First-Run Ratings: 3.2/5, Position 6 of 6.
Written by: Adam Armus & Kay Foster, Directed by: Joe Napolitano

After a robber, Chris Cassius, breaks into a chemical factory and drinks a mixture that gives him the power to turn people to stone, Barbara cancels her vacation with her boyfriend, Wade. Unwilling to allow Barbara to continue neglecting her personal life, Alfred the butler brings Wade to the clock tower and exposes her secret. Meanwhile, Helena goes to Arkham Asylum and interrogates a villain named Clayface, who possesses the same abilities as Chris, and learns a shocking fact about her past. She must race to prevent Chris from killing New Gotham's most powerful people at a charity fashion show. Meanwhile, Harley Quinn acquires the power to hypnotize others with her eyes, and persuades Helena to reveal the secrets of the Clocktower, along with Barbara's and Dinah's true identities. (TV-PG,L,V)

Guest Stars:
Ian Reed Kesler ....Chris Cassius
Shawn Christian ....Wade Brixton
Kirk Baltz ....Clayface

Reviews:

The WB aired two of the remaining four hours of Birds of Prey in a double-header tonight. The episodes are pretty unrelated, but the scores would be pretty similar, so I'm doing a combined review. Dina Meyer as Oracle/Barbara Gordon. Ashley Scott as Huntress/Helena Kyle. Rachel Skarsten as Dinah Lance Shemar Moore as Detective Reese Ian Abercrombie as Alfred Pennyworth Mia Sara as Harley Quinn Gladiatrix written by David H. Goodman. Reunion written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Gladiatrix directed by David Carson. Reunion directed by Chris Long. Original Airdate Gladiatrix and Reunion originally aired on Wednesday, January 8, 2003. Synopsis Gladiatrix featured a man who kidnapped metahuman women for entertainment. Reunion was about a killer who went to high school with Huntress. High Point The high point of the night would be Alfred adjusting his tie and winking. Low Point The low point has to be a dangerous, corrosive gas that could kill two people affecting a person, his clothes, and nothing else in the room, including the device next to the gas that was being produced. I suppose the low point could also have been going from having no idea how a power would work to deducing a major side effect in seconds. Miscellaneous Comments It took them a while, but they've got a great team dynamic here that was particularly obvious early in Gladiatrix. I also like the fact that it took time for Huntress to warm up to Reese as a team member, which makes more sense than her rapid acceptance of Dinah earlier in the series. Once Reese and Alfred were beefed up to larger roles, the dynamic of the group really started to work. The Review How original can it get when you follow a Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome rip-off with an episode that was remarkably similar to an episode of Special Unit 2 of all things? I give it 3 out of 6. The effects improved, including a new animation of Huntress running across the rooftops. The fireballs and lasers looked a little out of place. The shimmering effects worked well. I give it 5 out of 6. The stories were a little weak in plot, and the mysteries were trivial, but they did manage to do a good job with the character work. My biggest complaint is that they knew the end was coming at this stage, and didn't use this time to develop the Harley Quinn plotline. I give it 4 out of 6. The acting was the Birds of Prey usual; Dina Meyer and Shemar Moore turned in very good work, while Rachel Skarsten and Ashley Scott were uneven. I give it 4 out of 6. The emotional response this produced was a few laughs, mostly from Alfred, and some interest in the lasting implications of the character work. The epsiode's plotline didn't do anything to string me along. I give it 3 out of 6. The production had its low points. Somehow, jumping around an opponent can give her bruises where she hasn't been hit, for example. There were a couple of other minor things, such as using the click-click door closing sound that you get when you close a door with a doorknob for the sound effect when closing a bathroom door that is a push/pull door. I give it 3 out of 6. Overall, this was a decent two hours of TV that was better than some past episodes. It sets up the team well for a coordinated effort to face off against Harley Quinn in the last two hours of the series, assuming they are ever broadcast. I give it 4 out of 6. In total, the Gladiatrix and Reunion double header receives 26 out of 42. by fiziko January 8, 2003 [Bureau 42] [Back to top.]

