The Last Laugh

Up next for Batman is another adventure with the Joker. Luckily, this one is a little bit better than the first one. "The Last Laugh" was the fourth episode made and 15th aired on Sept. 22, 1992.

This episode is notable for being the first appearance of Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as the voice of Alfred, who maintained that role all the way through Justice League. His predecessor, Clive Revill, wasn't a bad Alfred in the three episodes he did, but Zimbalist just added so much life to the character. Right from the get-go he establishes himself as an awesome Alfred with the line, "I drew you a bath, sir." His performance earns a point.

I will also add a point for the plot here. It makes perfect sense to have the Joker use April Fool's Day to spread laughing gas through the city. Not only did this allow him to easily steal a lot of money in broad daylight, but it collapsed the stock market, probably killed at least a few people, and would have caused permanent insanity had Batman not stopped him from replenishing his laughing gas. That's a pretty intense plan.

The score will go up to an 8 for putting Batman in actual danger. The Joker shoved Batman in a trash can, shoved a dagger through it multiple times (trying to poke a hole in Batman as well), and then pushed him into the river. While Batman did have a nice fight with Man-Bat and Scarecrow already, I think this is the most his life has been threatened to this point. We also got to see the Batboat for the first time, which was pretty nice.

I have to add another point for one of the Joker's greatest lines: "You killed Captain Clown ... YOU KILLED CAPTAIN CLOWN!" Excellent delivery by Mark Hamill. It makes you laugh and terrified at the same time.

But probably the creepiest Joker moment here is when he's riding the cubed Captain Clown down the conveyer belt. He just sits motionless with a frightening grin on his face. The shadows and colors really helped this scene a lot. It was also nice to see that the Joker actually had a plan for when Batman came chasing after him. He knew the shaft was leading to a huge incinerator, and Batman almost didn't stop in time. But even when he did, the Joker had a couple of razor-edged playing cards to throw at Batman, which I simply just love. That whole final chase scene also deserves a point.

This episode has everything you could ever want in a Joker episode. Sadly, it was his second appearance, when it should have been his first.

Final score: 10 out of 10.