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Friday, May 29
Gotham S02E17 “Into The Woods” REVIEW
The main plot’s cracking but the Penguin sub-plot is just embarrassing… >>>
Gotham S02E15 “Mad Grey Dawn” REVIEW
Gotham S02E15 “Mad Grey Dawn” REVIEW
Airing in the UK on Channel 5, Mondays, 10pm
Writer: Robert Hull
Director: Nick Copus
Essential Plot Points:
- MEANWHILE, AT THE GOTHAM MUSEUM OF ART! BECAUSE THAT NEVER ENDS BADLY!
- Ed places a very large statue of a grenade in the museum, retreats to a safe distance and then triggers the fuse attached to it. When everyone runs out (the bomb never actually explodes) he steals a particular painting and leaves a green question in its place.
- Detective Jerkface and Harv roll out, but on the way Barnes takes Jim to one side and tells him that an anonymous tip has named him as the prime suspect in Galavan’s murder. Jim’s poker face hasn’t got any better.
- It’s made worse by Ed wanting to talk to him about Kringle. He blows him off and heads out to the crime scene.
- MEANWHILE, AT CHATEAU DU BUTCH!
- Butch and Tabby are chilling by the fire when Penguin arrives. He tries to be friends and, while they point out he killed Tabby’s brother and chopped off Butch’s hand, Butch relents. He lets Penguin go, realising he’s a pathetic shell of his former self. But they have a little fun first…
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE CRIME SCENE!
- Harv asks Jim what’s going on and Jim tells him. Harv, the second person in the episode to do it, all but says out loud he knows Jim killed Galavan and offers to help via a contact he has in internal affairs. Jim thanks him and agrees.
- They’re shown round the crime scene by the curator and realise that two other paintings were vandalised. The one that was stolen depicted an explosion at a railway station. The names of the other two artists translate to “Market” and “Street”.
- They deduce that the thief has planted a bomb at the train station on Market Street.
- MEANWHILE, AT THE SECOND STAGE OF THE PLAN!
- The GCPD arrives and evacuates the station. Gordon finds a locker with a green question mark spraypainted on it since he’s seen at least two movies about bomb disposal, he has a plan.
- The plan is to crowbar the door open and throw the bomb four feet into a gothic minaret.
- He may have slept through those movies.
- Nonetheless it works! Cautious yay!
- As the scene is cordoned off, Ed – who was there all along – pretends to arrives and gets Officer Pinkney to sign a form…
- Nearby, Harv takes Jim to one side and… well the news is not good. IA have named him as the primary suspect in Galavan’s murder.
- MEANWHILE, AT THE HARD KNOCK LIFE!
- IVY! Selina takes Bruce to see season one’s least-well-used character. She’s running botany for a gang selling magic mushrooms. They need money, so she’s slipped the gang some harmless psychotropics. They pass out, Bruce and Selina grab their big stash of money and are interrupted by Butch’s nephew, Sonny. Sonny is not happy. The gang, the mushrooms and the money are all his.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT WHAT’S STARTING TO LOOK LIKE A GOOD SEASON OF DEXTER!
- Ed is playing with the crowbar Jim used at the station when Penguin comes in. He’s been tarred and feathered. He tries to bond with his old “room mate” but Ed’s having none of it. The life of crime is working out pretty well for him…
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE DARKEST VERSION OF OLIVER TWIST EVER!
- Selina tries to provoke Sonny. Sonny responds by attacking her and, when Bruce defends her, him. He beats the hell out of Bruce, who remembers the advice of Obi Wan Pennyworth, to beat a bigger guy by wearing him out.
- It’s good advice and he lets Sonny use him as a punchbag until Sonny makes a gag about his parents. Bruce then proceeds to go Gotham 3:16 on him and they run off with both the money and the mushrooms.
- MEANWHILE, AT THE PENGUIN’S INCREASINGLY TERRIBLE LIFE!
- Penguin visits his mother’s grave and is met by Elijah Van Dahl. The polite well-to-do man talks to Penguin about his mother and, before long, the two men realise they’re related. In fact, they are father and son. Elijah embraces his long-lost son and takes him home to meet his family. Penguin, happy at last, breaks down in relief, sobbing.
- MEANWHILE, AT AN EPISODE OF AT HOME WITH LEE AND JIM WRITTEN BY HAROLD PINTER!
- It’s awkward silence night at the Thompkins’ place. Lee pushes on the bombing and Jim being in the frame for Galavan’s death comes up. Lee kicks off, entirely justifiably and Jim claims he can fix it.
- He absolutely can’t.
- And they both know it.
- Harv calls, giving Jim some good(ish) news. They found where the bomb was activated from. A payphone on Dewey Avenue. Desperate to get out, Jim agrees to go take a look.
- MEANWHILE, AT DEWEY AVENUE!
- Ed arrives at Officer Pinkney’s apartment and beats him to death with the crowbar.
- Jim arrives not long after, looking for the payphone. He notices the door next to it ajar and opens it to find Pinkney’s body. This is bad.
- When Barnes arrives at the scene too having received an anonymous tip things get much, much worse.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT FAGIN’S PLACE!
- Bruce is MESSED UP. One eye is swollen shut, and he’s covered in cuts and bruises. Selina compliments him on his toughness and Bruce, in yet another example of why David Mazouz is the best part of this cast, explains why he could take it. He knew he couldn’t be broken. He felt peaceful. He felt reassured.
In the middle of being beaten up. - MEANWHILE, BACK AT SOMEWHERE VERY DARK
- Barnes interrogates Gordon and Jim slowly realises just how screwed he is. Harv’s report was swapped out for one by Ed, Jim’s fingerprints were on the crowbar and he had no real explanation for being in the building.
- Especially as Pinkney was apparently the witness to Jim murdering Galavan (that’s another or Ed’s set-ups). With every avenue shut to him he asks for his union rep. Disgusted, Barnes arrests him and perpwalks him through the precinct to County Jail. On the way, Jim begs Harv to help. Nearby, Ed watches his plan pay off…
- MEANWHILE, FOUR WEEKS LATER
- Jim is found guilty and sentenced to 40 years. Nearby, Bruce and Selina bemoan his fate.
- Lee visits Jim in prison. He tells her to move on and that he won’t reply to any more messages from her. He tells her to go far away and forget about him, leaving a weeping Lee watching the father of her child be taken to prison for the rest of his life.
- Harv rides with Jim on his way to jail, and swears he’ll help him. Jim thanks him and is led away to a jail filled with men he put there.
- And in Arkham, Barbara Gordon wakes up…
Review:
Ed finally takes the spotlight and the result is glorious. After weeks of being a bumbling Tyler Durden-alike, his first actual supervillain outing is exactly what this show is at its best; Byzantine, ’60s-style scheming crossed with emotional weight.
Seeing Ed walk his colleagues through his trap is huge fun and the through-line of this art thief-cum-bomber makes perfect sense at this point in the show’s timeline. We’ve had the Maniax, Galavan, the fall of Fish Mooney and Penguin. Now someone else is seizing power and doing a remarkably good job of it. That’s because Ed has one goal – at least right now; end Jim Gordon as a threat.
And he succeeds.
