"See No Evil" is the fifty-sixth episode of Batman: The Animated Series. It originally aired on February 24, 1993.
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.
An astonished crowd watches as jewels disappear before its eyes.
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.
Lloyd Ventrix deactivates the invisibility suit.
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.
Lloyd Ventrix reveals himself to Kimmy.
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.
Continuity[]
- Ventrix, or "another invisible man," is briefly suspected of stealing a priceless clock in "Time Out of Joint."
- It's possible the invisibility that Ventrix invented influenced Batman when designing his outfit later worn by his successor Terry McGinnis during Batman Beyond.
Background information[]
Home video releases[]
- Batman: The Animated Series, Volume One (DVD)
- Batman: Secrets of the Caped Crusader (VHS)
- Batman: Secrets of the Caped Crusader (DVD)
- Batman: Secrets of the Caped Crusader (Mini-DVD)
- Batman: The Complete Animated Series (DVD)
- Batman: The Complete Animated Series (Blu-ray)
Production notes[]
- Kimmy being in danger towards the climax was toned down by BS&P. As stated by Bruce Timm, "we were never allowed to put the little girl in any jeopardy. Originally, the climax was supposed to be at a lighthouse and the suit, instead of just being poisonous, was going to explode from repeated use. Ventris was going to be hiding in this lighthouse with his daughter. Batman would have had to race against time to get to them. But we were not allowed to do that. That's why she escapes immediately."[1]
- Originally, the production number for this episode was assigned to an episode entitled "The Count and the Countess." Bruce Timm had sent the episode to a Japanese studio for complete pre-production work hoping to free-up in-house staff's time for better episodes. However, it took the overseas studio months to produce character designs and a partial storyboard that were drawn in a style too off-model to be useable. With production on season one drawing to a close, the episode was killed. When "See No Evil" was completed (the 57th or 58th episode finished), it was assigned the lower production number.[1]
Production inconsistencies[]
- At the jewelry exhibition, "construction" was misspelled "constrution" on a warning sign.
- The villain's given name is spelled Ventrix in the credits but pronounced "Ventriss" in the episode. Ventriss is an actual (though rare) English surname, while Ventrix is not.
Trivia[]
- Michael Gross went on to voice Warren McGinnis, ironically another estranged father, in Batman Beyond.
- The title forms part of the old proverb, "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil," the third phrase of which likewise formed the title of an episode of Batman Beyond.
- The material being cited as affecting a person's sanity is likely a reference to The Invisible Man who himself went insane due to a chemical he used in his formula.
- Elisabeth Moss, the voice of Kimmy, portrayed Cecilia Kass in the 2020 film The Invisible Man, a modernized remake of HG Wells' novel. In the film, she is also the main victim who was stalked by an unknown assailant who also wore a digitalized invisibility suit.
- Elliot and Hartness, the two WayneTech employees Bruce consults, are not given the names in the episode, but have them in the end credits and the script.
Cast[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Kevin Conroy | Batman |
| Richard Erdman | Elliot |
| Danny Goldman | Sam Giddell |
| Michael Gross | Lloyd Ventrix |
| Ken Howard | Hartness |
| Elisabeth Moss | Kimmy Ventrix |
| Chuck Olson | Security Guard |
| Brock Peters | Lucius Fox |
| Jean Smart | Helen Ventrix |
Quotes[]
(Ventrix beats Batman and leaves him for dead) |
Security Guard: Hey, who locked the bathroom? |
Ventrix: Helen, please! Cut me some slack here, will ya? I'll give you anything you want! |
(as Batman speeds past on the roof of the invisible car) |
Ventrix: You're coming with me whether you want to or not! |
Batman: Ventrix, the suit! It's poison! |
(as the water reveals Ventrix's outline) |
Kimmy: Me and Mommy are moving, and even if Daddy gets out of jail this time, he'll never find us... |