Gotham S01E01 Review: Batman Without Batman

Gotham, Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot

A while back, Gotham ended. And I reviewed the series as it ended, having followed it from beginning to its end, probably the only show that I cover that I can safely say that I did so. And sure, the Netflix shows are one thing, but they feel different compared to covering a weekly TV show, y'know? And I went back and rewatched this first episode of Gotham, because I never actually reviewed the first episode of Gotham when I started blogging all the way back in 2014. And just to make that list of episodes on my DC Comics TV show tab be full, I decide to talk about my impressions about this first episode. 

And... hoo boy, the first episode of Gotham really wasn't all that, huh? Almost made me remember why I almost didn't think to continue this show. One of my biggest pet peeves about superhero comic book adaptations -- or any adaptation of anything originally aimed at children -- is when the people in charge of the adaptation themselves feel almost ashamed of the source material. So we get shows like the first season of Arrow, grimdarkifying a cheerful happy Robin Hood into an emo vigilante. Or the angry, psychotic, kill-happy version of Batman in Batman v. Superman whose basis from the comics is taken from a 'bad future' standalone series. Or, well, shows like Gotham and Smallville, where they are, respectively, Batman and Superman shows without Batman and Superman. And where Smallville was still pretty upbeat. Gotham, of course, was all gothic and dark and stuff.

And it focuses not on Bruce Wayne, who was just a kid, but on James Gordon. He's got no mustache, he's the only good cop in the city, and he has to deal with all of the nonsense happening in Gotham City without Batman. And... and the problem with a prequel show like this is that you kind of expect Batman's classic villains to show up... but they can't be dealt with properly because they have to be around when Bruce becomes Batman, right? And while the pilot episode doesn't have to deal with that, we sort of get to see a bunch of interesting characters, these proto-Batman-villains getting shown to us in the time before they became supervillains. 

And so we have pre-Catwoman Selina Kyle slinking on a rooftop as she sees the iconic Thomas and Martha Wayne murder. We get Poison Ivy Ivy Pepper as the young plant-loving daughter of some dude framed for the Waynes' death, and pre-Riddler Edward Nygma as the riddle-happy GCPD forensics expert. And all of these are basically quickly breezed through since it's not until the later episodes that we really explore them, although perhaps it's a bit too much to just go 'ho ho hey look, it's Riddler, get it? It's the Riddler, from all those other comics and TV shows, but he's not the Riddler yet but he asks riddles'. 

Oswald Cobblepot, a.k.a. proto-Penguin, has the biggest role here, stuck as the attendant of the show-original Fish Mooney, before getting shot and tossed into the river, and then rising up, killing some dude and stealing his sandwich in the most hammy way ever. Basically a huge chunk of the episode deals with the gangsters of Gotham, the villains before psychotic clowns and men with ice guns prowl the streets of Gotham. We've got some familiar names like the Godfather-expy Carmine Falcone, a crime boss with a code of moral, who clearly have the cops in his pocket. Gotham-original Fish Mooney is a simultaneously irritating but also campy character that was obviously set up as a 'starter villain' that the show is going to have free rein to kill off... which, of course, to anyone reading this after watching even the first couple of seasons... yeah, that sure didn't happen. Gordon's partner, Harvey Bullock, is basically no better than a mob enforcer-slash-executioner... but is clearly conflicted about it, and the other cops with names (Sarah Essen, Crispus Allen and Renee Montoya) are glorified cameos. Bullock's writing is easily the thing that the show's pilot doesn't have a good handle on at this point, really being inconsistent on writing him as an abrasive tit or someone who's actually scared, and it's not until later episodes in the first season that Donal Logue would really settle into the role. 

The script is still pretty awkward, really, and the jumping focus of trying to show off the pre-Batman Gotham City and trying to tell a regular cop-in-a-shithole-city story with James Gordon isn't well-balanced. The show itself also doesn't quite have a proper tune, going from some campiness on Fish and Oswald's part, and something more grounded and gritty when it comes to the cops. And I don't think Gotham actually gets this balance down until they decided that if they were going to do an adaptation of Gotham City, they better do it right and make things as loony as possible. And... and I really don't think that this pilot really is all that impressive, I really don't. Honestly, it was a pilot that actually turned me off from watching the show. There's a lot of clunky exposition, but for the most part the pilot is basically just there to set up the mood... which it does so somewhat successfully. 

Ultimately, it's not the most impressive first episode, mostly because of the real mismatch in terms of trying to juggle various different tones that the Batman franchise itself has vacillated through the past 80 years. Still... considering that I really did like the five seasons that came next, it's sure interesting to look back and realize that the original pilot really wasn't that impressive. 

Gotham S05E12 Review: Gotham Ends, Batman Begins

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. 

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.

Gotham S05E10 Review: Born in it, Molded by it

Gotham, Season 5, Episode 10: I Am Bane

I'm... definitely not particularly impressed by this version of Bane ending up as being essentially a ripoff of Dark Knight Rises Bane. Who I realize probably has his fans out there, but while Tom Hardy (and Shane West here) is a great actor and made Dark Knight Rises Bane pretty entertaining, he has always felt like a mis-adaptation to me. What's with the asthmatic Vader-ripoff mask anyway? Senator Walker ends up being revealed as the alter-ego of Nyssa al Ghul, taking over Talia from Dark Knight Rises and basically sort of ripping off that entire plotline. She wants to kill Bruce and Barbara for causing the death of Ra's, and... I dunno. It just feels so mundane and derivative, especially considering how batshit crazy Gotham has became, carving out its own identity. "Bane" himself hasn't been much of an entity, showing up for around an episode as Gordon's buddy turned evil, but honestly... not very impressed.

Still, we got a plot, and Hugo Strange ends up injecting Bane full of Venom (not named, of course) and gives this huge speech of "you are the bane of all who oppose us" nonsense. We get another brief time-skip to reunification day and... yeah, we're really breezing through things, huh? Barbara's ready to give birth, Riddler's built his goddamn submarine, and we get some classic Penguin/Riddler hijinks as they prepare to leave Barbara behind as they ride their dumb-ass submarine back to the mainland. Everything looks great for all our main heroes. The military arrives to help Gordon officiate the reunification, Lee calls Gordon to tell him that Barbara's about to give birth, and, hell, even Alfred and Selina share a very good moment about new beginnings and blowing up your past and whatnot.

And then Bane shows up with a truck, smoke grenades and sleeping darts, and ends up kidnapping Bruce, Gordon and the general dude. Bane gets a brief "I was tortured!" backstory dump, before Walker-Nyssa reveals her identity and her full plan to Bruce. It's at this point that Nyssa seems to remember that it's actually Barbara that killed Ra's, and then goes off to hunt down Barbara while Hugo Strange intends to turn Gordon to another Bane, I guess, with a mind-control chip? Also, Nyssa wants to activate the military's Protocol Ten contingency plan to blow Gotham City up into rubble? It's a bit muddled. Nyssa's not a very organized woman.

