Gotham S04E04 Review: Richard Ghoul

Gotham, Season 4, Episode 4: The Demon's Head

The review for this episode is going to be a bit shorter as well. It's a pretty fun episode, while still being tense enough as it builds up the Ra's al Ghul storyline. Basically, Bruce's personal investigation with the dagger gets an old scientist killed, and in the process of attempting to team up with Gordon to investigate this mysterious cult (as Alfred and Bruce so hilariously reminds us, Gordon knows jack shit about the whole Ra's al Ghul mystical cult of assassins business) and in the process, Bruce gets a bit too obsessed with hiding the ceremonial dagger, and one crazy rabid dog-like assassin later, the scientist's grandson gets killed by Ra's. Guilt-ridden Batman is one of the best stories people have told about the character, and it's a pretty neat setup. It also puts Ra's al Ghul in jail, which, in natural Comic-book Show Big Bad form, is something that Ra's al Ghul has totally been planning all along. It's a pretty basic plot, with Anubis and his handler a very disposable group of minions that's colourful enough to not just be more ninjas or more gunmen, and how Gordon gets rid of Anubis, by throwing a museum bone out of the window? Hilarious.

The main Gordon/Bruce/VictimKid plotline is all well and good, and we also get a pretty well-written shouting match between Gordon and Alfred in the precinct where Gordon actually rightfully calls Alfred out on keeping secrets from the police. Regrettably, Bullock isn't around to partake in this shouting match (new character Harper serves as a stand-in for Bullock) which is a shame.

Ra's doesn't get to do much this episode, but it's pretty impactful as he kills a kid and hams it up in front of Bruce and Gordon. In one of the most hilarious scenes that is actually pretty realistic, the cop on the phone that asks Gordon how to spell "Ra's al Ghul", and the payoff that they're trying to look for 'Richard Ghoul' or 'Ralph Gull'? 

Barbara gets to interact with more people in this episode, and it basically establishes her role (again) as Ra's minion, but I did feel that her reunion with Gordon was oddly businesslike and not at all befitting Gordon seeing her vengeful psychotic ex-girlfriend back from the dead. Again. 

Meanwhile, Sofia gets played a bit by Penguin, where she pretends like she doesn't want to join Penguin's group (her later conversation and sexytimes with Gordon implies that this was her plan all along) and is all "no no I don't want to be the don" with Carmine's former associates, allowing Penguin to murder her father's old associates. Sofia continues to be a fun little wild card, with her scenes with Penguin as she alternates very smoothly from "you used me! I am so inexperienced at this!" to "my father would've done this instead, nice effort but you're not as competent as him". We also get to see more Victor Zsasz, and I cannot stress how much I love Gotham's take on Victor Zsasz. 

"I want Victor to freeze him!" "...huh?" "I meant the OTHER Victor!"

God, Penguin and Zsasz make such a great pair, with Penguin's hamminess and scenery-chewing playing off Zsasz's deadpan answers and casual psychopathy so well. They also have a B-plot of dealing with Riddler again, including Riddler sending a couple of rapping punks to deliver his riddles, which is just absurdly hilarious (Zsasz bobs his head to the beat, yo) and Riddler apparently has become so brain-damaged that he can't even tell good riddles anymore. He shows up in the Iceberg Lounge all angry and shit before Penguin manages to out-talk his way quite easily, and then Mr. Freeze ("Other Victor"!) shows up. "Do you want him in the same pose or not?" Oh god, other Victor has like three lines this episode but he makes the best of it. Penguin also quite predictably lets Riddler off the hook, telling him to wallow in the fact that he's broken and can never be the Riddler again. It's... an interesting dynamic, for sure, and I for one am definitely interested in seeing where this goes. 

So yeah, the A-plot with Bruce and Gordon may be a bit formulaic, but it's told amazingly well. Newcomer Sofia's okay, and I do enjoy the Penguin bits simply because they're so hilarious. Good stuff.