Episode Gallery: "Batgirl Begins" Part 2 (Season 3, Episode 2)

 

Original broadcast date: September 24, 2005

Click here for the synopsis of "Batgirl Begins" Part 1

As the ambulance carrying the comatose body of Pamela Isley rushes through the streets of Gotham, the vehicle is brought to an abrupt halt by thick roots emerging through the blacktop. The roots reach into the back of the ambulance, carefully picking up the sleeping Isley with a bed of soft cherry blossoms. Forming a thick, green bush around the her, the roots then disappear back into the hole in the street from which it emerged.

Inside the greenhouse of the nearby Gotham Central Park, the plant carrying Isley arises from the ground, now sporting a large pink cocoon from it's upper-stem. A strange glow suddenly illuminates the interior of the cocoon, showing that Isley is inside...

It isn't long before The Batman and GCPD arrive at the scene of the ambulance wreck. As the police interview the drivers, Batman spots a leaf stuck to the broken back door of the van.

Meanwhile, Barbara Gordon is back at home in her bedroom, reflecting on what had happened just a few hours earlier at the Chlorogene laboratory, when her father, Commissioner Jim Gordon, steps in. As he starts to chastise her for her involvement with the events that have transpired tonight, he's interrupted by a phone call. The voice on the other end tells Gordon of the accident, and that Isley has disappeared from the scene.

In the Batcave, Bruce Wayne is analyzing the leaf found on the back of the van under a microscope, noting to his butler Alfred that it isn't "garden variety."

Back in Gotham Central Park, the skin of the cocoon suddenly becomes very brittle and begins to break...

When the smoke clears, a slime-covered figure stands at the center of the cocoon's remains. Pamela Isley awakens from her slumber, only to lose her balance and fall off the tree-top. Before she can hit the ground, another tree catches her and gently brings her down.

Gazing into the waters of a faux creek running through the greenhouse, Isley notices that she has undergone quite the metamorphosis, and quickly discovers she has the power to control and create plant life at will.

In the Gordon residence, Barbara begins to muse the thought of becoming "Batwoman" after realizing her father will more than likely not allow her to go into a career of law enforcement. Her fantasy is interrupted when the small bonsai tree (which she and Pamela had taken from the office of Chlorogene's CEO) hops out of it's pot and stands on it's own. As she goes to open the door, Barbara is knocked back into her room by a large bush blocking the hallway, controlled by a green-skinned girl claiming to be Mother Nature. The girl laughs at the fright she has given Barbara, and reveals herself to be Pamela.

Pamela, now calling herself Poison Ivy, tells Barbara about her new powers, asking "Red" to join her on her mission to avenge the Earth. Ivy tells Barbara to think about it, and leaves her with the parting gift of a newly grown flower in her hair.

After this encounter, Barbara races off to GCPD headquarters and activates the Batsignal, to which the Dark Knight promptly arrives to investigate. She tells him about Isley/"Ivy", and gives him the flower Ivy had given to her. Using a pocket-microscope, Batman examines the flower, discovering it has the same trace of Chlorogene chemicals found on the leaf at the site of the ambulance's accident. Barbara wants to help Batman save Pamela, but the Caped Crusader simply takes off into the night.

At Chlorogene's headquarters, Poison Ivy breaks into the building and manipulates a tree to wrap around the skyscraper's exterior.

The attack garners the attention of the police and Batman, both of which quickly arrive to the scene. As Ivy monologues to the police from one of the building's balconies, Batman swoops in to strike. Dodging a series of swinging roots, the Caped Crusader is nearly ambushed by the bonsai tree, but is rescued by Batgirl. The distraction of the heroine's arrival gives Ivy the opportunity to wrap-up the duo in the strong grip of a root, and proceeds to drop them from over the balcony's edge. Batman poses himself like a missile and reaches Batgirl just in time, swinging over to a nearby rooftop with the aid of a grappling gun. He returns to the Chlorogene building only to find that Ivy is gone.

Down the block, Commissioner Gordon and several other officers have set up a barricade, unaware that it's a giant walking tree coming towards them. The tree stops in front of the police, suddenly sprouting a blossoming rose revealing Poison Ivy inside. When Ivy addresses Gordon as "Commish", Jim realizes Ivy is Isley. With the flick of her wrists, the roots destroy the patrol car barricade and sends the officers scattering. One policeman lands on a root close to Ivy, and decides to make a surprise attack and tackle her. As they hit the ground, Ivy releases mind controlling spores and forces the officer to let her go. Before departing the scene, Ivy abducts Commissioner Gordon.

As Batman races through the streets of Gotham in the Batmobile, Alfred alerts him that the Commissioner has been abducted.

In the Gotham Central Park greenhouse, Gordon awakens to find himself hanging inside a pod full of acid.

A disheartened Barbara Gordon returns home, debating on whether or not she should continue her career as a sidekick, only to turn on the TV and learn of her father's kidnapping. Gearing back up into Batgirl, Barbara takes off into the night.

Meanwhile, Batman arrives at the greenhouse, discovering Jim Gordon's predicament. Gordon tries to warn him it's a trap, only to be silenced by a vine and taken away. Ivy appears, and dispatches two walking Venus flytraps to attack, only for them to be swiftly sliced by a chainsaw-like device on Batman's wrists.

The Dark Knight charges at Ivy, only to get caught up in a vine curled up around his ankle. Ivy approaches, using her "magic" spores on him. At that moment, Batgirl arrives, which initiates a fight between the two vigilantes. After kicking him into the shallow creek running through the greenhouse, Batgirl manages to release Batman from Ivy's control.

Poison Ivy begins to send a barrage of plants at the two heroes, with Batman taking on Ivy herself as Batgirl goes after Jim Gordon. Using a slew of gadgets like Bat-grenades to disorient Ivy, the Caped Crusader eventually manages to imprison Ivy inside a block of ice using a pill that instantly freezes whatever it comes into contact with. Batgirl frees Gordon with a batarang, releasing the acid from the pod.

With Ivy now in custody, Batman agrees not to tell Jim about Barbara's new persona.

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