On the heels of his reinstatement, Gordon is thrust onto the high-profile case tracking the deadly inmate escape from Arkham Asylum. Meanwhile, Galavan plans his next move, while Bruce asks for help from his father’s old friend to unlock the secrets in his office, and Nygma asks out Kristin Kringle on a date.

Much like one of it’s famous villains Gotham‘s second season is having a bit of split personality. With a tone that mixes Burton and Schumacher’s the show isn’t sure if it wants to go with a gothic noir-ish vibe, or a campy over the top fest. It attempts to do both, and neither succeeds.

The episode has the group of villains running around and causing chaos. They kill a bunch of people by throwing them off a roof, they attempt to burn a bus, they attack the police station. It’s chaos for chaos sake, and I guess that’s the point? None of it really makes any sense at all, and only shows utter incompetence, even when the villains WALK INTO THE POLICE STATION.

Judging by this episode Gotham needs Batman just do to the stupidity of its police force. Or it deserves to be erased from the planet. No one leaves the bus? Really!?

In, just as stupid plots, Bruce decides to check out his father’s computer which gets Alfred to lose his mind and the two break up and make up. Then enters Lucius Fox who is now a team player I’d expect to see more of. It all seems a bit put on, and WAY too early…. Bruce heads to the police station? C’mon writers!

The only highlight is Cameron Monaghan as Jerome Valeska, the pre-Joker who is showing more and more signs of his unique character. His take is a nice blend of whats come before.

The episode has shaken up a lot, a hell of a lot, and not necessarily for the better. Nothing like killing off one of the few African-American characters (and a woman on top of that too), to move the story along. The first episode was a step back, and this is a giant leap off the cliff. The word “hate” doesn’t do justice to my dislike of this episode.

Overall Rating: 4