and Roberta, after being harassed by two older boys, spot and follow the vulture, which leads them to an abandoned bird seed factory. There, the Penguin demands the egg from his thugs, with Sherman recognizing him and the egg and knowing he had to alert the police. The vulture notices their presence and attacks but Batman arrives to help, saving the kids but not before he is gassed and knocked out. He makes it into the Batmobile, and the kids get in as well and are able to get the car back to Sherman’s before Penguin and his men attack.
        They lay Batman on the couch, with Roberta telling Sherman they have to call the police, who refuses. The two older boys, Nick and Frank, show up and find the Batmobile under some boxes, and Sherman finds capsules in the visor of it once he confronts them. Penguin and his men arrive and cut the phone lines, breaking in and searching the place. The kids set up some booby traps that simply slow the villains down. Penguin and his men make their way into the basement, where Penguin approaches Batman to kill him with a blade in an umbrella, but Batman wakens and fights him and his men off, capturing The Penguin. Sherman’s mother comes back home and is angry that her house is ruined, until she sees Batman.
        Later, Sherman is seen hanging up newspaper articles about Penguin’s capture, which also reveals the vulture was taken to the zoo. Nick and Frank now hang out with Sherman, working for Sherman and his new Junior Detective agency.

        Oy. Usually regarded by many as the worst Batman: The Animated Series episode, or amongst the very top, I’ve Got Batman In My Basement is… an episode. Though I didn’t fully dread having to re-watch it (and there are episodes I dread. Trust me), I did, no lie, stop my mass viewing of episodes once I reached this one because I just wasn’t in the mood. Honestly, I never viewed this episode with outward hatred like some do, but more-so with an eye-roll and a long sigh. Okay, more of a long, defeated sigh, because this episode is quite a slog to get through.
        It’s akin to the ‘Robin Syndrome.’ I love Robin, but he was created as a way for kids to have someone in their age group to relate to and project themselves onto. The issue is that no one wants to be the sidekick. Why be Robin when you can just be Batman? That’s the problem here, we are given some normal children that we were meant to feel relatable to and excited that they can and do help Batman, but no one wants to see that. We want Batman being Batman. It makes it worse that Sherman is just not an interesting character, a straight-forward, obviously smarter-than-his-age kid that doesn’t seem to have a real personality besides these traits. Roberta, the poor girl given less to do, somehow comes off more likable to me, probably because of how she rolls her eyes at a lot of the Sherman’s BS.

        The biggest victim of entire thing is The Penguin. Oh, poor, poor Penguin. Being caught right after Batman Returns’ release and a demand to use a design similar to his in that film, but with the creators obviously having different ideas in mind for what they wanted to do with him, more in line with his aristocratic, gangster affiliation, he ended up being a villain caught between two worlds. The worst part is that Penguin ended up being the victim of largely having the ‘lesser’ of the main villain oriented episodes in the series. His debut is, in hindsight to this, sadly apt, falling victim to what eventually becomes an episode rip-off of Home Alone. He isn’t presented in a positive way, but that would be hard to do considering the plot itself isn’t one that would work to any of his possible strengths. Penguin has never been a physical threat, instead relying on his smarts and cunning. Having his intelligence upped by a child tossing things at him does him absolutely no good.

        But Penguin doesn’t need to be a threat to Batman here as Batman doesn’t come off great in the episode either, and thus, neither do some things they attempt with him. He gets gassed and knocked out super easy for someone who has a reputation for being ready for pretty much anything. Then he spends the rest of the episode groggy on a couch, which leads to the utter failure of an attempt when they go with dramatics meant to get you fist-pumping.
        Penguin is about to slice Batman into pieces, until he stirs and dramatically gets up to confront the villain. It’s framed and presented as an obvious ‘hell yeah!’ moment, but considering we don’t care, it doesn’t connect. It doesn’t help that we are then treated to a battle between Batman with a screwdriver against Penguin brandishing a knife. It’s ridiculous in so many ways.

        Are there any positives? Not really. It’s just not a good episode with nothing to entice you. Roberta is only likable because she constantly tells Sherman what he actually should do but doesn’t because he’s an idiot. You’re dealing with a mastermind gangster. Maybe follow your friend’s advice and call the police. Any other way to sum up my thoughts on the episode? One.

        Sherman has a poster of The Joker on his basement wall. He’s clearly a psychopath.