Gotham – S4 E13 “A Dark Knight: A Beautiful Darkness”
“I’m in the sweet embrace of one of my favourite people.”
There’s no sweet embrace for me when Harvey is absent for an episode, though I do find comfort in a platter of Tandoori wings at a local pub when it’s half price Thursdays. There’s a sweet spot between 3-6 pm when half price appetizers, cheap beer and the wings special all kick in, and it’s pretty hard to match that kind of loving embrace. This week’s episode of Gotham doesn’t come close, isn’t in the same ballpark, nor is it even the same game. I know what you’re thinking; food has nothing to do with Gotham, and you’re right, but things don’t bode well when I’m thinking more about the wings than the episode at hand. Which brings me to the comparison with chicken wings; while a wing is a wing, how it’s made – baked or fried – and presented – too much sauce, not enough sauce, bad sauce, good sauce – can wildly differ from place to place. Gotham suffers from a consistency problem as well, as I’ve written about many times in previous articles from previous seasons (likely to your annoyance). But if the recipe isn’t going to change, neither will the feedback. A Beautiful Darkness is one such episode and could have used more marinating before being cooked and served (see what I did there?).
The main story focuses on Ivy, who tracks a secret project on which Wayne Enterprises is working and targets anyone with information. This means she travels from lead to lead, using her perfume to charm victims to do her bidding, then poisoning them with her toxin when she gets what she wants. I know I’ve written about the previous incarnation of Ivy, how she was intellectually and emotionally a teen in a young woman’s body and the problems it posed, but I’m even more skeptical about this new, adult Ivy. While she moves through the episode with a sense of purpose, focus and commitment, I am at a loss to understand how she made said intellectual and emotional leap, unless she hasn’t and is more stoic in her delivery. That might make sense, considering she has her charmed victims repeat how cool and awesome she is. The teen who wants to be appreciated and recognized is still there but the ditziness is gone, replaced with a determination to save Gotham’s flora.
Turns out Ivy’s search leads her to a secret greenhouse with some of Ra’s al Ghul’s Lazarus Water that stimulates cell growth, and Ivy uses it to make more potent poisons to pounce on prospective prey while promoting the plight of prosecuted plants. Impressive alliteration aside, I wonder how Ivy went form ditzy teen in a teen body to ditzy teen in a young woman’s body to not so ditzy and more serious teen in an adult body with serious botanical skills. I’m not convinced they were pulled from the ether when she was enveloped in her cocoon. I know what you’re thinking; we need to have some suspension of disbelief, but that suspension needs to occur within some semblance of story logic. Take the Lazarus Pit, for example. It can bring people back from the dead and create super plants. It was set up properly and audiences accepted it; Ivy’s miraculous degree in botany doesn’t have the same set up and thus raises flags. Is it possible she unleashed an innate knowledge of plants when she ingested the Chinese traditional medicine? Yes, but I’d rather bet on the NFL finally establishing a clear set of rules on what defines a catch.
The second story sees Jerome taking an obsessive interest in Penguin at Arkham. Some taunting, intimidation and cajoling go a long way, as pre-Joker Jerome wants Penguin to join him. Turns out Jerome has a lot of juice with the guards and inmates at Arkham and could walk out any time he chooses, but he bides his time and wants/needs Penguin for when he does escape and turn Gotham into the asylum. There are some fun moments with this story, especially Penguin playing mime in a box and Jerome playing along, until Penguin lets him inside the box and beats an amused Jerome. Penguin refuses and writes a letter to Nygma, who visits to boast about his success on the outside. Penguin sees through the ruse and finds a riddle left on the table, suggesting it was Riddler who dropped by for some chit-chat. Is there enough to be pushed to the main story? Maybe, but likely not without revealing Jerome’s plan or how Penguin brings Nygma into the fold, which the producers are intent on playing a slow hand worthy of Eric Clapton. This was the most entertaining story of the night because of tight, crisp writing and outstanding acting on the parts of Robin Lord Taylor and Cameron Monaghan. I’ve said it before and will continue to stand on a soap box and wag my finger; Gotham works best when the villains are allowed to cut loose and rip it up. There is no shortage of quality villains, we merely need to shift focus to them from Gordon and Bruce.
Speaking of Gotham’s dynamic duo, Gordon and Bruce make up two separate minor stories in the episode. Neatly tucked into the main Ivy story, Gordon has his hands full tracking down Ivy and dealing with the fallout of his deal with Sofia Falcone. Turns out he busted one of her lackeys and he played the “I-work-for-Sofia-get-out-of-jail-free” card, which neither impresses nor intimidates Gordon. It’s interesting to note that Gordon has a take no guff attitude towards all the male characters in the show, yet folds like a cheap accordion when it comes to the women in his life. It doesn’t help that Sofia changes the terms of the deal and uses the Pyg incident to hang over Gordon’s head and get what she wants, which makes sense because she is a criminal and enjoys, in Gordon’s words, being the crime queen of Gotham. Gordon, usually when hindsight is 20-20, second guesses his deal and tries to tough guy his way out of it. Sofia, unperturbed, finds another way to manipulate Gordon to do her bidding and invites BFF and sister-in-law Lee over for a drink.
Here’s the thing, we know Gordon will eventually be commissioner, so how much of this backstory do we really need when the outcome is already determined? I’m not suggesting we get right to Gordon becoming commissioner, he only made captain, but there must be another way to generate conflict for Gordon than from the women in his life. Things were interesting when Penguin ran Gotham’s underworld because he had City Hall in his pocket; at least there was some political conflict, and there should still be despite Gordon’s supposed heroic efforts in dealing with Pyg. He had his troubles with GCPD in previous seasons and now the slate has been wiped clean. Only he and Sofia know the truth, but what if someone else found out? What if Gordon has trouble dealing with the guilt that he is responsible for those killed during Pyg’s spree? There are many possible storylines to be mined here, and hopefully they will surface.
Bruce gets a taste of Ivy’s poison when she visits and charms information out him about Project M, which we later learn is the Lazarus Water. Ivy injects Bruce with a small dose of poison to ensure he dies a slow death only to be eventually saved by Gordon. A poisoned Bruce suffers hallucinations worthy of Hunter S. Thompson at a cocktail party with the main cast as the guests, including Gordon with a foreshadowed moustache, and we even get a cameo from Harvey as the butler. All this leads Bruce to Crime Alley and he meets his true self, Batman. Though Batman is only seen in silhouette and in shadow, and I confess I was looking forward to seeing the Batman ’66 costume as a nod to dearly departed Adam West.
Is it me, or did it seem Batman was voiced by long time animated series actor Kevin Conroy? The whole ordeal was enough to freak out Bruce sufficiently to call Alfred and ask for his help. Hopefully this is the last we see of bratty party guy Bruce and back on the road to Batman, even if we never see Batman on the show; the talking shadow is intimidating enough, and could be a nice parallel with the baddies who have yet to emerge as their true villainous selves. Yes, we have seen a tête-à-tête between Nygma and Riddler, but Bruce vs. Batman would be an interesting tango.
Harvey’s cameo in the butler role was a big plus. Jerome and Penguin in Arkham teased out some interesting stories that could help end the season on a high note. It bothers me that the show doesn’t seem to know what to do with Ivy, who seems to be the second half villain this season. Hopefully she won’t be killed off like other disposable female characters. Half a star addition for Harvey’s return and another for Alfred crashing though a window with a rope, even if it was in Bruce’s hallucination.
Tune in next week – same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.
