"The Duo Defy" not only rang down the curtain on the lengthy second season, it was also the last to be aired on consecutive Wednesday and Thursday nights during its original network run on ABC. Mister Freeze (Eli Wallach) virtually repeats his demands from the Otto Preminger two parter, only here demanding a bigger ransom and threatening the entire country with the thermodynamic ice ray gun devised by Elisha Cook's Professor Issacson (unable to remember his secret formula due to the cold storage, it's up to glamorous Glacia Glaze to thaw him out with a little shared bodily warmth!). Batman, or rather Bruce Wayne, being the one who constructed the ice skating rink, naturally knows the right place to exit the chamber that almost vaporized the Caped Crusaders, and using a homing device attached to Mister Freeze's pet seal, manages to locate which of the hundreds of icebergs in Gotham Harbor houses the secret headquarters of the frosty fiend. George Sanders brought out the character's tragedy, Otto Preminger his vengeful loneliness, but the renowned Eli Wallach simply has a rollicking good time, carrying less baggage than his predecessors, even allowed a glamorous female accomplice in Glacia Glaze (Leslie Parrish). We also get the fourth appearance (out of six) of the Batcopter, scouring the harbor for the right iceberg. When next the Dynamic Duo appeared, they would now be joined by Yvonne Craig's Batgirl, in the person of Barbara Gordon, the Commissioner's daughter, recent college graduate and intended paramour to Bruce Wayne (good luck on that one!). This would also result in the absence of Madge Blake's Aunt Harriet (just two final appearances the final season), and an increased role for Alan Napier's trusted Alfred, the only man who knows the secret identities of all three super heroes.
Review of The Duo Defy
