First Blood | Gotham: Arkham Review

<p>Gotham found asylum this week in the unlikeliest of places&period; Arkham once again fell in with a weekly villain&&num;8211&semi;a hitman named Gladwell&&num;8211&semi;but for hum-drum mob dealings gone wrong&comma; things begin to get right in the darkest ways&period; Gimmicky&comma; violent&comma; and full of intrigue to spare&comma; Gotham’s measured stride to war on the streets finally draws first blood in flavorful fashion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;10&sol;Gotham-Asylum-Bullock-Gordon-BagoGames&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"alignright wp-image-67856 size-medium" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;10&sol;Gotham-Asylum-Bullock-Gordon-BagoGames-300x207&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Gotham Asylum Bullock Gordon BagoGames" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"207" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The show’s actual police procedural drama’s are already falling into the mundane&comma; often coming down to Gordon saving the day on some cheap visual clue all of a sudden on cue &lpar;a&period;k&period;a shiny shoes or truck logos&rpar;&period; Gordon and Bullock&&num;8217&semi;s banter still remains solid and&&num;8211&semi;at least this week&&num;8211&semi;Bullock and Captain Essen actually wanted to solve the case&period; Gordon didn’t have much in the way of ideological obstacles as a consequence&comma; but it’s always at his best when he just gets down to business&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the parlors of Gotham’s underworld&comma; Fish Mooney’s in search of a &lpar;bodacious&rpar; weapon&comma; and held her own version of &&num;8220&semi;tryouts&&num;8221&semi; this week in &&num;8220&semi;Arkham&period;&&num;8221&semi; Plus&comma; given how vague Fish was with the actual job description &lpar;&&num;8220&semi;Are you willing to do whatever it takes to have it all&quest;&&num;8221&semi;&rpar;&comma; you wouldn’t buy two pale emo crooners killing each other for a gig&comma; but it was all too appropriate for them to simply bash one another in the face&period; Two fine ladies garbed in red and black&colon; Have we found a future Harley Quinn&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;10&sol;05065644&sol;Gotham-Penguin-Arkham-BagoGames&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"alignleft wp-image-67865 size-medium" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;10&sol;05065644&sol;Gotham-Penguin-Arkham-BagoGames&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Gotham Penguin Arkham BagoGames" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"207" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The rest of Gotham’s regulars&comma; however&comma; namely Cobblepot&comma; lent Arkham an invaluable dose of eccentricity as always&period; We got a surprising whiff of Fish Mooney’s ruthlessness&comma; one that’s finally coming in use as our gang war finally heats up and there’s fresh blood to be drawn&period; Between whispering in her &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Seduce me” voice and forcing her girls to fight to the death&comma; Mooney’s getting hot and bothered on the sidelines in some fantastically vicious ways&period; Cobblepot&&num;8217&semi;s schemes are becoming more apparent too&comma; paying and butchering his way through boss Sal Maroni’s graces while stealing behind his back&period; Together with an unsuspecting alliance with Gordon&comma; Cobblepot makes a wonderfully creepy gangland snitch in the show’s most promising dynamic&comma; coupled with the two’s funny first meeting since their farewell at the pier&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Maybe the simplest joy &&num;8220&semi;Arkham&&num;8221&semi; had going for it was Arkham itself&period; Drinking in the future of Batman’s rogues gallery is just too much and a nod of the hat has to go to the perfect metal gateway emblazoned with the foreboding Arkham name&period; Making the asylum the centerpiece of the show and the turf war born from Thomas and Martha Wayne&&num;8217&semi;s murder was only a smarter way to use it for the series&comma; let alone a great excuse to bring in Cory Michael Smith&&num;8217&semi;s Nigma for only a minute&period; We always need more Nigma&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; Gordon and Bruce&&num;8217&semi;s strange friendship bond&sol;partnership thing needs a a lot of work&period; It’s hard to justify why Gordon drives down to Wayne Manor for little more than telling the kid that everything&&num;8217&semi;s going to be okay&comma; Gotham&&num;8217&semi;s worth saving&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s a light in the darkness&comma; and so on&period; It’s oddly Alfred that keeps himself rather distant from a real relationship as the boy’s own guardian&comma; and it’s his feelings that remain the hardest nut worth cracking&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;10&sol;Gotham-Gordon-Barbara-BagoGames&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"alignright wp-image-67860 size-medium" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;10&sol;Gotham-Gordon-Barbara-BagoGames-300x197&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Gotham Gordon Barbara BagoGames" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"197" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On the other side of Gordon&&num;8217&semi;s life&comma; we finally got to see Barbara outside of the romantic apartment and down in the precinct&comma; where she’s all but shut out by Gordon thanks to his secrets&comma; despite sharing her own &ast;ahem&ast; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;romantic past&period;” It’s hard not to conjure up premonitions of Smallville’s similar melodrama and Gotham’s seems to be no less convincing&period; How hard is it to sum it up to your wife that the guy at your door’s just a police informant and you get sh&ast;&ast; done&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It’s just a shame we were never given anything about our hitman this week&comma; &&num;8220&semi;Gladwell&comma;&&num;8221&semi; whose career’s undoubtedly assassinating Gotham’s dumbest victims&period; The idea that Falcone and Maroni wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t somehow know &lpar;or care&rpar; that they were paying the same guy to take shots at the other is just plain ludicrous when you get down to it&period; How long is it until they figure out they need to kill the other boss when you’re already shooting up restaurants in broad daylight anyway&quest; At least you can respect making something of a guy with just a sharp telescope-thing as an assassin&period; For once&comma; Arkham may have also been just as nice being free of the show’s clumsy foreshadowing&period; Staying in the moment lends a certain focus to the city’s more pressing mob matters&comma; though it was interesting to find out that before there was a &&num;8220&semi;Clown Prince of Crime&&num;8221&semi; there was a &&num;8220&semi;Clown Prince of&&num;8230&semi;Parking Lot&&num;8230&semi;Muggers&period;&&num;8221&semi; Ouch&period; Not so subtle&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A far cry from silly balloon men in pig masks&comma; Arkham finally geared towards the heart of what this series is laboriously trying to accomplish&period; Instead&comma; Arkham finally aimed exactly at what our big villains are fighting over was an inspired way to translate core comic lore onscreen&period; While Mooney and Cobblepot continue to delight&comma; there’s an uncomfortable feeling that it’s the freaks beneath the surface that are taking over the show’s real interest&period; Cop dramas can only hope to replace the insanity that Arkham’s gates could unleash&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&lbrack;divider&rsqb;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Gotham airs every Monday night at 8&sol;7 central only on FOX&period; Catch all the latest episode reviews right here at BagoGames&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;