At the match, State Tech is beating Gotham University 24 to 3 and Brian is at his worst. During a huddle, he sweats in fear when told to take the offense. When the ball is snapped and the opposing players charge, Brian sees them as monsters, then drops the ball and curls up in terror. The game stops and Dick jumps from the stands and rushes to his friend as a medical team takes Brian to the infirmary.
Later, on night patrol in the Batmobile, Robin recounts this to Batman, who chalks it up to pressure. They spot two robbers smuggling jewelry atop a building and reel up, but halfway up, Robin begins panicking, sweating, and losing his grip on his grapple; soon he clings to the wall of the building. Batman notices and as he turns, the crooks above throw bricks and blocks at him, eventually hitting him. He manages to hold onto the wall near Robin and asks for his help, but Robin is frozen in fear. Batman falls, but manages to re-ascend with a spare grapple and help Robin down.
Finding it too suspicious that both Robin and his roommate would have panic attacks on the same day, Batman and Robin investigate Dick's dorm. Batman finds the telegram and notices it staining his gloves with a strange white powder. In the Batcave, after testing the powder on a cat, Batman deduces that the chemical induces fear, after being triggered by adrenaline or excitement. Logically there is only one person who could have made the chemical—the Scarecrow. They head to Arkham Asylum, where a corrupt guard insists Crane is in his cell. Batman pushes past him and finds a decoy in the cell.
At a bookie's establishment, a disguised Scarecrow collects his latest winning of $28,000. The owner, Leon the Bookie, wonders how this man always wins, and Scarecrow says he makes his own luck. Leon sends a thug to follow him and "be persuasive." The Scarecrow leads the thug to his hideout and tricks him with another telegram, leaving him terrified.
The next day, Commissioner Gordon calls Batman to the police infirmary, where the thug hides under his bed in fear. Batman explains that Scarecrow is "fixing" games by gassing the best players with fear toxins so he can win at gambling and fund his experiments. Back at the cave, Robin tries to overcome his fear by crossing a narrow cliff, but Batman returns just in time to keep him from falling. Robin says he is no good to Batman, but Batman says he needs his help at tonight's football game.
Robin spots the Scarecrow outside the stadium and follows him until reaching the lockers. He manages to hold it together without Scarecrow spotting him. Robin checks the locker room, where he finds and gets rid of a helmet full of Scarecrow's powder. Later, in the field, the Gotham Knights are close to winning, much to the Scarecrow's confusion. When Batman confronts him on the stadium roof, Scarecrow threatens to drop a vial of fear chemicals on the crowd if Batman comes any closer. To keep Batman busy, he drops it on a scaffold, and Batman goes after it. As they fight, the vial falls. Facing his fears, Robin uses his Grappling-Hook Pistol to swing toward the tube and grab it. Scarecrow tries to flee, but Batman stops him.
At Wayne Manor, Bruce and Dick watch TV in the living room, as Brian Rogers signs a contract with the Gotham Knights. Dick smiles at Bruce's suggestion to congratulate Brian through a telegram.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Ad-Break Double-Take: After Robin's Big "NO!", it cuts for a commercial break. When it comes back he gives a Big "NO!" again.
- Art Evolution: The Scarecrow initially had a simpler design that essentially looked like a brown sock for a mask. Here, Scarecrow’s mask is redesigned to add jagged teeth and stringy, straw-like hair.
- Big "NO!":
- Dick's friend Brian screams this when he sees the opposing players charing him turn into monsters.
- Robin gives one when Batman falls from the building.
- The corrupt guard who insists that the Scarecrow is still in his cell.
- The Cameo: As Batman walks through the Arkham cells, he passes by the Joker, Poison Ivy, and Two-Face, each accompanied by their respective Leitmotif. Only the Joker has a speaking line.
- Continuity Snarl: The villains seen in Arkham are all wearing their signature villain outfits. In future episodes, villains seen in Arkham are wearing prison uniforms.
- Dead Man's Switch: When confronted by Batman, Scarecrow holds a vial of very potent fear gas over the side of the rafters they were on. If Batman attacks Scarecrow, he would drop the vial into the stadium, infecting the entire audience and sending them into a violent panic.