Oswald and Nygma realize that Barbara pilfered a part of the submarine, and the two storm into the hospital and yell at each other, and we get some hilarious comedy about pointing a gun at Barbara's unborn child, with everyone present -- even Oswald himself -- being horrified that he would even do such a thing. Man, you gotta love the sheer insanity of Gotham's cast. Nyssa and Bane's forces arrive, and while Leslie wheels away Barbara on her wheelchair, Oswald and Nygma stay behind to hold off Bane and his goons... and we get this utterly hilarious shit scene of Riddler jury-rigging a rocket with oxygen tanks and it absolutely fails to do anything at all.

Oswald and Nygma hamming it up is hilarious, but so is Lee whirling Barbara around on a wheelchair while having contractions and dual-wielding pistols. God, this show is insane and I will pay good money to see the behind-the-scenes of Morena Baccarin and Erin Richards doing spinny-spins with wheelchairs. Nygma apparently stayed behind long enough to protect Lee, which is a nice callback to Gotham's ridiculously convoluted love dodecahedrons, but also to steal the sub part from Barbara. The Penguin and the Riddler exits the hospital, stage left.

While all of this is going on, Bruce ends up escaping with the aid of a conveniently-placed candle, kung fu kicks two goons. Gordon, meanwhile, gets injected with Venom and... and Hugo Strange is also not an organized man, because Gordon breaks free, kicks Strange in the face and saunters off. The military general that Gordon and Bruce rescues is revealed to be under Strange's control with the microchip, though. Which... yeah, why not?

Meanwhile, Barbara gives birth, because that's the short of insanity that this show is built on. There's some silly stuff of Lee screaming at Barbara to have faith in Gordon, before the baby's eventually born. Bane arrives... then gets ran over by a car, which is hilarious. Alfred and Selina come out and fight Bane, and Bane ends up beating up both of them (yeah, beating an old man an a little girl. Very impressive, "Bane") and slams poor, poor Alfred onto a telephone pole and leaves him bleeding and unconscious on the ground.

And then, well, it's a typical 'darkest hour'. The mind-controlled General Wade activates the special order that summons a fleet of helicopters to firebomb Gotham, while Nyssa is revealed to have arrived at Barbara's bar and killed every single one of Barbara's assassin minions (forgot those were a thing), and now holds Barbara, Leslie and what I assume is Barbara Jr hostage.

Overall, you can totally see just how batshit crazy this entire episode is, and how much of it just hinges on me shrugging and going "yeah, why not". Nyssa's plan, as I mentioned, is not very well organized and she and Bane seems to change targets and priorities at a whim. I'm also not a particularly huge fan of the final villain being Nyssa and Bane, two characters who barely get any buildup in this series. But despite that, this entire episode manages to grip me and entertain me, and honestly, I'm definitely going to miss Gotham's unique brand of insane, hammy madness when it's gone, something that's going to happen in a couple of episodes' time.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Bane's backstory in this episode mirrors that of the Bane from Dark Knight Rises, where he is revealed to just be the brutish enforcer of a daughter of Ra's al Ghul (Nyssa here instead of Talia), who is seeking vengeance for the death of her father. 
• To that end, Bane having an epic arrival before being taken out by a car also happens in Dark Knight Rises. This Bane gets up, though. 
• Nyssa al Ghul makes her Gotham debut! While Talia was the far more well-known daughter, Nyssa would later be introduced as another daughter who leads a splinter faction of the League of Assassins. She's since made multiple appearances across different media, most famously the Arrow series. 
• Venom isn't named, but the visuals of green fluid being injected through tubes is definitely there. 

Gotham S05E09 Review: Walking Egg Timer

Gotham, Season 5, Episode 9: The Trial of Jim Gordon

As we're hurtling headlong to the final episodes of Gotham, we get one of those episodes where the atmosphere is trippy and the main character is forced to confront the sins of the past. It's something that Gotham has tried to do several times in smaller doses in the past, but the context for this one is Jim Gordon getting shot in the chest while negotiating a cease-fire for clean water between the various gangs of No Man's Land, and spends the entire episode in some bizarre purgatory where another ghostly Gordon holds him trial for "ruining the lives of everyone he touches". Definitely a very Batman-esque mindset, and as someone who just played through Arkham Knight for the first time last month, definitely a sentiment felt by Batman at many times.

I'm still not sold on the whole 'baby' storyline with Barbara being pregnant, but at least it's mostly in the background this episode, and judging by the time skip that this episode has, is going to be resolved relatively quickly. Meanwhile, Bullock is on the warpath, trying to find out who shot Jim Gordon, and we get a fun confrontation between him, Oswald and Barbara.

Meanwhile, speaking of someone who feels that he's destructive, Bruce and Selina have a weird date, while Bruce confesses that he thinks the best thing he might do at the moment is to leave -- especially since at least three villains (Theo Gallavan, Ra's al Ghul and Jeremiah) have targeted Gotham City because of him. I mean, he's not wrong, and the episode gets interrupted with the arrival of Ivy as the main antagonist before we get a proper, concrete answer.

Of course, everything that happens in this episode is Poison Ivy's fault, and after being recasted several times, it's nice to have Poison Ivy be finally someone truly relevant to a story. Showing up with that one Mutant Leader dude, Ivy kidnaps Bruce and heads off to GCPD for some pro-plant doomsday plan. She's also the one who mind-controlled Victor Zsasz to shoot Gordon, and love-struck, happy Zsasz is a hilarious, hilarious Zsasz. We get some fun action scenes as Zsasz shoots up the precinct while talking calmly about how Ivy loves him, and the confrontation of Bullock showing up in Riddler's old bomb suit from earlier this season and the whole exchange with Zsasz (hee hee hee what an idiot) is hilarious.

Another strong emotional moment that's understated in all the chaos of this is Leslie Thompkins confused about how she's going to be a parent of any sort to Barbara and Gordon's child, and who better to tell her how to be a good mommy than Alfred Pennyworth, the best-ever adoptive dad any fictional character can ask for? Lee later fights against Ivy personally, and ends up shooting her in the gut... but not before Ivy smashes the vial of medication for Gordon just for added drama.

Meanwhile, Bruce ends up spraying Lucius with Ivy's perfume to get him to cooperate... but it's Selina to the rescue as she drop-kicks Bruce and later on Lucius to snap them out of Ivy's mind control. We get Selina screaming in Bruce's face about how he doesn't really care about Gotham City if he's so willing to leave, which I guess is the conclusion to that plot thread? Anyway, they save the day and stop Lucius' machine from turning Gotham into a plant paradise. I suppose it's just returning Selina back to her normal, more heroic self that cares for Bruce? That whole cat-eyed savage Selina sort of went nowhere, huh?

