Gotham, Season 4, Episode 14: Reunion
After a slight hiccup in the previous episode, this episode of Gotham is actually pretty damn good, with a few storylines that end up being completed and progressed by the end of the half-hour. It's an episode that feels a bit more disjointed with the various plot threads technically not having much to do with each other, but it all ends up feeling well done regardless.
Let's start off with one of the more self-contained storylines. Sofia Falcone and Leslie Thompkins meet to discuss the state of the Narrows, where Sofia (who initially addresses Lee in the friendly terms of her 'sister') tries to get Lee to pay her protection money. Lee and Ed ends up figuring out that all Sofia wants is power over the police department -- or Gordon, specifically -- and Lee tells Sofia that she's definitely willing to give everything she wants about Gordon in exchange for not having to pay the taxes... and Sofia ends up showing off her "I am five steps ahead of you" deal, revealing that she's already planted weapons and double-agents among Lee's people. A bunch of Lee's enforcers are dead, previous antagonist Sampson ends up being placed in charge of the Narrows, and Lee gets her right hand bashed in. That's a pretty grisly scene, too, with some shots showing the mangled flesh pretty clearly. It's pretty brutal, although it does set up Lee as another person who could band together to fight Sofia. It's sort of like how the various forces within Gotham City banded together to fight Theodore Gallavan a while back, except the storytelling here is a lot more organic.
The other B-plot that goes on in this story is Bruce Wayne's own arc. He burns his mask at the beginning of this episode, trying to figure out who he really is. He goes off to apologize to Alfred, but thankfully Alfred just doesn't accept him right away. It's neat that little Bruce has to actually go through some characterization to get where he needs to be to become Batman and it's not just a trippy weed-dream. After hosting a philantrophic gala and giving a very heartwarming speech about Alfred, the gala ends up being hijacked (literally!) by Poison Ivy, the A-plot of the episode, and Bruce ends up going in as a vigilante to beat some thugs up. This, apparently, is what Alfred thinks Bruce is far more suited to do. And as unhealthy as being Batman is... y'know, if there's one man who's equipped to dealing with his mental problems by dressing as a bat and beating up criminals, it's Bruce Wayne.
The third and final B-plot is Ed Nygma's attempted suicide to kill the Riddler, to stop him from taking over his body and trying to kill Lee Thompkins again. And it's perfectly shown, with Nygma's fear and resigned desperation, and Riddler's panic, both being pretty well-done. Riddler ends up suggesting another solution -- which turns out to be what the Riddler has been wanting to do all along -- inter Ed Nygma into Arkham Asylum, where a very giddy Oswald ends up 'naming' Riddler to summon him out of Nygma's psyche. And by the end of this episode, Riddler is back in control, and it seems that he and Oswald are, once again, teaming up. It's well-told, and both actors are, as always, a delight to watch. It could've felt so much like a retread, but the scripting and the whole dual-personality bit ends up giving a neat little twist to their relationship.
Poison Ivy ends up carrying the bulk of the episode, but she herself ends up lapsing into a bit of a generic villain. Her gimmick of causing flowers to burst out of people is horrifyingly macabre, though, and while she's not much more entertaining compared to Pyg or Hatter, at least her story's not dragged out. After two episodes of being a secondary threat and this episode of being the primary one, the Ivy crisis ends up being more of a tool to bring Bullock out of his retirement, to get Bruce to finally embrace his destiny as a caped crusader, and... and that final scene with Selina, which is pretty well-done considering how much of a non-entity that floats between different cast members Selina has been throughout this season. The confrontation is well-done enough, especially considering Selina and Ivy haven't really shared much of a connection in the past few episodes.
Bullock and Gordon, on the other hand, feel a bit more concrete. Gordon dragging Bullock out of retirement is well-done, and the show cleverly makes use of Bullock's role as the policeman who killed Ivy's father, as well as Ivy going after Bullock's bar and killing everyone there. Gordon ends up admitting to Bullock at the end of this episode about how he's made a deal with Sofia about Pyg and completely and utterly fucked up... and Bullock notes that for the sake of the GCPD he will keep mum while they take down Sofia... but he also makes it clear that he considers Gordon as guilty as Sofia and he'll take him down. It's going to be interesting, since it's actually the first time that Gotham paints James Gordon as an actual criminal of sorts instead of a misunderstood "always right" hero. We'll see where this goes, but the episode definitely works well.
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- The terrorist video of Ivy in the television, due to distortion, repeatedly causes her skin to look green. In the comics, especially later ones, Poison Ivy does have green skin, although artists have gone back and forth on that front.
- Bullock's murder of Ivy's father happened all the way back in the first season, a fact I honestly forgot until this episode.
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