Dick has a long, long talk with his inner Bruce and comes to a very surprising conclusion. Dawn, Donna, Kory and Rachel are called to a diner in the middle of nowhere by the last person they expect. Rose and Jason nerd out.

Okay this is the episode that finally, completely, won me over. Good Lord this show is incredibly, relentlessly weird. The most normal thing this episode is a demonic teenager and her alien fire princess best friend kicking the ass of an entire prison to find out their PTSD-riddled, hallucinating best friend has already sorted out his own life issues by fighting his inner adoptive father superhero billionaire and discovering what his subconscious has been telling him all along.

THAT’S THE MOST NORMAL THING THAT HAPPENS

THAT

Elsewhere we get Gar having brain surgery carried out on him and best of all, the arrival of BatDad. Iain Glen has been so much fun this season and this week he gets to play both actual Bruce and HeadBruce and do fun things with both of them. Actual Bruce first is genuinely surprising amounts of fun and a clear exploration of the Grant Morrison iteration of Batman. He has a plan for everything. He’s in every system and the sooner you get okay with that the better. Is it weird that he’s got a diner right in the travel path of two or three team members he can direct them to via hacking multiple communication networks?

No, it’s weird to think he doesn’t have dozens of them.

Plus BatDad gets not only a suspiciously Batmobile-ian sports car but a lovely little callback to the Danny Elfman Animated Series score when he first appears. I’m officially Team BatDad now, He’s awesome.

Head!Bruce is more erratic but far more fun largely because he spends the episode beating the absolute snot out of Dick. Yes Dick is hallucinating. Yes he is working through his subconscious deductions. No, no one should beat themselves up like this. Yes he is horribly damaged. But as the episode goes on, Brenton Thwaites, Glen and Glen’s stunt double get a sympatico rhythm that ties the fight to the thought and leads to a payoff that honestly changes everything. A payoff Dick carves into a wall before escaping a locked, maximum security prison cell.

Jericho is alive.

With just two episodes to go, this is surely the focus of the season. But with a weaponized Garth to deal with, not to mention Conner, there’s a lot going on. This is the one bum note, especially the more than slightly gratuitous way Garth is forced to eat someone. But if you can deal with that, the rest of the episode? Most fun this show has ever been.

Verdict: Vast, ludicrous, clear-eyed and focused this is a Hell of an episode. Bring on the donuts and the season wrap up. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart