If you have complaints about last night ’s episode of Gotham , I ’m going to adopt “ not enough happened ” is n’t one of them . “ What the Little Bird tell Him ” take Gordon out of Arkham , pit him against the show ’s first real supervillain , and even get a major position quo change to the myriad mob machination .
This is , in fact , about as good as Gotham gets , so let ’s take a few moment to celebrate what the episode accomplish . By fetch back escaped Arkham Asylum convict Jack Gruber — as well as giving him a existent gismo as the Electrocutioner — Gotham has produce its first substantial supervillain . He ’s got a fluid electrical generator , a willingness to murder people , and the intelligence and the skills to stage a full assault on GCPD HQ even while it ’s whole full of cops — that ’s classic supervillain material to me .
Gordon seems to recognize it too , and sees an chance to return to the police . He evince up at HQ to announce that only he experience how Gruber thinks , and thus is the city ’s only chance of becharm the fleer . With the city in a affright , Commissioner Loeb give Gordon the received 24 hours to catch Gruber , or else he and Bullock are going to be work Arkham fulltime . Bullock is not proud of at somehow getting roped into Jim ’s gamble , nor is he pleased to key that Gordon is entirely bullshitting Loeb — he actually has no clue what Gruber is up to , but is reasonably sure he can catch him with some nice police work . It ’s not the bold of character growing , but it ’s cool to see that Gordon has in reality hear something from being GCPD ’s whipping boy in the first half of the time of year , and is now more than willing to lie to the corrupt officials in charge .
Bullock , of course , despairs of catching a criminal in 24 hours , but Gordon is n’t worried . Maybe he should be , but he cause assist from two silly sources : 1 ) Nygma , who is apparently so blase with his aesculapian examiner job he ’s just settle through old case files , and discovers that Gruber likely wants revenge on his old crime partners for forsake him , and 2 ) Dr. Leslie Thompkins , who , and I cuss this is real , brings in a fetich doll that Gruber basically put from Arkham Asylum ’s resident “ sorceress . ” Gordon , despite the fact the doll is very homely , somehow instantly recognizes it as Don Maroni . This is so completely absurd I actually revalue it .
Gordon cipher Gruber wants retaliation on Maroni , and will be more than willing to attack the entire precinct to do so — “ He ’ll appreciate the challenge , ” says Gordon , doing some substantial deductive abstract thought . Indeed , Gruber does , somehow shocking every exclusive person in the edifice into unconsciousness … except for Gordon , because he wear rubber shoes that Nygma had earlier suggest he put on . seem , I know you ’re about to talk about how virtually all shoes have rubber Sol , and how the hell is this possible , but do n’t . You might as well require how Gruber ’s doohickey is also somehow capable to magnetically pull Gordon ’s gun at once to their left hand , which is also something that happen . I am pretty convinced basic physics — which Gotham should ostensibly be beholden to — does not brook any of this , but alas , Gotham has swelled job ( which I ’ll get to momentarily ) . For now , it ’s enough to have it off that Gordon defeats Gruber by toss out a little glass of water onto him , shorting out his power ring , in an anticlimax we can probably impute to screenwriter Ben Edlund ( who made many of Angel ’s best sequence , and create The Tick ) .
That ’s pretty substantial adjective oeuvre on Gordon and Bullock ’s part , followed by an onrush by a seemingly powerful villain who is outsmarted by our hero — ripe stuff ! And yet this is only half the episode . The rest is devoted to the Falcone / Fish / Penguin crime syndicate storyline , but at least this time stuff happens in it . Fish , as tired of hold back around as the consultation is , determine to make her move . She “ snatch ” Liza , and , using a masked voice , tells Don Falcone that the only way he ’ll see her alive is to go away town . Falcone , in another of the show ’s fits of good characterization , realizes he does n’t in reality want to run Gotham ’s organised criminal offense anymore , which jib with John Doman ’s subdued carrying into action over the time of year . He also tell Fish he knows she ’s behind the snatch , Pisces the Fishes pretty quick fesses up ( which is another bathos ) . It ’s kind of welcome that Fish ’s coup is in conclusion out in the open , but it ’s also sort of aggravating seeing as we ’ve been learn Fish ’s plot with Liza for what seems like forever and for Falcone to suddenly , instantly see through it makes me question why the show bothered set it up for so bloody long ) .
But even as Falcone study a quiet biography with his hot young confect , the Penguin bursts in to expose that Liza herself was part of Fish ’s weirdly elaborated design . Falcone is devastated — you’re able to secernate because he slap Cobblepot for just verbalize the approximation — and this is of class a betrayal serious enough to give Falcone a new , vicious letting on rabble life . He storm Fish ’s nightspot , announces he ’s decide to stick around , strangle Liza with his bare hands , seizes Fish and her henchman for some serious punishment , and lets the Penguin waddle in at the last minute , just to let Pisces the Fishes know the umbrella - bearer she toss out in the first episode help engineer her downfall . Cobblepot is too delighted for words .
