Fear can drive us to do the worst and it certainly does for Gotham’s villains. I’m willing to bet a world without fear would look a whole lot different from the one envisioned by our fearsome Doctor Crane.
Last week’s curriculum in fear proved more than a bit far-fetched, but it was to my satisfaction that Gerald Crane’s return should prove productive in this week’s The Scarecrow. Guilt, as we’re shown, is what drives Gerald as much as fear and it’s to this end that Julian Sands portrays the character with the short-lived bravado he’s given. A burned house and a motherless son complete the rudimentarily tragic image we’re given of the man trying to beat his own madness. All the better that the two should culminate in the unwitting creation of DC Comics’ real Scarecrow in all his unlikely origin.
It seems that fathers and sons characterized this week’s episode and it was arguably the Cranes who were the appropriate highlight. That Gerald should use his own son, Jonathan, as his guinea pig for a cure places an interesting ethical dilemma on the character, all too reminiscent of a more selfish Mr. Freeze. It is, however, one the show brushes over rather quickly for the apparent sake of runtime. Despite the deadly shootout and Frankenstien result that Dr. Crane and son’s activities result in, the real crime is that only here do the Cranes feel like an integral part of Gotham and we’re unlikely to see them again.
It’s been a while now since we’ve seen any developments out of the Wayne estate and in recent weeks I’ve thought little of it. Ever since Selina’s back peddling, the Wayne murder case has dried up and so has the necessity of Bruce and Alfred’s presences. I’ll admit it was refreshing seeing them together outside of the context of Crime Alley and bonding on their own father and son hike, clichéd as it is. The two stumbling on the Cranes’ Sleepy Hollow-ish hideaway and Bruce be petrified by Gerald’s fear toxin would’ve been a great cross-over, but alas, we have yet to know why this Bruce is scared of bats.
Sean Pertwee’s gruffness as Alfred can still seem incessant at times, but he and David Mazouz’s Bruce are building good chemistry, if not at the cost of Bruce now being dubbed “Master B.” Now that you mention it, thats the name of the Batman boy band I’m betting Bruce is starting before the season’s end.
Whatever logic’s governing the Crane family, it’s certainly more sound than the mess of a “subplot” Fish Mooney’s left to. I suppose we’re left to our own imaginations to piece together what the hell happened in last week’s charge of the Mooney brigade because there’s nothing but facepalms where she’s concerned. Held by someone, somewhere, for some reason in what looks like a cheap version of The Dark Knight Rises’ well-prison, it’s clear Fish deserved a death more dignified than this an episode ago. The only spoilers here are too ludicrous to make up – that she kills her way to the top faster than the time it had to take to apply that eyeliner of hers or the minutes it took to introduce some eyeless madwoman. Ugh.
Odd can describe Osward Cobblepot’s rather historic meeting at the GCPD. Yes, after more than half a season, our boy in black finally had his close encounter with the strange kind with Ed Nygma for no real reason more than silly fan-service, and it admittedly earned half-a-chuckle. The buildup to it is genuinely hilarious, albeit at the cost of another burn for Nygma. While it’s gratifying to have the Penguin and Riddler finally share a scene together, it’s honestly depressing why these two haven’t become the series’ dynamic duo. They deserve it more than the GCPD’s newest love birds, anyway.
Gordon and Leslie, or “Leigh” as I believe Gordon refers to her now, are the latest in the series’ office romances following Leslie’s newest gig as the precinct’s medical examiner regarding Nygma’s competence at it. I can’t being to care about either of them any more than I can Nygma or Kristie Kringle by this point, much less understand why a kiss between them is taboo for a department that’s never even seemed to pursue more than the doughnuts out back. If Gordon can come to work everyday under suspicion of mob ties as he has, than a little peck on the cheek’s the least of his worries in this zoo.
Meanwhile, the Gotham mob’s basically been reduced to talking-heads in the time since Don Maroni and Cobblepot’s heart-to-heart last week. If Maroni and Falcone were politicians, it’d all make sense how much butt-kissery seems to go on between them. With things seemingly patched up (for now), even the underworld’s gone silent, and all of it still leaving Cobblepot, snitch-master, alive. Somehow.
If The Scarecrow left us with anything to consider, it was poor Jonathan’s fate at the hands of his father by the episode’s cruel end. I’d think it rather easy to imagine just why Scarecrow returns to haunt Gotham in the coming years, but it’s only harder to think just how. Gerald’s actions, as they were, left Jonathan so traumatized that I’m not sure the boy could think, much less mold himself into a costume supervillain in ten to fifteen years time. Far be it of me to gauge criminal psychology, though. I should probably just let myself be pleased in that it all excused the use of some creepy/corny CGI monsters.
Fear may not have set the series free this week – rather, it only seemed to bind its hands even further. Whereas we were given some grade A fan-service from the show’s Batman mythos, all of its original material felt afraid to try. As we approach the season finale and our possible preview as Batman’s biggest baddie next episode, it seems like all my fears about the show running in circles is all too true. Batman’s shadow is all too big to get by for Gotham, and if it’s the Joker that’s next in Gotham‘s rogues gallery, I’m afraid that we’re in for another bad punchline.
[divider]
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.