Gotham Review – “Rogues’ Gallery” S1E11

Oh thank you, Jesus; TV season is back. Right out of the gates, Gotham is back with a variety of new things going on. Jim Gordon has been demoted by the mayor himself to work security at Arkham Asylum, where he will meet Doctor Leslie Thompkins and all hell will surely break loose. While we were very welcome to have Gotham come back, the show is still plagued by the same issues that have done it a disservice all season long.

Pros:

The Freak Show: Gotham can be laughable at times, but there is absolutely nothing fun about a looney bin. There are a few scenes here that set the tone for a darker and scarier rest of the season. Just like it should be.

Leslie Thompkins: There’s really no stopping me from turning into a drooling fanboy when I see Morena Baccarin on screen, but I will attempt to stay level-headed. The newest addition to the show has big shoes to fill in from comic book lore, and has been solid so far.

By himself but not alone: I jumped for joy when Gordon’s former partner Harvey Bullock showed up. Their once-awkward partnership has gained quite a bit of chemistry, and will be one of my favorite components of the show going forward.

Butch starts earning his nickname: In what could have been a very lame twist, Fish Mooney’s fight-hand man ends up getting a lot of brownie points for being a soldier.

Speaking of Fish Mooney: It could be the off-season drought of TV, or it could be the lack of screen time she got, but I found Fish’s character to be much more palatable (haaaa….) this episode. Let’s hope the trend continues.

Cons:

Penguin is not a peacock:  After Robin Lord Taylor’s Oswald Cobblepot became our hand-down favorite of the show, it was a little disappointing to see him put in his place so abruptly.

Spoil the mood tunes: Every time that a legitimate threat is formulating, Gotham feels the need to let us know just how dark and suspenseful it is – with some Danny Elfman-esque effects. Severely corny and outdated 25yrs later.

Barbara is a FLOOZY: This episode broke whatever attachment I had to Barbara. Not only is she slummin’ it up with Montoya, but she’s added zero value to the show and was dumb enough to believe that a little girl who answered the phone is sleeping with Gordon. What a winner, Jimbo.

Shiiiiiiiiit: Isiah Whitlock, Jr., known to most as The Wire‘s Clay Davis, makes a cameo here as the Director of Arkham Asylum. He must have not learned a damn thing from those federal inditements, because his quick exit was a major let-down for me.

No Waynes: While the Bruce Wayne and Alfred angle had a lot of progression before the break, they were noticeably absent from “Rogues’ Gallery.” I could do without Bruce, honestly; I just want to see Alfred crack heads.

Easter Eggs:

Tempest: The beginning scene has the inmates performing Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the plot of misdirection and deceit is quite relatable to the events in “Rogues’ Gallery.”

Jack Gruber: The mastermind being all the different ECT experiments is, thanks to next episode’s preview, the Electrocutioner, most recently an Arkham Origins villain. He sure doesn’t look the part, but whatever.

Aaron Helzinger: Poor guy – ya try to do the right thing and what happens? Bam, lobotomy. Helzinger is a very minot character from the  early 90’s, a man with spontaneous fits of rage after having his amygdala removed.

 

Hugo Strange: Quite… strange… how this Gruber is so much like Hugo. From the electro-compulsive therapy to the need to want to play with the inmates’ minds, even down to the black gloves and the way his face looks, everything about this Gruber guy screams Hugo Strange.

Leslie Thompkins: Every TV Asylum needs a sexy doctor, and Leslie Thompkins fills, no… floods, that position. Seriously though, Dr. Thompkins is one of Batman’s most trusted civilian allies. In the comics, an aged Thompkins offers asylum to all those in need of help, good or bad. She’s the poster-child of the Hippocratic Oath, and with any luck, the best damn rebound that Jim Gordon could ever hope for.

Predictions:

Don’t be a (Hugo) Strange(r): Gruber’s escape from Arkham will have serious repercussions, from Gordon’s position at the joint to the series of murders Gruber will surely commit before being apprehended.

Sparks fly between Thompkins and Gordon: If you are not rooting for them to hook up, then I don’t know what are you doing.

Bye, Bye Barbara: After her latest outburst of stupid, I have every reason to think that she will be stuffed in the metaphorical refrigerator sooner than later.

Butcher’s block: After Butch’s latest show of loyalty, and emergence as kind of a badass, Fish Mooney will eventually thank him in kind with cement shoes. That’s just what bosses do.