This is the episode we’ve been waiting for since Jim executed Galavan and it doesn’t disappoint. Ed’s scheme is a big part of that but the rest is the acting. Gotham at its worst is a retirement home for terrible performances but on its best days you get this. There are so many good performances here, several from cast members who’ve frequently been saddled with terrible material. Michael Chiklis’ Captain Barnes is especially great; disgusted and ashamed at his one-time protégé and unable to see how he’s being played. Likewise, Morena Baccarin and Donal Logue are well served by the script and Ben Mackenzie clearly revelling in finally embracing Jim’s dark side.
This is a tragedy, a story that can only ever end one way and everyone involved is at the top of their game. Cory Michael Smith in particular is on top form as the newly calculating, even malicious Ed. The Riddler is a very easy Batman villain to get wrong. A few more episodes like this and Smith could end up as defining a take on the role as Robin Lord Taylor’s Penguin. There, again, subtle, sweet acting is the order of the day and his scenes with Paul Reubens are honestly poignant. Especially as this is Gotham; nothing good lasts and Penguin’s days of retirement are most certainly coming to a middle.
But again it’s David Mazouz who impresses the most. His monologue about how he felt during the fight with Sonny is a definitive Batman moment and a perfectly placed justification for Bruce’s actions. He doesn’t just fight crime for the city. He does it to exert bloody, two-fisted control over his own life. It’s a simple, horrible realisation and Mazouz drives it home with very ounce of force he has.
There are still problems, but this is a show that’s really breaking stride. The serialised format helps immensely, the cast are on great form and the chickens are all coming home to roost. Jim may be in serious trouble but Gotham continues to improve.
The Good:
- “Lies, huh? Tell me the truth again?” Captain Barnes is the first to basically tell Jim he sucks. He is not the last.
- “HELLO?!” Butch’s perfectly timed reminder of the hand he “lost” in service to Penguin.
- “What kind of art thief would take time to defile such masterpieces?”
“An ignorant one?” Good job, Harv. - “While it was happening, it was like nothing else existed. Everything I’ve been struggling with – emptiness and confusion – it just vanished. For the first time… in a long time… I knew I was going to be okay. I knew that whatever Sonny did to me I could take it. That he couldn’t break me. No one can.” This is the best moment of the episode. Mazouz, again, showing us the core of dreadful quiet at the heart of this horribly damaged boy.
- “Is this a dream?”
“It’s not a dream my boy, you’re home.” It’s clearly going to end very badly but this, and Penguin sobbing as his dad welcomed him home was un-ironically very sweet. - “Pinkney was one of us! He deserves that! I DESERVE THAT!” Some excellent Barnes material this episode. Especially the disgust he feels at Jim’s increasingly desperate tactics.
- “This isn’t right. This can’t be right.”
“Tell me something that is.” Except, of course, it is right. Which makes it much, much worse. - “HOW CAN YOU NOT BE WITH US?!” Again, Morena Baccarin is a vital part of the best elements of the show. This scene is some of the best work she and Ben Mackenzie have done to date.
- Ed’s plan is wonderful. Intricate but not overthought, complex but not perfect. Very much the plan of a supervillain in training.
- We love that Gotham’s ludicrously pointy architecture saves the day with the bomb.
- We actually really liked that everyone had figured out Detective Jerkface had killed Galavan. Jim is the worst liar ever for starters. But Harv’s total lack of surprise and the fact Barnes is more disgusted at Jim apparently murdering Pinkney is a really nice touch.
- Butch! Looking good, buddy! Love the new hand!
- Ed’s scheme is actually really well done. It’s a ridiculous Heath Robinson affair with way too many working parts but that’s Ed. The payoff – and the fact that even as the trap closes Jim can’t see who’s behind it – is especially great.
The Bad:
- Jim crowbars the locker with the bomb in it open. Because obviously he was sleeping through the DON’T POKE BOMBS class at Police Academy.
- The show wanders right up to “HA! SONNY’S STUPID BECAUSE HE’S FAT!” but never quite gets there. It still gets WAY the hell too close though.
- The drug dealer sleeping with a cookie tin full of money is, shall we say, a touch on the nose.
And The Random:
- Paul Reubens! Best-known as PeeWee Herman, beloved and deeply odd TV character of the 1980s and 1990s, Reubens has had a memorable recent run on The Blacklist. He’ll always be the hammiest vampire ever in the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer to us though. Oh and he’s played Penguin’s dad once before – in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns (1992).
- Paul Pilcz, who plays Sonny, has previously appeared in Mildred Burke and Boardwalk Empire, where he played William Wilson.
- Shot of the week is Ed’s magnificent Adam West-ian enormous bomb.
Review by Alasdair Stuart
• Read our other Gotham reviews
Gotham S02E14 “This Ball Of Mud And Meanness” REVIEW
Gotham S02E14 “This Ball Of Mud And Meanness” REVIEW
Airing in the UK on Channel 5, Mondays, 10pm
Writer: Jordan Harper
Director: John Behring
.
Essential Plot Points:
- Penguin sits in his house, tied to a chair. His mother asks why he isn’t eating the vast plate of food in front of him and commiserates with him. As he watches, another version of himself walks in and beats her to death with a baseball bat.
- His therapy’s going rather well.
- Doctor Hugo Strange orders the “ice cream” test to confirm Miss Peabody’s findings that Oswald is newly docile and friendly. He’s released into the canteen with a huge scoop of ice cream on his meal tray. An enraged inmate attacks him for it and Oswald doesn’t resist.
- He’s cured.
- Maybe.
- MEANWHILE, IN THE AVENUES AND ALLEYWAYS, WHERE THE SOUL OF A MAN IS EASY TO BUY! (Good grief, we ought to give a no-prize to anyone who gets that reference – ed.)
- Bruce meets with Selina who’s brought him a gun. She makes sure he knows what this means and gives it to him. He returns home to find Alfred preparing to start the hunt for Malone. They begin planning, Alfred unaware of just what his young charge is REALLY planning. Their first port of call? A geezer called Cupcake… (hint: this is an ironic name.)
- MEANWHILE, AT THE AWKWARD MIS SEASON ANGSTY BIT OF AT HOME WITH LEE AND JIM!
- Lee comes to see Detective Jerkface and asks him to look into Miss Kringle’s whereabouts. Her paycheques were never picked up and she’s suspicious. Jim agrees, tries to do… you know… emotions and Lee sensibly leaves before he does himself a mischief.
- MEANWHILE, AT THE OPENING SCENE OF A LOT OF MID ’90s RAP VIDEOS!
- A group of punks are gathered around a street fight. Alfred introduces them, asks to speak to Cupcake and explains the situation. Or he does until Bruce starts talking. Cupcake, who is a very large, very jovial, very scary man likes them so he makes an offer: if Alfred fights him he’ll reveal Malone’s address.
- Oh, and he’ll also have that 50 grand that Bruce – who is the poster boy for White Privilege even more than usual this week – offered him within literal seconds of meeting Cupcake.
- They fight. Alfred gets the living crap kicked out of him all the while instructing Bruce in just why this is happening and what he should not do. Alfred weathers Cupcake’s attack, watches the bigger man tire, then chokes him into submission and they get their information.
- Then Alfred falls over.
- Bruce takes Alfred to hospital and his butler tries to get the future Batman to promise not to do anything without him.
- Bruce waits for Alfred to pass out, then leaves.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT ARKHAM!
- Hugo Strange uses word association and hypnosis to continue working on Penguin. It works but… Oswald is not digging this. He’s fighting, just a little…
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT GCPD BLUE!
