“You logical bastard.”
Harvey channels his inner Bones McCoy for a brief moment, though that about seems to be the only entertaining element. Two weeks of meh episodes now and I am getting used to disappointment not so different from my dating life. Gotham looked like it was ready to take the next step and become an awesome show; don’t get me wrong, it’s a good show, but Gotham has only teased us with snippets of awesomeness. Those snippets have always been in the form of the show’s villains doing what they do best, being the center of attention. Light The Wick again relegates the villains to the backseat while the Court of Owls’ plot to destroy Gotham is front and center, and the title sounds more like a John Wick sequel, which would be infinitely more entertaining.
The top storyline this week involves Gordon figuring out the weapon the Court will use to destroy Gotham, though it wasn’t much of a stretch to figure out what that weapon was after watching Barnes’ abduction from Arkham, with the benefit of play-by-play commentary from Jervis Tetch. Turns out the Court’s plan is to use the virus, siphoned from Barnes, made airborne, and released by way of aerosol bombs to cleanse Gotham. Of course, any dastardly plan needs to be tested, and this is no exception. Kathryn (I apologize for misspelling her name) decides this would also be a good time to test Gordon’s loyalty and has him watch the test proceedings. The fact she had any doubt that Gordon wasn’t a spy is way off character for a secret society that is supposed to be very powerful and smart. Of course Gordon is a spy; the only thing more obvious is that the sun rises in the east. And to be honest, Gordon isn’t even a good spy; he doesn’t even wait until he gets inside his car to call Harvey after being caught in Kathryn’s house. That’s the kind of smooth operating that makes Johnny English look like James Bond.
The Gordon joins the Court to see the destruction of Gotham ploy wasn’t going to last much longer than it did; saving Gotham is part of Gordon’s self-righteous DNA. He can’t help but want to save the city – I’d believe a red shirt in Star Trek lives past the first ten minutes of an episode before I believe Gordon joins a villainous secret society bent on cleansing the city.
Turns out the only one who doesn’t watch Star Trek is Lee, who spends the entire episode bouncing from one room to the next at GCPD demanding to know the truth about Gordon and the death of Frank. She pulls off the right amount of nagging girlfriend mixed with crazy eye, and full kudos goes to Morena Baccarin for her acting chops. She hasn’t had much to do on the show, but her hate-on for Gordon simmers like a covered pot; she even (unknowingly) compares him like the virus he’s trying to stop. I know I’ve always said the Gordon/Lee drama should be the lower tier story, and in small doses it’s manageable.
Penguin finds Gordon and demands to meet with the Court, intent on finding Riddler, and he unknowingly saves Gordon and the Daughters of Gotham from the test virus. It’s a good example of characters we don’t often get to see working together which, like much of the episode, relied on a great deal of relationships formed early in the series and made the action deeper than most episodes. Gordon looked almost happy to see Penguin alive, and he seems to care enough about the funny bird (see what I did there?) to not deliver him to the Court until the very last minute. This is a nice parallel to last week with Gordon’s interactions with Riddler and the Court.
Penguin gets his wish, to be with Riddler, albeit in cages. Hopefully that promises in more compelling scenes between the two. Despite all the harrumphing of killing one another, it’s not so clear how they will interact in their reunion. Penguin’s hate-fuelled eyes were rather chilling, but I think old quarrels will be set aside, even if briefly, so the dastardly duo can work together and escape from the clutches of the Court.
Meanwhile, Ivy looks for Selina, only to discover she’s in hospital in a coma and things are desperately dire. Gotham General makes The Muppet Show’s “Veterinarian’s Hospital” look like ER, and I half expected Dr. Bob to try and save the day with Nurses Piggy and Janice. Ivy won’t have any of it, of course, and is determined to save Selina with a little help from her plant friends. There are more plants in the hospital room than James Franco’s green room at the Academy Awards, but with Ivy’s never-day-die attitude Selina awakens from her coma and she’s intent on killing Clone Bruce.
This is another example of relying on already-established relationships so we care more about what happens. And for the most part it is mission accomplished; it was also a nice touch to have Ivy show up at Babs’ club looking for Selina. Seems like it was in Season One when Selina and Ivy crashed at Babs’ pad – oh yeah, it was Season One. A nice gesture for the show to reach back like that, but it would have been better if Babs actually was there, but Tabs took care of things.
The third storyline was Bruce’s continued training with the Shaman, whom was revealed to be Kathryn’s superior. The thing is this story didn’t sit as well with the rest, which relied on previously-established relationships, though one could argue the already established relationship was Bruce with himself. It’s good to see Bruce continuing his Batman training, with Shaman encouraging him to repress the rage and he will be free, but even Bruce mused aloud this seemed to be a scam.
Shaman presents Bruce’s captivity as a choice – he can leave or he can stay and train; Gotham needs a protector and Bruce needs a purpose. Might Bruce return to be some sort of masked teen vigilante? That might be interesting if handled properly, else the risk of jumping the shark becomes dangerously high.
Not enough Harvey, a scene with Foxy but no Harvey and Foxy, and no Babs and Tabs. Throw in a small dash of Penguin and a smidge of Riddler and the result is too many things missing from the soup. And I like a hearty soup.
Tune in next time – same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.
