Gotham S02E14 Review: Batman Doesn't Kill

Gotham, Season 2, Episode 14: The Ball of Mud and Meanness

I thought this episode was going to have Clayface in it... but nah, it's an episode that focuses on Bruce Wayne. It's a very slow episode that builds up to the final confrontation between Bruce Wayne and Matches Malone, and while that final scene is powerful (and I'll talk about it later in this review) the buildup to it is honestly quite fillerific.

I mean, sure, seeing Alfred have a fight club punch-out with the oddly-named Mutants gang leader (a Dark Knight Returns reference there) Cupcake is kind of entertaining, and also serves to once more teach little Bruce Wayne the value of keeping his fucking mouth shut and stop swaggering around. Jeri the owner of that Joker-themed rave party was an entertaining crazy shit that seemingly wants Bruce and Matches to just meet each other, and again was entertaining enough. Penguin being tortured even more by Hugo Strange with 'Crane formula' (hi Scarecrow!), including that ice cream test, and subsequently being released by Hugo Strange, in a totally illegal move lampshaded by Strange's assistant Peabody, is likewise entertaining, but ultimately all of these are filler. 

Nah, the real meat of this episode is the final five to ten minutes as Bruce confronts Matches Malone. Alone without backup. No Alfred, no Gordon, not even Selina though the little cat burglar does provide Bruce with a gun, no matter how hesitantly. That scene with Matches was great, though, and since Bruce Wayne is the future Batman, there really was no doubt that he's going to spare Matches (though Matches shoots himself in the face shortly after). The way it was done is great, though. Matches Malone starts off introducing himself as this dude who will kill anyone for a price, doesn't care if his client is a child, and will kill women and children but not babies.

And then as Bruce talks to Matches, Matches, well, is just such an empty husk of a man who doesn't really care if he lives or dies. He doesn't even remember that one murder he did two years ago, and had to try really hard to even remember Martha Wayne's pearls, and he sure as hell doesn't remember who hired him. Or if he does, he's not willing to share -- he's got honour to the end, at least. It's a nice, stark reminder that most Batman stories explore. Despite the life-changing experience that it was that turned Bruce Wayne into Batman, the killer of his parents (one Joe Chill, traditionally) is ultimately just a random dude. Who, in this incarnation, doesn't even remember killing Bruce's parents.

It's a powerful scene, and Bruce himself finally resolving not to kill Matches and just walking out of that room, not needing Gordon or anyone else to stop him, was a powerful scene.

So Bruce apparently buggers off to live with Selina in the streets to learn the ways of the street. Um. Okay, makes sense as anything that goes in this show, I guess. Considering how out of touch he is when they were dealing with Cupcake, it's appropriate that he learns a thing or two about not being a snotty rich kid. 

Oh, meanwhile, Gordon asking around about Kristen Kringle (even if he doesn't even suspect Nygma and is just telling Nygma because he seemed concerned) causes Nygma to become paranoid, and he seems to be slowly, ever oh so slowly, growing into Riddler. He's drawing green question marks and considering Gotham doesn't really care to wait for a decade for all these villains to start appearing to menace Batman, we might see the rise of a Gordon-obsessed Riddler in the near future. 

Overall, despite the fillery quality of the episode it's still entertaining and definitely worth it for the big Bruce/Matches confrontation near the end. Not a big fan of Penguin being mindraped by Hugo Strange, though.