Gotham S01E17 Review: Majora's Mask

Gotham, Season 1, Episode 17: Red Hood

Well, way to be meta, I guess? The Joker candidate from the last episode, Jerome, plays up a definitely Heath Ledger inspired performance with a hint of Mark Hamill thrown in, but the Red Hood, seems to take his (or their) performance more on the campy, happy performance of Cesar Romero or Jack Nicholson. And they're both tackling different Joker origins too... or at least that was what it seemed before the crazy thin young thug with the Red Hood gets shot through the chest... which I admittedly didn't see coming. Honestly expected Gotham to be obvious with its Joker candidates and setting up this dude to be the second one -- the happy campy one to contrast last episode's more psychotic one. But no.

The Red Hood itself seems to be... haunted, of sorts, except it was literally made out of cloth. Guess it's just liberating people when they view themselves as a symbol? Basically anyone who wears it gets an euphoric sense to grandstand in the limelight while committing bank robberies. And be have above-average bullet-dodging luck. And they seem to gain a little Joker-esque lisp. Or that might just be me reading too much to the whole Joker thing. Some sick parallelism with TDKR's 'anyone can be Batman under the mask as long as their heart is in the right place', I'm sure. I could write a long essay about the power of masks and what a mask represents and how hiding your identity can turn you into someone else and talk about Majora's Mask and Batman and internet trolls and whatnot, but I won't. That'll take too long.

Anyway, the formulaic villains of the week is the Red Hood Gang, which takes a classic-ish Batman enemy and putting a new spin on it. I thought the haunted mask and the madness it brings onto people was kind of odd considering how the show hasn't really led anything to believe such matters are going to be addressed, though I do enjoy the wild and hammy antics of the Red Hood Gang while they are donning the hood. 'We ain't stealing your money, we're stealing the bank's money!' And I do like how there's a nice variation in that the bad guys this time around isn't a psychopath or some deluded fellow with an agenda or the mafia, but just a bunch of the little guys in Gotham that got pushed too far. The dude with the obviously-supervillain name of Destro is a baker! And while this episode is mostly a slower one just showcasing this villain of the week, I do like how both main plots this episode does have that same theme of little guys being pushed too far by the city which causes them to resort to uglier means.

Of course, on the Gordon side of things, the Red Hood Gang members are all dead by the end of the episode and Destro is presumably in prison with that gaping hole in his chest. But this random kid picks up the Red Hood and immediately makes a gun gesture, so I guess the curse of the Red Hood or whatever it is lives on? Hell of a weird take on the Red Hood concept. But other than that, the main Red Hood plot was very much an episodic one. Gordon and Bullock go through their motions of finding the crime, look for clues, interview wacky people and solve the case through a shootout. The difference is, there aren't any Leslie or Nygma scenes this episode to help spruce things up.

On the other side of the plot, the Bruce/Alfred plot is finally taken up in its most interesting incarnation yet. Alfred is visited by this old military friend of his, Reginald Payne (who as far as I'm aware isn't based on a DC character) who kind of stays in the Wayne Manor for a bit. I do like how Alfred is happy to see his friend from the past, but is still cautious of having him hang around Bruce. And Reggie does go ahead and kind of train Bruce to kind of fight dirty, use his surroundings, to not show mercy and all those dirty fighting that in the comic he will learn from less-noble masters like Lady Shiva or Wildcat. But for now, I guess it's nice to kind of instill it in Bruce (and Alfred) that naivete and hard work is not going to get Bruce anywhere in Gotham. It's a nice little sentiment there.

And I do like Bruce's little tantrum against Alfred when he stops Reggie's dirty-boxing session, but he doesn't really hold a grudge because later on he chooses Alfred's side later in the episode. We get a bit of a hint of the fact that Alfred was a badass back in the military days, fending off twelve people single-handed. It's kind of treated as this big scary mystery that Alfred kind of has a checkered past haunted by the people he kills, but I do hope it isn't brought up to be some Big Thing that will drive a rift between Bruce and Alfred.

And then Reggie, under the pretext that he's robbing Wayne Manor, stabs Alfred straight in the chest. Bruce manages to get an ambulance in time to save Alfred's life, and while people are talking about how he only has a few weeks to live... let's get real. He's not going to die. He's fucking Alfred Pennysworth. Still, it does give some rather heartwarming moments for Bruce, especially his distraught face when he calls the ambulance for his 'friend', as well as how he turns immediately to Gordon for help. They're best buddies, is all I'm saying. Also I'm going to assume this incident is what makes him Batman with his restraint and whatnot.

Of course, Reggie isn't here to just instill the thoughts of dirty fighting to Bruce. His final scene reveals that he's been sent by the Wayne Enterprises Board of Directors to investigate Bruce Wayne's little detective hunt, and the Board of Directors are basically making ready to make a move on the boy. Which is cold-hearted on their part, but it's nice to see some progress on this front. Even if Reggie's identity as an agent from the Wayne heads is kind of blindingly obvious after Bruce's rather poorly-thought-out speech last episode.

We've got a rather short scene with another adult instilling dirty fighting mindsets to impressionable young minds, this time in the unlikely form of Barbara Kean. Who still treats Ivy and Selina as roommates, gets drunk during the day and gives them pretty dresses and talks about how beauty is a weapon and blah blah. Well, when they grow up to be Catwoman and Poison Ivy, they sure took that advice to heart, no? Selina kind of brushes off Barbara's attempts at prettying her up and kind of calls her shitty and useless, which made me laugh. Yeah, the show is definitely poking fun at her.

We've got a Penguin sub-plot running through this too, and it's a lot more entertaining than the rather short and uneventful one we had last episode. The Penguin has kind of claimed the 'the' in front of Penguin, but he's kind of a shit bar manager because, well, he runs out of liquor! That was kind of funny, and the fact that he can't get anything because Maroni controls all the alcohol distribution was kind of a nice little fun twist Penguin finds himself in since being the boss in town isn't as easy as he thinks it will be. Also a nice nod to just how deep-rooted the mob's control is in Gotham. Then it delves into creepiness as Butch Gilzean shows that he's not brainwashed into a puppet like last episode implies or had his memory wiped. He still retains everything. He knows how things work, he had full awareness of what Penguin did and who Fish is and everything... the only difference now is for whatever reason Zsasz has turned the ever-loyal Butch into someone who really hates Fish Mooney. Well, that's disturbing.

Speaking of Fish... I have absolutely no clue what her plot line is going to end up being. It's all over the place, although we get some semblance of coherence this episode. Apparently the weird human organ spare parts facility is run by the Dollmaker (or rather, dr. Dulmacher) who was hinted way back in episode two or three. Which kind of explains why the process is kind of fucked-up, sure, but really did we need three episodes of Fish taking charge of the basement and whatnot to re-introduce the Dollmaker? And the manager or whatever that Fish meets up really should've just shot her in the gut and ripped her eyes out if they wanted them. That was kind of dumb for them to just stand there, ready to capture Fish and either gouge out her eyes or kill everyone in the basement but just stand around yapping. And then Fish... gouges out her left eye and stomps it to nothingness which is, uh, kind of too gory for my liking. And how is that going to stop them from using Plan B: kill her and harvest her eye? I am so confused about what is going on.

So anyway, a rather fun episode in my opinion overall with a rather subtle overlying theme which isn't something that Gotham does often. Certainly enjoyed myself watching this.