This episode may go down in my "soft spot in my heart" file next to another Bader-written script, "Warrior Queen". As a dog lover, I was particularly moved by the pathos of the Bruce Wayne/Ace dynamic. It's a very special bond between two kindred spirits: both are old battle-scarred warriors, and each taught the other how to love again. I am also pleased to see Hilary Bader able to write a captivating and emotional script and to edge away from her previous fluffy "chick scripts".
It begins with Terry walking Ace on a city street when suddenly the dog sees a strange man and goes mad with rage, barking and pursuing him. An investigation turns up the man's identity, a sleazebag named Ronny Boxer who's into the dogfight racket. Ace was one of his protégés, but escaped; he later met up with Bruce in Crime Alley, and the two became fast friends.
Bruce masks his feelings carefully, to the point of being callous ("He's a fighter"), but one can tell he fears for his dog's safety. Terry goes in disguise to sniff out Boxer, and learns of his plan to breed steroid-case super mutts. Terry gets in way over his head and ends up facing one of Boxer's early prototypes, a bulldog the size of a small truck (Bader's little nod to "Critters" and "Cult of the Cat"). Ace, however, comes to the rescue of the Tomorrow Knight, at great personal risk, just as he's done for the Dark Knight of Yesteryear. Ace, like his master, can be gruff and nasty, but here, like Bruce, he shows a very humanlike and touching concern for Terry.
Though scenes depicting animal abuse were carefully edited, one can feel the tension in Boxer's use of the newspaper or the glove, and seeing Boxer get his comeuppance towards the end will no doubt please the animal lovers.
All in all, this is one story I myself would have been proud to write; the monstrosity of a man turning a baby puppy into a killing machine juxtaposes well with the scene of Bruce smiling (!!!) and hugging his faithful friend tightly. BTW, we learn Ace is a Great Dane breed; I would have pegged him as a Doberman/boxer mix myself.

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Review: Batman Beyond - "Ace in the Hole" (SPOILERS)
Craig
Sun Aug 20 15:45:54 2000

Just watched my tape of the episode, and figured I may as well post this on the main Board...

Definitely a very nice change of pace. Ms. Bader’s episodes usually consist of the characters fighting each other for twenty minutes straight, and / or jabbering at each other in her native language of hackneyed cliché. Not only is the dialogue kept realistic and believable here—there are actually several scenes where very little is said at all! Knowing Ms. Bader’s style, I was at least expecting Bruce & Terry to have some sort of lame ending dialogue. Nope—in the final scene, nary a word is spoken, which makes it all the more effective.

Agree with Belchie & all that Bruce’s trying to disguise his sentiment for the dog was very well-done, and seeing that after all these years, Bruce still bothers to leave flowers on the site of his parents’ death was quite touching. I didn’t quite understand why Dini was making such a big deal out of Boxer’s abuse of Ace. From what I could see, the most violent thing he did was to hit him with a rolled-up paper. Not that I’m complaining—I’m certainly not a big fan of gratuitous violence or animal abuse.

The fight scenes were also quite well-done, and easy to get into, again, unlike the typical Bader ep (don’t like to stereotype, but it’s pretty hard not to). Agreed that the giant pup at the end was pretty unbelievable (although with the technology 40 years from now, who’s to say what will be possible?). For the billionth time on this series, we get a scientifically-enhanced creature with raised veins…they really do get a thrill out of grossing us out, don’t they?

Some nice animation spots, too. The expressions at certain points on the characters’ faces were quite nice (especially Bruce—and they actually managed to make that smile in the final scene look almost natural!), and Ace was absolutely adorable as a puppy.

Velly nice way to open the season. Let’s hope they keep this quality up throughout the year.

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