Selina doesn’t actually know a damn thing: This future Catwoman is an absolute USER. Like the kind the Eurythmics used to sing about. There’s no way she actually has anything relevant to say about the Wayne killer.

Hush Comics gives “Rogues’ Gallery” a C+ for being unable to rid itself of the laughably implausible plot devices when there is a perfectly good drama waiting to be fleshed out.

All pictures belong to FOX and DC Entertainment.  They are credited to Jessica Miglio.

Gotham Review – “Viper”

I think I finally get it; Gotham was not intended to be the story of James Gordon, but rather the city of Gotham itself.  Gotham is the main character, and all the other characters are effected greatly by it.  Does that make it a better show?  Not in the least.  It just makes me less angry than it did before.  It has come to the point now that I find it completely laughable.  The LOL articles by Mike Ryan at ScreenCrush may help with that.  You can read his LOL article for last night’s episode here.

As for last night’s episode, “Viper”, I found many parts of it laughable.  I mean, how does a 10 year old Bruce Wayne know so much about shareholding, board members, offshore accounts, and irregularities in any project, much less the Arkham Asylum project?  I’ll give it to him; he’s smart.  But I’m not fully buying the detective thing at this age, at least about the asylum.  However, for a show that loves cheesy lines, when Alfred talks to Bruce about “reeking revenge” THIS would have been the perfect time for him to say “Justice.”  But nope, he’s just trying “understand” things. I think I would have had more respect for the dialogue had he said Justice.  I may be griping, but I actually found Bruce’s story the most compelling out of all them this week.  He’s one of the more intelligent characters, and he finally got Alfred on his side.  Let the research commence!

That’s right little Wayne, you had the best plot line this week!

This week’s baddie, Stan Potolsky, or “The Man with the Mangled Ear” (cue spooky sound effect here) is basically going postal, except on the whole city, instead of his former employer, WellZyn.  He goes around handing out vials of a lime green mixture that read’s “Breath Me.”  And people actually do!  Like it’s frickin’ Wonderland! I would like to think that in a crime ridden city, people would not be so obedient or gullible to what is going on around them.  And this drug, Viper (which later becomes Venom), makes people really strong and then their bones break.  But instead of spending their time killing, maiming, or entering arm-wrestling competitions, they commit a really heinous crime: dairy thievery.  All the milk in Gotham is gone!  What will growing girls and boys do?  Besides the eye-rolling moments of seeing empty milk jugs strewn through alley ways, I thought that the possible commentary on drug use could be good for a show aimed at teenagers (it is aimed at teenagers, right?). Stan decides to take his lethal drug to a benefit put on by Wayne Enterprises and sneaks in a whole barrel of it with it’s logo embossed right on the side. But no one noticed!  And no one cared when he said he was going to poison them.  If I have learned anything, it is that the people of Gotham are deeply stupid.  It makes me like Heath Ledger’s Joker even more.  The only possibility for this part of the storyline to mean anything was for the dramatic shooting of the barrel to release the drug into Potolsky’s lungs.  Could Jim Gordon’s bullet have inadvertently created Bane? If so, I will gain a tiny amount of respect for the show.

But that mangled ear, though.

As for Jim Gordon, his story is getting richer in some ways.  I was particularly intrigued now that Maroni’s crew knows that Jim didn’t kill Penguin.  For a guy who is trying to take Gotham apart from the inside, he sure is under the thumb of A LOT of crime bosses.  I am very interested to see how he can undo them both.  However, Gordon’s relationship with Bullock is a little murky.  They are getting along now?  When? Why?  It doesn’t make too much sense.  But Bullock did pull out one of my favorites lines this week.  When interrogating an elderly professor who helped Potolsky create Viper and claims to be dying, Bullock got in his face and yelled, “I hope you die faster you terrorist!”  How could you not burst out laughing at this point?

