Huntress acquires a baby during a fight, but it ages rapidly when it falls asleep, and she and Oracle discover that the young boy is a genetic experiment and try to find a way to cure him.

Babies. Why do cult TV shows keep doing them? I suppose we should at least be grateful in this instance that one of the cast didn't birth to this one, but it still makes for a massively clichéd story. One of the girls hating babies: check. The same girl being the one the baby likes? Check. Jokes about nappies, smells, changing? All present. Rapid ageing? Yes, no trouble there. The kid is 70 before he knows it. Kid receiving the affection of aforementioned woman and learning the difference between right and wrong? Check. Final scene of girl somewhere she and kid spent happy times? Check. I mean, why bother? If you have nothing new to offer the premise, what is the point? Throw in some dodgy fight sequences – especially the hilarious opening one where Huntress throws around an obviously fake baby that looks like its neck has been snapped – and iffy CGI and you have a more disappointing episode of Birds of Prey than before.

I really can't find anything especially worthy of praise in this episode, as it remains so predictable throughout. As Harley says at the end, 'So a desire to do good managed to overcome his programming to turn him into a killer. How unlikely is that?' and she's right: the whole thing is ludicrous. There's heavy-handed imagery aplenty as well, as Huntress returns to the swings she'd pushed Guy on a few days earlier, and he's even given a birthday on the day he dies, leading to a painful 'blown-out candle' analogy, which is even funnier when you realize the tiny cake candle has barely shrunk despite Huntress running off and spending some time in the park since Guy died.

The only thing that I did like was that it got Barbara out of the Clocktower and into a fight, proving she can cut it with the rest still. However, if Dinah's power is going to be used as a pointless two-second warning (she says 'It's a trap!' just as the villains pull guns. Ooh, good call), why bother using it at all? And if Reece doesn't stop whining on about not knowing Helena's name, I'm going round to smack him.

**

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