Birds of Prey: Devil's Eyes (1.13)

In a lot of ways, Birds of Prey was a show that struggled to find an identity. This was pretty evident in the on-screen changes that occurred throughout the thirteen episodes produced. For a show conceived with an three-character ensemble (echoing its source material), it quickly became a vehicle for The Huntress. Likewise, as the season progressed, Dinah became almost entirely phased out - her scenes reduced, her high school subplots removed. At the same time, no over-arching storyline was ever present, besides the flat Helena/Reese romance. The series also couldn't work out how to use its source material. I'm sure DC copyright forced the writers one way or another, but it never really worked out whether it would confidently wear its comic-book roots on its sleeve, or only briefly allude to it. The latter only ever came off as lazy and illogical, such as Reese's ignorance of Batman, while the former was barely used outside of the pilot. It's disappointing that the show was canceled, but I'm not sure it would have made any significant improvements without an entire production overhaul.

Birds of Prey: Feat of Clay (1.12)

I understand that the WB allowed Birds of Prey, even after cancellation, to fulfill its 13-episode order with a rushed two-part finale, shot on a low budget and featuring some immediate resolution to the show's various story arcs. It was a nice gift for the, oh, six people that were watching. Feat of Clay was all about the breaking down of secrets. There was nothing new on the Helena and Reese front, but we had Barbara forced into coming clean to Wade about her double life, Helena discovering her mother's killer, and Harley stumbling upon Helena's secret.

Birds of Prey: Reunion (1.11)

So far, any element of genuine sweetness between Helena and Reese has eluded the show. That is until Reunion, which features a couple of moments which actually got to me a little. A lot of the episode is about Helena's conflict between real-world Helena, and crime-fighter Huntress. I loved the discussion (instigated by Dinah??!! Wah!!??) about Helena's lack of a disguise, and her ridiculously feminine, stereotypical response to why she hates wearing a mask. At the same time, I appreciated the irony in Reese being surprised that Helena is a bartender. So often in this kind of show a character hides their kick-ass job from their loved ones, but in this relationship Helena's banal day job is the thing that's kept top-secret.

Birds of Prey: Gladiatrix (1.10)

A host of shows in the early 2000's did the 'cage-fighting' episode, presumably as a response to the flash-in-the-pan mainstream popularity of WWE and those other homoerotic brain-bashing shows. Honestly, none of them were successful. Angel, Charmed, they all blew. Birds of Prey is no different. It's another misconceived hour with an Adam West-era Batman villain, an annoyingly shrill Dinah subplot and contrived character development. It also makes the epic mistake that effects a lot of these episodes, with the butch stunt doubles for the fighting girls, and that annoying thing where after every punch or kick, the hero makes some annoying quip about her opponent. It's just really, really irritating.

Birds of Prey: Nature of the Beast (1.9)

I always think it's hysterical when a show explains away a cast member change with a couple of lines about plastic surgery. It's like when Steven Carrington had facial reconstruction surgery on Dynasty, waking up with flawless skin, no scar tissue. Not that I'm necessarily unhappy with Al Hawke's transformation from Stephen McHattie into A.D. Skinner. Mitch Pileggi was actually pretty great. The story he's involved in, the continued shenanigans with Reese and his dad, was also pretty great. I've never thought a whole lot about Reese as a character, but I could understand his conflict here. The choice he had was between protecting his father because he's his father, or punishing him for the crimes he's committed. In general, the concept worked.

Birds of Prey: Lady Shiva (1.8)

It's not exactly a challenge, but Barbara is clearly the most interesting character on the show, as she has the most potential for psychological depth. She's confined to a wheelchair after a life of fighting crime, is locked up in a tower all day, and has the burden of playing den mother to two annoying females. There's a lot of regret and pent-up anger within her, and the show finally exploited that in what was probably the best episode so far. I was just a little disappointed that we actually had resolution to all of this at the end. When Barbara told Alfred that she doesn't feel sad about giving up her Batgirl cowl, it felt like a major wasted opportunity. An interesting character-driven storyline about what she has experienced? Nope, we'll just wrap it all up in forty minutes...

