The Vicki Vale references

[The Laughing Fish]

Despite admitting to hating B89 during an interview for a podcast, Daniel Waters claimed to have persuaded Tim Burton to make BR mention Vicki Vale for the sake of maintaining continuity.

As everyone knows, Vicki was mentioned twice in a couple of scenes: one where Bruce and Selina are sitting by in front of the fireplace, and the callback to Alfred letting her enter the Batcave.

I believe Waters intended the latter scene to address his own criticism of the scene in B89, judging by the way Bruce shows his frustration at Alfred for letting Vicki inside. But I don't see what the big deal is because B89 implied that Vicki already figured out Bruce was Batman following her discussion with Alexander Knox over Bruce's past. You can imagine Vicki persuaded Alfred to be honest about Bruce, and since Alfred rather preferred Bruce to be more open with her, decided to allow her inside the Batcave. Of course, you can rationalise that Bruce is too stubborn and preferred to lie through his teeth than let someone else close to him figure out who he is.

[johnnygobbs]

I believe Waters intended the latter scene to address his own criticism of the scene in B89, judging by the way Bruce shows his frustration at Alfred for letting Vicki inside. But I don't see what the big deal is because B89 implied that Vicki already figured out Bruce was Batman following her discussion with Alexander Knox over Bruce's past. You can imagine Vicki persuaded Alfred to be honest about Bruce, and since Alfred rather preferred Bruce to be more open with her, decided to allow her inside the Batcave. Of course, you can rationalise that Bruce is too stubborn and preferred to lie through his teeth than let someone else close to him figure out who he is.

I agree.

There were possibly two good reasons Alfred let Vicki into the Batcave.  Firstly, that he saw Vicki as a positive influence on Bruce.  His speech earlier on about not wishing to see 'friends or their sons' die indicated that he was, at least by this stage, ambivalent about Bruce's crime-fighting, and he presumably saw Vicki as a grounding figure who could return Bruce to some sort of normality.

Secondly, Vicki, who as you say had already figured out Bruce's nocturnal identity, was no doubt insistent in demanding to see Bruce, and it's possible that she may have threatened to expose him, seeing that she was a journalist.  Even if she didn't explicitly make such a threat, Alfred, for all his affection towards Vicki, may have reasoned that it was a possibility and thus figured that it was safer to let Vicki see Bruce in the Batcave for herself rather than head off back to the 'Gotham Globe'.

[Slash Man]

Agreed. Not sure the references helped or hurt the film by either adding continuity on one hand, or trying to bind together two unlike films on the other.

But yeah, Bruce's criticism of Alfred seemed a little unjust, considering all the events leading up to Vicki's arrival in the Batcave in the previous film.

[Cobblepot4Mayor]

Never ever knew there was a controversy about Vicki being let into the Batcave until the 2005 dvd. Seriously. American fanbases get wound up about the most ridiculous matters sometimes. As "Laughing Fish" stated above his justification is completely how I have interpreted the sequence since I was a child. She had worked it out, Alfred is searching for a purpose to get Bruce out of that cave forever (not unlike Dark Knight Rises strangely). Makes complete dramatic sense.

Got to say I love that brief moment she gets mentioned in Returns. It's a spine tingling moment every time. It's really the only time the history of the previous movie is involved. I also think it's a "dying art" in sequels now. These days every franchise feels like your watching chapters in an endless book. All have to connect without question or lead into the next. Back then sequels could stand in their own right. Look at something like Die Hard 2 with it's hilarious throwaway lines to John's *ahem* history: "The 'Ghost of Christmas past'!...", "How can the same sh*t happen to the same guy TWICE!" And that's all you ever needed back then for Part 2 installments! lol