- Jim sees Ed who is increasingly wandering around like the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Despite this, Detective Jerkface questions him about Kringle, notices nothing unusual and leaves. Ed is convinced that Jim’s onto him and something must be done. Something… enigmatic…
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE HOSPITAL
- Harv and Jim give Alfred some frankly pretty deserved stick about being hospitalised again. He explains that they were looking for Malone and that the plan was pretty much to kill him. Harv is disgusted, not by the plan but by the fact he’s being told it. Alfred gives them the information and Jim heads off to the address that was given to Bruce.
- MEANWHILE, AT THE NEW BEST THING IN THIS ENTIRE SHOW’S RUN TO DATE!
- LORI PETTY! Bruce arrives at a nightclub playing looped footage of Jerome and filled with people cosplaying as him. The lead singer of the band crowdsurfs over to him, knows him by name and agrees to have a chat.
- The following conversation is wonderful verbal sparring as Bruce politely asks her questions, pulls a gun, is given critique on how he’s using it and finally leaves. Impressed by the steely determination of the kid, Jeri gives him Matches’ address.
- On the way out, Bruce runs into Jim who tries to talk him down. Jeri, back on stage, puts a spotlight on Jim and weaponises a mosh pit to give Bruce the time to escape. SHE’S THE BEST.
- MEANWHILE, AT MATCHES MALONE’S HOUSE!
- Bruce arrives and hands Matches a wad of money. He says he wants to hire him…
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT LAW AND ORDER: DETECTIVE JERKFACE!
- Jim tries to interrogate Jeri. It goes wonderfully badly for him. She doesn’t care, can’t be intimidated and like with Bruce only tells him something when she’s ready. Matches’ address in hand, Jim sprints out as…
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT MATCHES MALONE’S HOUSE OF IMMINENT DEATH!
- Bruce confronts Matches, tells him who he is and… Matches doesn’t care. Or remember. He’s killed lots of people and only gradually realises who Bruce is. Even then he accepts his fate with barely controlled emotion. Matches, on the verge of tears, faces down the death he knows he deserves and finds time to critique Bruce on technique. He’s not a monster. He’s just a tired, broken man who’s done awful things.
- Bruce leaves the gun and the apartment. As he does, Jim arrives. They hear a gunshot. Matches has done Bruce’s jon for him.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT ARKHAM!
- Oswald is thrown into the treatment room where the inmate who assaulted him earlier is tied down. There is a charming selection of sharp objects nearby but, instead of revenge, Oswald introduces himself, tells the man to calm down and cuts him loose.
- Strange declares Oswald sane and releases him to return to the city. Miss Peabody is dubious but as Strange explains, deeper plans are at work…
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE GCPD!
- Harv, who presumably was taking a coffee break for the last half of the episode, explains that Malone hadn’t worked for a while so he was off their radar. Which is about as good an explanation for the GCPD passing over an immensely successful contract killer in the search for two high profile murder victims as we’ll get.
- Jim talks to Ed who freaks out even more and actually starts monologuing in public about how much he’s going to fix Jim’s little wagon.
- MEANWHILE, AT THE BAT CAVE!
- Bruce leaves Alfred a letter explaining that he’s going to live on the streets with Selina for a while. He knows now that evil isn’t something that can be definitively beaten but can be understood and defeated. In order to do that, he has to learn how not to be a rich white kid.
- MEANWHILE, AT ED’S APARTMENT!
- Ed cuts a clipping of Jim out of a newspaper and draws a green question mark over it…
Review:
There are two vital things that happen this episode. The first is the death of Bruce Wayne the victim. The second is the new perspective the episode offers on Gotham.
Bruce has been a pawn, a sacrifice and a victim for as long as the show’s been on air. He’s struggled for control but has spent close to two full seasons reeling from the horrific murder of his parents and the destruction of his innocence. This episode, he gets everything he’s wanted since the start of the show. This episode, the very first question the show ever raised…
…Who killed the Waynes…?
…is answered.
And it doesn’t matter.
Or rather, it doesn’t matter enough. Because it was never going to. Matches Malone isn’t an evil genius. He’s not a man with a plan just a man with a gun. He even tells Bruce that walking through back alley could have got his parents killed. Gotham is a dangerous, stupid, cruel place and bad things happen at random. Matches, at least, ensures that bad things happen when he gets paid. He’s murder with a schedule, death with a client list so long he can’t remember everyone he’s killed.
That mundane, almost banal approach is exactly what this show has desperately needed. Matches doesn’t grandstand or show off he just kills people for money. He’s a monster, certainly, but he’s a very simple, very sad one. And there are thousands like him.
When Bruce walks into the apartment with Matches, he does commit murder; his innocence dies in that room and Bruce, at last, sees the city, and himself, for what each are. One is a crucible gone wild, a feral landscape of human predators unable to be anything else.
The other is a good-hearted, frightened rich young man whose family helped build hell.
That’s why Bruce leaves the manor. Because he knows that part of his life is a foundation and it’s time to build something new. He’ll screw up again, undoubtedly, but that’s the point. He’ll screw up and be endangered on his terms now. His journey towards being Batman has begun and Bruce knows exactly what it will cost him. The fact he’s doing it anyway proves he’s already a hero.
His new perspective is shared by the show. In particular the introduction of Jeri, played with incredible, brittle charm by Lori Petty, does fascinating new things to what we thought we knew. Jeri runs a nightclub filled with people who hero worship Jerome. The old Maniax straitjackets are everywhere, the face of the original Joker plays on screens and Jeri herself dresses like him. This is a subculture we’ve not seen before but which fits the show like a glove. Gotham, a broken city, in love with its monsters and trying to become them. Bruce, a broken young man, trying to save them from themselves and each other.
That’s heady, tragic stuff and the episode nails it. Even the subplots feed into this central idea and finally begin to show us a different side to both the city and the show. Next week it could be awful again. But here, at last, is the city how the show wants us to see it. Absurd and horrifying, funny and tragic. Awful and brilliant.
Welcome to Gotham. Good luck. You’ll need it.
The Good:
- The reference to the Crane formula is a nice callback, and forward, to the role the Scarecrow will play at Arkham.
- “He was arrested seven times with a geezer called Cupcake… I suspect there’s irony at play there…” How true, Alfred.
- “Alfred actually yells, “WHAT YOU WANT SOME?!” during the fight. Only the presence of Lori Petty is better than this moment. We also sincerely hope he yells “’AVE IIIIIT!” next time.
- “Are you okay?”
“I’M ABSOLUTELY FLIPPIN’ PEACHY, MATE!”’ Oh Cockneyman, if the rumours of an Alfred spin-off are true I will be so happy. - “AGAIN?” This show is starting to grow a welcome sense of its own absurdity. Jim’s eyeroll at Alfred being in hospital again is a lovely example of it.
- “Again we’re the cops – DO NOT TELL US STUFF LIKE THIS!” As is this. We love that Harv’s disgust is from knowing this stuff because if he knows it he has to do something about it and we all know how much Harv hates doing stuff.
- “You my boy are the childish hand of fate… Well, that makes me God in a way doesn’t it?” Jeri is magnificent in a way no one in this show has been since Jerome. Much, much more of her please.
- “This is gonna go a lot better for you if you don’t make me angry.”
“Anger is your natural state isn’t it? You are the infamous Jim Gordon.” Witness this moment where Jim does his usual chest pounding nonsense and she all but yawns. Wonderful stuff. - “DON’T CALL ME SON.”
