BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD “Mayhem of the Music Meister” Season 3 Episode 8 [Review]

BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD “Mayhem of the Music Meister” Season 3 Episode 8 – So I briefly wondered why the opening credits had “Lyrics By Michael Jelenic and James Tucker,” though really, the fact that it was called “Mayhem of the Music Meister” should have tipped me off that something was awry.

Oh, lord. A freaking musical episode.

I watched. Because I also watched the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode. And because I’m paid to watch. And I died just a little on the inside. Our overriding plot is the fact that the maniacal Music Meister, who can puppet-master anyone who hears the sound of his singing voice, wants a rocket so that he can set up a satellite feed that will allow him to influence the world. In the name of “chaos.” So he can do “evil.” The wooorrrld!

(I note that a lot of B:TBATB villains want a rocket for some reason or another.)

Regarding “evil,” I find it such a nebulous thing. Very hard to find a character’s motivation if he or she says, “I want to do evil.” Of course later, it seemed all the Music Meister really wanted to do was get rich. And seduce Black Canary and her awesome pair of lungs. Which really is pretty lowball on the “evil” scale. I’ve always understood the Joker’s chaos theory, and how he operated best when everything is muckity-muck around him (he’s sort of demonic that way), but for other villains to take on the “sow chaos” trope, it just feels played out.

I dunno. Am I the only one who wants the villains to have better motivations?

So no shock that Black Canary has the hots for Bats. As I’ve said before, everyone has the hots for Batman. Hell, I think Aquaman secretly has the hots for Batman.

This episode was wack, and really, really hard for me to take seriously. And sure, you could argue taking Batman: The Brave & The Bold seriously is the first mistake of reviewing it. But dammit, I still have to write a review. What am I going to say? The dude who voiced the Music Meister is the next Michael Crawford? You have to admit, they were laying the Andrew Lloyd Webber Phantom of the Opera shtick on pretty heavy. As well as … other …. Broadway musical-esque stuff. (I think I caught a West Side Story reference. Or maybe I’m grasping at straws.)

So it was basically vaguely amusing but mostly torturous. I did like the fact that Batman tricked the Music Meister into allowing Black Canary to have a sing-off with him. But that was just about the most clever portion. We were treated to lines such as “evil orchestrations,” and “lethal lyrics.” And were given a nice tour of Arkham Asylum (“Heeee driiiives uuuus baaaaaats!”) …

But all in all, another wasted Friday night. Thank god for DVR’s.

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