Gotham, Season 5, Episode 12: The Beginning
Hoo boy. Here we are, at the end of Gotham. It's something that I didn't believe we'd get in a satisfying end, and I was so happy that the show ends not just on the shot of Bruce Wayne leaving Gotham to train, but on a shot ten years later as, well, the legend of Batman begins. And honestly, Gotham as a show has been many things over the past five years, and while its quality has definitely been pretty variable over the years, it has been nothing but entertaining and a pretty awesome showcase of what you can do, bending the lore of your inspiration while still remaining extremely faithful to it -- even moerso than other shows like Flash or Arrow, I'd say.
It's honestly a pretty long episode that acts as an extended post-finale epilogue. It's ten years later. Gordon has a mustache, and is considering quitting from being a Commissioner. Bruce Wayne has returned after being reclusive for ten years, and of course the audience knows it's as a bat-cowled dark knight. Barbara Kean is the queen of Gotham estate, and is essentially playing divorcee parents with Gordon as far as little Barbara-Lee goes. Selina Kyle (who's recasted with an older actress, a shame, although said actress does look like an older Bicondova) is now full-on Catwoman, just without the mask, and is going around stealing diamonds. The Penguin, with a monocle and a hilariously fake-looking plump stomach, is released from jail. The Riddler and a brain-dead Jeremiah Valeska Joker is in Arkham Asylum.
The episode basically sets up a "who's the villain of this episode?" moment, with what seems to be the Penguin arranging for Riddler to be broken out of jail, and sending him a bunch of bombs to blow up Mayor James. Also, Bullock gets sucked into an investigation and basically blackmailed into confessing for a crime he didn't commit.
And while the show initially seems to point at Penguin as the mastermind of the show, what with his badass suit-up moment as he walks out of Blackgate, turns out that Penguin's plan is basically to kidnap Gordon and shove him to that pier from season one, and he doesn't have a hand in the more complex machinations of the night. Gordon tells Penguin what an idiot he is, and just jumps into the proven-to-be-shallow pier, and swims away while Penguin screeches like a maniac. It's a bit fanservicey since this moment honestly feels kind of shoehorned in, but I do like the little callback to the first episode of all this madness.
Also, while all of this is going on, while Gordon and Harper try to prove Bullock's innocence and just investigate things, they are met with a mysterious, caped figure with a deep voice telling them to not touch the bodies, and makes use of smoke bombs and jumps out of windows to evade the police, clearly acting outside the law... but not villainous. Enter the Batman! And, yeah, the minimalistic shots of how the cast of Gotham perceive the hero of Gotham is definitely well-done, because while it has been building up to Batman, it's also a show about the people of Gotham, and I am definitely a fan of this execution.
Later on, we get to see Penguin and Riddler planning their huge return, only to have a shadow slam down on top of their limousine, and a cape block the front of their car, before we cut away to the two of them being strung up by Batman on top of a pole. It's neat. I really wished that the final episode really spent more on Penguin and Riddler since they are the most prolific villains in this show, but I also think that as a show that focuses on Batman's return, the final antagonist being the Joker is appropriate. Really wished we got a bit more out of these two, though.
Oh, and while all of this is going on, we get to see Alfred, hilariously, make excuses for Master Bruce disappearing from social functions. That's great. And, of course, as Gordon and Bullock continue with their investigation, turns out that it's Jeremiah Valeska, who's been feigning brain-deadness throughout the past ten years, and has actually been behind the events of the night to draw out Bruce Wayne. The show still doesn't call him Joker, but he's Joker in our hearts, and we get a long scene later on with him talking about he's definitely not Jeremiah anymore, and goes through a string of J-names before shrugging it off.
The costuming department is pretty great, too, with the scarred makeup and the messy green hair, and the awesome purple suit. I've seen a lot of relatively different Jokers over the years (and I'm pretty sure that the Jared Leto version has been a disappointment to many), but I don't think that Gotham of all places would be a place where I found the most definitive Joker since Mark Hamill and Heath Ledger.
