Though Cobblepot and Dent ultimately end up in cells at Blackgate Penitentiary or Arkham Asylum, the Dark Knight’s work isn’t done yet; after all, the de facto Big Bad of the season is the straight-out-of-left-field Lady Arkham, the villainous true self of Gotham Gazette reporter Vicki Vale. She and her Children of Arkham certainly have a plan, and with Batman’s WayneTech utilities on the fritz (either from Penguin’s hacking efforts or a setback incurred during the introductory fight sequence), he has to pool his resources in an effort to not only figure out what they plan to do, but to stop it. And time quickly becomes a hot commodity when Bruce’s most valuable asset is spirited away…
The final confrontation between Batman and Lady Arkham is prefaced with a final series of crime scenes, both of which are engaging on a basic level without being particularly impressive. If we are due for a second season (and I very much think that we are), I would like to see Telltale do more with the detective mechanics. While they don’t generally "do" gameplay, this is the closest I’ve seen them get to it, and I honestly think they could do great things with it if they tried.
When our main players finally get down to brass tacks, things go pretty much where they should. It works on its most obvious level, with Arkham questioning Batman’s identity and motives, which is the real mask, etc. What doesn’t work is what didn’t work regarding Harvey Dent’s transformation. We’ve seen Vicki Vale and Harvey Dent as level-headed human beings. Like Dent’s post-debate/election collapse, Arkham’s is too radical and too absolute to believe. At this point, she’s completely insane and unwilling to listen to reason. On a structural level, this works because it ultimately validates the choices I made during the final confrontation. But as far as human behavior goes, it’s unbelievable. Overall, it’s a solid but flawed conclusion to the primary arc.