With Falcone back in charge and pissed , Fish captured , Penguin triumphant , and Maroni having get a line he ’s working for Falcone ( and I ’ll get to that in a second ) that ’s been the most exciting Gotham crime syndicate exploitation since the pilot , I believe . And yet … holy hell can Gotham still be terrible . For all the good in this sequence — and I truly believe there was some — let me just point out three terrible things in this same episode , and I wo n’t even mention the electrical shit , ok ?
• Commissioner Loeb chip in Gordon 24 hours to catch Gruber . Why ? What happens at the destruction of 24 hours ? Gotham relies far too heavily on these tired clichés for its basic storytelling , and it ’s not going to be great until it moves past them .
• Gotham at long last gives a piece of attention to Nygma , and it ’s this : Nygma is crush on a girl who also wears glasses and is thus theoretically obtainable to him , but he freak her out with a creepy riddle , and a bully / jock cop stops Nygma from hitting on her . This is an even more timeworn cliché and frankly , it ’s disdainful as Hades . If Nygma ’s unfitness to get a date is what turn him into the Riddler , I am 100 % truly done with this show .
• Barbara . For some reason , even though the show has completely ignored Bruce Wayne again , it sustain give us Barbara scenes , and literally the only thing the show can thing of to do with her at this point is to send her to her aloof parents ’ home . Please provoke your hand if you think Barbara ’s parents will have anything to do with any succeeding non - Barbara plot , because if you do I have a bridge circuit in Gotham City to trade you . In either some atrociously fearful or brilliantly meta bit of TV writing I ’ve interpret , Barbara ’s parents ’ Samuel Butler does n’t even recognise her when she comes to the door ! Because ostensibly his employers have no pictures of her and never discuss her . And remember , last episode — the very last instalment — Barbara on the face of it had a crippling drug habituation , which is now gone . Wheeeee ! ! ! !
There are other way out , of course , but these pretty well sum up Gotham ’s problems . And yet the show still obviously has so much potentiality ! That ’s the grounds I ’m pleased Fox announced they ’ve renew it for a 2d time of year . Here ’s trust showrunners use the break to sterilise what needs to be fix — or at least jettison the history and characters neither the audience nor the show seem to be interested in . perchance that even means getting disembarrass of Bruce Wayne — certainly his absence aid this episode move along , and that ’s one job Gotham seems to have fixed . And in next week ’s instalment , it appears Penguin consider restraint of Fish ’ nightspot , while Fish may finally get herself offed . Hey , if Gotham ca n’t achieve bully , I ’ll merrily take “ not bore . ”
Assorted Musings :
• Discovery : I do not approve of the use of Johnny Cash birdsong in my Batman - based entertainment . Who have it away ?
• That was Peter Scolari as Commissioner Loeb , doing a o.k. Book of Job with very small . Scolari is well known as the dude who was n’t Tom Hanks in the sitcom Bosom Buddies , and I find him utterly fascinating . No , I do n’t recognise why either .
• Leslie Thompkins : “ You owe me a twofold six - large number of origin beer . ” A double six - pack ? What human talks like that ?
• speak of Leslie , at the closing of the instalment she enters the GCPD ’s men ’s footlocker room ( kinda unearthly ) and kiss Gordon ( obvious ) . They do n’t have a ton of chemistry , but compare to the Barbara stuff they might as well be filming hardcore porn .
• Oh , I forget to mention : Maroni discovers the Penguin is working for Falcone when the Penguin , while appalled and semi - witting from a Gruber attack , literally yells “ I need to touch with Falcone ” and pass out . It ’s yet another ludicrous anti - climax , which would be more effective if the episode were n’t already full of them .
• Nygma ’s “ riddle ” to Theoretically Attainable Girl With Glasses is a cupcake with a smoke in it . Someone needs to instruct the Gotham writers exactly what a brain-teaser is .
• Um , did anyone else see that totally bizarre commercial message where histrion Robin Lord Taylor is driving a Ford Hybrid and gives a weird , small behind - the - scenes wait at Gotham while proclaim the car ’s merit ? It was totally surreal .
• Fish need Falcone to sign papers to give her dominance of Gotham ’s organized crime . Falcone is as confused by this as I was . What mobsters work in sound documents ?
• Hey , was n’t there supposed to be multiple Joker candidates in the first season ? What the netherworld happened there ?
• And does n’t Barbara own the gargantuan rooftop apartment she and Gordon had been staying in ? Why the hell ca n’t she go back there instead of to her absurdly estranged parents ?
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