Gotham S05E11 Review: Gotham Incorporated

Gotham, Season 5, Episode 11: They Did What?

As we reach the final episodes of Gotham, it's amazing that this show about a prequel of a Gotham City pre-Batman ended up turning into one of my favourite superhero TV shows to watch. It's earned it, damn it, rising from the droll banality of its first season into and carving a niche as it embraces the sheer madness of the Batman mythos, and the fat that the showrunners gave it a chance to finally end its mission statement and wrap up every single plot thread before allowing it to end with dignity is a lot more than I had expected from a show that people initially derisively called "Smallville, but with Batman and shitty pacing".

Let's just take some time to note that this relatively long-running superhero show is allowed to end basically on a relatively high note.

No, Gotham isn't perfect. And this season in particular isn't perfect -- the season's jarring time-skips and its focus on Barbara Kean's pregnancy has always been bizarre to me, and for all of the buildup on Bane, he ends up being another disappointment. Will we ever get a live-action Bane that's actually not a pawn of another villain with a stupid rebreather mask? But Bane and his sponsor Nyssa al Ghul does end up make for a decent final villain... I am just disappointed that the series didn't have enough time to properly build up these two, but they definitely fulfill their role as "outsiders" who would dare besmirch and attempt to destroy Gotham City, leading to that scene teased in the opening with the forces of GCPD teaming up with Bruce Wayne and villains like Riddler and Penguin to fight off an invading army. Sure, the fact that the military forces follow around Bane as long as he did -- and especially after he snaps that poor general's neck -- is a bit of a headscratcher, but eh.

This episode is just a huge explosive climax, jumping from moment to moment. We've got Penguin and Riddler deciding to go down swinging with his city (Oswald abandons his stupid submarine and treasure!), Oswald and Jim reminiscing about their past, Bruce getting a quiet moment with Alfred, Bruce telling Lucius and Selina that he's okay with destroying the Wayne Enterprises building if that meant rescuing Gotham City, Oswald and Ed's brief moment of friendship, Leslie inspiring the Narrow people, Barbara and Leslie's moment of friendship... we just alternate between shoot-outs and quiet character moments as we rush through this finale. And, sure, some characters like Lucius, Barbara, Leslie, Bullock and Ed short of get the short end of the stick as far as character moments go, but eh.

I do really love just the sheer duo of Gordon and Penguin as they reminisce about how far they've gone through, and I realize that the whole point of this is that Penguin has ended up becoming, essentially, the Joker to Gordon's Batman. He's the rival, the arch-nemesis, the one that's been there since the beginning, the one that's simultaneously an enemy Gordon will never trust, but also such a known quantity that they know when to work together to defend their city.

We get a cool scene of Jim and Barbara teaming up to take out Nyssa's troops and rescue the baby, but not before general Wade shoots himself in the head. We get an awesome scene of Selina and Bruce fighting Bane, and eventually subduing him with the "Nightwing Project", a little device that summons a swarm of bats in one of the most chillingly awesome Batman-esque scenes as bats fly from the nooks and crannies of Gotham City and fly under the moonlight to attack Bane.

Ultimately, the invasion is repelled and delayed enough. As villains like Penguin and Riddler defend the city, and they weaponize Joker's building bombs to create a labyrinth to slow down the encroaching enemies, all we're missing is like letting other villains like Firefly, Mr. Freeze, Zsasz and Poison Ivy help to defend Gotham... but maybe that'd be too much and put the cops in too harsh of a light.

Eventually, the day is won with a cheesy but appropriate scene of all the refugees arriving and refusing to bail, standing together united against the invading army, and finally it broke the soldiers and causes them to point their weapons at Bane. It's cheesy as all get-out, but the cries of "we are Gotham!" sort of... works? Bane is down, Nyssa escapes wounded with Oswald's submarine... and we enter epilogue mode.

The GCPD and Barbara celebrate, with Barbara naming her daughter Barbara Lee Gordon after her three baby-parents. The city's being rebuilt. Captain Gordon is finally Commissioner Gordon. Bruce and Selina have a moment. Oswald (minus one eye) and Edward lick their wounds and grumble about how they are the forgotten ones, ignored by the GCPD and left by the wayside with no submarine, no glory and no money... but they vow to never ever be common criminals ever again. Edward has a badass speech in front of the mirror -- seemingly and subtly banishing the "Edward Nygma" persona forever and ever (I kinda wish this was expounded upon a bit more not just in this episode, but throughout the season) and that scene where they tell each other that they are brothers while preparing to backstab each other is just perfect.

And as the final shot of this episode -- and honestly, since the next episode is just a timeskip epilogue -- we get the appropriate shot of Bruce Wayne leaving Gotham City and Selina for a long, long time, of course, because he has all the societal manners of Batman, all he leaves for Selina is a letter. It's a pretty awesome scene as Batman leaves off to train in Tibet or whatever, finally moulding his body physically to become the Batman, while Alfred and Lucius remain in Gotham City to rebuild the Wayne Foundation.

Could the ending be better? Absolutely. But it's honestly such a great sendoff to Gotham, both the characters and the show, that I honestly can't help but view this episode with nothing but fondness. The characters are all handled well (no Game of Thrones S08E04 nonsense here) and consistent with their portrayals over the series. It's a relatively simple ending, all things considered, just ticking off boxes of things we wanted for a Gotham finale. After seeing so many other TV shows crash and burn as they try to conclude their show with poor scheduling, or see them try and extend a show longer than its shelf life with convoluted plotlines, it's refreshing to see Gotham end at four and a half seasons... long enough to get its groove and work out the awkwardness of its first season, lasting long enough to leave an impact and tell all the stories it wants to, but without overstaying its welcome.

Thank you, Gotham.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• A prototype device used by Bruce to summon bats and attack Bane is called "Nightwing Project", a reference to the most famous moniker used by Dick Grayson (Robin I). Various incarnations of Batman, most notably in the Year One miniseries, have actually weaponized a swarm of bats attracted by a device. 
• We get a mis-quote from Dark Knight Rises's Bane's iconic line, "you have my permission to die", albeit this time it's spoken by Nyssa to Gordon. 
• It's pretty obvious, but Gordon's daughter with Barbara is named Barbara Lee Gordon, which, of course, would be the Barbara Gordon that would end up becoming Batgirl in the future. 
• We get a homage to the first episode of Gotham with Jim and Oswald remembering about how they first met, with Oswald falling into the lake and everything. The Riddler also calls back to how he used to work in the GCPD before embracing Riddlerhood, which took place over the later half of season 3.