Gotham
Episode Title: “Harvey Dent”
Channel: Fox
Director: Karen
Gaviola
Writer: Ken Woodruff
Genre: Crime,
Drama, Thriller
Runtime: 42 min
Rated: TV-14
Original Air Date: November 17,
2014
I don't know that everyone was
clamoring to see Harvey Dent introduced into the Gotham-verse, but
here he is; his own titled episode, so surely he's going to play a
large part, right? Right? No, not really. Honestly he's barely in
it. The majority of the time he does spend on screen is spent
pursuing a strange vendetta against another new character, Dick
Lovecraft. The viewers are expected to care that one character, whom
we've just met, thinks another new character is dirty in some way,
and I don't see how we could. It felt so forced. If there's nothing
for Dent to do at this point in the show, then save him until you
actually need him. If for some reason the writers are just compelled
to include him, they should have excluded the horrible scene of him
losing his cool. I just didn't work; I'm okay with the fast talking,
charming lawyer they first introduced, but having the character
already a little unhinged felt unnecessary.
I'm not one that has gnashed his teeth
over 'canon' and the way things have to happen on the show. Want to
make Penguin a wacky crimelord before Batman pops up in Gotham, fine.
Nygma is already around and fascinated with riddles? All right,
although it should've happened later on. I just don't see a way that
Dent becomes Two-Face on Gotham
before the appearance of Batman. I'm not sure I can watch season
after season of winks and elbow nudges towards the audience regarding
Dent's eventual turn. Dent's appearance feels like one more
premature reveal on a show that was plagued by too many in the early
going anyway.
Okay,
now that I've spent more time on the Harvey Dent situation in this
episode than the time the character spent on the screen let's move
on. It's unfortunate, but the rest of the episode wasn't much
better. Even Cobblepot's part in this episode seemed lacking. We
join him as he's decided to investigate Liza. We don't know what she
did to arouse his suspicion or when he decided to look into her.
This continues a troubling trend that has plagued Gotham
for a while, it seems like important stuff is happening off camera.
This makes it seem like there is little motivation for some
characters' actions. The audience has to see why these characters
are doing what they do, and right now we're missing out on some of
that.
The
less said about the 'villain' this week the better. Fish's plot was
contrived and had far too many moving parts. The goal of that part
of the story seemed to be the reopening of Arkham Asylum, and that
was good to see, but there had to be a better way to go about doing
it.
The
dialogue for most of the scenes with Bruce, Alfred and Selina was
painful, and seemed to be hammering the wrong point. Selina accused
Bruce of not being ruthless, not long after he beat another boy down
using a watch as improvised brass knuckles. I get what she was
saying, that he doesn't comprehend what it's like on the streets of
Gotham, but there had to be a better way to word it, as he's already
clearly proven her wrong. Alfred's acceptance of Selina into the
household, and seeing that having another child around was a good
thing for Bruce was a good fatherly moment that could have used a
little more emphasis, but at least they were going in the right
direction there.
Conclusion:
After two very successful weeks, Gotham
took a downward turn in “Harvey Dent.” The first item on the
list of problems with this episode is the tendency to have important
events and decisions made off camera. It's hard to understand
motivation when the audience doesn't see courses of action being
decided. The showrunners should also realize that every character in
the Batman universe doesn't have to be introduced in one season.
Rating:
6/10
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