Gotham
Episode Title: “Arkham”
Channel: Fox
Director: T.J.
Scott
Writer: Ken
Woodruff
Genre: Crime,
Drama, Thriller
Runtime: 45 min
Rated: TV-14
Original Air Date: October 13,
2014
Here we go again, and it's even more
obvious than it has been previously. The audience should have seen
the work the Waynes were doing leading up to their deaths. Endless
anecdotes about what the Waynes were striving for will never replace
the power that those scenes would've held for the audience had they
been part of the first season. It would also have made their deaths
mean something to audience, beyond the fact that a boy lost his
parents. Even there though, all we've seen is this obsessed and
depressed young man delving into his parents' plans and murder, I
would have preferred to see a Bruce full of hope and love for his
parents, and the way that the murders changed him, that would have
been an opportunity to actually develop his character more. As much
as this production decision bothers me, I think this will be the last
time I mention it, I've simply got to accept where they began the
story and sit through the clunkier storytelling that is a result.
Robin Lord Taylor was again a high
point for the episode, Cobblepot is at times endearing, ruthless and
deeply cunning. It has already been fun to see the evolution of the
character, and I'm looking forward to seeing it continue. Nygma
popped up again, but in a way that made much more sense in regards to
his role as a forensics specialist. They also managed to keep him
away from misplaced riddles this time around. Hopefully this means
the audience won't be continually hit over the head with winks and
nods to what is coming. The scenes with Fish Mooney seemed mostly
wasted this time around; I know what she's planning is important to
the show going forward, but the auditions scenes felt like something
that could have happened in the background.
Barbara keeps being Barbara. There
seems to be a struggle for the writers to devise something important
for her to do, so she's quite unreasonably grilling Gordon over
aspects of his job that he can't discuss, and finally she delivers an
ultimatum. Maybe if they take a break from her for a few episodes
they can find something worthwhile for her to do, so far she hasn't
added much to the narrative and only serves to annoy the audience,
which is no way to endear her to us, or get us to take her side.
The story itself was all right, nothing
we haven't seen before. Gordon and Bullock manage to stop the hitman
before he kills his final target, but things don't go as expected and
now the only people happy are the criminals. The set up was
different, but it's not too different from the plot of the previous
episode, just more politically motivated than pure vigilantism.
There was one whacky bit of editing that I had to laugh at. Gordon
watched the first part of the mayor's press conference at Arkham from
the station, and the last part of it with Bruce Wayne at Wayne Manor,
oops.
Conclusion:
Taylor is again excellent, but the rest of the episode feels like a
rehash of things we've seen already. That is a feeling that the
audience shouldn't be experiencing so early in the series' run.
There needs to be more variety in the events of Gotham
for it to be very interesting going forward.
Rating:
6.5/10
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