Galavan and Penguin join forces with a dangerous family in Gotham. Then, as the rivalry between the Waynes and the Galavans resurfaces, Gordon struggles to maintain order in the city.

Gotham‘s fifth episode might be the lowest point of the second season. The episode mostly follows a team of firebugs as they commit arson for Galavan and Penguin. We also learn the secret history of Galavan as well.

The best part of the episode is Galavan’s secret history which not only hints at the Court of Owls (who we have told to expect in the second season), but also the The Sacred Order of St. Dumas which is the secret society behind Azrael, aka Jean Paul Valley, a person who at one point was Batman. It’s cool, but really not enough to sell the rest of the episode.

It mainly involves the main GCPD strikeforce as they go after Penguin. That involves at one point going into a Costco that sells to just villains. The announcements overheard about brass knuckles and other items being sold is funny, but… what, the, fuck!? It’s so silly, it’s so stupid, it actually took me completely out of the episode. It might be the low point of the series, seriously worse than the guy who killed by balloons.

The episode also has Galavan attempting to get the endorsement of Gordon and the police union in his run for Mayor, which again, is also a rather idiotic plotline in itself.

The episode has some high points and some low points, which is how I’d describe the entire season. Just when you think it has a decent direction, the episode does something stupid, like a Costco-ish villain store.

How low can it go? We’ll see.

Overall Rating: 6.25