And lastly, there is Fish Mooney.  If you’ve been keeping up with my Gotham reviews, you know that I honestly believe she is single-handedly ruining the show.  Not only is she badly written, but she is badly acted.  There was a scene when she meets up with Falcone’s men and she keeps her arm in a perfect L-shape with her fingers pinched like she was sewing for a good minute.  Now I have a theory that if she didn’t have arms, she would be slightly more likable.  And truthfully, I don’t think that is as crazy as how Jada Pinkett-Smith won her role as Fish Mooney. But what was more terrifying than her arms was her grooming of Liza, the girl from the weird chick-fight last week. It was so overly uncomfortable to watch, that it almost made me feel better about last week’s Scandal.  It felt as though Liza was a regular Patty Hearst, but we were all supposed to feel like it was very sexy.  Let’s be clear.  Priming a young girl to be a sexual temptress via Stockholm Syndrome is NOT sexy.

Is anyone else offended by her arms and that hole in her shirt?

And this:

• Let’s put Catwoman in the show for five seconds because let’s not forget about her and how stealthy she is in broad daylight!
• Cue the dramatic music as Penguin rubs water marks off a clean glass!  He still is a dishwasher!
• Do people actually eat in the restaurant Penguin manages?
• Do all drug addicts on TV eventually get crushed by ATMs?
• Fish Mooney told a “Yo Momma” joke.  Reason 52 to dislike her.
• Nygma is kinda adorable.
• Even Maroni’s lackey says that the Penguin is a dishwasher in a suit.
• Falcone’s mom used to sing him Opera as a lullaby.  I am suddenly feeling gypped by “Rockabye baby.”
• Penguin giving up his identity wasn’t a smart move.  Other than this, his role was small this week.  I miss him already.

Hush Comics gives “Viper” a C+ for finally making Gordon’s story a little juicier, but still resorting to Mooney’s sex appeal to carry a good portion of the plot, making the bad guy of the week a little too obvious, and for not enough Penguin.

All pictures belong to FOX and DC Entertainment.  They are credited to Jessica Miglio.

Gotham Review – “Selina Kyle” S1E2

After the pilot, “Gotham,” it was clear that this show had a high ceiling. With plenty of Easter Eggs and a promise of what is to come, Gotham has passed the initial test. The continuity is out of whack, but there are enough shout-outs to keep hardcore fans engaged. Yet, there is enough (even too much, at times) explanation of what is going on to hook new viewers, as well. Two weeks in and it seems as though Detective James Gordon is making no friends whatsoever at the GD GCPD. For us  at home, however, it is a different story altogether. Already, Gotham has dramatically increased in quality. The tone is much closer now to a Sopranos episode than last week, which played out like a Kung-Fu flick without martial arts. It has already established itself as the best comic book related show on the air right now (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is the only other comic book-related series on the air right now…until next week); however, there are still a few lingering poor qualities that keep Gotham from reaching its full potential.

Yes, this lingering poor quality.

This episode follows Gordon and Bullock as they try to take on a mysterious kidnapper, who turns out to be one of Gotham’s most terrifying villains! THE DOLLMAKER! Now that you’ve been thoroughly let down, I’ll explain what that means for the show. For one, we don’t even get to see The Dollmaker in this episode, although his name is heavily dropped throughout the show. Unfortunately, it looks like DC is still relying on masked maniacs and gimmicky goons to add some flavor to the show, but it’s really not something they need to do. Kidnapping homeless children off the street (which was eerily reminiscent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s “Anne”) makes Gotham look frightening enough on its own. You don’t need to tell us that “bums get shot here all the time” when you are walking people off the pier and Waynes are getting shot all over the place. We get it; it’s a bad place.

I’ve tried to put up with this two weeks in a row, but I can no longer give Jada Pinkett Smith the benefit of the doubt. I thought decades of marriage to Will Smith, that she would have learned a thing or two, but no. As arguably the biggest “star” on Gotham, I expected her performance as upcoming crime lord Fish Mooney to equate to more than focused, off-camera glances and exaggerated screams of fury. If a mob boss like Fish Mooney existed in real life, it would be in a junior high acting class. The bad acting isn’t isolated to just her either. I have been extremely put off of the whole Wayne situation. Bruce, who insists he is not self destructive but is, and his humorously irate butler, Alfred, are a constant distraction to what Gordon is up to. The relationship between Alfred and Bruce is very eyebrow-raising. While there is an unmistakable Earth One influence here, the way Afled man-handles Bruce, I can’t help but wonder if Bruce gets beat off-screen. Maybe that’s why he’s listening to such angry music and drawing Bat-caves. Good going, Alfred. #NOTMYALFRED

