Gotham, Season 3, Episode 7: Red Queen
Bit of a shorter review because I just happened to play this before my big CW-series/JLU binge-watch, so you guys kind of get an unplanned Gotham review. We basically continue on the Mad Hatter plot in this episode, and I sincerely didn't think that Mad Hatter was going to be such a compelling main villain. Granted, none of the main villains in Gotham other than Penguin and maybe Falcone have really been all that impressive, but Mad Hatter is just so utterly destructive and insane and personal to Gordon that he made such a huge impact despite appearing only in, like, three, four episodes?
Of course, Valerie Vale survived the events of last episode, but she breaks up with Gordon because both she (and Leslie) kind of figured out Jim's game of protecting Leslie by predicting that Hatter's going to kill the one Gordon claims to love more. That bit is quickly shoved aside... and surprisingly enough, Gordon spends the majority of this episode out of sorts, thrown into a trippy hallucinogenic insanity by Mad Hatter's "Red Queen" poison. He makes out of it thanks to doctor Falcone, but that particular acid trip -- which involves snarky tour guide Barbara Kean which is the best we've seen from Barbara in months -- addresses a lot of the problems that Emo Jim Gordon has. He's using his lone wolf bounty hunter shtick to run away from all his problems. He wants to be a cop, but he refuses to play nice (even Bullock gets pissed off at him this episode) and follow the rules. He wants a happy life with Leslie, but is too chickenshit to admit it to himself. He wants to uphold his promise of justice to Bruce, but so many failures have knocked him down. And who the fuck knows what that part with him and Penguin randomly in a warzone is supposed to represent.
Oh, and, of course, there's the surprise appearance of Jim's father at the end in the car, talking to him and generally telling him to do the right thing. Of course, this being Gotham, apparently the mysterious family ring that gave Gordon some closure and inspiration to rejoin the police force would be featured in the stinger where Catherine of the Court of Owls reports to an unseen man with the same ring, who may or may not be Jim's father.
Yeah, the visions dragged on and on for a bit, especially the happy-Leslie-life bit, but everyone (well, mostly Barbara and evil Bruce) notes how shittily self-centered Gordon has been for the past few episodes and tells him to basically grow up.
Meanwhile, while Gordon spends his time convulsing and soul-searching, it's up to Bullock and Barnes to prove that the GCPD has some semblance of competence without Jim Gordon. Hatter might have proven himself to be elusive and insanely smart for a madman... and that scene where he steals his sister's corpse from the morgue, kisses it before proceeding to drain all her blood... man, Hatter's creepy. Hatter's big plan is to gatecrash this meeting of Gotham Leaders (which Penguin and Catherine are attending) and force them to drink wine mixed with Alice poison, but Bullock and Barnes manage to stop them in time, and it's awesome to see Barnes losing his cool and beating Hatter up. Hatter does recognize that some of Alice made it into Barnes, though, and Barnes really, really hates it.
Barnes's aggression is well-exemplified during the interrogation scene with the random security guard, shocking the nominal 'bad cop' Bullock. And if the reports from the mice experimented upon with Alice's blood is any indication, soon it'll reach critical mass and Barnes will probably die... but maybe not before he turns into like a bad guy or something. I dunno.
The Penguin/Riddler/Isabella stuff felt trite, though. Last episode was a bit sweet, but as I thought, throwing the bland and out-of-nowhere and obvious-obstacle Isabella into the mix just felt like a move meant to complicate matters. Riddler is head-over-heels over Isabella, Penguin is jealous and trying to sabotage their relationship (through gossip instead of bullets, thankfully) but this ends up getting Riddler and Isabella closer together. It's a bit of an irritating little subplot that I'm not a big fan of. Mostly because Isabella is just a plot device to get in the way.
Meanwhile, Bruce and Selina have a little date in the manor. That was a sweet little random mini-plot that I won't talk much about, but I liked it.
Overall, though, a decent episode. Sadly it seems this will be the last we'll be seeing of Mad Hatter for a while, though honestly he's got a good run and has my vote as the best non-regular arc villain of the show.
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