Almost Got 'Im

Frame story

While hiding out from the police, the Joker, the Penguin, Two-Face, and Killer Croc gather at the criminals-only Stacked Deck Club, where they play cards and share theories about their mutual foe, Batman. Two-Face doubts that Batman is one person, speculating that Gordon has several "stashed away like a SWAT team." The Penguin correctly theorizes that Batman suffered some crime-related trauma in the past. Killer Croc claims that Batman is a robot, much to the skepticism of the other villains. Poison Ivy then arrives and joins the game. Soon after, all five of the crooks begin to argue over who has come closest to killing Batman, and each tells their own story about how they "almost got 'im."

Poison Ivy's story

Poison Ivy placed poisonous gas inside thousands of pumpkins on Halloween, causing the vegetables to go off when lit. When Gotham's residents started to feel the effects of the gas, Batman went to the city pumpkin patch to investigate just as Ivy hoped he would. Upon his arrival, she dropped one pumpkin at his feet, exposing him to the gas while (due to her immunity to toxins) remaining unharmed herself, and weakened him to the point where he was nearly unmasked. Nevertheless, Batman remotely controlled the Batmobile to run down Ivy and later retrieved a gas mask from the vehicle, before subsequently capturing Ivy.

Two-Face's story

Two-Face staged a robbery at a mint, stealing "$2,000,000 in two dollar bills." When Batman attempted to stop the heist, Two-Face's henchmen overpowered him. Two-Face flipped his coin to see whether he would kill Batman or let him live, with a negative "bad heads" result. Two-Face took Batman's utility belt, strapped him to a giant penny, and placed it on a catapult in order to have the heavy coin smash his body on impact. In midair, Batman cut himself free of his bonds, using Two-Face's own coin. In return for apprehending Two-Face and his gang, the mint let Batman keep the giant penny.

Killer Croc's story

In the framing story, when the Joker asks if anyone else wanted to tell their anecdote, Killer Croc slams his fist on the table, demanding his turn. He states that he threw a rock at Batman during a battle in a quarry. He turns his head, waiting for some sort of appreciation, but the other villains stare at him for a moment and continue telling their stories, while Croc mutters, "It was a big rock."

The Penguin's story

The Penguin turned a zoo aviary into a home for dangerous birds in his own plot to kill Batman. After luring Batman to the aviary the Penguin sprayed him with a vaporous nectar and released several poison-beaked hummingbirds to attack the Dark Knight. After being pecked several times, Batman threw a batarang at a sprinkler; the resulting water spray soaked the hummingbirds, makes their wings too heavy for them to fly. Before Batman could inject himself with an antidote, he was injured by a cassowary. In desperation, Batman stabbed the flightless bird with one of the hummingbirds, incapacitating it. Batman chased after the Penguin, but the villain escaped via his flying umbrella.

The Joker's story

The Joker makes it a point to note "there's more than one way to get someone." After capturing Batman, the Joker commandeered the set of a late-night talk show and held the studio audience hostage, intending to execute the Dark Knight on live television. Batman was strapped to a "laugh-powered electric chair" which rose in voltage the more the audience laughed. With the audience being forced to laugh at gunpoint, the Joker decided to ellicit more "honest" laughter by pumping the studio with laughing gas. However, Catwoman broke into the studio; in the ensuing fight, the Joker became too distracted to notice Batman escaping from the chair before it exploded from too much power. Batman fled, but Harley Quinn knocked Catwoman out at the last minute. The Joker instructed Harley to take Catwoman to a cat food factory while he laid low at the Stacked-Deck Club.

Frame story - Conclusion

The Joker explains to the other villains that he will soon meet Harley at the factory to kill Catwoman and chop her body into cat food, and personally deliver a can of it to Batman to taunt him of Catwoman's demise. At this point, Killer Croc attacks the Joker and throws him across the room, revealing himself to be Batman in disguise; it is also revealed that the other bar patrons are Gotham police officers, led by Commissioner Gordon and Detective Bullock. The whole thing was a sting operation to lure the Joker into revealing Catwoman's whereabouts. As the villains are arrested, Batman goes to the cat food factory to rescue Catwoman from Harley. Harley starts the conveyor belt, where Catwoman has been bound and gagged, taunting Batman that he can either capture her or save Catwoman. Batman manages to accomplish both, holding on to Harley with one hand while turning off the main power switch with the other.

Following the arrest of Harley, Catwoman thanks Batman for saving her life, to which Batman states that he owed her one for saving him from the Joker's act at the studio. The episode ends on a humorous note, as Catwoman makes a pass at Batman, suggesting of a possibility of building up their relationship outside Gotham, to which Batman is considering, before instantly pulling one of his trademark disappearing acts. Seeing this, Catwoman smiles, shakes her head and mutters to herself, "Hmm. Almost got 'im."

Reception

Sandra Dozier calls the episode "charming" and praises it for showing "the origin story for the Bat Cave's giant penny." Internet critic Doug Walker considers the episode to be the best of the entire series, praising the interaction between the villains and citing it as a direct influence on his writing style.

DVD release

The episode features a commentary on the DVD release.