Gotham – Rise of the Villains: “By Fire” Review

Distractions will be the death of you.”

There are lots of distractions that throw Gotham’s characters off-kilter; slightly for some, unhinged for others.

This week’s episode concludes the two-part origin story of Firefly, though it seemed to be more of the same from Bridgit – mousy and regretful one moment, and all-fired up (no pun intended) the next with her new fireproof suit and flamethrower. But it’s Selina who tries her best to keep Bridgit out of trouble and convinces her to leave town so the Pike brothers can’t keep hr an abused prisoner any more. With money a problem, they hit a sex-slave auction that not only catches their exit on CCTV for Gordon to later discover, but crystallizes a sense of purpose for Bridgit; to take down those who enslave and abuse others. First on the list is to torch the Pike brothers, then return to the auction where she left women pleading for help.

Gordon spends his time chasing down leads and doling out lumps to thugs in his quest to find Garrett’s murderer at any cost. His search leads him to Selina and Bridgit, and his stance softens when he learns about Bridgit’s history and situation. Now he wants to bring her in without anymore casualties and enlists Selina’s help. Selina truly wants Bridgit to be free and safe, and she has not demonstrated this type of concern for another character all series. Perhaps she doesn’t want Bridgit to end up like her? Or after what she has been through, maybe Bridgit deserves some happiness which can only be possible outside of Gotham? Either way, it’s refreshing to see Selina take a more active role and be near center stage rather than slink about in the background as the cat we know she is.

Bruce, however, takes a backseat here, training with Alfred in a boxing session. The only thing left is for him to drink a glass of raw eggs and jab at a side of beef in a meat packing plant. But Bruce is impatient; while his training has progressed he’s not yet ready to tackle Gotham, nor can he wait for Fox to fix the computer. It seems Alfred has a lot more to instil in him than fitness and fighting skills. We also see Bruce at Galavan’s for dinner, with Silver St. Cloud occupying the role of main distraction. Galavan further manipulates Bruce by offering an alliance to sort out the affairs of Wayne Enterprises when he becomes Mayor.

Nygma gets more personal and interactive with Kristen and after overhearing her conversation with Lee, opens up about how he handled Tom Dougherty in a post-coital moment of bragging. Her reaction is what we would expect when we learn the person we are intimate with is a murderer, but Nygma’s love for her blinds him to the situation, and in an attempt to explain further, he chokes her to death by accident. Whether this is the catalyst for Riddler to fully emerge is not certain, but should make for interesting viewing in the coming weeks.

Penguin gets little screen time; at first he drowns his sorrows in red wine, then he arms his men on an assault against Galavan, but it’s Butch who gets the biggest laugh when he sells his story to Galavan, bloody stump the proof. Theo hires him while Tabitha and Barbara, in a very humorous moment, take turns brainstorming what implements could be attached to the stump, suggestions worthy of Ash in the Evil Dead film series. Barbara has been underused for a few episodes now and needs to do something, we can sense her restlessness and hopefully she will get to stretch her muscles soon.

Butch succeeds in finding Gertrude, but Galavan figures him out and has Tabitha “deprogram” him. So when Butch returns with information on Gertrude’s location, is he now an agent of Galavan or was he tough enough to withstand whatever Tabitha did to him? Penguin

All this leads up to the standoff between Gordon’s Strike Force and Bridgit; an errant shot nicks the fuel line and sends her up in flames. Gordon, naturally, tells Selina Bridgit isn’t going to make it, which destroys whatever residue of trust remained between them and she lets slip it was Penguin who ordered the arson attacks on Wayne Enterprises properties.

But Bridgit doesn’t die; her suit melted to her body, making her fireproof. The final scene shows two men wheeling her bandaged body on a gurney in a basement for “testing” along with “the rest of the monsters.” This is a supposedly secret lab facility, yet it has an “Indian Hill, a division of Wayne Enterprises” sign slapped on the wall. A more subtle approach might have been to present the Wayne insignia we saw on the knife somewhere in the building, perhaps on the tiled floor or on the door. While the delivery is somewhat contrived, we inch closer to the secrets that form the dark mythology of the Wayne family that either Thomas was investigating or condoned.

Interesting things are on the horizon. Hopefully they arrive without any distractions.

Tune in next week – same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.