“Sacrifice” begins on the docks of Gotham. The League of Assassins are receiving a shipment. Anarky interrupts the transaction and takes out all of the assassins. With their “shipment” now in his possession, Anarky confronts Lady Shiva and informs her he will gladly return his package in exchange for what he calls “a small favor.” He explains he will return their precious cargo if they break into the Contagion Research Center and bring him a sample of Calibosix, a deadly and mutative toxin.
Meanwhile, Batman and Katana are confronting low-level thugs of Tobias Whale’s gang to find the League of Assassins. Their efforts are in vain, however, as Anarky contacts them before they can learn anything. Anarky reveals to them that the League is currently breaking into the CRC. Batman and Katana hop in the Batmobile and race off to the CRC to stop the League from spreading the toxin. They arrive just as Shiva and the League reach the Calibosix. From that point on, the goal is to get out of the building and save everyone’s lives. However, the two assassins Shiva has brought with her are infected. Batman and Katana must now exit the building while keeping the infected, mutated ninja assassins contained and dealing with an uncooperative Lady Shiva. The pressure is increased as the GCPD arrive outside and are ordered to initiate the CRC’s breach protocol, which is complete incineration of the building.
There are some minor plot holes and other small inconsistencies to gripe about in this episode. To get Batman’s attention Anarky blows up a car in a parking lot below the building on top of which Batman and Katana are interrogating a thug. In order to investigate the explosion, Batman and Katana jump off of the building and down to the parking lot. Batman has a cape to ease the fall off of the building, but Katana has no cape. It can be understood how Batman can survive the jump off of a tall building, but there is no explanation as to how Katana could survive that jump. Also, Batman and Katana interrogate thugs of Tobias Whale’s gang, but it is never explained how Tobias Whale’s gang would know about the League of Assassins. Furthermore, how does Anarky know where the League of Assassins are and what they are up to? The World’s Greatest Detective cannot find the League of Assassins, yet somehow we are supposed to believe Tobias Whale’s gang and Anarky are privy to their doings. Next, we are supposed to accept that Shiva and the League of Assassins will do what ever Anarky tells them to do, in order to get this extremely important package. Lady Shiva is an extremely good fighter and has a team of ninjas at her disposal. Why does she not just use a little muscle to get Anarky to give back their package? Furthermore, why is it Lady Shiva that goes to the CRC? It makes no sense for the commander of the League of Assassins to put her health at risk like that. One other concern is that she only takes two of her ninjas with her to the CRC. Based on what we saw in “Family”, she must have at least 100 ninjas at her disposal. Surely, she could have and should have brought more. There are a couple more of these issues that could be discussed, but will not be, due to their impact on the conclusion of the episode.
The above mentioned plot holes are extremely picky and should not be taken as major criticisms of the overall quality of this episode. These are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. To better understand the episode, it should be noted that this episode is, in reality, one of the best of this show. The story keeps the viewer on the edge of his/her seat. We see growth in the characters. Most notably, Gordon tries to save Batman from being burned alive, showing he does not absolutely hate the Caped Crusader, and Katana shows maturity towards her duties. These are refreshing changes from the drawn out plot line regarding Gordon’s trust (or lack thereof) of Batman and the immaturity and frequent complaints of Katana. This episode was actually quite enjoyable.
Beware the Batman: Sacrifice:
Reviewed by Alex Hey
