"See No Evil" is the fifteenth episode of the first season of Batman: The Animated Series. It originally aired on February 24, 1993 on Fox Kids.
Plot[]
In a somewhat run-down suburb of Gotham City, a window of a house opens, seemingly of its own accord, and then a disembodied voice wakes the young girl sleeping in her bedroom, Kimmy. She wakes up and greets her friend, "Mojo." To her delight, invisible hands place a gold locket around her neck, and Mojo promises to bring a pearl necklace when he next visits. Kimmy mentions that she and her mother plan to move away soon, and there is a shock in Mojo's voice. Then Kimmy's mother, Helen, comes in, asking who Kimmy was talking to. Kimmy says Mojo, and Helen chuckles, thinking her daughter has an imaginary friend.
The next day, a man, Lloyd Ventrix, enters the men's room at a jewelry expo and covers himself in a sheath of gray material. He presses a button on his watch and becomes invisible. He then walks outside and proceeds to lift jewels off their displays in plain sight, as people stare, baffled. Bruce Wayne happens to be attending the expo, and after a quick costume change, takes off after the invisible man. He corners him at a construction site and throws a can of paint at him to reveal his form. However, Ventrix touches his watch again, and the paint burns away, making him invisible again. He taunts Batman, who is unable to follow his voice because of the echoes caused by the site's narrow walls, then gives him a sound beating before slipping away.
Back at his hideout, Ventrix becomes visible again, then empties his loot. Looking at a photo of Kimmy, he says bitterly that Helen, his ex-wife, is trying to take his daughter away from him. He vows that he won't let her.
Helen drops Kimmy off at school and then goes to her job as a cashier at a grocery store. On her lunch break, she is confronted by Ventrix, who has decided one final time to reconcile with his family legally. He swears that he's not only turned over a new leaf but is doing very well and can provide Helen and Kimmy with everything they need. Helen refuses to have anything to do with him and ignores his pleas to at least be allowed to see Kimmy, warning him to stay away from them both.
Bruce remembers the name of a scientist, Dr. Karos, who approached Wayne Tech with a "Cloak of Invisibility" project. Lucius Fox remembers that they were interested, but Karos suddenly withdrew his proposal before they could close a deal. Karos passed away a couple of months ago, but his assistant, Sam Giddell, is still alive.
Batman confronts Giddell at Karos's old lab, and he swears that he was working there at the time of the robbery. Seeing a roll of the special plastic Karos invented, Batman asks how it works. Giddell explains that when an electrical current runs through the plastic, it bends light instead of absorbing it, making it invisible. However, the electricity also makes the plastic toxic, which is why Karos withdrew his proposal. Giddell has been trying to correct the problem, but without success, so he is preparing to destroy all of the plastic. He has also noticed that some of it seem to be missing. Batman asks who else might know about the plastic, and Giddell remembers the "errand boy" who worked in the office, an ex-convict named Lloyd Ventrix.
That night, Batman tracks down Helen outside her house to tell her about the plastic to find Ventrix and save him before he dies. Unknown to either of them, "Mojo" is inside, giving Kimmy the pearl necklace he promised her. Then he leads her by the hand out of her window to show her a "surprise." Realizing the truth behind Kimmy's "imaginary friend," Helen rushes back inside and sees her daughter gone. Since she has only been gone a few minutes, Batman takes off after them.
In an abandoned drive-in theater, "Mojo" reveals his face, telling Kimmy who he really is. Kimmy recoils since her mother has always warned her that her father is a "bad man." Ventrix tries to drag her into the car when Batman catches up with them. With Ventrix's head visible, Batman manages to kick him aside as Kimmy runs back home.
Ventrix gets into his car, which he has also sheathed in plastic, and turns it invisible before driving straight at Batman. He manages to jump onto the roof of the car. After driving off a set of elevated train tracks, the two men end up on a roof beneath a water tower. Ventrix beats Batman severely, ignoring his warnings about the suit's toxicity. Realizing that he cannot beat Ventrix, Batman lures him directly underneath the tower and throws a trio of Bat Stars at the base, causing a shower of water that reveals Ventrix's outline. With his foe no longer invisible, Batman viciously pummels Ventrix and subdues him before the water runs out.
On a later night, Kimmy is talking to someone outside her window, saying that she and Helen will be moving away to where Ventrix can't find them. Helen rushes in, alarmed, and asks who she is talking to. Kimmy says, Batman. Helen, who has been hearing Kimmy talk to Batman a lot lately, doesn't believe her – not knowing that this time at least, Batman is indeed on the roof of their house.
Cast[]
- Kevin Conroy as Batman
- Richard Erdman as Elliot
- Danny Goldman as Sam Giddell
- Michael Gross as Lloyd Ventrix
- Ken Howard as Hartness
- Elisabeth Moss as Kimmy
- Chuck Olsen as Security Guard
- Brock Peters as Fox
- Jean Smart as Helen
External links[]
- "See No Evil" at Batman: The Animated Series Wiki
- "See No Evil" at DC Animated Universe Wiki
- "See No Evil" at IMDb