“Why? I do what you think I did, I made you what you are. Just like Gotham made me. Just like the rich folks like your parents made Gotham.” This is crucial to the whole episode. Gotham is a good idea curdled by human nature. The people born and built in Gotham are curdled the same way. None of this is Bruce’s fault. All of it is his responsibility. This is the episode he realises that. - Matches walking Bruce through how to kill him is as heartbreaking as it is disturbing. Also Michael Bowen is just amazing here. The emotion in his final moments is extraordinary.
- “I’m a monster. You need to kill me.”
“I wish you were a monster. But you’re just a man.” There’s no dragon to slay. No single cathartic release of violence and gunpowder. Just a broken city and a young man realising his blessing, and curse, is being in the right place to do something about it. - Alfred’s fight psychology is absolutely on point. Cupcake’s a big, untidy brawler. He’s going to take some big hits but Cupcake’s got very little in the gas tank and Alfred outlasts him.
- Also Alfred’s suit is on POINT this week.
- David Mazouz is amazing this week. He runs the gamut from rage to horror to a moment of real emotional maturity. Bruce, the child, dies this episode. Bruce the adult in training is born. His final monologue in particular, and the tragic air to it, is stunningly great.
- Top notch guest turns this week too. Michael Bowen and Lori Petty are brilliant throughout.
The Bad:
- Where does Harv go for the back half of the episode? Is he so sick of Detective Jerkface that he ditches him?
- Ed delivering a monologue about vengeance ALOUD IN A ROOM FULL OF POLICE OFFICERS is very very stupid.
The Random:
- Alfred passing out after a fight like that is a very, very bad sign. It implies a bleed on the brain which requires a lot more than a couple of hours in a hospital bed. Still, he’s at least benched for the entire episode so while it’s made light of at the time it clearly has an effect.
- Michael Bowen, who’s so damn good as Matches Malone here has appeared in numerous big movies including The Godfather Part III, Beverly Hills Cop 3 and Django Unchained. He was also Jack Welker on seven episodes of Breaking Bad.
- Lori. Freaking. Petty. The undisputed queen of ’90s genre cinema graces Gotham with her presence and the show is so much more fun with her in it. She did iconic work in Point Break and A League of Their Own and owned the screen in the amazingly weird and sporadically brilliant movie version of Tank Girl. More recently she’s appeared in a memorable run of House episodes and as Lolly in Orange Is The New Black seasons two and three.
- Shot of the week is of course, the iconic green question mark.
Review by Alasdair Stuart
• Read our other Gotham reviews
Gotham S02E12 “Mr Freeze” REVIEW
Gotham S02E12 “Mr Freeze” REVIEW
Airing in the UK on Channel 5, Mondays, 10pm
Writer: Ken Woodruff
Director: Nick Copus
Essential Plot Points:
- PREVIOUSLY, IN THE HAPPIEST DYSTOPIA IN THE STATES!
- Oh all sorts. There was a mayor, he was evil. There were some monks. Jim killed a guy. It was a whole thing.
- Jim is testifying in front of Harvey Dent and Captain Barnes about why he wandered off after Galavan was arrested and just before he was shot. Jim says he went to check on his pregnant fiancé. The disgust coming from Barnes and Dent is just about visible if you squint, as they realise Jim is actually hiding behind Lee. Or at least, he might be…
- Anyway, he’s reinstated and instantly given a new case. A GCPD officer has been frozen to death. Instantly. Have a guess if she was black and female.
- YOU WIN!
- The poor officer, who interrupted a man with a frozen corpse in the back of his car, is very dead.
- Anyway, Jim and Harv investigate. This involves them talking to Ed and Ed explaining the cop was killed using super cooled helium. It’s very rare so tracking down a manufacturer shouldn’t be too hard. Oh and Harv picks on Ed and Ed is clearly very, very not happy about it.
- MEANWHILE, AT FORMERLY PENGUIN TOWERS!
- BUTCH! Hi buddy! We’ve missed you! Butch is now running Penguin’s operation while Penguin is hiding out on the streets, suspected of killing Galavan. Butch, magnificently, now has a power drill for a hand. Even better, Tabitha shows up and talks herself into being his partner. We are very happy about this.
- Captain Barnes has clearly taken the Strike Force off Jim because he keeps breaking them. He’s also captured Penguin who has been living on the streets since killing Galavan. The cops applaud and Barnes yells at them about not doing their jobs. Thanks Captain BUZZKILL.
- Barnes interrogates Penguin who confirms Jim’s story. Barnes is still having none of it whatsoever.
- MEANWHILE, AT THE FRIES RESIDENCE!
- The man who killed the cop returns home. He’s Victor Fries, a scientist desperately trying to perfect cryogenic suspension so he can preserve his terminally ill wife long enough to cure her. The problem isn’t freezing her, but getting her back to room temperature without melting her.
- This deeply weird science opera aside, their relationship is really sweet and genuine. The cryogenic lab where he keeps his corpsicle research bodies is somewhat less so. He takes one out, begins experimenting with a new compound and waits for the man to revive.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE INVESTIGATION
- LUCIUS! Lucius tells the cops that Wayne Enterprises produced the helium and they were working on some promising cryogenic research. It and other promising projects were shut down by Thomas Wayne not long before he was killed.
- In the immortal words of Detective C&C Music Factory: Things that make you go hmmm.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE GCPD
- Ed and Penguin talk and Ed agrees to look after the grave of Penguin’s mom. It’s actually very sweet. We’re warming to these two. They’re interrupted when Penguin is told he’s being transferred to Arkham.
- Once there, and, apparently, in the Victorian era, he tries to intimidate the other inmates. This goes very very badly.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT SCIENCE!
- The corpsicle melts. Worse still, Nora has a really bad attack. Victor helps her but realising she’s almost out of medicine, goes to a local pharmacy to get more. The pharmacist refuses to fill the subscription and Victor vows to return.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT ARKHAM!
- Penguin is taken to see Hugo Strange, his new counsellor. The man is quiet, calm, urbane and terrifying. Penguin is told he’s going to be rehabilitated. He’s unsure how to feel about this, until he sees the last man who saw Strange in his cell. The inmate has pulled his eyes out and is laughing hysterically.
- So obviously this will go well.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE PHARMACY
- Victor returns dressed in his cold weather gear. He freezes the guard and the pharmacist. He then, in a move which is either brilliant or awful, asks the other customers to help him with the bodies. Amazingly, they do.
- Harv and Jim get the call and arrive in time to see him make his getaway. They also run over the guard who has been left as a frozen booby trap in the middle of the road to satisfy this episode’s pointless gore quota.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE HOUSE OF SCIENCE! AND DEATH!
- Victor returns home and takes his victim downstairs. Nora hears him come home and heads downstairs. She sees the lab for the first time and is horrified.
- At the crime scene, Harv and Jim do actual police work and discover Nora’s pill bottle. They arrive at the house and discover the lab. Nora is taken into custody. Victor watches nearby.
- Nora admits Victor did the awful crimes but refuses to give him up as he did them for her. Victor tries to confess but is assumed to be a crank. As a result, when the pharmacist actually does revive Victor flees. He’s left Nora behind but he knows it can work now.
- MEANWHILE, AT ARKHAM!
- Strange takes an elevator down to Indian Hill. It’s beneath Arkham! TWIST! There he’s shown the news about Victor’s crimes. Indian Hill hasn’t been able to perfect cryogenics yet. Perhaps Mr Freeze, as the papers call him, can help…
Review:
That’s better! Mostly.
