“You get to drink Scotch all day and have sex with me.”
Such is Jim Gordon’s life nowadays on Gotham; while one might envy this Dionysian-like existence, the other facets of his life aren’t really worth coveting. You don’t always get to choose circumstances, especially if your name is Jose Bautista. But if we’re going to get introspective, everyone can choose what they say, think, and do. Indeed, Follow the White Rabbit deals with the themes of choices and consequences, as well as continue the overall themes of love, relationships and loyalty presented so far in this season. Admittedly, I’ve been somewhat critical of this series, but it appears the producers have steered the ship in the right direction, opting for character-driven stories and longer exploration of themes that lean more on the serialized end of the spectrum rather than the episodic nature of season one.
Since this season is subtitled Mad City, El Predicto can reasonably assert that Mad Hatter Jervis Tetch will be the main villain du jour, much like Theo Galavan was in season two. Tech blames Gordon for the death of his sister Alice, whom he loves in a not so brotherly manner, and his mission is to make Gordon pay with a determination that enters Khan Noonien Singh territory in its intensity.
Tetch forces Gordon to play a deadly game or “Either/or” in which he must choose who will live and die between various abducted Gotham citizens. Gordon manages to save a young boy from a speeding truck, but a newly married couple kiss the pavement off a bridge. When Gordon refuses to choose between two men to kill, Tetch electrocutes them both. The game culminates in a tea party with Tetch, Gordon, Lee and Vale, the two women who have Gordon’s heart. If Gordon doesn’t choose one to die, Tetch will kill them both. He wants Gordon to feel the pain of losing someone he loves, as Tetch did with Alice.
Seems Tetch denies his role or responsibility in Alice’s death, even when Gordon reminds him Alice killed herself to be free of Tetch. The irony is that earlier in the episode, Tetch reminds Gordon that the choices he has made, will make, and doesn’t make have consequences (I can’t help but think of the Rush song Freewill and the lyric “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice”). However, Tetch either cannot or will not make the connection that his actions have led to Alice’s death; it’s easier to place that blame on Gordon’s shoulders.
What’s interesting here is over the course of a few episodes we see a few more layers of Tetch; like the best villains he doesn’t see himself as one, even though he does villainous things. He feels he is doing them for a righteous reason; no one, after all, is completely good or completely evil, and while Tetch may have a severely distorted view of reality and committed acts of evil, he justifies his vengeance as noble cause because of Alice’s death. The choices Tetch has made lead to his shooting Vale at the end of the episode, even though Gordon chooses Lee to be shot.
What we knew all along but still isn’t explicitly stated is that Gordon isn’t over Lee. Nor have her feelings for him diminished; at the hospital they acknowledge their feelings for each other with only a brief “I know”. This is while Vale, Gordon’s not-girlfriend is in surgery for a gunshot wound connected to his choices under the care of Mario Falcone, Lee’s fiancé. That, dear readers, makes for juicy conflict, especially when you consider Vale’s words I’ve used at the beginning of this article; she may have said their relationship was casual, but did she really mean it? Should she live, and El Predicto is making that call right now, there will be, in the wise words of Ricky Ricardo, “some ‘splaining to do.” Granted, Gordon was in an impossible situation, but he also put himself in that position by not telling Harvey or the GCPD. The love triangle is alive and well and Gordon is in for a bumpy ride this season.
The other storylines follow the themes as well; Penguin has feelings for Nygma and struggles throughout the episode to find the courage to say them. Not uncommon, and something we have all experienced at one time or another. The fear of saying how you feel and of those feelings not being reciprocated can send those with the toughest of constitutions into paralysis. To complicate matters, Nygma meets a dead ringer for Miss Kringle in the form of Isabella, who woos Nygma with riddles of her own. Nygma is one smitten kitten, but the larger question is how this issue will be dealt with. Does Penguin still reveal his feelings for Nygma? How will Nygma react? Does Nygma tell Penguin he met a beautiful, riddle-slinging woman only to have Penguin say “That’s great” and nothing else happens? Does Penguin become unhinged because of feelings not reciprocated? It would be a shame to dismiss this casually, and I believe the producers to be smarter than that.
Meanwhile, Tabs and Babs share a moment at Sirens; Tabs has Butch hidden away and Babs asks if there is a chance of reconciliation between Tabs and Butch, to which Tabs answers she is unsure. Another interesting possibility of conflict, as I was under the impression Babs and Tabs were an item; how might an upset Bat-crazy Babs react if she is the angry woman scorned? I enjoy watching Erin Richards as an off-kilter, Bat-crazy Babs and selfishly want more.
Harvey even has a small moment of loyalty and buddy-love issues when he confronts Gordon for not calling him about Tetch’s tea party. Gordon’s justification and Harvey letting him off the hook a little too easily could have been better, especially when Harvey proclaims to Barnes his loyalty to Gordon; that was however, before Barnes started having ‘roid rages from that drop of Alice’s blood. Might we see Barnes transformed into Solomon Grundy by the end of the season? Only time will tell.
Overall, a solid, character-driven episode that was thematically layered and connected; such layers and depth offer a more complex, compelling show, and we’re two for two so far. Maybe Gotham can rack up an impressive consecutive hitting streak worthy of Joe Di Maggio. And more Harvey.
Tune in next time – same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.
