Episode 6 of
Batman Beyond. The Royal Flush Gang, an old family of villains that Bruce has had previous encounters against, returns to Gotham City with plans to commit new heists as well as a vendetta against Batman in particular. Meanwhile, after being dumped by his girlfriend Dana for
standing her up one too many times, Terry meets a mysterious new girl in town named Melanie Walker and quickly develops chemistry with her. He soon begins to resent the ways that his duties as Batman are interrupting his personal love life. Unbeknownst to him,
the two are already tied together...
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Downplayed (at least in this episode) but King is very upset at the lack of respect from Jack, and Queen urges her daughter not to think about having a normal life.
- Actor Allusion: At one point, King, voiced by George Lazenby, says "We have all the time in the world..."
- Betty and Veronica: Melanie serves as the Veronica to Terry's Archie, in contrast to Dana's Betty.
- Birds of a Feather: Part of the reason Terry's instantly drawn to Melanie is that the pressures she relates to him also apply to his own life. Both feel pushed around by their elders (Bruce Wayne and King, respectively) and have their personal lives massively disrupted because of it. Ironically Terry only finds out that they both have secret identities after Melanie breaks up with him, and Melanie never finds out about any of Terry's issues.
- Bittersweet Ending: Terry has to take down his new girlfriend, but at least he and Mr. Wayne now have a better understanding of each other considering both have found themselves Dating Catwoman.
- Caught in the Rain: A version of this, at least, where Terry and Melanie share a kiss in the rain after almost missing each other.
- Dating Catwoman: Terry and Melanie/Ten. Lampshaded by Bruce at the end:
Terry: This kind of thing ever happen to you?
Bruce: [smiles] Let me tell you about a woman named
Selina Kyle...
- Defecting for Love: Melanie contemplates leaving the Royal Flush Gang after falling in love with Terry. Unfortunately, she ends up deciding to stay loyal to her family, which forces Batman to capture and arrest her.
- Dramatic Irony: The audience learns early on that Melanie is actually Ten of the Royal Flush Gang. Terry remains in the dark about this until near the end of the episode when he traces a call from her to the gang's headquarters. Melanie never does find out that Terry is actually Batman.
- Easily Forgiven: Bruce forgives Terry for his insubordination and going AWOL. He did stop the Gang after all, plus Bruce has been through this routine with Dick and the others. Bruce is also sympathetic to Terry having now experienced the same kind of ill-fated romance he once shared with Selina Kyle.
- Establishing Character Moment: During the robbery, Ten somewhat gently tells a woman whose necklace she's taking that she can buy another one, in a way which implies envy at the normalcy of being able to buy jewelry instead of stealing it.
- Genre Blindness: Batman tracked the Royal Flush Gang to their base. How does King react? By ordering the gang to "spread out", which is the one thing you don't want to do when your opponent is a Stealth Expert. Batman manages to take out two out of the five of them before getting spotted.
- Hidden Depths: Samir, one of the hostages aboard the yacht, grabs a harpoon and attempts to fight off the Royal Flush gang with it.
- Hope Spot: Melanie tells her father that he's taking too many risks in his feud with Batman and that she likes having a normal life. When he harshly tells her she should leave the family if her heart isn't in crime, she defiantly takes him up on that. Then Melanie's mother gives her a villainous pep talk that makes her stay.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Melanie makes it clear to her parents that she is sick of constantly being uprooted to commit crimes with the family and simply wants to settle down and have a normal teenage life.
- It's Personal: King has an extreme personal hatred of Batman since Bruce had sent the previous incarnation of the gang to jail. Unfortunately, he lets his own biases get in the way of his ability to make sound judgment calls when the gang finally does face Batman (although this Batman is actually Terry and not Bruce).
- Lame Pun Reaction: Bruce explains to Terry how the Royal Flush Gang are old-school gimmick villains, only committing robberies for items related to playing card suits (such as diamonds). Why their heist on a yacht for miscellaneous non-diamond jewelry, then? "It was part of a yacht club." They're both disgusted by the pun.
- Legacy Character: The Royal Flush Gang, mentioned in-universe by Bruce. Ironically, none of the "earlier" incarnations of the gang that appeared in the later series Justice League really fit the description he uses here (that the gang leadership is always passed down directly by family members).
- Remember the New Guy?: The Royal Flush Gang is said to be a Villainous Legacy that tangled with Batman in the past, yet they never appeared before in a Batman: The Animated Series episode. And when an actual Royal Flush Gang showed up in the chronologically-earlier Justice League, they have little to no connection to this one either.
- Romantic Rain: Terry and Melanie share this moment during their second encounter together, complete with a cheesy 80s-style Power Ballad playing in the backdrop.
- Southern Belle: Nicole, one of the robbery victims at the yacht club.
- Upper-Class Twit: The Royal Flush Gang, especially King and Jack. The yacht full of wealthy socialites that they rob at the beginning of the episode count as well.
- Villains Out Shopping:
- Melanie is seen going out to a party in her spare time early on, and Jack and King practice fencing in another scene.
- Discussed later. After stealing a large number of cash cards, Queen mentions that she could actually buy some diamonds for a change.
- Wicked Cultured: How the Royal Flush Gang perceive themselves, seeing their gang as a more prestigious and aristocratic class of villains than Gotham's more standard criminals.
