Gotham
Episode Title: “What the
Little Bird Told Him”
Channel: Fox
Director: Eagle
Egilsson
Writer: Ben Edlund
Genre: Crime,
Drama, Thriller
Runtime: 42 min
Rated: TV-14
Original Air Date: January 19,
2015
The one thing this episode got right
was the focus. Instead of trying to weave three or four stories into
one block of time the majority of the episode focused on two story
lines. That is of course if you discount the scene involving Barbara
returning home to her parents. That probably should have been left
off completely, as Barbara has become so unlikable I think it would
be best if the audience were allowed to forget about her for a while.
This would allow the writers to figure out some way to make her more
tolerable. Her painfully awkward reunion with her parents and their
level of strangeness only served to cause a stutter in the narrative,
instead of making me care at all about them.
Early on the audience is led to believe
that Fish's plan is finally coming to fruition. She's prepared to
make her move and make herself the head of the crime families of
Gotham. She has an agent in place that's trusted enough by her
target to take him out with little to no suspicion from the Don.
When Fish's plan is revealed to be forcing Falcone out of Gotham
instead of eliminating him it feels like a huge let down. After all
the vitriol she's spewed behind his back she decides to offer him
exile instead of death. It's just not the kind of resolution I can
believe coming from Fish. After all of her machinations she'd never
leave an enemy alive and able to exact revenge. When Falcone is
informed of the plan by The Penguin he takes the fight to Fish and
demonstrates first hand the weakness in Fish's plan, as he does
personally what she was so unwilling to do by proxy. The threat
posed by Liza is ended by the Don himself, although inexplicably he
allows Fish to live. That decision seems to have been made by the
writers simply to keep Jada Pinkett-Smith around for a while longer.
The excitement from last week over the
prospect of a recurring villain in the character of Jack Gruber
dissipated quickly this week. Gruber is out for revenge against the
man he believes sold him out years ago, Don Maroni. His methods are
so haphazard that after his initial strike it became apparent that he
was no kind of threat. He killed people he didn't need to, and left
alive those that were supposedly his targets. To make matters worse
he is ultimately thwarted by a glass of water. While humorous, there
could be no more ignoble an end than that for a villain. Since the
Electrocutioner had been developed far more than any other villain
thus far, barring the crime families, I had expected a far greater
pay off. This doesn't even take into account the 'investigation'
that surrounded his case; it wasn't so much an investigation as a
series of coincidences that filled in all the blanks. It felt like
very lazy writing.
Bruce and Alfred were missing in action
again, which I think is a good thing. When they do appear again it
may be with significant growth in their relationship and Bruce's
skills, without forcing five minute tidbits into already overflowing
episodes. Also the writers' fascination with reminding everyone who
Nygma will become is trying my patience. It's time to allow him to
fade into the background until there's something worthwhile for him
to do.
Conclusion:
The two stories covered in “What the Little Bird Told Him” and
their resolutions did not leave behind a feeling of satisfaction.
Supposedly ruthless people making boneheaded decisions is not good
drama, it's just bad writing. While the primary focus of the episode
on two stories was a good plan; the peripheral events detracted from
what was already a weak episode.
Rating:
6/10
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