Gotham S04E06 Review: Oink Oink

Gotham, Season 4, Episode 6: A Dark Knight - Hog Day Afternoon

The episode is a bit of a breath of fresh air for me, in that we're taking a break from having entire episodes of Gotham being split up between the Gordon plot, the Bruce plot, the Barbara plot, the Nygma plot, the Penguin plot and the Ra's plot. Instead, it's a rare case where the case-of-the-week, Gordon and Bullock facing off against the arrival of Professor Pyg, is the highlight of the show almost exclusively. There's a Penguin and a Riddler subplot under it all to keep it from being monotonous, but I did like this episode for having focus. 

Let's go through the subplots quickly. Penguin and Sofia go through the song and dance of "Penguin thinks Sofia is treacherous, apparently she's not". Which isn't the most interesting thing out there, but Robin Lord Taylor and Crystal Reed's acting are both pretty top-notch, and we get Penguin interacting with Mr. Zsasz (and Mr. Penn!) which is always great. "Just to make it clear, boss... is this a chat-chat or a shovel-in-the-trunk chat?"

The Riddler/Grundy/Leslie subplot isn't too interesting, and it's basically just Leslie ending up deciding to help Nygma because she needs the money for her poor-people clinic. It is hilarious to see Nygma trying his best to be evil Riddler and failing to even threaten Leslie properly. Evil (well, sorta-evil) Leslie is hot as hell, by the way, even if all they did was like straighten her hair and swap out her wardrobe a bit. Great job, costuming department. 

The rest of the case deals with the morbid serial murderer Professor Pyg, who is lashing out against corrupt cops in Gotham and killing them, sewing decapitated pig's heads onto their faces. Meanwhile, Gordon has to deal with Bullock for the first time this season (I think?) and partner up with him. I genuinely thought that this was going to be Bullock's swan song considering he's been absent for the majority of the season, and having him get one last adventure would be a swan song tactic that many TV shows employed before. Thankfully, Bullock doesn't die even though Pyg slit his throat, and we get the revelation that, of course, he's a dirty cop. Which isn't that far of a stretch considering season one Bullock was pretty damn dirty. 

Pyg himself is okay. He's a bit of a new villain for me, and I've hardly any sort of attachment to him compared to how I tend to be verbose with other Batman villains -- he showed up around the time that I stopped reading comics regularly. But his portrayal here is fine, and while undoubtedly goofy (oink oink, motherfuckers!) there's this line that they tread between sadistically horrible and weirdly funny that I felt they managed to do adequately well here. I'm not sure if I'm chomping at the bit for Pyg to return the very next episode, but if they're going to pull a Mad Hatter or a Barnes and have Pyg be a recurring villain at the background of the main villain (who I'm assuming is still Ra's) it won't be a particularly bad one to have. 

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Professor Pyg, a.k.a. Lazlo Valentin, is a relatively new addition to the Batman rogues' gallery, first appearing in 2007. In the comics, Pyg is a schizophrenic with an obsession of making people perfect, torturing and doing surgery on people and sewing pig masks on them to make them compliant 'dollotrons'. Professor Pyg was also prominently featured in the 2013 animated series 'Beware the Batman' and in the video game Arkham Knight. 
• Leslie Thompkins' job as a doctor for those who doesn't have money is her job in the comics (where she isn't involved in Gordon in any way, is much older than the rest of the cast, and didn't turn evil and hot).