Birds of Prey: Split (1.7)

As annoying as most aspects of the show are, this is arguably the strongest episode so far, principally because it featured a Metahuman storyline played mostly straight, featured some decent performances and a faint stab at handling the touchy subject of mental illness. Yes, viewers, I am still talking about Birds of Prey. The Crawler/Darkstrike story worked pretty well, if only because there was some mystery to it and decent execution of the whole 'serial killer' motif. The twist was signposted from the beginning, albeit the whole thing was mildly entertaining. At least compared to every other Metahuman story so far.

Birds of Prey: Primal Scream (1.6)

Subtlety isn't this show's friend. Primal Scream explores two character-driven plotlines, one being Helena's fondness for 'being bad' (potentially inherited from her mother), and the other Dinah's guilt and anger over her own mom's death last episode. But, since this show assumes its audience are folk who think Smallville and Charmed are "a little too heavy" for them, the episode goes out of its way to project these feelings so brutally that it almost becomes pretty damn hilarious.

Birds of Prey: Sins of the Mother (1.5)

Once again, an intriguing superhero-related issue is sidestepped in favor of dumb action sequences and whining, in another installment of the little show that could (but didn't). The arrival of Black Canary, here depicted as Dinah's mother, should have opened the door to insight into what it's like trying to juggle life as both a crime-fighter and a mother. Yes, the show had a couple of moments this episode where it explored that, but unsurprisingly it wasn't given the weight it deserved.

Birds of Prey: Three Birds and a Baby (1.4)

There's no comedy stand-by more deplorable than the one involving single women saddled with the new found responsibility of having a baby handed to them unexpectedly. Wackiness inevitably ensues, there are complaints about diaper-changing, whining over constant crying, rinse, repeat. While Birds of Prey didn't completely bleed that familiar sack of awfulness dry, it didn't save the episode from being yet another flat and campy superhero mess.

Birds of Prey: Prey for the Hunter (1.3)

There were some ham-fisted attempts at discussing weighty issues this episode. This is most evident in Helena at first distancing herself from her fellow meta-humans, and her eventual turnaround mid-way through the episode. The issue isn't explored as greatly as it could have been, but there's the potential there for some decent exploration into ideas of self-hatred and being part of a minority group in a city where you're considered public enemy one. Of course, this being a gimmicky WB show, the weight to the story never really develops. But the 'idea' is there, which is something.

Birds of Prey: Slick (1.2)

An element of the show I didn't touch upon last review was the presence of Dr. Harleen "Harley Quinn" Quinzel, professional deranged megalomaniac and The Joker's right-hand woman. She's one of my favorite comic book characters and a huge reminder of my childhood (she regularly stole the show on Batman: The Animated Series and the Mad Love graphic novel is ridiculously awesome), but she's one of those comic book characters that just can't work outside of the page. A character so outlandish needs that rare actor who can make the insanity believable. Mark Hamill has got the voice down pat, while Heath Ledger was, of course, remarkable. But Mia Sara just can't pull that off.

Birds of Prey: Pilot (1.1)

Women have it rough. Especially in the entertainment industry. I remember reading years ago that the box office under-performance of Jodie Foster's vigilante thriller The Brave One meant the studio behind the movie immediately black-balled female-led projects. Supposedly "they didn't sell". This kind of sexism also seemingly occurred as a result of the WB's short-lived Birds of Prey, a flawed comic book adaptation picked up to series following the success of the network's Superman re-working Smallville. The show flatlined quickly after it premiered, and was quietly canceled after thirteen episodes. Its failure, knowing the industry, probably sealed the fate for any other comic book-adaptations based on female characters. So no Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, non-appalling Catwoman, nor any consistent update of the Birds of Prey themselves. Bummer.