Gotham S04E21 Review: Killing Joke

Gotham, Season 4, Episode 21: One Bad Day

A bit of an interesting episode, this one. It very, very loosely adapts the Joker's motivations in The Killing Joke and transplants it to Jeremiah Valeska, where instead of tormenting Gordon, he torments Bruce Wayne instead. It's a pretty great story on that front, where Jeremiah calls Bruce (and Selina, who tags along) over to his base, where thanks to some Scarecrow gas, Bruce is forced to confront the possibility of Alfred dying because of him -- or worse, because for a while, it appears that Alfred went all laughing mad and is a thrall of the Joker. Of course, it's all just a Scarecrow hallucination, and Bruce is able to shake it off. It sounds pretty simple, but the performances given by Bruce, Alfred, Selina, the Joker and even the Scarecrow are all pretty well done. It's a story that as a Batman fan I've seen done over and over, but it's still a pretty neat one. 

And, of course, the big plot twist is that Jeremiah's plan for Bruce isn't quite done yet, because in the middle of a tender moment between Bruce and Selina, Jeremiah shows up and stabs Selina as the credits roll. We'll see next episode if Selina survives or not, but it's certainly a big 'OSHIT' moment.

Jeremiah's city-spanning plan is not quite as impressive as the One Bad Day storyline, though. He blows up the clock tower to show that he's serious, and then gives Bullock a couple of hours to evacuate the city, before he detonates multiple other bombs in the city in order to remake the city in his image. Meanwhile, a weird Penguin/Grundy/Barbara/Tabitha alliance heads off to try to negotiate with Jeremiah in order to get money from him... but all they end up doing is fly off the rails and cause Jeremiah to move up the clock for his plans. And honestly? I really could've done without this -- none of the characters in the Penguin-Barbara alliance have been especially compelling on this half-season, and lumping them all together doesn't  make them any more interesting. 

Meanwhile, Gordon is apparently saved at the last minute before the explosion and rescued by Lee's people. Gordon and Riddler work together to solve the weird puzzle that Jeremiah leaves behind, which eventually devolves into a self-centered "who loves Lee the best" dick-waving contest thanks to the Riddler's single-mindedness. Gordon ends up whacking Riddler in the head, which is... okay? I'm genuinely not sure what to make of the silly Riddler-Lee-Gordon love triangle, other than it's not particularly good, but the actors are having so much fun I can't not love it. 

Meanwhile, the GCPD has this subplot where no one believes or respects Bullock other than Lucius Fox, but his bravery in tracking down one of Jeremiah's bombs and defusing it basically ends up causing him to become a bit of a hero again. It's a neat little mini-arc for Bullock, I suppose. And this ends up causing Jeremiah's followers to lose faith in him, causing Jeremiah to cook everyone alive with flamethrowers in a locked room. 

Oh, as an addendum I added in later, I completely forgot that there was a scene where Jeremiah apparently gets an offer of alliance with Ra's? I'm not sure why Jeremiah can't figure out "attack Bruce while he's distracted at home" on his own, but eh, I suppose they wanted to bring two of the season's main villains together? Overall, this episode is good, even if it doesn't really offer anything particularly new for me. 

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• The title of this episode, "One Bad Day", as well as a good chunk of the storyline, is very loosely inspired on The Killing Joke, one of the more iconic Batman stories. Among the more obvious ones are:
• The Joker's whole hypothesis that it only takes 'one bad day' to turn anyone as sick and twisted as him, in a reference to Joker's possible origin story in that comic where he lost his wife and was dropped into a vat of face-changing acid on the same day. 
• Joker forcing a good guy to go through a corridor while images of a loved one being tortured are shown to them -- except here it's Bruce and Alfred instead of James Gordon and Barbara Gordon (the daughter, not the wife). 
• The Joker shot Barbara in the novel, causing her to slam onto a glass table while Gordon watches in horror. While it's with a dagger in this episode, Selina falls onto a glass table in a similar manner. 
• Jeremiah quotes a line from the comic book, "all it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy."
• Gotham City's clock tower is one of the more famous aspects of the city. In the comics, it's notable because after being paralyzed by Joker, Barbara Gordon would adopt the mantle of the information organizer Oracle, and operate from atop the Clocktower.