Gotham S02E05 Review: Fireflies, Firebugs and Azraels

Gotham, Season 2, Episode 5: Scarification

This episode marks the start of a two-parter or three-parter starring a reinventation of a classic Batman villain: Firebug. Or Firefly, as the character is apparently solicitized as. See, here Firebug is the name of a family of arsonists, the Firebug Brothers, possibly a cheeky reference to how many minor unmemorable villains there are called Firebug. And among them is Bridget Pike, abused stepsister of the jackass Firebug brothers, and we see her being forced by circumstances to go from Selina's BFF who's afraid of fire to someone who actually starts to relish the power that the homemade flame-cannon grants her. It's a standard, solid episode on that front as the status quo isn't really changed. Gordon tries to hunt down a criminal working for the bigger Gallavan plot.

We get some nice moments between Selina and Bridget, telling her to basically stick up against her asshole, emotionally abusive brothers, and some nice little hypocrisy on her part as Bridget confronts that she herself is desperate for a family.

We get some nice development between the Gallavan-Penguin front, and Penguin is absolutely entertaining as always. There's some mystery going on to just why Gallavan wants to blow up old Wayne buildings, and thanks to recovering an antique knife Penguin manages to hear some crazy story about how several centuries ago there's a blood-feud between the Wayne family and the Dumas family (ancestors of the Gallavans), who was wiped off the history of Gotham and exiled to a monastery and therefore there's some stupid blood feud over a Romeo-and-Juliet thing that happened centuries ago. What is this, fucking Game of Thrones?

Um what? While it might be very, very loosely based on the Court of Owls arc, and the names of the five great families are definitely names of important characters in Batman lore, this seems to be an entirely original backstory... and one that, while creative, makes Theo Gallavan look like a bigger moron than he already is, wanting to kill Bruce Wayne simply because of a slight committed centuries ago. It does add some depth to the otherwise boring ultra-businessman-with-vague-plans-for-the-city shtick that Kingpin, Malcolm Merlyn, Damien Darhk and so many other superhero TV villains have played with greater elegance than Theo Gallavan.

Theo Gallavan is, of course, still a far more interesting character than the similarly show-original Fish Mooney last season. He's just a gigantic prick and I want to punch him in the face. At least the St. Dumas plot might deliver something fresh to the show, which it definitely needs right now.

Penguin goes crazy, chops Butch's hand off, and who's betting that this will be the moment that caused Butch to actually turn against Penguin? Obvious plot twist is obvious.

Oh well, let's just talk Batman lore. Five great families: Wayne, Dumas, Kane, Elliot and Crowne. Wayne is obvious, of course. The Dumas family, or more specifically Order of St. Dumas, which is actually referenced to where they were exiled in the past, is an order of... well, Templars, basically, who created Azrael, one of Batman's major supporting characters with a centuries-long vendetta as well. The Kanes is a reference to Kathy Kane, otherwise known as Batwoman, and in some stories the family of Martha Wayne before she married into the Wayne family. Elliot is the family of Thomas "Tommy" Elliot, the bully we saw on the first season and in the comics, the identity of the villain Hush. The Crownes are... uh, some dudes from the Night of the Owls comics that I haven't read.

Also, the jackass Wayne employee from the finale of season one, Bunderslaw, gets absolutely brutalized by the Gallavans and had his eye gouged out. Poor fucker. 

A sub-par episode, honestly. Firefly is entertaining enough, but the show's just kind of all over the place.