Meanwhile, in purgatory land, Gordon is faced with Dark Bride Lee who tells Gordon that she got a broken heart, broken engagement and a lost child because of him. The ghosts of the Haven dead show up, including that one kid. "Your best wasn't good enough", says the kid. But when he's shoved into the executioner's chair, Gordon just screams about how he wants to live... it's all over-dramatic and all, but as one last hurrah for a relationship-centric episode before the next couple of episodes is full-on action, it's all right to have.

And then we get a surprising time-skip to a huge event that I didn't think Gotham was ever going to do... Gordon marries Lee! With bullock as the officiator "by the powers vested unto [him] by absolutely no one". We also get Bruce and Selina kissing. And... and I like this, honestly. I have grown pretty attached to the cast of Gotham over the years, leading to a pretty great conclusion to these characters' relationship. The episode's honestly a bit rocky, but season five of Gotham has certainly continued to impress. And, well, as Bullock himself states, despite the fluctuating quality of this show over the years, at least it's brought two wonderful people together -- and I don't mean Gordon and Lee the characters, I mean the actors, who are happily married and raising a daughter.

The cliffhanger seems to be a bit more about Barbara, who's shown to be trying to impress Gordon by doing his orders of "keep the city in order" but ends up, well, getting passed over for Leslie. It's partly jealousy and probably partly because of Oswald's constant mockery about how she "never had a chance", and while I'm not a particularly big fan of Barbara being motivated by what boils down to a love triangle, it's honestly a plot development that feels at home in all the madness and throw-it-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks mentality that fuels Gotham as a show.

Gotham S05E08 Review: Ventriloquism

Gotham, Season 5, Episode 8: Nothing's Shocking

A pretty fun episode, even if it's pretty much what you'd call a filler episode. A classic Batman villain and a less-well-known one end up basically as villains of the week, and it's interesting that in this season's limited episode count, they still have the time to do a bunch of filler episodes. I guess they just want to quickly wrap up all the remaining ideas they have, while also giving more focus to the No Man's Land storyline.

And... and it's a very, very entertaining episode. The main focus of this episode is, I suppose, the Bullock storyline as his past sins caught up with him. Despite being supposedly Gordon's main sidekick, Bullock has honestly been pretty sidelined for a huge amount of Gotham's five-season run, and it's great to see him get some spotlight. More importantly, Bullock's dark past catches up with him once more, and it's always neat to shine some light to the original first couple of episodes of Gotham where Bullock was the model corrupt cop, willing to shoot... was it Oswald that he shot? I think it was Oswald.

Either way, a series of murders happen in Barbara's bar, and Bullock recognizes them as his old partners. The main suspect in Bullock's team seems to be the killer, but Dix is wheelchair bound and can't have possibly done it. There's some great moments and haunted looks in Bullock's face as he realizes that it might tie in to one of Bullock's old cases, where they essentially put pressure on a girl to rat out her murderous mother.

While investigating Dix, they get attacked by a walking Dix -- who is actually wearing a full face mask. Turns out that this lookalike killer is Jane Doe, one of Hugo Strange's experiments from Indian Hill, and one who keeps referring to her original persona of Jane Cartwright as dead. She's clearly lost her marbles, and later on when the GCPD manages to bring her in, she escapes after killing Dix. There are some genuinely fun bits with her, and the scene where Bullock just gets really scared and has this haunted, guilty look on her face... before going off on his own, telling Jane to surrender herself and is forced to shoot and end her before crying his heart out... genuinely great stuff. His not-apology to Gordon, noting that he doesn't exactly seek forgiveness, is definitely well done as well.

The secondary plot is by far my favourite, and is definitely some guilty pleasure from my love of classic Batman lore. While Penguin and Riddler (always an entertaining and hilarious duo) are arguing about building submarines and Nygma's silly bell-based alarm system, we get the surprise and genuinely random revelation that Mr. Penn is still alive... and he's the god-damned Ventriloquist! The resemblance is pretty dang uncanny, too, particularly when he pulls out Mr. Scarface, and the acting in this scene of Penn as squeamish but being whacked around by big boss Scarface and his exaggerated accent is genuinely fun. Ventriloquist was always one of Batman's sillier enemies, and one that I've never thought they would get to work in a live-action show. But hey, they did!

Scarface makes Penn shoot Oswald's bodyguard, and basically tries to steal, uh... submarine parts or something? We get the genuinely hilariously half-hearted explanation to Penn's survival, before Scarface's condemnation of Penguin using other people like dummies. Riddler playing along with Ventriloquist's insanity is also pretty fun, as is Oswald basically throwing some confusion into Ventriloquist and Scarface's relationship. "I never had you kill anyone!" In the ensuing struggle, Oswald shoots Scarface, 'freeing' Penn... before Riddler shots Penn in the head.

It's hilarious, with Riddler and Penguin basically acknowledging each other's mental damages (Oswald's chronic backstabbing disorder and Nygma's 'cold calculating logic'). It's also a fun little showcase of what Ventriloquist would've been like in the show, but the show also recognizing that it has way too many moving parts already. Definitely an entertaining take and certainly an accurate one to show how meek little Arnold Wesker/Arthur Penn is compared to the liberating yet manipulative Scarface. Great stuff.

The final B-plot and one that's most inconsequential is Bruce and Alfred hunting sewer monsters. While you might think this would be a way to introduce a one-off Killer Croc or Sewer King the way they just introduced a one-off Ventriloquist, nope, it's just some random dude mutated by Joker chemicals. It's neat and nicely shot, but it's a filler plot in an already filler-heavy episode, and the revelation that Alfred gets super into the whole hero mentality partly out of guilt for letting Wayne Manor blow up isn't that engaging. Also nowhere as interesting is the nonsense drama with Gordon insisting he be a part of Barbara and his child's life. 

Very entertaining, honestly, and I am still geeking out about the whole Ventriloquist thing.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Scarface & Ventriloquist are, of course, one of Batman's more iconic villains. Arnold Wesker is a meek fellow who is bossed around by the hammy, mobster ventriloquist dummy called Scarface, who whacks him around and bosses him around. Depending on the author, Scarface is either a genuinely supernatural being cut from a cursed hangman's tree, or just some really bad schizophrenia. 
• Oswald calls Arthur "Arnold" a couple of times by mistake as a little reference to Arnold Wesker. 
• Jane Doe is one of the main villains featured in the Arkham Asylum: Living Hell miniseries. While here she has metahuman powers of copying the appearance of anyone she touches, Jane Done in the comics actually cuts up her victims' body parts and uses them as 'bodysuits' while also perfectly impersonating their mannerisms. 
• Basil Karlo, a.k.a. Clayface, is briefly mentioned by Bullock.

