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
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