Gotham S1E8 Review: Black Mask & Hush

Gotham, Season 1, Episode 8: The Mask

I associate Black Mask and Hush together among Batman villains. They were both villains of their own respective arcs that came out around the same time, they both knew Bruce Wayne as a kid, they were both these big masterminds, they both didn't have any fancy costume other than the mask covering their faces and I didn't know about them until a fair bit later compared to the other classic Batman villains. It is, therefore, a bit of a welcome surprise that both show up in Gotham at the same episode.

And, well, the Black Mask here isn't really faithful to his comic counterpart, what with Richard Sionis being an adult at the time of this show and Bruce is, y'know, ten... but in the same vein, they switched out a fair amount of Black Mask's backstory and even changed his name into Richard as opposed to Roman Sionis, so this may very well be the father of the comic-book Black Mask who will fight Batman. Which is a fairly interesting revamp that leaves an opening for a more faithful adaptation to come down the pipeline.

Black Mask himself isn't really that much of a threat, at least not in the way he was in the comics -- he isn't a super-competent mob boss, or someone with a massive vendetta against his family who cared more about appearances than about their child. Instead, Black Mask (who isn't even called that in the episode) is the leader of a corporation who has this crazy bloodlust and sics his employees against each other in some kind of crazy deathmatch inside an office building. Also he's gotten an obsession with Japanese swords and whatnot, which explains the black oni mask he wears. It's certainly a look distinctive from his comic book counterpart, what with the crazy oni markings, but at the same time that does kind of clinch the look.

Who was behind the whole Black Mask plot was already solved mostly from the get-go, and it's not like the Goat or the Balloon Man where the main tension of the episode is hunting down just who the perpetrator is. It's more of a 'can Gordon survive against Black Mask's battle royale stadium' thing, and there's a point where Bullock has to get pissed at every single cop in GCPD to get off their asses and help out Gordon, and I do like how they acknowledge the events of the last episode having somewhat of an impact even if it doesn't shake up the status quo too much.

Bruce and Alfred, for the first time, engages in something actually interesting. I thought it would be a groan-worthy moment as Bruce gets shipped off to school, but no. He encounters Tommy Elliot, who makes sense as someone who would be around at Bruce's age. Tommy is apparently an orphan (so he's already killed his parents by this point) and is a massive dick of a kid. He insults Bruce's mother, gangs up on him, talks about gruesome death details and gets to be an all-around dick. Alfred then teaches Bruce to... well, basically Alfred drives Bruce up to Tommy's house and let Bruce deliver a righteous beating on Tommy before going off to eat pizza.

I'd say how improper such child-teaching methods are, but then no one said Bruce Wayne grew up to be a mentally healthy man. And it's certainly healthier to face your bullies, and I do like the gesture of Alfred giving Bruce his father's watch... they didn't make it apparent, but after giving it some thought, it's to make sure Bruce holds back enough strength so he doesn't really injure Tommy any more than he did.

Alfred is a massive cock. But he's being an awesome one lately.

Penguin gets a short scene where he meets up with Fish and tries to give her a peace offering, but Fish stabs him in the hand. (Fish is a bitch) We get a couple more scenes of Penguin getting his hands on his 'replacement' and apparently torturing him off-screen to get information about Fish's plans. There's also a scene of him talking with his mother, who proves to be quite an awesome evil bitch when she was younger and more sane. Not much Penguin this time around, sadly...

Because the focus is on Fish. And surprisingly, she's becoming... well, I don't hate her. She's clearly meant not to be the kind of entertaining villain the way Penguin or Black Mask are. She's the kind of villain that's supposed to be a bit of a scumbag, so I don't mind her. She interacts the most with Liza, and manages to get Liza to put Falcone to sleep so she can copy pages of Falcone's ledger that's important for whatever Fish is planning next. Fish also gives Liza some sad story about how her mother was killed in front of her (figuratively speaking; she was hiding behind the curtains) by a man of Falcone's, and she swore never to suffer under a man ever since.

It would be an interesting backstory, if a cliched one, but as the scene with the old singer -- who is, I think, implied to be Fish's mother -- shows that Fish just knows how to manipulate people. Guess we know where Oswald picked that up from.

Nygma gets some fun scenes mucking around with dead bodies, and that scene where he does an autopsy when he's apparently not supposed to? That is funny in a morbid kind of way. He only shows up in small doses to lighten the mood and I appreciate that quite a bit. Essen also shows that she wants so much to be a good cop, and keeps apologizing to Gordon for leaving him alone (despite the fact that she stood by up until Gordon brushes her off). I like Essen. She doesn't do much but hey, she's likable..

Oh, and after getting herself drunk and nearly shooting Gordon, and after Gordon kind of brushes off one of her calls, Barbara just packs up her bags and leaves. Good! Can't stand that idiot. Life outside Gotham is healthier for her anyway. This also opens up a more realistic way for Gordon to 'cheat' with Essen that doesn't make him out like a complete douchebag like it did in the comics.