Gotham S05E07 Review: Batman Needs The Joker

Gotham, Season 5, Episode 7: ACE Chemicals

Oh, boy, I love this episode. I have always enjoyed Gotham's version of the Joker, setting him up more as a myth passed down from one crazy man to the next. Sure, thanks to the DCEU studios being meanies they can't actually call Jeremiah or Jerome straight-up "the Joker", but honestly? This version of the Joker and his utter obsession with Bruce is perhaps one of the better Joker/Batman interactions I've ever seen. And, sure, the same argument of this happening before either of them have donned their personas permeates all of the Gotham show as a whole, but I honestly think that it doesn't matter that much. Gotham has done a lot of the legwork to make the history of the characters work, that I've even started to subconsciously refer to Jeremiah as "Joker" in my head. He's certainly far more Joker than the embarrassing 2Edgy4Me Tattooed Gold-toothed Gangster version from the Suicide Squad movie, anyway.


And honestly... I enjoyed this episode a lot. Part of it might be my own bias and general fanboying for general Joker/Batman stories, but the episode itself is built up pretty well through short scenes slowly unveiling bits and pieces of Joker's master plan before finally exploding into a full episode of its own. The cold open with random firecrackers and random people killed by the Joker laughing gas is pretty creepy while having that whimsical 'sick joke' mentality that a lot of modern adaptations of Joker have completely forgotten. See, the Joker's whole point is that he dresses up all of his maniacal crimes with some comedy, some punch-line that's ridiculous but funny in the right circumstance. Take that away to make him more 'serious', and he's no longer the Joker and just some clown-themed serial killer. But I digress.

I do like that the episode goes straight into Bruce already discovering Alfred missing and is basically recruited the GCPD to help look for him, but then Bruce himself gets led to Jeremiah's huge plan with a bunch of newspaper showing the Wayne deaths, as well as the pearls... and ends up crossing the underground tunnel to the mainland, seeing Jeremiah having hypnotized Alfred and two random people who's been facially reconstructed to look like Thomas and Martha Wayne, and it's so, so fucked up.

The hypnotism angle is a bit of an ass-pull, although I suppose the Mad Hatter has worked with a Joker before? It's pretty sick, honestly, and that lunch scene as Jeremiah rants about wanting to be Bruce's best friend, and the way to do so is to have Bruce re-experience the most important day of his life and connect to him. It's definitely an interesting angle of Joker's character, less about the whole 'one bad day' or 'everything burns' mentality, but moer of his obsession of being Batman's arch-enemy. We get a genuinely tense and well-shot scene of Bruce getting Alfred to duck into the tunnel before Jeremiah's bomb explodes.

Meanwhile, in the B-plot of this episode, we get some genuinely bizarre hijinks about Barbara wanting Leslie to be her Obs/gyn doctor, which is just so utterly impossible to take seriously, and perhaps it is this aspect that made this particularly insane plot twist work. I don't really care about any of Gordon and Leslie's romance-not-romance storyline going on in this episode, honestly. Meanwhile, Penguin and Selina are trying to figure out how to pass the river, and apparently there are mines in the river? I'm not sure how that works. Either way, the two go on their own merry way as they go through the B-plots, with Selina backstabbing Penguin and working alongside Barbara, and both Gordon and Leslie getting captured by Mad Hatter and Echo.

I'm not sure where the Selina storyline is going, honestly, and her suddenly breaking cover and holding Penguin at knifepoint seemed a bit random and just there to further the storyline along, and get Alfred to recruit Selina to help out Bruce.

Aaanyway, back to the meat of the story, we get Bruce being brought to the theater where we get to see what Jeremiah was doing with all those people that he killed in the beginning with 'Z' carved into their bodies, and apparently it's a sick re-enactment of the Mark of Zorro, the movie that young little Bruce Wayne watched and was so scared of that he begged his parents to exit the theater. It's a fun little speech from Jeremiah, telling Bruce that if he managed to conquer his fear, maybe his parents could still be alive, in a neat variant of the Batman Begins storyline. In a fun bit of improvisation by the villains, Jeremiah decides to swap out the plastic-surgery randoms with a hypnotized Gordon and Leslie to be the 'Thomas and Martha' that he kills, which is... it's actually well-done and I didn't see this coming. Oh, and there's a master plan of unleashing the laughing gas all over the city to deny aid from coming into the city. Which... which is kind of ridiculous, but that's the sort of comic-book governmental nonsense that I've came to expect from these shows.

Of course, Jeremiah immediately monologues about the cruelty of this particular hypnosis, that Gordon and Leslie will be released fro their hypnotism the moment the pearls hit the ground, which... okay, I actually would buy that Jeremiah would be that cruel and petty. Selina shows up for the rescue, and we get a three-way fight as Gordon deals with the firework bombs, while Bruce and Jeremiah fight atop the chemical vats, leading to the honestly surprisingly well-done confrontation between the two, where Jeremiah rants that Bruce "needs him", because he's just a "joke without a punchline" without him. Yeah, Batman needs the Joker, all that. Because of origin story tropes, the struggle leads to Jeremiah plunging into the bubbling chemical vat, and we later see his scarred, apparently brain-dead-but-still-alive body.

He's not going to be out for long, of course, but it's a neat exit for his character for the moment. Meanwhile, Gordon only manages to drive the fireworks van into the Gotham River, preventing the airborne dispersal of the Joker Gas, but doesn't prevent it from released into the river, and extending this No Man's Land storyline for a bit. The epilogue throws in a bunch of developments, with Oswald recruiting Riddler as an ally, them wanting to construct a submarine with Barbara, and Gordon and Leslie having a whole slap/slap/kiss nonsense going on. Not the biggest fan of Barbara's entire storyline honestly just revolving around her being pregnant, but eh, at least it leads to some gems from the story-writers.

Anyway, a pretty masterful episode from Gotham, and even if this is the last appearance of Joker in this continuity, he definitely went out with one hell of a bang.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Lots of various references to various incarnations of the Joker:
• ACE Chemicals is the location in the comics where Batman fought the 'Red Hood gang' (or a pre-Joker version of Joker, depending on the continuity) and during the struggle, Joker gets thrown into a vat of chemicals and transforms him into the madman he is now. While Jeremiah's already kinda crazy before, the fact that it takes place at Ace Chemicals and involves a struggle leading to his fall is definitely a reference to this. Ace Chemicals itself has shown up in many other adaptations of Batman.
• The Joker's utter obsession in becoming Batman's super-duper arch rival has been a running theme going on as long as the two characters have existed as fictional characters, particularly explored in Dark Knight Returns. 
• Jeremiah trying to kill Batman's parents is an allusion to the Tim Burton 1989 Batman movie, where he was the one responsible for their deaths. 
• The Mark of Zorro, the movie that young Bruce Wayne watched as a kid before the faithful night of the encounter, get referenced a couple of times in the episode. The fact that Jeremiah alludes to young Bruce apparently being too afraid of the violence and begging his parents to go home (and meeting the gunman) is an allusion to Batman Begins. 
• Wayne Manor's blown up a couple more times than you think, notably in the Batman Begins movie and the Arkham Knight game. 

