A rash of robberies occur in Gotham City, all committed by regular people who assert that they had been manipulated by a mysterious man wearing an orange costume who has a magic eye that produces hallucinations. Batman investigates this new rogue, nicknamed Spellbinder, and soon discovers that all of his crimes share one thing in common: they are related to students at his high school.
Tropes:
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Spellbinder makes Chelsea think she's one in her hallucination.
- Almighty Janitor: Spellbinder is actually Dr. Ira Billings, the high school psychologist.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: In her hallucination, Jared's mother imagines herself being attacked by various bugs (including Batman).
- Blindfolded Vision: In his climactic fight with Spellbinder, Batman gets hit with another hallucination, forcing him to rely on Bruce's voice to guide him through the fight.
- Call-Back: Terry borrows a tuxedo from Wayne Manor to attend the wedding of Jared's mother, and asks Bruce about the initials "D.G.". Bruce just quietly leaves.
- Call-Forward: Spellbinder is first seen hypnotizing a museum curator into stealing a dress from his Princess Audrey collection. We'll actually meet her later in the DCAU.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Inverted. Dr. Billings actually was using his skills in a legitimate job but felt that he was being severely underpaid for his work, causing him to begin moonlighting as a criminal.
- Everything's Deader with Zombies: Spellbinder causes Batman to begin hallucinating that zombies are attacking him left and right during their final fight.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Bruce administers Terry a slap across the face to snap him out of his hallucination after catching him robbing Wayne Manor for Spellbinder.
- Hypnotize the Captive: Chelsea is hypnotized by Spellbinder in the beginning of the episode to break one of her father's statues.
- It's All About Me: You'd think Dr. Billings would have the professionalism to recognize that being a school counselor is about helping kids, not the money. But somehow, he has it in his head that he deserves a bigger wage than what he is given, that he receives less than your average garbage man.
- Magical Eye: Spellbinder uses one to induce the hallucinations of his victims.
- Non-Action Guy: Like most illusion-based villains, Spellbinder doesn't actually put up much of a fight.
- Priceless Ming Vase: The statue Chelsea is duped into stealing was “a Foley original” that cost $80,000.
- Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Spellbinder uses his illusions to trick Batman into diving into the street and later tries to trick him into running off the edge of a cliff.
- Psycho Psychologist: Dr. Billings, who manipulates the students he is supposedly "helping" to steal from their wealthy parents.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: The episode's ending strongly implies that Barbara has figured out that Terry is the new Batman.
- Shout-Out: In Terry's hallucination, he imagines himself as a contestant on a Supermarket Sweep type show (while in reality swiping valuables from Wayne Manor). When Bruce tries to stop him, Terry imagines him as an overweight woman trying to steal items from his shopping cart.
