Monday, April 20, 2015

Gotham: Season 1, Episode 20


Gotham
Episode Title: “Under the Knife”
Channel: Fox
Director: T.J. Scott
Writer: John Stephens
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Runtime: 42 min
Rated: TV-14
Original Air Date: April 20, 2015

Right out of the gate, Gotham did one thing right this week. There isn't a single scene with Fish Mooney. Leaving that absurd arc out of the episode allowed the other things happening more time to develop and the entire show was better off for it. How much better off? They managed to insert Barbara back into the story, and she was actually interesting.

With Gordon on the serial killer case, the Ogre has designs to strike at him through a loved one. Unfortunately for the Ogre he gets his information from a newspaper article containing an older picture of Gordon, a picture showing him with Barbara instead of his current flame. The killer went after Barbara, convinced her to take him back to her place, and then had the rug pulled out from under him as she reveals that there is no one in her life that would miss her. This new dispassionate side of her is an improvement over the mopey drunkard the audience has grown accustomed to. He left without killing her and we're left wondering what his next move will be.

Bruce and Selina briefly discuss the murder of Reggie Payne, with Bruce espousing the unwillingness to kill that will form the foundation of his future endeavors. The next subject of their investigation is the man that hired Reggie, an executive at Wayne Enterprises. As a cover for their investigation Bruce and Selina attend a charity ball that is sponsored by the company, all as part of a ploy to obtain the key to the man's safe. The plan goes off without a hitch, which was a nice surprise considering that most of the time the way 'plot' is added to a show is to subscribe heavily to Murphy's Law. The real highlight of the foray to the ball occurred when Selina told her sometimes roommate Barbara that they'd be seeing each other at the ball, and that she was the guest of Bruce Wayne. Selina's little digs at Barbara are some of the more humorous aspects of the show when they pop up, and Barbara's puzzled expression was priceless.

Another character that has been more of a distraction that integral to the story up to this point has been Edward Nygma. This week he finally had something of consequence to do, and boy did he do it. After seeing the signs that Ms. Kringle's boyfriend is abusing her he gathered up his courage and eventually confronted the man. Just outside her front door, Nygma stopped the cop from entering and after getting punched once in the stomach he pulled a knife. The first stab seemed to surprise even him, at first his face is shocked he even did the act, and then he goes to work with a gusto. There's actual delight in his eyes as he reenacts a scene from earlier in the episode involving a watermelon.

Maroni popped up in Penguin's club and managed to introduce himself to Ms. Cobblepot. After spending most of the night flattering her he dropped a bomb at the end of the night. He told her all about Penguin's murderous side, and accused her of being either too stupid to know about it or complicit in her son's actions. This act pushed Penguin over the edge, after taking her home he killed a delivery man from Maroni and set out to put his plan into action. I'm finally excited about this arc again because it gives the showrunners of Gotham a chance to really surprise the audience. Neither of those characters can die according the all of the Batman stories we've seen so far, so I'm hoping that they do something really surprising and ignore canon. Most likely Ms. Cobblepot is going to be the casualty in this scheme, but I hope they prove that this show is its own animal. The people we think are safe because they're destined to be in Batman's story have to be in as much danger as the characters original to the show, otherwise there's little tension to be found.

The one element that worked to the detriment of this episode is the actual investigation into the Ogre by Gordon and Bullock. The actual case work has never been Gotham's strong suit, and some of the leaps that the investigation is forced to make to keep up with the events in the show are a bit unbelievable. A random cartoon-ish drawing of the suspect that looks like just about any white adult male, sure that's the guy. Gordon remembering specific headlines and the pictures that accompanied them? Yeah OK. A doctor unwilling to answer questions about his patients out loud, but willing to nod in answer, and then providing said cartoon drawing? Ugh. It's a bit much.

Finally, I'm not sure about that ending. The Ogre and Barbara reconnect at the ball, and I guess the Ogre has found someone he looks at as a kindred spirit. He took her to his place and showed her his BDSM/torture room and instead of running away, Barbara seems strangely accepting of the whole thing. I can't imagine that she's going to wind up his accomplice, honestly I don't think they have the guts to so drastically alter a character, so what's the endgame there?

Conclusion: The absence of the Fish storyline is perhaps the greatest asset of “Under the Knife.” Without out her story eating chunks of the episode's time everything else got to expand a little. At this point I'm hoping that something happens that I'm not expecting, anything that tells me that the things I think I know about this show aren't true. Turn someone bad who's not supposed to be, kill someone I think it supposed to live, do something to keep it interesting in the last two episodes of the season. Give me an incentive to come back for season two, because thus far I'm finding it hard to be excited for another season.

Rating: 7/10

No comments:

Post a Comment