This episode benefits massively from how pared down it is. We’ve got Jim’s bad call rumbling along in the background, Penguin in Arkham and Victor Fries and that’s pretty much it. Even better, the Arkham plot is explicitly going to dovetail with the Victor plot. Well done, Gotham! Narrative coherency is pretty much yours!
It helps that the Freeze plot is played so straight too. There’s the right element of tragedy to it and Darrow and Hager anchor their scenes very nicely. Plus this is a welcome piece of moral ambiguity for a show that’s dealt with mostly flat-out bad guys for a while. Victor’s doing awful things but he’s doing them for love. And the lead detective on his case knows a bit about bad calls for what seem like good reasons…
Even better, this is a welcome style change for the show. As well as the more concentrated focus there’s also a sense of space. Victor’s identified this episode certainly but he’s not arrested. This is going to be a major case and the A-plot here is essentially the first part of a serial. That works really, really well. Firstly because Gotham benefits hugely when it concentrates like this and secondly because it’s nice to see someone other than the Joker getting the A-List treatment. Mr Freeze fits the ‘SCIENCE GONE MAD!’ stuff Gotham is particularly good at like a chilly, padded glove and it’ll be fun to see how this plays out.
It’s not all good, of course, and the episode leans on a couple of things it really shouldn’t but this is a welcome do over for Gotham. There’s a new sense of purpose, some cracking new characters and a really fun central vision. If you’ve not bothered with the show up to now, this is a pretty good jumping on point too. Fun, nasty and mostly well behaved this isn’t Gotham at its best but it is certainly Gotham getting better.
The Good:
- BUTCH! With a new stupid hand!
- Tabby! She and Butch are really good fun together already. Can’t wait to see the trouble they cause.
- The image of Butch’s power drill hand and Tabby’s knife striking sparks off each other is simultaneously OTT and perfect. Good work, Gotham and the shot of the week to boot.
- “I’m smarter than I look.”
“Oh you must be.” More of this please! - “That’s it? No hug, no kiss, no welcome back?”
“You don’t deserve these lips.” Never change, Harv. But maybe don’t go back to the joke once it’s lit, okay? - “It’s FREISS.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s pronounced FREISS.”
“How do YOU know?”
“I’m REALLY good with names.” It’s our fervent hope that when Gotham gets to the stunt episode phase of its life we get an entire episode which is Jim and Harv on stakeout. The non sequiturs will be epic. - Lee’s scarf game is on POINT. For real.
- The opening sequence is a surprisingly great recap and it’s nice to see Jim both on the stand and far from out of the hot seat. Also nice that the show’s finding lots of little bits for Harvey Dent to do.
- Nathan Darrow is great as Victor. He’s got that slightly earnest, slightly desperate energy the character needs. He’s also got a lot of natural authority which helps immensely and actually manages to bring gravitas to scenes where he’s wearing a parka and firing a freeze gun at people. Admittedly Wentworth Miller on The Flash brings exuberant, super smooth joy to his scenes of freeze gun action but Darrow’s style works too.
- BD WONG! Hugo Strange is a great fit for this show and Wong seems to be a great fit for the character.
The Bad:
- OH LOOK! A female black GCPD officer! I wonder if sh… No she’s dead.
- The practical effects on the frozen victims are often pretty lousy.
- There’s some very on-the-nose dialogue this week. We didn’t need Victor saying, “I WILL SAVE YOU NORA,” basically to camera for one. The lovely non sequitur about Harv being good with names gets trodden all over too, in a manner that’s immensely insensitive to Nora too.
- We’ve talked before, a lot, about the GCPD being… well… idiots. That continues here as the desk sergeants watch a naked, frostbitten man stumble into the room and wait for him to scream before doing anything. See also the pharmacist literally screaming, “YOU!” and gesturing at Victor. Not a single one of them connects the dots. Not a single one FINDS THE DOTS.
- Also, the actor playing the pharmacist turns a performance so broad strokes it plays as clunky and unsubtle. EVEN ON GOTHAM. Seriously he’s so OTT you half-expect Daffy Duck to run in as Victor leaves and call him ‘DETHPICABLE!’
- So Victor needs live subjects for the trials, right? And he leaves the guard in the office chair in the road because… reasons? It doesn’t add anything, the episode is already plenty gory and it’s the one genuinely malicious thing we see Victor do. Which on the one hand is a nice character note but on the other, it’s a dick move by both character and episode.
And The Random:
- The “Previously On” montage completely rearranges several events and actually makes the first half of the season look a lot better than it was.
- NATHAN DARROW! Darrow is best known for his excellent turn on the US version of House Of Cards as Meechum, the Underwood’s bodyguard. He’s also a recurring presence on Billions.
- BD WONG! BD Wong is an, “Oh it’s that guy! I’ve seen him in something!’ character actor. More importantly, he’s the voice of Shang in Mulan. Wong’s also been Doctor Henry Wu in both Jurassic Park and Jurassic World and appeared in epic cockroach musical movie Joe’s Apartment. Search YouTube for the opening theme and try not to still be humming it until someone hits you. WE DARE YOU. He’s also appeared in countless TV shows but is best known for his 230-episode run as Doctor George Huang on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.
- Kristen Hager! This plot is just full of awesome new actors to the show. Hager is best known as Nora from the US version of Being Human. She’s appeared in numerous other TV shows and also Aliens vs Predator: Requiem.
Review by Alasdair Stuart
• Read our other Gotham reviews
Gotham S02E11 “Worse Than A Crime” REVIEW
Gotham S02E11 “Worse Than A Crime” REVIEW
Airing in the UK on Channel 5, Mondays, 10pm
Writer: Bruno Heller
Director: Jeffrey Hunt
Essential Plot Points:
- At the City Dump, an injured Alfred is running from Tabby and her goons. He hides in an old fridge and, across the world, people who use the fridge joke from Indy 4 stand ready. Stand down, really old joke enthusiasts, all that happens is Alfred hides and then gets garbage dumped on him. Which, in various forms, happens to the poor chap all episode.
- MEANWHILE, AT STATELY WAYNE MANOR!
- Lucius emerges from the TeenCave to say he’s fixed the hard drive only to find no one there. Twist!
- MEANWHILE, AT EVIL TOWERS!
- Galavan explains to Bruce that his family name is Dumas, what the Waynes did to him and how he’ll get revenge. Bruce is to be murdered at midnight. Until then, he gets to sit in a cell and think about what he’s done. Or rather what his family has done.
- Tabby returns and admits she lost Alfred. Theo is not cool with this. He’s less cool with Silver trying to bunk off from the Death Party with a “cold”. He sets her a test: make Bruce fall in love with her again, kiss her and tell her he loves her before he dies.
- Yes, this is immensely creepy.
- She goes to see Bruce and finds he’s surprisingly chill about his imminent death. Slowly she gets him to talk and they bond a little. Silver engineers an escape and Bruce goes along with it, only to find Creepy Uncle Theo waiting.
- They’re re-imprisoned and Bruce admits he knows the whole thing is a ruse. For the first time, the pair talk with real honesty. Silver tells him about how awful her life with Theo is and Bruce admits he’s calm because he’ll see his parents again soon.
- MEANWHILE, AT THE CITY DUMP!
- ALFRED LIVES! And tries to steal a car. And gets tasered.
- MEANWHILE, AT THE ED AND PENGUIN SHOW!
