Gotham: Season 1, Episode 16

Gotham

Episode Title: “The Blind Fortune Teller”

Channel: Fox

Director: Jeffrey Hunt

Writer: Bruno Heller

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Runtime: 42 min

Rated: TV-14

Original Air Date: February 16, 2015

I've come to expect a certain level of ridiculousness from this show. Just when you think they've reached the maximum level of absurdity the writers prove you wrong and just keep upping the ante. First the audience is introduced to what must be the world's first bloodhound species of serpent, they just let it go and it leads them straight to a body. Not to be outdone, the case itself is solved from what seemed like a complete lack of evidence. Gordon and Thompkins find the murder weapon and he just knows who did it. Finally, miniscule perhaps but it bothered me, when some side characters show Gordon their engagement ring it's accompanied by a cartoon-y “ting” sound effect straight out of a Disney movie. Gems don't do that, we're now seemingly one step away from the “KaPow!” effects making a reappearance.

The big selling point for “The Blind Fortune Teller” was the introduction of the Joker, and I couldn't be more hopeful for a red herring. It's not that the actor didn't do a decent job, he was fine and did a better job than most of the child actors on Gotham, especially when he flipped the crazy switch. The issue I take with Jerome's introduction is that it results in all of the mystery being taken out of the Joker. Batman's nemesis has no records on file, fingerprints, DNA, birth certificate, none of that. He's effectively a non-entity legally speaking. If Jerome gets booked for murder all of that is on file. Not only that, this wasn't really his origin story. Clearly this kid was already crazy, how he got that way would be the origin story. Instead the audience is forced to sit through some rather boring explanations. His mother didn't love him enough, she whored around she …... sorry I dozed off for a second there.

Do you remember those characters that you just can't stand? Of course you do! The writers won't let them slip away for more than an episode. Mrs. Kapelput pops in for a musical number, no I'm not kidding, the sole purpose for which seemed to be to show how unhinged Penguin is becoming. Gone is the criminal mastermind capable of playing the sides against each other, now he's failing at the relatively simple task of running a club. How does Don Falcone suggest we remedy that situation? By sending Mr. Zsasz with a newly brainwashed, puppet Butch to be Penguin's right hand man. Ugh. Want more characters you can do without? We've got that, as Barbara makes another appearance. She returns home to find Selina and Ivy in her house, and instead of freaking out seems to accept the new roommates with no trouble, even going so far as to ask them for fashion advice for a trip to accost Jim at work. Thankfully that was a non-starter as she manages to glimpse Jim and Leslie kissing and flees. Please let her take an extended vacation so the audience can perhaps forget how irritating she is. Right now the relationship between Gordon and Thompkins is infinitely more interesting than anything they showed us with Barbara in four times the number of episodes.

And finally, Fish Mooney's captivity in what is revealed to be some sort of black market organ harvesting racket. She somehow convinces the others held captive with her that they're family, and they become instantly ready to die for her; not just die in rebellion, but to be killed by each other in some sort of twisted plot to stymie their captors. Just another bit of absurdity here, shoot her and end the threat. Previously timid captives would return to docility if their leader was gunned down. I would have believed this story line a little more if she had set the guy in the suit up to be her spokesperson when meeting with their captors, that way she could be pulling the strings without exposing herself to what is such an obvious solution.

Conclusion: New lows in regards to the absurdity level of this show can be found in “The Blind Fortune Teller.” The one positive thing happening right now is that they're building Gordon and Thompkin's relationship in a believable way. The problem there is that it's destined to fail unless the story is steered dramatically away from what is done in the comics. The teased introduction of the Joker was too obvious, leaving me wondering who the Joker really is, because it can't be Jerome.

Rating: 6/10