Joker attacks Barbara and kidnaps little Barbara-Lee, although Barbara manages to at least shoot and kill Ecco, with Joker hinting that he's going to replace her pretty callously. She ain't Harley Quinn! Joker, as ever, brings Barbara-Lee to ACE Chemicals, and we get a standoff with Joker holding Barbara-Lee above a vat of ACE acid as he rants about his name and his purpose and how he's been faking senility all the while...
AND THEN THE FUGGIN BATMAN COMES, and it's badass. Joker's uncertainty and confusion, to him finally realizing what's going on when a Batarang pierces his hand, and later getting knocked out by one... Batman arrives and saves the day, swooping in and swooping out like the dark protector that he is. It is definitely very heavily implied that both Joker and Gordon know full well who Batman's real identity is, and honestly? It works absolutely fine.
We get a brief farewell between Batman and Catwoman, with Selina begrudgingly telling Bruce to piss off for leaving her like that. It's a bit of a shame that Selina's final character arc hinges so much on her love for Bruce, but the show's definitely earned that for her. The show's final show is Gordon, Bullock and Alfred turning on the old huge spotlight while the camera pans up and around the Batman as he lurks above Gotham City, with Gordon musing that he might stick around as commissioner for a while yet.
And... and, sure, it's not the best-looking Batman. But honestly, Batman is hardly the legacy that Gotham leaves behind. Gotham's legacy is some of the most well-executed portrayals of young Bruce Wayne, of Oswald Cobblepot the Penguin, of Edward Nygma the Riddler, of Commissioner James Gordon, of Hugo Strange, of Selina Kyle, of the Joker, of a bunch of original characters, of all of these other variations on Batman lore that has proven to be nothing but absolutely entertaining and earnest, doing their own thing while still being faithful to the lore that this series has been based on.
And honestly... I'm sort of happy that this show ended here, pretty much perfectly. I would really love a show that kept around some of the cast members to properly explore the Batman mythos. Maybe Batwoman could cast Robin Lord Taylor, Cameron Monaghan, Cory Michael Smith and Camren Bicondova as their respective characters there? Honestly, I'm definitely going to miss this wacky show the most. This episode is certainly not the strongest offering that Gotham -- or honestly, even this season -- has to offer. But it's certainly a neat little epilogue to tick off that all-important box that, yes, Bruce Wayne does become the Batman and the wacky adventures of the madcap cast of Gotham City will still continue. Overall, I'd say that while the season's definitely been handled interestingly, it's not handled poorly, and is a relatively satisfying final act and hurrah to the show as a whole.
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- The Penguin, the Riddler, Batman and Joker all wear costumes that are far, far more directly inspired by their classic comic-book counterparts. The Joker in particular seems to draw direct inspiration from the appearance of the Tim Burton Batman movie, which itself inspired and defined Batman's look for quite a while.
- Penguin's lost eye is replaced with an artificial eye. Some versions of Penguin in the comics do have an artificial eye, but the most important and distinctive part of this appearance is the monocle.
- Commissioner James Gordon finally ends up growing that hilarious handlebar mustache! It's one of the show's biggest complaints from purists, that Gordon doesn't have his mustache. It's sadly just for a scene, though.
- Barbara Kean has dyed her hair red, making her look like Barbara Gordon in the comics.
- Ecco disguises herself as an Arkham nurse and has a distinctive red-and-black costume going on, a reference to her inspiration (and successor, in this continuity) Harley Quinn.
- One of Jeremiah's aliases, "Jack", is a reference to Joker's real name in Tim Burton's Batman movie, Jack Napier.
- The plot of the Joker pretending to be brain-dead in Arkham Asylum, and regaining his sanity to unleash a crime spree in response to Batman returning to Gotham City, is a homage to the graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns.
- As Barbara and Riddler lampshades, Riddler has tried to blow up Mayor James once before in season three. "It's a callback!"
- Batman crashing on top of the roof of a couple of crime lords' limousine in his first night as Batman is a reference to how he did the same to Carmine Falcone in Batman Begins. Although Penguin and Riddler have far, far more hilarious of a reaction to it.
- Penguin and Gordon, of course, reunite in that dock that Gordon refused to kill Penguin back during the pilot.
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