Gotham Review – Everyone Has a Cobblepot

So, last week we got a good look at just how deep the corruption in the Gotham City Police Department runs, with Commissioner Loeb apparently in possession of blackmail material on at least roughly half the cops of the GCPD, a treasure trove that he’s cultivated over twenty years it would seem. It was engaging to see just how deeply entrenched the corruption is, that it’s so deep in fact that it got Harvey Bullock to double cross Gordon, something that, for all Harvey’s brashness and irascibility with Gordon’s stubborn morality, was shocking to witness. So Detective Arnold Flass was resultantly back in play, not that anyone who’s familiar with Batman lore was surprised that he wasn’t gone. It was also rather satisfying to see Gordon come out on top in the end for once, as Gotham being Gotham, Jim’s victories tend to be pyrrhic at best, as necessary as that is what with things needing to be bad enough that Batman’s eventual emergence is essential.

Another highlight was getting what I believe to be our first glimpse at Edward Nigma’s start-of-darkness and his eventual descent into his persona as the Riddler. Something appeared to snap inside at Miss Kringle’s latest rejection, between the deadly cold look he gave her new boyfriend and the angry disposing of the flowers he bought. I could be wrong, but I think the direction the writers are taking is that the constant shunning and overlooking and condescension he receives is what pushes him over the edge in the end, and this latest humiliation certainly seemed to be a major blow over all the others. Another interesting aspect was the meeting of the doctor in charge of the facility that Fish Mooney’s being kept at, Francis Dolmacher, who seems to be a precursor of sorts to Doctor Thomas Elliot of the Batman: Hush storyline. What with the inhuman surgical skill and Frankenstein level of body alteration skill being displayed, though that’s where the similarities between the characters end.

I will say that I’m glad that Fish has a new eye out of it though after that absurd eye-spooning she did in the last episode, as the idea of her walking around like an evil Nick Fury was not an appealing one. Still, it’s always fun to watch Fish always try and be three steps ahead of the game, as variable as her success is, and watching her juggle the trust of her fellow prisoners with helping the doctor’s operation so that she can secure her own safety is enthralling to watch. Especially now that it turns out that she’s trapped on an island facility of all things with no apparent way off. These are only the side-plots however, the main thrust of the episode being the search for Loeb’s cache of extortion material, which was never found but instead unearthed Loeb’s daughter, Miriam, hidden away from the world to prevent anyone finding out that she murdered her mother. This was an excellent twist, giving Gordon something potentially even better than the commissioner’s leverage over cops: leverage over the commissioner. Making this episode something of a game changer.

There were, however, a couple of gripes I had, the first being Dent and Gordon’s arrival at Shi Lou’s money laundering operation. The scene was going well until Shi Lou told his men to kill the pair and they all pulled out kitchen knives and meat cleavers while Gordon pulled his pistol. And then ran away. What? Gordon had a GUN. While in a narrow space that would’ve force the men to come at him a few at a time. There was absolutely no reason to retreat, the racketeers couldn’t possibly have all been that suicidally brave. The other gripe was the transplant operation of the doctor’s former chief-of-staff’s head onto a woman’s body. While it certainly served to make a point, one wonders at the wastefulness of the time, resources, and effort at making such a point. Dolmacher already stated that their stock of spare eyes was “frightfully low”, so how much more of a resources drain would that little stunt have been. And for what? Not successfully managing a revolt near instantaneously?

Are chiefs-of-staff willing to play along with a body-harvesting operation like this really so easy to come by? Overkill I think, like the eye spooning. Otherwise, great episode and can’t wait to see what comes next.

Review by Joshua Jennings

You can listen to Joshua every week on the DC Domination Podcast via Itunes here