Batman: The Animated Series (TV Series) Joker's Favor (1992) User Reviews

Allway A Fun Time With 'The Joker'

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 11 September 2007]

Some loser who's griping about his bad day at work, and the fact no one respects him there and at home, a la Rodney Dangerfield, gets rude to another driver. Big mistake: that guy is "The Joker," who hunts down our wimpy "Mr. Collins," who winds up pleading for his life. He promises he'll do whatever The Joker wants him to do, if he won't hurt him.

The Joker tells him, "You just run off to your mundane, meaningless little life and I when I need you, I'll call."

Two years later, on a night Police Commissioner Gordon is being honored, The Joker wants to, uh, let's say, join in the fun. He also decides to cash in the "debt" Mr. Collins owes him. The latter has changed his name and residence but the Joker has kept tabs on who and where he is, and calls him up.

So far, I've enjoyed every episode that featured the Joker and a big part of that is his dialog, full of sarcasm, insults and humor. His female partner here, "Harley Quinn," also has a lot of good lines.

Note: The Joker's bodyguards in here are named "Rocko" and "Henshaw," two guys that were in Sgt. Bilko's platoon way back on TV in the late '50s.

The everyman pwns Joker

[johnlmeyer-64569 · 9/10 · 16 March 2018]

This show is highly rated for the debut of Harley Quinn, but I think that at the end Charlie Collins is the real star of this show. Ed Beagley does a wonderful job with the character. While some of the elements are a bit contrived such as how he summons Batman, I think the arc is absolutely brilliant. From a man who is terrorized by joker to one who terrorizes the joker in turn. And the way he terrorizes the Joker is nothing short of gold. He cuts straight through to the man's motivation and threatens to destroy them in a blast that is hardly what the Joker is hoping for. Pardon the phrasing, but Charlie makes the joker...I think you know what he makes him in the end.

An unholy deal

[VetteRanger · 8/10 · 4 February 2023]

Here we get an idea what might happen when an average citizen has the misfortune to come into the life of the Joker. Here a man with a bit of road rage realizes he's picked the wrong "other driver" to express his displeasure to. Unable to evade the Joker on the freeway or lose him in city streets, he's trapped.

In an uncharacteristic act of charity, Joker agrees to spare his life in return for an unnamed favor at any time in the future.

Two years later we find the man has changed his name and his job, and even moved to Springfield, Ohio! Just what I would have suggested he do, and the writers impressed me by thinking of it, too. But will that be enough to fool the Joker? And what will the "favor" be?

Wacky and Original

[tadavies-15568 · 9/10 · 7 July 2022]

Every so often we get wacky and original story premises from Batman: The Animated Series, stories that could only happen in a show like this and it's this creativity that makes for some of the best stories. In this episode, we get shown a man who's had a bad day at work and driving home snaps at someone on the road, unluckily for him, this someone turns out to be the joker. From here we have a fun yet sinister romp of the joker cashing in on a favour he was promised by Mr Collins. The highlight of this episode is definitely the ending where the Joker gets a taste of his own medicine and we even get a laugh out of Batman. 9/10.

A damn great episode!

[madelynmcfly-20274 · 9/10 · 12 August 2023]

A damn great episode! This was so nice to see The Joker debut in this episode! His presence was so creepy in this episode, his relentless stalking of Charles is unsettling, and just the way he talks - Yet the character is also quite funny, with genuinely good jokes. The character designs were also superb. Seeing Harley Quinn for the first time ever was also cool, her character was so dynamic.

I feel like the ending was also perfect - It really would be Joker's worst fear to die from noting significant, as well the twist that it wasn't a bomb at all, I'm so happy that the show explored this. One of the better episodes I've seen so far.

Need More Joker

[panagiotis1993 · 7/10 · 22 February 2023]

Finally a Joker episode. So this man has a ''debt'' to pay to the Joker. I love how he probably thought that Joker would forget about the whole thing but Joker remembered even 2 years after what happened. I wonder exactly what was that gas that Joker used which made everyone to freeze and remain still. I wish this episode continued in a part 2. I mean we had 2 episodes about Clayface why not Joker too? I expected more chaos and tricks from Joker but it seems like it was pretty easy and fast for Batman to stop him. That's why in my opinion this should be 2 episodes. Ok while this episode was good, I definitely needed more Joker. My rating is 7.5/10.

Not a deal to be taken lightly

[Mr-Fusion · 7/10 · 5 January 2017]

For a psychopath, The Joker is pretty well fleshed-out, even if his plans usually tend toward the hopelessly inane. This time, he's jealous of Commissioner Gordon's honorary banquet. And 'Joker's Favor' is precisely its title: he calls in an old debt from some hapless loser to plant a bomb during the reception. It's a friendly reminder that the clown's a gangster at heart, echoing "The Godfather".

This is mostly just a showcase for Joker and Harley Quinn. The actual favor plot is lackluster, but against that, Hamill and Sorkin really shine.

7/10