After being late to yet another date with Dana due to his Batman duties, Terry gets told off by her on the spot. When she receives a mysterious flower in her car from who she assumes is Terry, she softens and forgives him, offering to set up another date together to make up for it. Unfortunately, Terry gets distracted again the next night by a fight against Mad Stan. Annoyed while waiting for him, Dana receives another flower and soon finds that they were not from Terry but rather a deformed mutant boy who has been secretly watching her from the sewers.
Tropes:
- Abduction Is Love: Ratboy believes in this trope. It doesn't work out for him, at all.
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: A downright cavernous sewer system.
- Actor Allusion: Mad Stan is a psychopathic Luddite who very closely resembles Spider from Johnny Mnemonic, even going so far as to mimic his "information overload" rant (minus the obscenities). Actor Henry Rollins played both roles, and Stan was probably modelled after Rollins' performance.
- The Bluebeard: Dana is not the first person Ratboy fell in love with and kidnapped. It's revealed he killed the others after they refused to stay with him.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Mr. Tan is shown to strongly disapprove of his daughter dating Terry, mostly on account of his past delinquent record. After Dana goes missing, he angrily confronts Terry, stating that he will hold him responsible if anything bad were to happen to her.
- Damsel out of Distress: While in Ratboy's captivity, Dana attempts to escape on her own and actually makes it quite far before being ambushed by a group of mutant rats. Later, when Batman is fighting the rats, she aids him by creating a makeshift fire-stick with a hockey stick and rag. She drops the fire-stick (albeit unintentionally) into the toxic chemical waste below and sets the entire sewer in flames, getting rid of Ratboy and his mutant rats.
- A Day in the Limelight: After being Demoted to Extra, this was one of the few episodes from Season 2 onwards in which Dana would have a prominent role.
- Fanservice: Dana in the white dress. She seems aware of it too because when she invites Terry out for a date, she calls and says "Meet me at Rhino's. I'll be wearing that dress you like." Cue Terry's shocked expression and a simple "Whoa".
- If I Can't Have You…: Ratboy is at first portrayed somewhat sympathetically as a creepy but overall well-meaning misfit who genuinely cared for Dana's well-being. When she angrily turns him down and demands to be returned back to the surface, he suddenly turns more malevolent and has his sewer rats attack her. He also alludes to the fact that he has done this with previous girls before, with it being very heavily implied he had his rats kill them after they had rejected his attempted courtship. It was briefly mentioned in conversation that another teenage girl had recently gone missing without a trace. Given Ratboy's modus operandi, it is implied that
she was one of his past victims. - Kissing In A Tree: Terry's little brother says this about Terry and Dana, but Terry interrupts it at the last minute, throwing one of his shoes at the door.
- Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: Dana loses both of her shoes when trying to escape the sewer.
- Made of Iron: Mad Stan, who makes his debut here, survives events that would reduce most humans to a fine, red smear.
- Never Say "Die": After thinking Dana is making fun of him, Ratboy states that others like her "don't make fun of him anymore". He demonstrates what happened to them by siccing the rats on her, and when one remembers that the episode started with a talking head talking about "giant man-eating rats" living in Gotham's sewers, the inference is obvious.
- Nuclear Mutant: The sewers under Gotham City are filled with radioactive waste barrels and are implied to be the source of the mutant rats growing to such giant sizes.
- Pass the Popcorn: Max and Chelsea during Terry and Dana's argument.
- Pest Controller: Ratboy is served by his mutant rats, which consist of at least four giants and an uncountable number of smaller but still obedient rats.
- Power Born of Madness: Mad Stan is able to punch clean through walls and servers, and shrug off a ridiculous amount of punishment from Batman, who's wearing strength-boosting Powered Armor. There's no evidence that he's doped up on Venom or some kind of metahuman, he just seems to be so strong and tough because he's literally a violent lunatic, with Bruce even reminding Terry that Mad Stan gets stronger when he gets into his rant.
- Remember the New Guy?: Despite this being Mad Stan's first on-screen appearance, this is not the first time Batman has encountered him.
- Rodents of Unusual Size: Ratboy's loyal pets are rats mutated by toxic waste in the sewers until they are larger than a large dog and more than capable of bringing down a human.
- Security Cling: After the ordeal is finally over, Terry rushes to find Dana to apologize, expecting her to be mad at him for being late again. However, she is too distraught from the experience to even argue and merely requests him to hug her and escort her home.
- Stalker with a Crush: Ratboy acts this way towards Dana and, by inference, the past girls he's fallen for; following her around, leaving messages, etc.
- Tattooed Crook: You can see an atomic symbol on the back of Mad Stan's neck.
- Title Drop: After the rats escape, Batman utters "Rats!"
- Villainous Breakdown: Ratboy darkly sics his rats on Dana when she sarcastically snaps at him and doesn't appreciate him kidnapping her to live with him. When Batman arrives to save her and he destroys part of Ratboy's collection in the process, Ratboy completely loses his cool and screams at his rats "Kill them! Rip them to pieces!" the loudest he has ever been.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The first two acts are The Phantom of the Opera, with rats added.
- The Worf Effect: Terry gets badly beaten throughout his fight with Mad Stan, who at one point pulls Terry straight through a server.
- Wrestler in All of Us: Mad Stan performs several wrestling moves on Terry, including a pile-driver that leaves his ears stuck in the ground.
- You Dirty Rat!: Ratboy a rat-like boy who kidnaps girls and then kills them if they refuse to be his girlfriend. His mutant sewer rats definitely count as well.