Gotham S05E06 Review: Done All I Can For Gotham

Gotham, Season 5, Episode 6: 13 Stitches

I'll try to keep things a bit more succinct so that I could get these out in a more timely fashion. It's a pretty solid episode of Gotham, starting off with mind-controlled Edward hunting Gordon, leading to a brief physical scruffle that I honestly find a bit silly because it asks us to buy into the fact that somehow scrawny Edward Nygma is the physical match for Gordon... but eh. Gordon whacks Edward in the head with a pair of handy defibrillators that also has the side effect of shorting out the mind-control chip in his head, because... well, comic-book logic, eh? 

And we get a brief bit of all of Gotham's main players banding up against the real big threat -- Eduardo and his commandos, who clearly doesn't have the city's best interests at heart. We get a brief scene of Alfred (who recognizes the mercenaries) and Bruce trying to talk to Gordon, before they are 'escorted away'... but, of course, these is Bruce and Alfred, so the commandos get whacked around while they go off on their own. Meanwhile, Gordon and Edward hang out at Barbara's bar, and we get a fun little sequence where Edward pretends to be mind-controlled when Eduardo shows up, only to throw a goddamn kitchen cleaver at one of Eduardo's soldiers. It's a bit silly that he doesn't go for the main man himself, but eh, you gotta have a show. 

Eduardo then goes ballistic, locking down the GCPD base and locking up Bullock and most of Gordon's supporters, while the rest of our main characters converge in one of the many warehouses in Gotham City. Lucius (who's... there) removes the chip from Edward's head, which provides them with the evidence against Walker, the main sponsor behind Eduardo... but then Eduardo forces Gordon's hand by revealing that they've captured a slightly-amnesiac Leslie Thompkins, which Eduardo deems is a criminal (I mean, he's not wrong) and all criminals from Gotham are fair game. 

Gordon demands that they do a Riddler/Leslie exchange at Haven, but thankfully, he's not too stupid to take Eduardo at his word. While Gordon distracts Eduardo, the rest of the team goes off to broadcast the chip's evidence to the mainland, which gives us the two-part climax. It's mostly just fun action scenes, admittedly. Gordon and Eduardo have a confrontation with words that leads to a shoot-out, and... and I don't really super-care of their military backstory, but it's neat, I guess. I'm more curious about just why military-yes-man Eduardo and his enigmatic employer are so willing to write Haven off as acceptable losses. 

Bruce gets to beat up one of the mercenaries as he sets up the broadcast system, but the best part of this episode, of course, is Edward Nygma showing up in a bomb suit, ranting about how he wants to play a game, and sets up this huge math riddle... that Bullock, hilariously, was able to solve because "that particular mouse is extinct, I remember that trivia! The answer is zero!" It's... it's a hilarious bit of misunderstanding, and Nygma being Nygma, of course his compulsion actually makes it so that the (fake) bomb does "disengage" when zero is put in. He's saved in the nick of time, of course, but it doesn't make the whole sequence any less silly.

The good guys win, and apparently in the mainland (and offscreen), Secretary Walker is thrown out due to her inhumane methods, and I do kinda appreciate that this one is off-screen. Then while the episode seems like a win for the good guys -- Eduardo impaled on some metal rods, Walker is unseated, and everyone's alive... we get a bunch of bombs thrown our way when Senator Walker walks up to the dying body of Eduardo, and then gives him that silly face-mask that Dark Knight Rises Bane wears, and promises to get him better with Hugo Strange's help. Meanwhile, she activates her second operative, which is pretty obviously Leslie, who is in the middle of a heartfelt conversation before she goes all murder-town.

Gordon uses a taser to knock her out (and surely Lucius could take this chip out too, right?) but then Barbara shows up with a hilarious, out-of-nowhere bombshell: she's pregnant. And the way Barbara says it with a "long time, Lee" as she walks straight out, with Bullock awkwardly saying "congratulations...?" is just such a hilarious comedic bit. Honestly, it's a bit of a soap opera plot twist, and I really shouldn't like this plot twist at all... but it's so stupid, out of nowhere and so hilarious that I can't help but like it. 

We've got a couple of B-plots running around. The first one seems to be an immediate foreshadowing to the next episode, which is Jeremiah randomly kidnapping Alfred, and holding him hostage because despite what logic might tell you, apparently that underground river tunnel works, and Alfred's being held in a house across the river. Joker plans are always pretty fun, so I'm kinda interested to see where this goes. 

The longer B-plot is Oswald and Selina teaming up to hunt down jewel thief Magpie (an actual Batman enemy!). Selina quickly figures out that Oswald wants to get off the city, and I do like how Oswald notes that he's done everything he could for Gotham City -- sometimes twice over, which is a fun little nod to Oswald's... erratic motivations throughout the series. Over the course of the episode, they hunt down Magpie and end up outsmarting her, although not before Oswald is tricked into making a deal with Selina to basically allowing her to get a slice of Oswald's profits later on. It's a fun little team-up, honestly. 

Overall, a pretty solid episode. Not a whole ton to really complain about other than maybe the suddenness of Leslie's inclusion into the episode. But most of it, from the Magpie side-plot to taking down Eduardo for the first time, are done pretty well. 

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Magpie, a.k.a. Margaret Pye, is a minor Batman enemy who fashioned herself after the magpie bird, and has an obsession for stealing shiny objects. She used to work as a museum curator before her mind snapped after realizing that she would never really own any of the valuables around her. 
• Eduardo finally re-establishes that he was imprisoned in Pena Duro, just like comic-book Bane.
• Bane being rescued from a hellhole by a female benefactor that he is now deathly loyal to is the inspiration for both movie live-action versions of Bane from Batman & Robin and The Dark Knight Rises. His mask and muffled voice is also from TDKR. 
• Speaking of live-action movie comparisons, Penguin and Catwoman teaming up is an allusion to the big bad ensemble of Batman Returns, only with, of course, none of the sexually-charged libido that Burgess Meredith's Penguin has. 
• Selina liking diamonds is, of course, a nod to her comic-book alter-ego's most common modus operandi... jewelry thefts. 

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. 

Gotham S05E04 Review: Kangaroo Trial

Gotham, Season 5, Episode 4: Ruin

This episode of Gotham is... it's a pretty fun one. Following up on the surprise cliffhanger from the previous episode what Haven got blown up straight to hell, we start the episode off with a pretty well-shot scene of Gordon wandering through the burning ashes and just yelling at everyone, telling everyone to get their shit together and save as many people as he can. And when we cut to one of those scenes of Gordon talking to the faceless people from the United States Government who can only offer hollow condolences, we really feel the simultaneous defeat and rage in Gordon's voice. In a somewhat unusual detail, Gordon notes that the death toll is more than 300, which... holy shit, that really puts into perspective just how huge the blow was from last episode, huh? Hell, we even get the surprisingly subdued scene as one of the random GCPD officers hand Gordon his badge... which we knew was one that he gave to that kid in the previous episode. That's another gut-punch for Gordon.