On the other side of the coin (aww, look at that convenient Two-Face reference that I will have to save for later…), Oswald Cobblepot has become a big player in Gotham, and is easily one of the most interesting characters thus far. The preview showed Penguin murdering a couple of people kind enough to give him a ride, but it didn’t tell the whole story. The two frat boy douche rockets that gave him a ride were constantly disrespecting him before using the trigger word, saying he looked like a penguin and incurring his murderous rage. Now, the producers could have chosen to make the people who picked him up a normal family that accidentally set Cobblepot off by talking about Happy Feet; rather, there was a distinct and deliberate decision to make him a likable character by killing unlikable people. His character is intriguing – oddly charming and cordial until he loses it. We also learn, through a visit with Oswald’s mom, that he was once a fairly handsome and respected young man. What series events created the tweaked out, waddling psycho that we saw in this episode?

The GCPD dynamic is getting stronger, too. Gordon has stepped up and is fighting authority every step of the way. One of the best encounters is when he tells a patrolman that he’s “not a bad guy, just a bad cop.” That statement more or less sums up the entire GCPD. Harvey Bullock is supposed to outrank Gordon, but I think a chain of command like in the comic books had would be better suited for a lone wolf cop situation like the one Gotham is aiming for. Not only are they as crooked as a question mark (Nygma reference thrown in there, too!), but when they do decide to do the right thing, they are usually so inept that they cause bad things to happen anyway – like say handing busloads of untraceable children to a human trafficker. Thank goodness that Gordon is on the case. Ben McKenzie is really a great choice as leading man. He is the model officer, risking death to be an honest cop in a crooked city, and carries with him a sense of dry humor just good enough to keep him charismatic to the audience. The only thing holding him back is his (and really any characters in the show) tendency to get uncomfortably close to everybody he has a serious conversation with.

Meanwhile, though, Captain Sarah Essen, who seemed to be totally clueless in the pilot, is all of a sudden criticizing Gordon for not “being with the program.” Not only is this a major cop-out to building her character, but all but removes the likelihood of a Gordon-Essen affair, which was a BIG deal in the comic books. After seeing what Barbara looks like, would you leave that for a crooked police Captain like Essen? No, you would not. Behind every good man is a strong woman, and that is no exception with Barbara Kean. She is a great supporting character with strong convictions – the perfect match for James Gordon.

Barbara is not the only female to get some screen time, though. Selina Kyle, who prefers to go by Cat – oh! I get it; because she’s Catwoman (eye roll) – finally gets some love. Although, and I’m not sure I would have even noticed if it had not been pointed out to me, it took FORTY minutes of the episde before the character that the episode, “Selina Kyle,” had any dialogue. She’s a spunky character, and we get early traces of her acrobatics to be, but there is a scene later on in the episode that kills any chance of me liking her again. When trying to get an officer to get Gordon for her, Selina threatens to scream that the officer touched her inappropriately if he does not do her bidding. Especially with “Yes Means Yes” gaining so much traction, it is bullshit that scenes like these are making rounds on public television, where many impressionable young women will undoubtedly watch and see this as an admissible way to get what they want. Ugh. Getting back on track, Selina seems to have a valuable piece of information concerning Joe Chill and the murder of the Waynes. Knowing her angle, it’s fair to ask, on a scale of 1 – Selina Kyle, how full of shit is she?

Gotham has improved over two episodes in almost every way, but writer Bruno Heller really needs to stop holding our hand through every little tidbit of fanboy information we come across. For example, if I see Selina Kyle will be in an episode and I have read the comics, then by hearing her insist they call her “Cat,” I am, assuming that you either think I am an idiot and cannot figure the subtlety on my own, thinking that calling the future Catwoman “Cat” is gimmicky and lame. FOX should not be afraid to assume that their viewers can read between the lines. This is a detective show isn’t it? Stop assuming your viewers have the intelligence of your average GCPD beat cop and give us something to satisfy the need to solve cases right along with Jim Gordon.

Hush Comics gives “Selina Kyle” a B+ for it’s continual improvement, notably in setting a dark tone. The acting is a mixed bag, with main players like Cobblepot, Gordon and Falcone outshining the rest of the cast. If Gotham can get over the speed bumps of spelling out the entire story for viewers and avoid being too corny, it has the potential to keep us glued to the screen all season long.

All pictures in this article belong to Warner Brothers and DC Entertainment