The first season of The Bat premiered on October 10, 2012 on Fox and concluded on May 15, 2013. The season consisted of 23 episodes altogether.
Synopsis[]
Bruce Wayne was a playboy billionaire who ended up in a lot of social trouble and cheated on his girlfriend, Gia, with her sister, Katy. In 2007, Bruce was shipwrecked on an island, Yan Wu, after both Katy and Bruce's good friend and partial guardian, Lucius Fox died. Five years later, Bruce is found by Chinese fishermen and taken back to Gotham City to his butler and guardian, Alfred Pennyworth, sister, Allie and best friend, Colin Riddle, but has returned with a mission to save Gotham City from the people destroying it - which are on a list passed down from Lucius before his death - in a persona called "The Mask".
Bruce teams up with his bodyguard James Serch to help the city against the various criminals on his Lucius' list, but, on Serch's insistence, also fights other criminals causing trouble in the city such as the Extremists, Elliot Kaiden, Bouncer, etc. Bruce also has a list of recurring villains to face such as Adrian Chase aka Vigilante. Bruce also has an encounter with a copycat vigilante who proves to be stronger and faster than Bruce is and knows about the list and reveals that Lucius didn't compile it, putting doubts into Bruce's mind for the longest time. Meanwhile, he is hunted by Detective Jim Gordon who will stop at nothing to bring down the Mask and also hates Bruce, blaming him for Katy's death. Bruce also occasionally visits Elena Leal with tech related issues, though when Bruce is badly wounded, he is forced to tell her his secret and she also becomes a part of the team. Serch also has demons of his own to face, such as learning that Vigilante killed his brother Will and he begins a vendetta to find and kill him.
In the entire series there was flashbacks of Bruce's arrival on the island, subsequent fight for survival against the soldiers of Harvey Bullock, how he is tutored to fight by former American commander, David Cain, former SANDF soldier, Sebastian Blood, and Cain's martial arts expert daughter, Sandra Woosan. Bruce is forced to make tough decisions in his matter of life and death. In the end, he learns that Bullock, per orders of his employer, is planning to destroy all aircraft that may leave China with a large missile launcher, to destroy its economy, and to have Cain take the fall. Cain is killed, but Bruce, Sandra, and Sebastian manage to stop the plan, and Bruce kills Bullock.
In addition to Bruce's mission, the series also focuses on other characters' personal issues, many of which were shaped by Bruce's presumed death, such as his best friend, Robbie, and ex-girlfriend, Gia, now dating each other, and Allie's drug addiction, which leads her to being put on community service with Gia. Allie eventually meets Dick Grayson, a gang banger in Bludhaven with a history of violence, but Allie becomes instantly attracted to him and tries everything she can to get him out of crime. Dick eventually does so, but when he is saved by the Mask, he becomes obsessed with finding and learning from him. Bruce himself also has several love interests such Selina Kyle, who turns out to be a criminal called "Catwoman," and city cop IsaBella Doore. Eventually, after Robbie's father Colin is almost killed by Vigilante, Bruce is forced to reveal his identity to Robbie so he can save Colin with a blood transfusion. The exposed secret causes tensions between them and eventually they stop talking as Bruce and Gia slowly start to amend their relationship.
Alfred is also involved in a criminal conspiracy with Colin Riddle, who is the copycat vigilante known as the "Green Vigilante". Bruce pursues his butler on this, eventually learns the involvement of both of them, and sets out to learn their plan. Bruce, Ser, and Elena learn that Colin is planning to destroy Bludhaven, with a device that can cause an Earthquake, to avenge the death of his wife 20 years previously. The names in the list were men who Colin bought sections of Bludhaven from so he could fulfill his plan and Alfred was unwillingly a part of the plan to keep Colin from hurting the Queen family or anyone they could know. Bruce and Serch set out to stop him while Elena and Jim stop the machine. Colin is killed, but reveals that he has a second device and the city is destroyed anyway. Robbie saves Gia from being killed in falling debris in GRL, but is hit himself and impaled by a rod. Robbie reconciles with Bruce before he dies and Bruce enters a state of depression as 503 other people are killed.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- James Lafferty as Bruce Wayne/The Bat/Batman
- Shantel VanSanten as Gia Gordon
- Greyston Holt as Robbie Riddle
- Benjamin Ayers as James Serch
- Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse as Allie Wayne
- Sean Pertwee as Alfred Pennyworth
- Manu Bennett as Jim Gordon
Recurring cast[]
- Giancarlo Esposito as Lucius Fox
- James Frain as Leonard Smalls
- Emily Bett Rickards as Elena Leal
- Patrick Dempsey as Colin Riddle/Green Bat
- Haley Bennett as Selina Falcone/Catwoman
- Ben Browder as Reed Gold
- Amber Stevens West as Rosie Stewart
- Simon Baker as Finn Marcus
- David Wenham as David Cain
- Christina Ricci as IsaBella Doore
- Edward Burns as Sebastian Blood
- Jessica Lucas as Tori Serch
- Robbie Amell as Dick Grayson
- Tatum O'Neal as Barbara Gordon
- John Slattery as Carmine Falcone
- Jason Sudeikis as Harvey Bullock
- Katrina Law as Sandra Woosan
- Josh Holloway as Mason Smit
- Ryan McPartlin as Mason Knight
- Jean-Luc Bilodeau as Owen Lee
Episodes[]
Trivia[]
- This is the only season where Shantel VanSanten appears in every episode as Gia Gordon.