Gladiatrix: WWM Smackdown January 9, 2003 Seems like complaining that the show about a trio was really a show about a leader and her little sidekicks may have finally sunk in. Looks like the Helena Kyle Show is starting to become what it should have been originally – the Birds of Prey. It’s too bad the episode the writers decided to put that into effect is a cheesy version of the "I’m just as good as you are if you’d only give me a chance to prove it" scenario. Okay, so I miss one episode and suddenly Dinah is out battling evil with Helena and doing a hell of a job. But does anyone else feel like they missed a step? A few maybe? It would have been nice to see a fight or two in a previous episode where Dinah didn’t do a great job, maybe even screwed up in some way. Then I might have been able to buy that she’s out there kicking some serious butt. Instead we’ll just have to go on faith. When Huntress and Dinah corner a guy that’s been abducting metahuman girls, the two get into a fight and he gets away. But not before he "drops" a key card that will lead Huntress straight into his clutches later. Although it’s nice to see Dinah finally putting her powers and her strength to use, the standard "sister" fight is a bit much. It’s just that we’ve all seen it before and done much better. The most recent example that comes to mind is when Dawn entered Buffy’s life. And that was a little more realistic because Dawn couldn’t prove herself. She wanted to be treated like a person rather than a sister. Dinah doesn’t want to be treated like a sister; she wants to be treated like an equal. But that’s okay because by all rights she is. She’s worked hard and she’s become a fighter of equal proportion to Helena. Sure she has her own powers to help her out, but unlike Helena, Dinah’s strength is her own. She’s worked hard and trained non-stop for days. So, after the standard fight of "Anything you can do, I can do better," Oracle discovers the missing girls have been to Old Gotham and Huntress should go check it out. But before Oracle can tell Dinah, Huntress requests to go it alone. She can’t handle the brat tagging along. She wants some "me" time and promises it’ll just be this once. Well, of course it’s only going to be this once because Huntress has to be captured by the bad guy and there has to be someone left to save her. Again, standard. What isn’t standard, though is what happens next. Huntress is captured, drugged and forced to fight other metahuman girls to the death. Although she’s not happy about the plan in the beginning, by the time the drug takes hold, Huntress doesn’t care and doesn’t recognize Dinah when she comes to the rescue. But this is where things get interesting. The writers decided to put a twist on the age old one hero captured so the other that no one thinks about has to go in and save the day. Dinah heads down to the evil arena and finds Huntress among the many other cages. What she and the audience don’t expect is that evil ringmaster man is waiting for her and captures her, too. Now both Huntress and Dinah have been caged and drugged for the fighting audience’s delight. And what’s even better is that this fight won’t just be between two girls, it’ll be between two girlfriends. So all the men get what they really want – a serious cat fight. For the first time the viewing public is actually put into a state of suspense. If both girls are locked up and forced to fight each other to the death and Oracle can’t rescue them because she doesn’t have the strength, who’s left? Enter the ever engaging Detective Reese. He’s not just working with Huntress anymore. He’s started working with the rest of the trio. Oracle has set him up nicely. He’s in contact with her and discovers the only way to save Dinah and Huntress from themselves is to give them another dose of the drug. Evidently a second dose of the drug counteracts the first making it moot. And while interesting, there are two problems with this scenario. First of all, if the drug is that powerful why wouldn’t a second dose kill them? But more importantly when Reese administers the second injection into both Huntress and Dinah the reaction is immediate when the first dose took awhile to take effect. There’s no way they would come out of the angered state that quickly. It should have taken some time, maybe just an extra couple of minutes and that way they could have continued the cat fight for all our male viewers. But even if that weren’t reason enough, the fact that it would have made it more realistic should have been. Oh well. Once again the writers took a golden opportunity and squandered it. But at this stage of the game, something like that has become unfortunately expected. So, where does that leave us? Dinah has proven to everyone she’s not a force to be trifled with, she and Huntress are back to being partners on the street without much bickering, Dinah’s just as involved in the hand to hand combat as Huntress, and Reese has become a major ally to the Birds. Looks like the show has finally found its story. by Jennifer Richmond [ScoopMe!]