Hell, I even love the reactions of the other characters involved here. Penguin is utterly shocked and horrified, and is caught up in all the chaos in the first five minutes. Sure, he gets to be his usual campy, hammy self later on, but during the actual chaos of Haven exploding, Penguin was utterly stumped, and honestly, even his motivations throughout this episode is partially inspired in finding justice/vengeance for Haven's fall. Barbara backing off and returning to her base instead of putting a bullet through Penguin's head might be plot contrivance, but I do like that Barbara apparently has enough heart to not fuck up Haven even more by killing one of its influential leaders or whatever, which I guess is what Penguin is? Part of his motivation in this episode does seem to make himself look like the saviour for the people of Haven. So.

Gotham, again, splits this episode into three main storylines, with the main one still dealing with the aftermath of Penguin and Gordon trying to hunt down the mystery man who blew up all of Haven. Penguin walks up to the GCPD building with an army of goons and guns, very much willing to lend his help pro bono to get whoever is behind all of this. And while I do question just where Penguin got all those dudes (I guess they're just the Street Demons?), it does make for a pretty cool 'let's roll out' scene as the cops and gangsters go off on a tip to hunt down the suspicious, shady person who was seen leaving Haven during all of the chaos of Penguin and the Street Demons' takeover of Haven. And after Penguin and his dumbass megaphone ruins any chance of them catching the suspect by surprise, we get the revelation that it's Mr. Zsasz!

I really, really loved Zsasz's subdued, dry performance, and it's back in full force. "Is this about Sofia Falcone? Because you really need to move past that. It's not healthy." I completely forgot about this little connection between Zsasz and Penguin, but if making himself the hero in front of all the people of Haven isn't enough motivation for Penguin, this just drives him onto overdrive. There is admittedly a particularly silly bit where apparently they just unload every single bullet they have on Zsasz's apartment sniper's perch so Gordon can run and tackle Zsasz. It's badass, for sure, but after the first three episodes make it such a huge point that bullets are hard to come by, it's a bit odd that this was the strategy they used.

They capture Zsasz, who claims to be innocent. Zsasz's (dry) defense is actually pretty solid -- he's someone who carves a tattoo onto his flesh every time he kills, so if he actually blew up Haven, he would want everyone to know. Gordon wants actual evidence before actually condemning Zsasz, but Penguin wants to give the people of Haven their pound of flesh and basically rallies the people in the only way Penguin knows how -- the hammy court scene. Somewhat Dark Knight Rises-esque in its setup, Penguin ends up using this as an opportunity not just to give closure to the citizens out for blood, but also to basically make himself look good and Gordon look bad.

Of course, the B-plot (which we'll talk about later) ends up with the revelation that it couldn't have been Zsasz who caused the explosion. And as Lucius Fox tells this to Gordon, we get a brief bit of Gordon wondering if he should just let the people have their justice before realizing that, shit, he's a hero, god damn it. I do like that brief bit of doubt, though -- as much as he self-styles himself as the pure white beacon of justice, Gotham's Jim Gordon has fallen into some questionably amoral things in the past. And as Zsasz gets shoved into a fucking guillotine (and I get the hilarious mental image of Penguin pulling the guillotine out of his closet or something) Gordon ends up rescuing Zsasz, escaping with him while Penguin screams at the people how Gordon cares more about a murderer than their welfare.

It is, of course, pretty questionable what Gordon does next, as both Bullock and Penguin call him out on. Yes, having him killed in a sham trial isn't right, but at the same time, releasing him into the wild? Bullock notes that Zsasz is a psychopath that cuts his flesh whenever he kills, and while he is entertaining as all hell, Zsasz has a pretty high bodycount in this show. But I guess it wouldn't be a Batman show without the hero refusing to kill, so. I do love the little bit at the end where Zsasz kind of taunts Gordon about how the city will always belong to the scum like him, and Gordon very nearly demands that Zsasz just cowboy-duels him right then and there. It's something that Bullock later tells Gordon is a stupid thing to do, which... I kinda liked. Whatever the case, though, it ends up with the Penguin/Gordon alliance basically ending after half an episode, which is par the course for Gotham.

Interestingly, the episode ends Gordon's story with him talking with Barbara, the two of them bonding over hunting down who blew up Haven... and then they have some really aggressive kissing. The two of them probably had the most epic of hate-fucks afterwards.

The B-Plot, which takes place concurrent with the first one, continues with the Riddler storyline. Or is it Edward that's the main personality? I honestly forgot and may or may not be mistaken in my review of the first three episodes, because this episode makes it look like it's Edward that's confused and trying to retrace the steps of his alter-ego, while it's the Riddler that's doing villainous things and leaving riddles for Edward. That's what I'm assuming until proven otherwise. Whatever the case, though, the episode ends up with Nygma being left a riddle by his later-ego, and he goes off to hunt a Blackgate Prison inmate.

While trying to steal records, he's stopped by Lucius Fox, who's been honestly under-utilized and part of the scenery since around halfway through season four. Making a deal for Nygma to help out with figuring out how Haven blew up in exchange for the records, it's a fun scene as Nygma and Lucius basically go through a buddy cop routine to figure out how Haven blew up. It's not particularly long, but the two play off each other very well. Whatever the case, though, they realize that whoever blew up Haven stood on a rooftop and launched an RPG onto the fuel tanks, and it's certainly not Zsasz, who was on the ground the whole time.

However, and in perhaps the biggest plot twist in this episode, Nygma fins out that the riddle doesn't actually refer to a Blackgate inmate, but to an old lady in a nearby apartment building who saw the rocket being launched at Haven. Nygma talks to the old lady... and ends up realizing through a strangely-edited flashback (it has weird digital distortion effects?) that it's his alter-ego that fired the bazooka that blew up Haven. Whether Riddler did it just to murder people for shits and giggles, or if this is part of a bigger plan where he perhaps is working with some of the other players in No Man's Land (or maybe part of a big riddle, I dunno) it's a pretty surprising and well-done payoff for the Riddler B-plot storyline we've been having over the past four episodes. Good stuff!

The other B-plot is, of course, Bruce, Alfred and Selina. We get a brief scene of Alfred freeing Bruce, and like a good butler, basically tells Bruce that you can't save someone from herself... but they can very well keep Selina alive until she realizes what's going on. We get some scenes of Jeremiah and Ecco hamming things up, as you do... and apparently Jeremiah is behind this bizarre plan of digging under the river? I dunno, it still seems dumb. I really enjoy the interactions between Jeremiah and Ecco, which is just crazy and very much reminiscent of B:TAS Joker and Harley Quinn.

