Gotham S05E05 Review: Anthropomorphizing Nincompoop

Gotham, Season 5, Episode 5: Pena Dura

You know, for an episode titled "Pena Dura", we don't really have any references to Pena Dura, huh? This episode basically has two main things that it does -- introducing a brand new character, Eduardo Dorrance (*coughBANEcough*), as well as wrapping up the next leg of the Riddler storyline. And it does so somewhat well? There's some parts of this that works, and some part that really doesn't. The whole opening bit with Eduardo Dorrance arriving, noting that he's the help that Secretary Walker promised, coming in all guns blazing to shoot up random RPG seller man in the cold open, is pretty cool.

But then Eduardo just spends most of the episode being Gordon's buddy, and I do like the bits where he's just utterly flabbergasted at all the nonsense codenames in Gotham City, or the whole segment with the Riddler's puzzle explosion room, which I loved. But I honestly feel that everything regarding Gordon and Eduardo ends up taking a back-seat as all they do is basically just be this force that sort of hunts down criminals, but the episode has such a huge focus on Edward Nygma (or, well, Cory Michael Smith's performance steals the show) that I really feel that I never really cared about Eduardo as a character other than pre-release news and an episode title that basically don't make it a spoiler of Eduardo's real identity. Even in one of the more badass action scenes halfway through the episode with Bullock's team confronting Penguin, Eduardo was mostly just scenery and a yes-man.

Edward's super-angry at the Riddler for going on a killing spree, for good reason, and his justification to Gordon when they eventually meet in this episode is that the murders that he does are all for a good reason -- people that he has a grudge with. He also uses the same defense when he meets Barbara and Oswald later in the episode. "Am I stupid?" he asks them, and asks what is the point of shooting a goddamn rocket into a building full of innocents that have nothing to do with him. There's no puzzle, nor a vendetta.

Of course, Gordon and Eduardo wants nothing better but to bring him in, and after spreading through a city-wide PA system (which somehow works), the city is out for Nygma's blood after he's painted as the killer of Haven. And the episode basically alternates between Gordon and Eduardo bro-bonding (but not really), Bruce's B-plot, and Nygma going through various different people that want to kill him. Bizarrely, the first segment is a hillbilly family that's angry at Nygma for killing their dog Jojo, and wants to execute Nygma via electrocution strapped onto a car, and Nygma basically tricks them into blowing themselves up in an utterly bizarre non-sequitur scene that really has nothing to do with the rest of the episode.

Having flashbacks to Oswald's "I'm going to fix you, Ed" dialogue at the end of the fourth season, Nygma crawls up a ventilation shaft (this is the Batman universe, after all) to confront Oswald, and after a brief gag about seeing Edward the dog, Oswald tells Nygma that, hey, he's his only friend left under their twisted definition of friendship, and he wouldn't harm Nygma in such a back-handed way. Again, I do like that the show's basically built up these maniacs that, yes, the Riddler wouldn't really do this elaborate plan without a riddle or a revenge, and the Penguin is too self-centered to not paint his name in paint when he does something. It's actually quite endearing, in a fucked-up way, how the two of them basically re-affirm their fucked-up friendship.

Oswald directs Nygma to Barbara, who directs him to Hugo Strange, although I do love that despite their friendship, Oswald was very much willing to fork over Nygma to the GCPD when they arrive. I also do like how Gordon and Oswald basically acknowledge that, yes, this isn't Nygma's style, and Gordon lets Oswald loose... which is honestly kind of a scene that felt like it was played down.

B.D. Wong's Hugo Strange is still one of my favourite characters in this show, especially with how he hams it up. "Ooooh, my." Hugo confesses that, yes, he did put in a control chip in Nygma's brain, but handed off the controls to someone else. After baffling Nygma with the whole "I'll write it down, so I can honestly deny ever telling you" bit, Hugo knocks Nygma out with a knockout gas pen, and then does some super-fast brain surgery (which just looks grisly and comical at the same time) to reboot the chip.

And it's about here where Gordon and Eduardo shows up, and we get the revelation that Senator Walker was apparently behind everything, including the mind-control of Edward Nygma. It's... it's kind of cool that Eduardo turns out to be the villain (or working for the villain), and I do hope that why blowing up Haven was part of this bizarre master plan will be explained, but Eduardo basically tells Gordon to kill Nygma as a proof of his loyalty and to allow Walker to move with final relief plans. Ultimately not a murderer, Gordon escapes, and Eduardo sics robo-Riddler off to hunt down Jim Gordon and kill him. I like the twist that Eduardo is evil, and that his employer is behind Riddler's mind control... but on the other hand, the actual twist feels abrupt and I'm definitely not the biggest fan of it. We'll see where it goes -- this episode is not my favourite, but I don't think it's bad.

Meanwhile, in the kiddies' table, Selina has been hailed as a hero in Barbara's bar, and we get a surprisingly... disappointing revelation about that one facet from the first episode where Selina confesses that she witnessed the Wayne murder. It's very muted, and Bruce takes it in stride, and... I dunno. I like that they don't make a huge fuss out of it, but I really wish this was handled as a proper revelation than anything. Selina's basically unrepentant, though.

We get one of my favourite scenes from this season when Bruce walks in to try and talk to Gordon, but finds Bullock instead, doing paperwork while he's being benched while Gordon runs around with Eduardo. Bullock has apparently grown so much in the past five seasons that he's doing paperwork, and that little things matter to him -- act by act, deed by deed. It inspires Bruce a lot, and he pulls off a fun little Batman disappearance.

The final scene is the revelation that Jeremiah faked his death to fool Bruce and Selina, and both he and Ecco are just super-crazy. He's got a couple with bandages that we don't see the faces of, but apparently it's part of his huge plan for a 'family reunion'? It's cool buildup, but I don't really care all that much... Jeremiah doesn't really feel all that entertaining when we get him in random small doses, I feel.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Eduardo Dorrance is the adaptation of the Batman villain Bane, although we don't really know it yet. Pena Duro, where the title of this episode mis-spells, is the name of the prison where he spent most of his abused childhood. The comic-book Bane doesn't have a real civilian name, but his father, the villain King Snake, was called Edmund Dorrance, which is where this name comes from. 
• Eduardo often grips the sides of his vest, which is a trait that Tom Hardy's live-action Bane from The Dark Knight Rises often does.