- Jim hallucinates a butterfly coming from Barbara’s mouth and wakes up to find Ed and Penguin in the middle of Happy Music Fun Time. Penguin tells him a warrant has been issued for his arrest and argues that they need to work together. Jim gets that look he gets when he’s about to do something stupid. You know, the one he has quite a lot.
- MEANWHILE, AT THE ONE PRECINCT GOTHAM HAS!
- Lee tries to convince Captain MachoFace that Jim isn’t a dangerous psychopath. This is very difficult and she doesn’t succeed. She does however have a GREAT scarf on this scene and gets to give Barnes some long overdue sass for being a pompous blowhard.
- Ed is lurking inconspicuously in the background in the most conspicuous way possible. The moment Barnes leaves, he gives Lee a clue to where Jim is.
- MEANWHILE, AT THE RAPIDLY ACCELERATING COLLAPSE OF JIM GORDON’S ETHICAL EVENT HORIZON!
- Lee goes straight from telling Barnes Jim would never work with the Penguin to find… Jim. Working with the Penguin.
- They talk, and Jim tells her his big plan is to attack Galavan and arrest him. Again. Lee suggests he leave town with her. She drops the news she’s pregnant. Jim does not react well. Or pretty much at all. Penguin is annoyed at all this Normal People nonsense getting in the way of Operation Crazed Vengeance: Once More, With Feeling.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE GCPD!
- Lucius Fox calls in the missing persons report. Barnes is reluctant to do anything but finally puts a request in and finds Alfred, his wounds untreated, is apparently being held in the police station they’re all standing in.
- The fact Lucius doesn’t sue the GCPD into the future where Bruce is a rodent obsessed vigilante shows just how classy he is.
- Alfred is released with no charge and immediately tools up, asking up Harvey for a car and a pair of guns. He doesn’t say “shooters” and we die a little inside. They discuss needing Jim for this and Ed, still lurking, sniggers.
- Alfred, magnificently, yells, “Start speaking, Windows!” at Ed. He responds with a riddle that Lucius instantly solves.
- Ed freaks the Hell out. Seriously you can almost see the Blue Screen of Death his mind is running.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT WHAT MAY BE THE SEASON FINALE OF AT HOME WITH LEE AND JIM
- Gotham’s power couple are preparing to leave town in a magnificent car. Fox, Harv and Alfred arrive. Jim walks over to talk to them. Lee sighs and gets into the driving seat. Jim is, of course, staying, leaving his pregnant girlfriend alone.
- Jim and the others tool up and Fox, because he’s new here, asks what the plan is. There isn’t one, of course, until Selina appears and tells them she knows a secret way in. Off Team Badass go.
- It’s time, and Bruce is taken away to be killed. Despite them both knowing he doesn’t mean it, he kisses Silver and tells her he loves her. His last act is to help save her life. Good job, BatKid. There’s hope for you yet.
- Selina’s big secret entrance is… well… we’ll talk about that later. Team Badass arrive! And bravely take the stairs, leaving an out-of-shape Harv behind to catch up.
- In the Death Party, Bruce is about to be killed when Silver protests. Theo is disappointed, but Silver’s protest buys the time Team Badass need to arrive. Which she couldn’t possibly know but let’s just roll with it.
- The two sides line up, guns are drawn, things kick off and…
- We cut away!
- Admittedly we cut to Fox being very clever and getting Barnes to actually DO something but still, come on guys!
- When we cut back there’s a bit of a fight and some really bad wire work. Bruce is saved!
- Theo, Tabby and Silver leg it. Theo has escape parachutes, just two, and vows to leave Silver behind. Tabby’s finally had enough of this nonsense and knocks her brother out. She and Silver base jump out of the building and leave him behind.
- Jim arrives, arrests Galavan and is immediately goaded into trying to kill him. Barnes arrives and talks him down. Penguin arrives and knocks Barnes out. He points out that there’s no promise of justice for Galavan. Jim gets that look…
- MEANWHILE, IN A VERY, VERY DARK PLACE
- Jim and Penguin take Galavan out of the back of a car on a spit of land near the river. Penguin beats Galavan almost to death with a baseball bat. Galavan begs Jim to kill him.
- He does.
- The following day he meets Lee and tells her it’s safe. He asks her to marry him. We don’t see the answer.
- We do see Galavan’s body being taken to Indian Hill though…
- MEANWHILE, AT THE TRAILER FOR NEXT HALF SEASON WHICH BEGINS NEXT WEEK!
- A man is pursued down an alleyway and frozen to death. Next week’s forecast: A FREEZE IS COMING
- But no more Batman and Robin jokes we swear.
Review:
The ending of this episode is the most interesting thing the show has done so far this season. It’s also something that goes a long way towards redeeming some of the goofy, and flat-out stupid, stuff in previous episodes.
Jim’s killed a man. In cold blood. That’s not going to go away even though anyone with a perfunctory knowledge of spoilers for the next half season will have a pretty good idea how this gets resolved. Gotham’s Finest, a man who came into the city intent on changing it for the better has executed an unarmed, horribly injured man and then walked away as a wanted criminal mutilated the corpse.
How do you come back from that?
You don’t.
This is the defining moment in Jim Gordon’s career, and, weird as it sounds, it’s the first thing this season that’s shown the slightest hint of him being the man who will one day run the GCPD. This is an awful, inexcusable thing he’s done and even though we know it’ll ultimately pan out, he’ll always have the memory of pulling the trigger.
That’s why it makes perfect sense to have this in his past; because Jim knows from here on out he’ll never be an absolute moral authority. He is, to borrow and modify the line, becoming the police officer Gotham deserves. And that isn’t enough. But other officers like him, and Batman, together? That’ll be enough. And that’s exactly the road this compromised, broken version of Jim Gordon is heading down.
The episode delivers elsewhere too. We get another nice Bruce and Silver moment, some excellent Alfred and the long overdue return of Lucius Fox. But it’s this moment that does, and should, stay with you. Jim’s through the looking glass and now the series is free to go to some very interesting, very dark places.
And hopefully have some more comedy Alfred moments too.
The Good:
- “Jim is like a son to me.”
“A father would have shown more faith.” OH! Point to the Doc! - “You keep trying to kill yourself. Have I got you all wrong? Are you just crazy?”
‘Of course not.”
“You’re on the run from the LAW. You want to attack the mayor with the help of a depraved sociopath and that’s not crazy?”
“I CAN HEAR YOU.”
“Sssh don’t speak.” Penguin would make a fine frequent guest star on At Home With Lee & Jim. Like Gunther from Friends with just a touch more murdering. - Alfred’s very bad day is adorable.
- At first glance, Captain MachoFace is really annoying this week. He puts a warrant out for Jim’s arrest, demands proof that Galavan is actually evil and basically gets in the way a lot. At first glance that looks like fairly standard Gotham narrative roadblocking but it’s actually a good thing. Barnes is terrified of screwing up, again, and is going slowly as a result. He’s learned something. STOP THE PRESS! A CHARACTER ON GOTHAM HAS LEARNED SOMETHING!
- The moment when Lee sees Jim talking to the Bro Squad and quietly slides over to the driver’s seat is perfect. You’re too good for these people, Doctor Thompkins. You and Foggy and Karen from Daredevil should hang out and complain about your awful failures of partners.
- Yay Tabitha finally being sick of her Christopher Walken-sounding psycho brother’s nonsense!