Of course, in another surprising twist, Selina walks up to Jeremiah in the middle of "dig deep within yourself!" and just stabs Jeremiah repeatedly in the god damn gut. For all the drama on whether to kill Zsasz in the other side of the city, this is just an abrupt stab. No drama with Bruce and Selina angsting over whether to do it, no prolonged final battle, no nothing. I don't doubt that Jeremiah will still survive in some way because he's kind of the Joker (and if this is just the end for Jeremiah, it's bad writing), but god damn, that's surprising. Bruce and Alfred barge in with a smoke bomb and grab Selina and escape, but that leaves Jeremiah presumably dead, and sets up a lot of fun potential for drama between Bruce and Selina, as well as Ecco hunting them down.

Overall, a pretty spectacular episode of Gotham. I don't think I have much complaints. It's over-acted and hammy as usual, but honestly, that's part of Gotham's charm as much as anything else. 

Gotham S05E03 Review: Penguin Our Hero, Knows No Fear-O

Gotham, Season 5, Episode 3: Penguin, Our Hero

An... an interesting episode of Gotham, I think. It's definitely stronger than the previous episode in that I really felt like the events of this episode mattered a lot more instead of just "do a couple of side-quests", but that might just be because of my personal enjoyment of the Penguin more than anything.

The episode opens up with the wacky happenings in Penguinland, with the utterly hilarious choir singing a ridiculous Penguin anthem. "O Penguin, our hero! He knows, no fear-o!" And Penguin is furious at his secretary, Mr. Penn, that apparently a lot of Penguin's subjects are defecting to Jim Gordon because of all the rumours going around that Gordon has founded Haven. And so many of Penguin's organization has defected that during lunch later on, the angry members of the Street Demons gang (who we learn last episode has been killed by someone claiming to be Penguin) attack Penguin, while he lampshades just how stupid it was to kill just a bunch of the gang while leaving around his call card instead of just wiping them all out in one go.

Of course, Penguin being a gigantic dick to everyone ends up with Mr. Penn, his choir, and every single member of his men defecting to Gordon. Including Edward the dog, and everyone talking about Edward the dog "going willingly" is just utterly hilarious. Penguin ends up working with the Street Demons dude that he imprisoned, conscripting it and the other gangs into his army to basically bring back his people from Haven.

Of course, Gordon's men are running out of both food and ammunition, and when the inevitable confrontation happens, Penguin calls Gordon's bluff and the GCPD policemen actually do run out of bullets. Penguin and the Street Demons take over Haven, and... and it's kind of surprising that they don't just kill all the cops or whatever. But during an argument between Penguin and the Street Demons, turns out that when Penguin doesn't actually have anyone actually loyal to him, the Street Demons just end up being utterly done with his shit, and just steal all of his guns. Oh, and Mr. Penn gets shot to death. Poor Mr. Penn. He didn't manage to do much, does he?

Penguin and Gordon find themselves stuck in the same prison cell, but one of the orphans that Gordon befriended earlier in the episode help them escape by slipping them a key. This somehow leads to Gordon managing to free every single GCPD member off-screen, and get enough guns to take down the Street Demons. It's... it's honestly kind of clumsy writing, honestly, and the sheeple, seeing Penguin shooting the Street Demons leader, hail Penguin as their saviour. Really? Like, I get that the whole point of the episode is sort of showing just how unstable the people of Gotham's allegiances are, jumping from Gordon to Penguin very quickly and that hope speeches aren't received as well right after a gang invasion. But I dunno. It's weird.

Oh, we get to see Bullock attempting to get Barbara's help earlier in the episode, and basically the magic word to get Barbara to lend her help is the fact that Penguin is invading. Barbara shows up at the end of the episode wanting to murder Penguin while Gordon tries to stop Barbara from killing Penguin in Haven... but then the entire apartment complex just explodes and gets shot straight to hell, and that is a legitimate plot twist that I wasn't expecting, and actually justifies the abrupt and rapid set-up of Haven as a location last episode. There's so many unknown players in place right now that I don't really want to speculate who's behind this (presumably the same dude that bazooka'd the Wayne helicopter in episode one) but it's definitely a neat plot twist!

Meanwhile, despite her bizarre deus ex plant recovery, Selina basically gets to become a lot more aggressive in this episode, while still maintaining her sanity. I do like that they didn't just go the route of Flash's Killer Frost and have an alternate personality take over, because this way it is Selina actually consciously choosing to do the things she does. Selina and Bruce go off to hunt down Jeremiah with a nice little scene of Selina telling Bruce that she is "not yours to lose", and she's doing this whether he wants to help or not. They go to the Dark Zone, where apparently all of the maniacs live. We get to see some of the victims of the Dark Zone, with a dude that gets "KILL ME" carved into his flesh with some genuinely good prosthetics, and some dude that gets tied up and has a bomb strapped to him before blowing up and sending a shower of nails flying everywhere.

Selina and Bruce fight some of the punks, including one that is based off of the Mutant Leader from that Elseworlds comic the Dark Knight Returns, and Selina is... extremely brutal, continuing to pound and wail on the dude's face even after he gives Jeremiah's location to her. We get Bruce using a grapple line to stop Selina's fist in a pretty cool moment, and Selina at least listens to Bruce at this point.

They investigate the location and find out that Ms. Ecco, Jeremiah's little silent Harley Quinn-esque minion, has apparently became super-crazy and is leading a Cult of Jeremiah. It's definitely a fucked-up scene as she basically has everyone to play in a weird, insane game of Russian Roulette where they shoot others around them in some fucked-up ritual that Selina sort of joins in to try and get to Jeremiah... but she doesn't quite go that far to pull the trigger. And Ecco talks a lot about how their 'salvation' in Jeremiah seem like insanity to normal folk. And... and it is kind of a bizarre, insane cult that Ecco is running, because I genuinely can't see how this makes for good recruits. But I guess what Jeremiah wants are just maniacs.

We learn that Ecco apparently became insane thanks to playing the Russian Roulette game, and the bullet's still rattling in her brain. We get her pulling the gun on her head multiple times and, god, I really didn't pay any attention to Ecco in season four, but her actress really plays insanity really well, huh? Ecco pushes Selina's buttons as they fight, leading to Selina holding a gun at Ecco's head just as Bruce arrives. Bruce intervenes, causing Ecco to escape, and this leads to Selina and Bruce having an argument before Selina goes off on her own to hunt down Jeremiah.