- Death Glare: Poison Ivy shoots Batman a brief one as he glides passed her cell.
- Desperate Object Catch: Robin intercepts the Scarecrow's vial of fear chemicals, overcoming his own chemically-induced fear of heights.
- Disproportionate Retribution: In one hilarious scene, Batman intercepts a telegram, believing that it is a fear toxin–laced letter sent by Scarecrow to make the recipient unable to play at his best. It's just an ordinary telegram, and the delivery boy comes to the conclusion that Batman was lying in wait for him because he double-parked.
- Evil Laugh: The Joker suddenly laughs right after Batman discovers the decoy in Scarecrow's cell.
- Evil Versus Evil: The Scarecrow versus Leon the Bookie. The Scarecrow rigs sports for profit and Leon sends a thug to "be persuasive" to find out how Scarecrow wins.
- Face Your Fears: Robin, having gotten a dose of the fear toxin from a drugged telegram, spends the episode petrified of heights. At the end, he has to confront it to save a stadium of Gothamites from being dosed with the same toxin.
- Gag Echo: Batman comes crashing into a woman's high rise apartment, grunts, and struggles to his feet...Woman: [shocked] Oh my!
Woman: [recognizes Batman] Oh myyyy. - Hoist by His Own Petard: The Scarecrow unknowingly allowed Batman and Robin to figure out his scheme when unintentionally infected Robin with his fear toxin, as Dick is the roommate of Brian, the Scarecrow’s latest victim.
- Ironic Fear / Acrophobic Bird: Dick claims that "[he] learned to walk on a tightrope" in the circus at one point. He develops a crippling case of acrophobia (fear of heights) after accidently getting exposed to the fear dust.
- Leitmotif: A really clever instance when Batman and Robin go to Arkham to speak with Scarecrow. As Bruce walks down the hallway to Crane's cell, he passes by other Arkham inmates (Joker, Poison Ivy, and Two-Face). Their cameos are accompanied by their respective leitmotifs (Shirley Walker's Joker and Two-Face themes and Lolita Ritmanis' Poison Ivy theme).
- Mugging the Monster: A mook is sent to find out how "Mr. Lucky" always wins and is told to "be persuasive." He doesn't realize until too late that "Mr. Lucky" is the Scarecrow.
- Negative Continuity: Batman's comment that gambling is illegal in Gotham seems to contradict the events of "Joker's Wild". (However, it's possible that the law is changed between the two episodes, that the casino in "Joker's Wild" is located in a different jurisdiction or that Batman was referring specifically to sports betting instead of the casino games played at "Joker's Wild".)
- Nightmare Face: The bookie's henchman sees the Scarecrow's face as this when the fear powder kicks in.
- Offscreen Villain Dark Matter: Averted. This episode is one of the few times we actually see where a supervillain might get money to fund their more outrageous schemes. In this case, Scarecrow is using small dosages of his fear toxin to rig sporting events so he can turn a large profit by gambling.
- Oh, Crap!: When a bookie's henchman is sent to find out why "Mr. Lucky" never loses, no matter how many bets he places. The henchman follows Lucky to an abandoned horse stall, threatens him, and goes to pull him out of the shadows... only to find out he has just collared the Scarecrow. Things go downhill from there.
- Only in It for the Money: This time around, the Scarecrow's scheme is to rig sporting events and bet on them for large sums of money. As he himself says, chemicals are expensive and his usual plots of wanton fear and chaos aren't very lucrative.
- Recycled Soundtrack: While the rest of the title cards in each episode of the series have their own theme music, the theme that plays in this episode's title card is the same that plays in the one in "Nothing to Fear".
- Title Drop: After exposing a Mook sent to threaten him to fear toxin, "Mr. Lucky" drops his disguise to reveal himself as Scarecrow.Scarecrow: It's no joke. It's the fear of victory!
- You Got Murder: Scarecrow poisons his victims this time with a new powder form of Fear Toxin he coats onto telegrams. When the athlete gets the card, the powder gets on their skin, then gets triggered later by raised adrenaline from whatever sporting event they're in.
