Gotham, Season 3, Episode 10: Time Bomb
This was a bit of a dense episode of Gotham, with multiple plot threads vying for attention. As we build up to the mid-season finale in the next episode, so many things went down on all fronts -- the Bruce/Selina/Court of Owls front, the Oswald/Edward/Barbara/Butch front, and the whole Gordon/Leslie/Mario front.
Again, I still think the Oswald and Edward plotline is so contrived and nonsensical and forcibly injected with the introduction of Isabella... and yes, Oswald has had his share of shoehorned plotlines before (remember his meeting his weird ultra-gothic family?) but this moreso than before is such a weird, strange plotline. I mean, I'm not complaining too much about this episode's share of the plotline, because it is actually tense to see Edward make a sadistic choice for Tabitha and Butch... but my head still hurts whenever I think of how we ended up on this spot.
Tabitha is... not a very interesting character, is she? She doesn't have a personality and is just the shared love interest between Butch and Barbara, and I honestly didn't give two shits about her. Butch, on the other hand, might not be the most interesting character in Gotham but at least he has a personality I care about. Basically, Edward's wrong conclusions has caused him to try and exact his revenge on Butch and Tabitha, forcing the two to make a sadistic choice -- either Tabitha presses a button that kills Butch, or her hand gets sliced off. Edward is basically trying to get Butch to confess to a crime he didn't commit, but when Tabitha is ready to get her hand sliced off, lovesick Butch talks about how he puts a bullet in Isabella's skull and all that, jarring Edward awake that he got the wrong people.
Honestly, Oswald should just let Edward put a bullet in Butch's head and not prolong it out like this. Dumb, dumb Oswald.
Meanwhile, Barbara is actually being a pretty good detective. After a brief confrontation with Penguin, she finds out from Penguin's very hilariously-voiced maid about this and that, and figures out from little vocal hints and receipts just who killed Edward's librarian girlfriend -- Oswald Cobblepot. And the motive? Love. Barbara is entertaining as this psychotic loose cannon with her own weird motivations, and while she can never be accused of being a well-written, consistently-developed character, she is entertaining as all hell. And from her scenes in the BDSM shop to the 'WTF' face when she arrives a little too late at Edward's hideout, she's a hoot to follow.
Meanwhile, we're getting another groan-worthy love triangle as, surprise, surprise, Jim Gordon still loves Leslie Thompkins a fair bit. Leslie, being ready to get freakin' married with Mario Falcone (who, by the way, is a lot more attractive as husband material than emo, self-destructive Jim Gordon ever will be) is understandably ready to move on, but Jim's kind of muddling the ground between 'protect Lee from the possible assassins gunning after Mario' and 'stop Lee from marrying Mario'.
There are Court of Owl assassins being sent to murder Mario, and we get a pretty cool mafioso moment when Don Falcone's car blew up in the opening. We go through some procedural investigations as Gordon continues to save Mario from assassins (those dudes on a motorcycle with blades are cool!) as everyone continues to assure Gordon that Mario is clean as a peach. Gordon, partly driven by his paranoia and partly because of jealousy, doesn't believe it, and, well, it turns out that, yes, Mario is the target for some reason. As Don Falcone rips the teeth out of the captured assassin -- which, again, is one of the coolest scene, because Don Falcone is simply just that awesome -- we find out that it's the Court of Owls that is behind it. Falcone just calmly locking himself in the room, resigning himself to play rough and just confidently ripping a tooth out and dismissing the police as 'he won't press charges' is just so smooth.
The final scenes do show a lot. Don Falcone is apparently working with the Court of Owls and a huge chunk of season one's plot in the race for Indian Hill is influenced by the Court. The Court, however, only treat Falcone like a pawn, because 'there are many things you are not privy to', including just what connection Mario Falcone has with the Court. Don Falcone's threat to spread chaos through Gotham City and generally tear it down -- because someone with nothing to live for doesn't give a shit about anything else -- ends up causing the Court to withdraw their assassins. For now.
Side-note: Why the fuck would the Court of Owls carve their insignia into their assassin's teeth? That seems weirdly impractical.
Mario, of course, is infected with the Alice Tetch virus so we're not quite done just yet. He sees Leslie leave from Gordon's apartment, and, yes, Leslie is there only to say goodbye to Gordon, but Mario is a jealous man. And so jealous that he kills the random punk that tries to rob him. Oh well.
Ivy, meanwhile, uses her perfume to fool Alfred into letting her out, upon which she gets immediately captured by the parties that were hunting them down last episode. Bruce, Selina and Alfred have a face-to-face with the group, who aren't a member of the Court of Owls but rather is a group called the Whisper Gang, who are fighting against the Court. They're honestly a very shifty bunch of people, and I find it slightly hard to swallow that someone as calculating as Bruce would buy into the Whisper Gang's super-vague plan. The key in the necklace opens a safe, who, by word of mouth, has something that can destroy the Court. Bruce is just so desperate to defeat the Court that anything at al that resembles hope is something he'll cling onto, but this feels like a particularly dumb move for the future Batman to do.
Oh, and Talon shows up and murders at least two of the Whisper Gang in one fall swoop, so sucks to be them, I guess? Good thing I haven't memorized their names yet.
Overall, it's not as good as it could be, mostly because the Court of Owls/Whisper Gang plot was sprung to us quite inelegantly, and I'm still not very sure about the Oswald/Edward/Barbara mega plot of convolutedness... and I'm not a big fan of the Gordon/Lee romance being shoved down our throats again. But it's still entertaining, and it's that small factor of entertainment that I'm clinging to here.
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