- Lucius Fox. Very clearly the only sane man left in Gotham. And he knows it. You poor, poor man.
The Bad:
- Alfred Pennyworth is the most famous and – odds are – only butler in the city. He’s been around the police a fair bit, so presumably he’s had his face in briefing documentation and so on. So why, in the BLUE HELL does it take Captain MachoFace calling someone to realise that Alfred is being held ON SITE? And apparently not received any medical attention for the serious-looking freaking STAB WOUND IN HIS SHOULDER?!
- Selina knows a secret way in to Evil Towers. One that involves them doing the badass slow motion walk, guns out, down at least a mile of sidewalk. And boils down to “You boys wait RIGHT outside while I sneak into the garage and open it from the inside.” And no one says anything? At all? SERIOUSLY?
- The big fight at the end… isn’t. We see everyone line up, we see the Monks rush the Jim Patrol and cut away to a scene that could have been at any other point in this sequence. When we come back the fight is mostly over aside from a bit of perfunctory kung fu and some frankly embarrassing wire work. Had we not suffered through the Zsaz v Building v Jim and Harv v Building v Zsaz nonsense earlier in the season this would have been the worst “fight” so far.
And The Random:
- Shot Of The Week is this. Penguin clearly had some anger to work out.
- Silver asks Bruce what his favourite animal is and he doesn’t say “bat”. Instead he says “owl”. Could that be a little in-joke referring to the Court Of Owls, an organisation in the comics which has secretly been running Gotham for decades and which is expected to appear in the show at some point?
Review by Alasdair Stuart
• Read our other Gotham reviews
Gotham S02E10 “The Son Of Gotham” REVIEW
Gotham S02E10 “The Son Of Gotham” REVIEW
Airing in the UK on Channel 5, Mondays, 10pm
Writer: John Stephens
Director: Rob Bailey
Essential Plot Points:
- A woman flees from a mugger. He pulls a gun on her and she’s saved by a… monk?
- Jim gets dressed for Officer Parks’ funeral. He and Barnes, on a cane after his injury, help carry the coffin. No one is happy. Especially Jim, who goes to see Galavan after the funeral. He asks if Parks’ name means anything and Former Mayor Evil says no. Troubled, Jim leaves and returns home.
- In another very special episode of At Home With Lee And Jim, he opens up about how he feels he should have killed Flamingo. Lee tries to reassure him but Jim is going pretty much full dark side.
- So much so, in fact, that when he returns to work he’s convinced Galavan is planning something. Harv is working leads from his contact in the Church but Barnes wants Jim on the case of the mugger the monks took. (We know but they don’t that he was sacrificed by having his throat cut.)
- Jim is having none of this and when Harv gets a tip about Galavan trying to buy one of Gotham’s old churches. Intrigued, and feeling the need to describe it as a “Chinese slap slap joint”, they roll out.
- Just in time to find the Monks killing people there! Twist! Jim gets into a nicely choreographed fight with a monk and stabs him.
- The monk, unfazed, pulls the knife out, walks off and into traffic. He tells Jim about, “Gotham being cleansed” before he dies.
- MEANWHILE, AT THE GOTHAM ACADEMY FOR RICH, TRAUMATISED CHILDREN!
- Bruce and Selina are planning something. This involves Bruce offering to pay for Silver’s uncle’s defence if he gives him the name of the man who killed his parents. Silver accuses Bruce of manipulating them and Bruce, amazingly, doesn’t crown her Queen of Hypocrite Mountain. Instead, she agrees to take his offer to her uncle. Before she does, Bruce whispers to her and then kisses her. Selina is not cool with this. Neither notice the hit team following Bruce.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT A GATHERING OF POLICE COSPLAYERS INCREASINGLY AMAZED NO ONE HAS BUSTED THEM!
- Barnes tries to kick Gordon’s ass about ignoring him. But when Gordon brings him proof about the Monks he reluctantly agrees to let him run with it. Especially as there have been two more deaths in the last few days with the same MO. Whoever the nine are, their blood is being spilt pretty quickly…
- This also leads to a conversation with Lee where, brilliantly, she points out that monks in the city really should be more noticeable. Harv and Jim have an idea and head out to the sewers. They begin tracking the monks, unaware their quarry already knows they’re there…
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE PLOT WE SECRETLY HOPED WOULDN’T SHOW UP THIS WEEK!
- Lee notices Ed arguing with someone on the phone. It is, of course, the Penguin. Ed, of course, lies massively unconvincingly about it and the fact Miss Kringle has left with her abusive ex-boyfriend. Lee, of course, either buys it or decides she doesn’t want to get any awful on her and leaves.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE PLOT THAT IS NOT AS IT SEEMS!
- Silver calls Bruce and tells him her Uncle has accepted his terms. On his way to meet her, Bruce is met by a van. Inside, Silver is bound and gagged inside and he’s ordered to get in. They’re threatened by Tom the Knife, a thug who claims he works for the people who really run Wayne Enterprises and are very unhappy about the thought of it changing hands.
- Demanding to know what they know about the murder of the Waynes, Tom gives the kids a choice; speak or he’ll start cutting the fingers off one of them. Silver admits she lied and her Uncle said to keep Bruce busy until that evening. Despite this, Bruce stands up to him but neither of them say a thing. Bruce screams as he’s taken off to be tortured.
- MEANWHILE, IN THE SEWERS!
- The cops find the Order’s altar and the latest sacrificed criminal. Harv is attacked by a Monk whom he promptly puts down, hard. Jim persuades him to go for help for the injured man and realises, conveniently, the Monk is explaining the plot in his comatose state. Jim impersonates another Monk and learns about the Son of Gotham before Harv and the paramedics return.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE WAREHOUSE IN RESERVOIR DOGS!
- Tom returns holding a bloodstained knife. Silver snaps, telling him to untie or she’ll have his entire family killed. Tom, delighted to finally “meet” the real Silver presses on and she panics and reveals that her uncle did tell her the name of the killer; M Malone. Tom stops and asks his employer if, “we’re good”.
- Bruce says yes they are.
- Unharmed and very angry, the future Batman appears. He calmly explains that he wanted to trust her but realises he can’t. Bruce and Selina thank Tom for the help and they leave a tearful, panicked, Silver alone, despite being terrified at the thought her uncle will kill her.
- MEANWHILE, AT EVIL TOWERS!
- Tabitha is retrieving something from a secret compartment when Alfred appears, looking for Bruce. They snarl at one another and then, presumably to fill a few minutes, fight. Tabitha kicks Alfred’s ass and, badly injured, he collapses into the back of a passing garbage truck.
- MEANWHILE, AT THE COURTHOUSE!
- Harvey Dent celebrates another day of not being Two-Face yet by being part of a trial that collapses when Mayor James recants his statement. BOOOO! YOU SUCK, MAYOR JAMES! Galavan is exonerated, Jim punches him and Jim is arrested. OR IS HE?!
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT STATELY WAYNE MANOR
- Bruce and Selina return. Bruce tells her what he whispered to Silver, about how much she means to him and how connected they are. He recalls Selina’s early line about how the best liars tell the truth and tells her it was the truth, just not about Silver.
- Selina, obviously cuted out, leaves. The whole thing is adorable and lovely.
- MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE ODD COUPLE!
- Penguin and Ed argue. It’s still awful. Then, Penguin’s henchman shows up to tell him Galavan’s been exonerated. Penguin gets enraged and heads out.
