Birds of Prey

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The series is set in New Gotham City, several years after it has been abandoned by Batman. In his absence, Oracle and the Huntress have taken over his war on crime. The two are joined by Dinah (after she assists them in defeating Larry Ketterlly, a version of the Scarecrow); Alfred Pennyworth, who serves Helena as she is heir to the Wayne estate; and Detective Jesse Reese, a police officer confronted with crimes and abilities he cannot explain.

A central feature of the series is the concept of metahumans: Individuals born with powers that cannot be explained. No two metahumans have the same specific ability (or set of abilities) and there exists a whole subculture of metahuman society that the outside world knows nothing about.

It is into this world that Detective Reese is drawn, reluctantly teaming up with Huntress and the Birds of Prey to defeat metahuman criminals. At first, he is disapproving of Helena’s vigilantism, even trying to arrest her, but eventually he realizes there is a need for the Birds of Prey to take down criminals the police can’t handle.

During the course of the show, the Birds of Prey often find themselves confronted with schemes masterminded by Dr. Quinzel, though they are unaware of her involvement until the final episode of the series. Quinzel’s attempts to discover what Helena is hiding – and the duplicitous nature of their therapy sessions together – form a large part of the series arc, beginning in the pilot episode and being resolved in the series finale.

Release Date: October 9, 2002

Genres: , , , ,

Phase:

Classification:

Average Runtime: 40m

Network:

Phase

Classification

Average
Runtime

40m

Network

01
October 9, 2002
October 9, 2002
01. Pilot
Batman has vanished from New Gotham, but the next generation of the criminals he fought still prowls the city. Now confined to a wheelchair after being attacked by Batman's archenemy, The Joker, Batgirl redefines herself with a complicated double life.
October 16, 2002
02. Slick
Harley hires Slick, an evil metahuman who can turn from solid to liquid, to kill cops who thwart her evil schemes. When Reese becomes the next intended victim, Helena protects him, and their mutual attraction continues to grow. Meanwhile, even though Barbara believes Dinah's story, Helena remains suspicious.
October 23, 2002
03. Prey for the Hunter
Helena and Reese clash when they both try to track down a serial killer who is killing metahumans. Meanwhile, Dinah skips school when she learns from Helena that there is a metahumans-only bar. Barbara meets Wade's parents.
October 30, 2002
04. Three Birds and a Baby
When Helena rescues an abandoned baby boy and brings him back to the clock tower, Barbara and Dinah try to help. However, to everyone's surprise, the baby is only happy when Helena is holding him. Even more astounding is the fact that the baby wakes from his nap as a walking, talking 5-year-old and continues to rapidly age.
November 6, 2002
05. Sins of the Mother
Along with Barbara and Helena, Dinah learns the truth about her past when her mother comes to New Gotham in search of the daughter she abandoned years before. Dinah is shocked to learn that her mother and Batman's protégé, Black Canary, are the same person. Meanwhile, Helena finds out that Reese has family problems of his own when he becomes secretive about a ruthless gangster.
November 13, 2002
06. Primal Scream
At Reese's request, Helena goes undercover to help thwart a gang of thieves terrorizing New Gotham and quickly discovers that the group is part of a larger criminal infrastructure. Helena pursues the top boss until she is exposed, putting her in grave danger. Meanwhile, Barbara must cope with her fear of intimacy when her relationship with Wade becomes serious.
November 20, 2002
07. Split
Frustrated by her relationship with Reese, Helena becomes intrigued when she meets Darkstrike, a metahuman who has come to New Gotham on the trail of a serial killer.
November 27, 2002
08. Lady Shiva
Helena is thrilled when her best friend from high school, Sandra, returns to New Gotham, but the crimefighters are troubled by a series of murders with the unmistakable mark of Barbara's nemesis, Lady Shiva.
December 18, 2002
09. Nature of the Beast
When a legendary mob boss, Al Hawke, receives a death threat, the only person he trusts to protect him is his son -- Reese. Reese asks Helena for help, but when she learns that Reese's father is the same man who killed Dinah's mother, Helena questions his loyalty.
January 8, 2003
10. Gladiatrix
Helena is captured when she investigates a fight club that pits metahuman women against each other. While Dinah and Reese infiltrate the operation, Malcolm catches Dinah, forcing her to fight Helena.
January 8, 2003
11. Reunion
Helena refuses to attend her high school reunion, not wishing to relive the past. But when visiting former classmates are murdered one by one, Barbara persuades her to get involved when it seems like flirting with her is what connects the victims. Meanwhile, Helena copes with her romantic attraction to Jack and continues hiding her true identity from Reese.
February 19, 2003
12. Feat of Clay
Barbara cancels her vacation with her boyfriend after a robber, Chris Cassius, breaks into a chemical factory and drinks a mixture that gives him the power to turn people to stone. Helena goes to Arkham Asylum and interrogates Clayface, a villain who possesses the same abilities as Chris, and learns a shocking fact about her past.
February 19, 2003
13. Devil's Eyes
Having discovered that Helena is Huntress, Harley uses a machine to transfer hypnotic powers to herself and uses them on Helena to take control of the clock tower. Barbara, having neutralized the trance, works with Alfred, Dinah, Reese, and Helena to infiltrate the clock tower and battle Harley and her cohorts before they gain control of the entire city.
Dina Meyer
Barbara "Oracle" Gordon
Ashley Scott
Helena "Huntress" Kyle
Mia Sara
Dr. Harleen "Harley Quinn" Quinzel
Shemar Moore
Detective Jesse Reese
Ian Abercrombie
Alfred Pennyworth
Rachel Skarsten
Dinah Redmond
Ron Koslow
Executive Producer
Mike Tollin
Executive Producer
Joe Davola
Executive Producer
Brian Robbins
Executive Producer
Edward Kitsis
Producer
Adam Horowitz
Producer
Peter Giuliano
Producer
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Reviewer:
GenerationofSwine
Date:
January 12, 2023
A lot of shows recycle, if anyone watches The Rookie, you see the same houses, the same sets in almost every episode. Unfortunately Birds of Prey recycled too, only they seemed to recycle plots. Like in cartoon, each episode was kind of a stand alone and didn't seem to lead anywhere, it didn't seem to move us to a more over-arching plot. Which is kind of a shame, given that Birds of Prey was an exceptional comic in the 80s... but in the 80s the stories actually went somewhere. And then the other problem was , well, it got WB, and in this era CW too fast and quickly, insanely quickly lost the focus and quickly resorted to Daswon's Creek with superheros... you know, it turned into Smallville, only with a darker and grittier background that didn't exactly fit the stories they fell back on telling halfway through the first season. It was one of those shows that you got really excited about, but then realized what network it was on.
Rating:
1.0