Ultimately, I really, really like the Bruce/Selina stuff. Not so much how we got there because I still think the magic seed is handled poorly, but the character interaction between the two is definitely well-done. And while on paper I did enjoy the plot developments with Penguin and Gordon both trying to appeal to different parts of the sheep-people of Gotham, the execution in this episode is honestly somewhat suspect. It's still a fun enough episode, though.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Ms. Ecco (now called "Mummer", according to interviews) is continuing to grow into the show's version of Harley Quinn. In addition to her attire, she briefly uses the term "puddin", which is pretty much something associated with Harley Quinn.
• The shirtless punk with a funky visor that Selina beats up is visually inspired by the Mutant Leader, one of the villains in the what-if future story The Dark Knight Returns, an award winning graphic novel. His gangster minions also wear the same orange visor that the Mutant gang uses in TDKR.

Gotham S05E02 Review: Burn The Witch

Gotham, Season 5, Episode 2: Trespassers

Kind of... a weird episode? We get two distinct plots split between the Bruce side of things and the Gordon side of things, and neither are super interesting. I wouldn't call this episode a bad one, it's just... it just kind of feels like an utterly pointless side-quest, is all. It's like watching someone Let's Play a very story-centric game, but then they devote 45 minutes just showing themselves grind for potion ingredients or whatever. I dunno. I definitely wasn't in love with this episode at all.

Let's start with the Bruce side of the story, which is... it's kinda self-contained, and both picks up and immediately resolves the whole 'witch' mystery and the crippled Selina story set up in the pilot. The enigmatic 'witch' isn't a new character, but rather just Poison Ivy. And I do admit there's something very classic Batman when Bruce walks up and sees the corpses of humans choked to death and basically being used as fertilizer by Ivy's vines, and the whole set-up for this is pretty cool.

But then Bruce meets a group of... of genuine random people who apparently managed to lock Ivy in a basement with the aid of salt. All fine and good, but for some reason, despite being in a full "BURN THE WITCH" mentality, they're not doing so? I'm honestly kind of confused, and this is honestly just to set up a conversation between Bruce and Ivy to get Bruce to be duped by Ivy's sympathetic story. Ivy, of course, is faking the whole 'the plants are evolving and are out of my control' bullshit story, kills everyone once she's let loose... and I'm genuinely not sure at what point in that conversation when Defiant Bruce ends up causing Ivy to relent and decide to give Bruce the magic spine-restoring seed. Which I am genuinely surprised is an actual thing, and not a bullshit lie Ivy concocted.

And, yeah, Ivy holds a grudge against Selina over the whole Lazarus water thing last season (I legitimately forgot about it until she brings it up), but as Selina later notes in her monologue, apparently Ivy still has a heart. It's... it's honestly an all right plot when read on paper, a neat little character moment for Ivy that has roots on Gotham's own five-season-long history, while giving Bruce an important lesson in not being easily duped by pretty ladies and sob stories... but in practice, getting from point A to B to C is honestly just utterly random.

Anyway, the final shot of the episode shows that after a bit of a seizure freak-out, apparently the deus ex plantae ended up working and Selina can walk around, but the ominous stuff Ivy says manifests when Selina's pupils become cat-like. Which... eh? Never been a fan of Catwoman actually having cat powers, personally, but we'll see.

The Gordon stuff, though, really feels like a minimal-effort side-quest in an RPG game. After the random enslaved kids walk up to Gordon at the end of the previous episode, Gordon brings Bullock and a bunch of policemen to basically mount a rescue mission. Very admirable and simultaneously stupid, but that's honestly on par with what you expect from James Gordon. Everyone is gunning for Gordon's head, but instead of actual characters we care about (even the second-stringers!) we get... a bunch of random gas mask dudes who are so stupid that they think digging a tunnel under a river with pickaxes and shovels will work, as well as another gang with neon skull face paint or some shit. I do love the sheer ridiculousness, but at the same time, I just can't bring myself to really care about the Soothsayers or whatever they are called.

Honestly, this ends up being entertaining mostly because Bullock apparently woke up on the wrong side of the bed and is just super sassy throughout this episode. He's never straight-up an ass, but he's just so sassy about the many, many things that Gordon does this episode. I'm not sure if it's intentional that Gordon is basically a robot saying heroic cop things throughout this episode, if that's meant to be his way of coping or something, or if this is basically what Jim Gordon is for the rest of the season or what, but... I am entertained. Bullock's overacting and Gordon's single-mindedness is pretty fun, I have to admit, in an episode that's honestly kind of sub-par. "It's a freaking arrow, Jim! A FREAKING! ARROW!"

Anyway, we get some shoot-outs with Fallout enemies and reject extras from Batman and Robin, before Bullock, Gordon and a couple of the slave kids get separated from the rest of the group and end up in this bizarre horror house where poor Bullock finds a bunch of severed fingers, teeth and a burning skeleton, while Gordon meets with a creepy kid. This is the Mother and the Orphan and it's... it's kind of a rushed introduction, honestly, that wouldn't make me think that they are any sort of important recurring villains if not for my own DC knowledge. All they amount to do other than having a pretty creepy house is lock Gordon and Bullock in a room with some fancy strobe-flash filming, which is... it's kind of a cool direction for the episode from a technical standpoint, but ultimately it's not the best intro for Mother and Orphan. The setup and concept are cool and creepy, but the execution leaves me shrugging.

They get out from this side-quest within a side-quest, and face off against the Fallout dudes and the neon skull dudes again... and Barbara Kean decides to end this silly plotline by showing up in an armoured vehicle with a goddamn machinegun and murders everyone. I kinda laughed at that. Barbara and Gordon basically sort of have a non-committal partnership to kill Penguin, I guess, which is... kinda neat? We also get Lucius Fox, MVP of the show, to have apparently set up a great living block while everyone is away, and it's apparently so great and idyllic that we use a pretty bright camera filter for it. Honestly I really wished that we have any sort of hint at Lucius even working at this project, as this feels like a bizarre "oh by the way this really good thing happened" offscreen event.

Anyway... yeah, it just feels like a huge, huge side-plot as the whole missing kids subplot gets resolved, while we get an honestly not particularly impressive debut for Mother and Orphan. Penguin sits this episode out, but Riddler gets his own B-plot where... despite seemingly finding that chaining himself to bed seems to work, apparently Edward's Jekyll-and-Hyde moment has, in the span of a single night, interrogated a poor thug from the Street Demons gang, left him tied up in a bath tub, walked to the Demons base, killed everyone within, left graffiti claiming Penguin did it, and then tied himself up to the bed just to be a dick to Riddler. It's... it's kinda fun because Cory Michael Smith is a fun actor, and I'm fine with this Riddler stuff being kept as a B-plot for now.

Overall, though, it's still kind of a weak episode that feels like it belongs more in a video game and not as an episode of a final season of a TV show.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• During the No Man's Land portion of the comics, Poison Ivy was also de-powered and captured with the aid of salt, although in the comics she was captured by Clayface. 
• There's also some Arkham City vibes with her whole situation, having warpped up an entire building with vines - including a prominently placed angel statue, and working begrudgingly by directing Batman to find a special plant required for Batman to save someone.