- MEANWHILE, AT THE DOCKS!
- Jim wakes up tied to a crane. Galavan monologues about his evil plan. This is actually a thing that happens. He tells him about the Order of St Dumas and the plans for the city and then has him untied and beats the ever living crap out of him. He orders Jim beaten to death and leaves.
- But Jim is saved! By the Penguin! Who slaps him around screaming about Galavan until he passes out!
- MEANWHILE, AT STATELY WAYNE MANOR!
- Galavan comes to get Bruce and Cockneyman is nowhere to be found…
Review:
Picture Gotham as a plane.
Picture that plane in a nose dive, the engines on fire.
Picture, slowly, that dive start to level off. That was last week.
This week it starts to climb.
The reason is Bruce Wayne and Silver St Cloud. Who knew that was a sentence we’d ever write?
But seriously, the Bruce plot is the best thing this episode because it’s a direct response to something last episode. Remember Alfred’s line about Bruce not being able to deceive people correctly? Bruce bloody does.
The centre of this episode is very clever, because it, like Bruce, lies to you. It presents itself as a frankly very dull, “Bruce and Silver are kidnapped” plot. It tells you this is to do with the corruption at Wayne Enterprises. It tells you this has nothing to do with the Galavan plot. It tells you Bruce still believes Silver.
It never once tells you the whole truth. And it’s brilliant.
There are few arts more complex, and under-appreciated, than the creation of deliberately slightly fake drama. That’s what this episode does and it drags you in too. We only became suspicious when Bruce was dragged off to be tortured. By the time the splendidly (possibly too) chirpy Tom the Knife came out it was pretty obvious something was fishy by the time he called to Bruce you could almost hear the them tune from Leverage. Very, very well played.
In one episode, the show has set up more forward momentum than Bruce, Selina and Silver have had for most of the season. Bruce isn’t reactive anymore, he’s out in front of the things that keep happening to him. Selina is simultaneously impressed and slightly worried and Silver, who’s awful, is finally written out. We hope.
Even better, the episode doesn’t hand wave away the really nasty episodes of its plots. Because a good chunk of this episode is Tom lying pretty convincingly to a pair of kids that he’s going to mutilate them. That’s about as awful as you can get and the show doesn’t back down from it in the slightest. This is the strong, morally ambiguous drama Gotham likes to think it always is and it’s so, so good to see it back.
Elsewhere, the episode is fun but not on the same level. Jim is clearly traumatised by Officer Parks’ death and that’s giving Ben Mackenzie some meaty stuff to play with. However, he spends most of this episode trundling around the sewers with Harv investigating the Order of St Dumas. It’s fun but it feels like marking time and leads to the more than slightly ludicrous final scene.
But the episode’s worst crimes are saved for last. Galavan being exonerated is as deeply weird as it is expected. This is what happens when you cast Richard Kind as an authority figure! When will you people LEARN?! Worse still, Cockneyman and Tabitha have a fight that serves no purpose other than to put them in position for next episode. And maybe give Alfred some nasty infections given the garbage truck he escapes in.
But despite that the episode is worth it for the Bruce plot and the start of something new with Jim. Gotham’s still got big problems but this is the second week in a row it’s improved. Keep it up, folks. And give Bruce more to do, he’s great now.
The Good:
- “Does the universe normally like you this much, Detective?”
“First time.” Nice exchange, which is also a tacit acknowledgement of Jim Gordon’s awful life. - “It’s weird – why has no one seen these monks until now? A) They’re killing people and carrying them across town and B) THEY’RE MONKS!” Lee Thompkins! The best detective in the GCPD! And she isn’t a detective!
- “I believed you.”
“Yes, that was the point.” This is COLD. This is Bruce as he will be: cut off, wearing the face of a normal person, always playing four steps ahead. Brilliantly done and very disturbing. - “AMATEURS.” Despite all the problems with the Ed/Penguin plot this was adorable.
- “We have a very small window. I have places to be. You have to die.” The monologue isn’t great but this line is a gem.
- The Bruce plot! So much the Bruce plot.
- Officer Consequences has reported for duty. It’s an immense relief that Parks’ death isn’t being hand waved away. It remains massively over-the-top and upsetting but it does seem to be a massive left turn onto Dark Side Boulevard for Jim.
- Harv and Barnes really not getting on and studiously ignoring that fact is one of our favourite things about the show. That and the fact that by and large Harv is now the cop Jim thinks he is, while Jim is now the cop everyone else thinks Harv is.
- Other Harv! Don’t worry, buddy! If we keep seeing you this irregularly it’ll be ages before the whole Two-Face thing!
- The Order of St Dumas. The show is using them in a really fun way. They’re a lot stabbier than we remember but they’re still the sort of extreme, “We will save you to DEATH!” characters that made Azrael so interesting. And if, as seems likely, we’re getting Azrael this year too that will put a very different spin on Bruce’s transformation.
The Bad:
- That Monk Harv bumrushed was awfully talkative given his serious injuries. And apparently didn’t think anything of being blindfolded. Or talked to by a member of his relatively small order whose voice he didn’t recognise.
- Casual racism when used as a character note is, well, still casual racism. It’s understandable that both Harv and Barnes would refer to the massage parlour with derogative terms but it still strikes a bum note. Although in fairness that’s as much to do with the show’s previous “eyes closed head down can’t lose” approach to dealing with non-white dude characters as anything else.
- Why do Alfred and Tabitha fight again? Think about it; Galavan clearly hasn’t turned State’s evidence on his sister because he’s claiming he’s innocent. She wasn’t arrested at the same time as he was, there’s no evidence tying her to anything and she’s free to come and go as she pleases. Given the GCPD’s increasingly clear rota system for who has the brain cell that day she won’t even be under surveillance, odds are.
- So why in the blue Hell does she face down the butler of the city’s most prominent figure, attack and badly injure but not kill him? He didn’t see whatever she was retrieving from the apartment, he clearly doesn’t trust her but he presents no actual threat. Is she really that bored? REALLY? Or is this simply a nonsensical action beat to give two characters stuff to do and move them into position for next episode?
- Ed. Bickering with Penguin. About house stuff. Oh God.
- Bless him, we love Tommy Flanagan’s work but he’s a little all over the map here. Like we said earlier though, that plot being rickety is kind of the point.
The Random:
- So… Galavan’s an expert martial artist now? I mean it’s logical… ish, kind of, given that he was apparently raised by the monks. Still seems a little weird watching him go all Lethal Weapon 2 on Jim though.
- Tom The Knife is played with flamboyant aplomb by Tommy Flanagan. A former Glasgow DJ, Flanagan tried acting at the insistence of friend Robert Carlyle. It worked out too as he’s become a frequent flyer on TV and the movies. He’s best known for playing Chibs in Sons Of Anarchy but he’s also been in Gladiator, Alien vs Predator (where, magnificently, his character was named after Aliens comic scribe Mark Verheiden), Braveheart and 24 and will apparently appear in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2. We’ve not got any information on casting at time of writing but let’s face it, if he’s not one of Yondu’s boys we’ll all be shocked.
- The Order of St Dumas, as we’ve touched on before, are from the comics. Azrael is the name of their assassin/enforcer, a member who has taken on the duties of punishing the orders’ enemies for centuries. In the comics, the latest Azrael, Jean-Paul Valley, takes over from Batman for a while. Here, I suspect, we may be getting a look at an earlier model…
Review by Alasdair Stuart
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