I suppose they couldn't have known in the pre-Internet days, but gratuitous panty shots + she's actually 30 = the wrong people enjoying this episode for the wrong reasons.
There's this bar by the docks that all the thugs hang out in. the costumed villains go there to hire them. batman frequently goes there and announces "i'm looking for *insert villain name here*" to which someone responds "screw you bats!" and then batman beats everyone up and the last person batman beats up tells him what he wants to know.
That was me, and yeah, I'm not crazy about this episode. Still gets five stars for being better than 99% of what's out there, even if I could never quite "buy" Mary Dahl or the threat she posed.