Back from its month(ish)-long break, Gotham’s promised us a march to its season finale endgame. That means a new villain (in the form of a bondage-based serial killer played by Milo Ventimiglia), an escalating feud between Gordon and Loeb, and…whatever the hell’s going on with Fish. And all when we were a few letters short of a Birds of Prey episode. Darn.
Mild Spoilers Follow
That, of course, should all start with Fish Mooney and her imprisonment on the Island of Dr. Potato Head. I had no problem with Fish back in Gotham. I didn’t like the plan she eventually wound up trying to hatch in the midseason finale, but she was usually a fine way to draw us over into the underworld. That fact that we’re still so heavily following her (combined with the need to constantly check up on people we don’t need to) is an indication that the show doesn’t exactly have a firm handle on what works and what doesn’t It’s a huge sign that, overall, there’s just not a lot of non-wheel spinning story to explore here.
I haven’t cared at all who Fish betrayed in that hospital or down in the caverns below, or whether or not Dollmaker caught her trying to escape. None of it meant anything and all of it’s becoming an older and older joke as it’s progressed. All of it’s been created under the assumption that viewers are somehow actively invested in Fish’s survival and her inevitable reconquest of Gotham, which I’m sure is possible with the gullibility meter of Gotham’s male populace at an all time high.
As far as Fish Mooney’s adventures in looney-goon villa are concerned, why the decision was made to follow Fish outside of Gotham is beyond me. Sure, the Dollmaker’s a crazy comic villain, but what his “plans” are haven’t lend themselves well to any sense of coherency to Fish’s being…wherever she is. Beasts of Prey was all about Fish escaping – the only bright spot of which was her taking a bullet to the stomach on her failed flight.
It’s been a long time since the series spotlighted anything big about the Penguin and I’m still not sure it’s interesting in doing so. What little we saw of Penguin was more business than pleasure, stepping on a few toes and lopping off a few fingers to get his hands on a new bar, well, another one for putting his favorite mob don six-feet under. Trouble is, I’m not anymore sure that the Penguin knows what he’s doing anymore beyond waiting things out, which I don’t blame him for. And it’s the consistent maturity of something like, say, Daredevil, that earns respect for its violence than the radically tongue-in-cheek gore that Gotham so childishly – and oddly – dabbles in.
Over on the Master B side of things, Alfred’s recovering and like any good TV character, unacquainted with the notion of bed rest after receiving stab wounds with Bruce Wayne off to settle the score with our perp, Reggie Payne, himself. Since, you know, he’s twelve. Roping in Selina Kyle (again) like he always does, I’m impressed to see that Bruce is already getting into his very first pubescent interrogations sans a cowl, but shouldn’t a 2015 kid know what a “shooting gallery” is? It’s far short of Selina basically Bran-Starking Reggie out a window, but that she should chastise the kid for not being “hip” to the Gotham street lingo for heroin den is just…weird.
As far as our weekly casework went at the GCPD, it was our own Jim Gordon that (of course!) was set up by Commissioner Loeb digging up a cold case on an unfortunately-named serial killer with a more than fortunate face. I couldn’t help but believe for just a second that Gordon, despite his perpetual glower, had inspired some Gotham’s dirty cops. But the cold case was all a set up by Loeb – and kind of a dark one considering that the Ogre was known for not just killing detectives investigating his case, but also their loved ones. I enjoyed Gordon and Loeb’s rivalry taking the grim turn it did, but hardly a characterizing one.
If Beasts of Prey had to be the mundane episode it was, at least its storytelling was rather interesting this time around. It’s not often that Gotham does much flash-backing for its heroes, let alone a non-DC comics villain (unless “The Ogre” is going to literally transform into Solomon Grundy…) and seeing the mask come off of Ventimiglia’s knife-wielding pretty boy is as morbidly amusing as the series’ typical slasher-fic goons. The penthouse torture chamber is almost like if 50 Shades of Grey slept with Dexter, but at this rate, the buildup’s left wanting to make these guest stars more than fleeting gags – with plenty of sharp things.
That said, the Ogre can’t kidnap Leslie now. I mean, right? Leslie getting grabbed was previewed way too hard when it was immediately mentioned that Grace “lived in her neighborhood/could be her sister.” Fortunately (hopefully because it was too obvious), the show managed to call this out before the hour was over. Her possibly being a target was made a central plot point. So now it would be kind of weird to go that route. Whatever. I suppose it’d be as weird as Gordon choosing to still investigate the Ogre case knowing that Leslie was in danger of being kidnapped, tortured, and killed. I bet she talks him back into it.
Gotham returned with a snaky new villain (cool) a fair amount of cop intrigue (nice), and more of the usual Fish Mooney nonsense (ugh). The flashbacks were a novel distraction – in fact, they’re something the series should think more about using. It can’t help the fact that our death march to the finale isn’t amounting to much more than whatever ideas the series is throwing at a wall and hoping sticks.
Gotham airs Monday nights on FOX at 8/7 Central. Catch all the latest episodes at FOX.com and all the latest reviews here at BagoGames.