Gotham: Season 1, Episode 21

Gotham

Episode Title: “The Anvil or the Hammer”

Channel: Fox

Director: Paul Edwards

Writer: Jordan Harper

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Runtime: 42 min

Rated: TV-14

Original Air Date: April 27, 2015

Here we are, the next to last episode of the inaugural season of Gotham. It's also the third part of a running villain arc, which has been a rarity on the show so far. Last week the audience was left with a bit of a cliffhanger, as the Ogre revealed to Barbara his true nature, and she didn't immediately go screaming into the night. What did her apparent acceptance mean?

Unfortunately, it didn't mean much. Her freak out was just saved for this episode. Instead of doing something new with her character the writer fell right back to the Barbara's life is in danger schtick that we've already seen before. Instead of finding a kindred spirit the Ogre managed to push her to the brink of her sanity. When she finally broke he told her to pick his next victims. I was briefly allowed to believe that she had named Dr. Thompkins, but shortly after the Ogre made a taunting call to Gordon it's revealed that the real targets are Barbara's parents. On the phone Gordon and Bullock recognized noises distinctive to a certain path out of the city and began pursuit. They were too late to save Barbara's parents, but after a struggle they did managed to bring the Ogre down. Barbara is in a shell-shocked state, seemingly unable to cope with recent events. I had a brief thought of Barbara assuming the role of the Joker, but I doubt the writers will take such a leap away from the source material.

Bruce finally has the key to Bunderslaw's safe and managed to gain entry to the man's office. The safe proved to be empty and Bunderslaw confronted Bruce. The executive admitted to the illegal activities of Wayne Enterprises, but also told Bruce that his father had known the same things Bruce has uncovered. He claimed that Thomas Wayne was on board with the company's criminal ventures, which just doesn't match up with what Bruce knows of his father. Lucius Fox made an appearance and covertly encouraged told Bruce that his father was a good man. With the new revelations Bruce added a picture of his father to the investigation board. Whether he believes Lucius or Bunderslaw didn't seem apparent at the time.

On the Penguin front, the Penguin's plan to take out Maroni is in full swing. The crew is hired, the weapons are hidden, and the final words Maroni will hear are decided upon. But of course Maroni is supposed to survive until the time of Batman, so we knew something was going to go amiss. Penguin double-crossed the hitmen and set them up to be slaughtered by Maroni and his men. The statement Penguin had asked the gunman to make before shooting Maroni implicated Falcone in the hit. So Penguin is once again using the two crime families against each other. Some serious movement needs to come of it this time, this is something that we've seen before, and this is still the first season. It's a little early to be returning to that particular well.

Nygma spent the entire episode disposing of his first victim's body. Those scenes were relatively uneventful, with one close call when Ms. Kringle stopped by the forensics lab to get a report from Nygma. Then he left a letter from her missing boyfriend telling her she was going away. In a particularly ridiculous moment he mentions reading between the lines when dealing with men, and then revealed that the first letters of each line of the letter spelled out his name. That's not between the lines, it doesn't make sense in the context of the clue he offered, and in general just doesn't seem like a good idea. Instead of seeing Nygma become more than the just the strange medical examiner following his first homicide he's been returned to his usual goofiness.

Conclusion: The Gordon side of this episode didn't seem to do much to set up next week's finale. The content regarding Bruce and Penguin is what promises to carry the finale. Of the two I'm anticipating what Bruce might find regarding his father and his company more than the imminent Mob war. It seems like there have been so many false starts in the Penguin, Falcone, Maroni story line that the finale must be where it all comes to a head.

Rating: 7/10