In the past few weeks, Gotham‘s rummaged through the best of its rogues gallery to throw against the wall and see what sticks. After Scarecrow senior and then Joker junior, I’m beginning to think nothing will – or at least, nothing permanent. Gotham, it seems, is forever setting up payoffs for a world it might never see. This week it decided a Joker ruse of a different flavor was up in the cards in what I can say is the series’ raunchiest mess of an entry yet.
As the title might imply, Cameron Monaghan’s evil laugh couldn’t silence the breadcrumb trail to the Joker(s) the series seems bent on leaving. Instead, Red Hood gave us the Joker’s iconic Red Hood gang sans the clown in question, robbing banks than falling into chemical vats. A quirky “cursed artifact” arc of sorts, the red hood here brings “luck” to whoever dons it – namely whoever happens to be the gang’s joking frontman of the day.
I dare say that what’s basically a silly gag works here. The part of the tongue-in-cheek humor that follows the Red Hood gang’s troupe of gun-toting idiots, none of them as preferable as Monaghan in the purple suit or as likely even in the face of the GCPD’s terrible shots.
Meanwhile, it’s a shame that Gotham’s similarly decided that the Penguin should be equally incompetent, a dolt behind a bar now. Butch – who we were told was tortured and brainwashed by Zsasz last week – decided that being a barkeep is his dream job, as is being he Penguin’s trained monkey despite being snarky. It’s a gross disservice to Robin Lord Taylor’s acting chops, to say the least, and much more to the character most of us assumed was the show’s leading villain-in-waiting.
Nothing can compare to the messes that Fish Mooney trudged through this week, literal and figurative alike. Red Hood finally brought us face to face with “The Manager,” or the Dollmaker, as our conveniently named “Dr. Dulmacher” seems to be playing. What he’s doing here I don’t know, but I’ll give the show makers credit for giving us a much realer Arkham Asylum than what Rogues Gallery, for all that amounts to here. From the creepy climb upstairs past bandaged patients to Dulmacher’s gorily decorated “office,” this is the Gotham you don’t want to see. I only wish any of our cast that mattered could see it.
This storyline with Fish and the unearned ease at which she’s won the queenship over this madhouse is just plain ridiculous. I have no idea what her fellow prisoners expect from her or what she herself expects from the bargaining table with Dulmacher, but none of it adds up to the gruesome conclusion that their meeting provided. That the exact details stretch the boundaries of even a TV-14 rating is bad enough, but that Fish is only useful for slasher-fic is a bigger waste than the character served originally.
It works out that stately Wayne Manor lent a genuinely warmer story, on the other hand. It’s not often that we’ve seen Bruce Wayne make a friend out of, well, anyone that wasn’t a fist-fighting paternal figure and yes, he gets one here again in an old war buddy of Alfred’s, David O’Hara’s Reggie Payne. He’s a warm, charming addition to Bruce’s arc, all while shedding some light on Alfred’s rough-and-tumble past and molding Bruce only a bit. All the better that he should be part of some shady past of his own, but I’d rather wish characters didn’t have to exit an episode with blood on a carpet.
Elsewhere, Barbara’s cozied up to life with her glorified sleepover party with Selina and Ivy for reasons I’m unsure I even want cleared up by now. Either she’s more content talking with two pre-teens than the walls or there’s something to the almost pedophiliac undertones going on between her and Selina. Or at least, that’s what I assume is what swirling a champaign glass in your hand with bedroom eyes to a fourteen-year-old means. At least we know that “A dress can be a weapon as dangerous as a gun or knife.” Wisdom.
It’s hard to say where Red Hood leaves Gotham with regards to last week. That the Red Hood gang gave us something new was a strong concept even if its dividends will only pay off in our imaginations. In short, everything that’s been a mess stayed a mess and pluralizing its “villains of the week” scenario made for some sheepish laughs in only the kookiest ways. The series’ wanton serialization is wearing terribly thin in the meantime and if there ever was a time to call for a time jump to a twenty-year-old Batman, now’s that time.
This Gotham City’s just too early for anything to happen, it seems. Unless that dang hood ends up on thirty more kids’ heads, I don’t know how many handcuffs the GCPD have under their belts. I suppose I’ll just have to wait and see what awaits teenage Mr. Freeze’s ice-cone business.
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.