Gordon and Bullock hunt a serial killer who has been dressing victims with pig heads; Sofia tries to win over Penguin; Thompkins, Nygma, and Grundy find themselves an unlikely home at Cherry’s place.

Gotham gives us another new Batman rogue in the form of Professor Pyg who is taking out corrupt police making him a pseudo ally of Gordon whose frustration with how things are going in the GCPD is increasing. The episode is the strongest of the season and the strongest in a long time despite the mediocre Thompkins/Riddler/Grundy storyline.

Lets focus on the weakest part of the show and that’s the Falcone/Penguin storyline as Sofia plays the Penguin buttering him up and making him think she’s on his side. What’s clear is she has some greater plan going on. We know it. Penguin knows it. It’s an obvious plotline you can’t help but think we’re all wrong. It’s simplistic in a lot of ways and clearly building to something down the line.

The second major plot point is Grundy fighting, Riddler attempting to get his memory back, and Thompkins helping out. Grundy looks better than he did the previous episode and while I like the Riddler not having his smarts, the Thompkins aspect just feels real off. There wasn’t a ton that was being done with the character before but the direction they’ve taken her is beyond idiotic and does not do justice to the character. As it stands, there’s no “good” female characters. They’re all criminals or killers in some way. We see the beginning of an attempt to redeem the character but it’s not enough and there’s a long way to go.

The strongest plot is Professor Pyg who gives us the best adaptation of a comic character so far. The character is frightening and charming at the same time. He also plays the series strength by focusing on a serial killer story. The series is its best when it focuses on the GCPD and more street level crime. Pyg does that well especially tying into the corruption angle of the season. If the series were to just focus on this, it’d be all the more stronger.

Easily the best episode of the season so far this one is more grounded and entertaining showing off the series strengths. It also shows us that the concept for the entire series can work and work really well. Now, to go back and do everything over.

 

 

 

Overall Rating: 7.95

Bruce puts lives at risk to uncover the meaning behind his prized knife from the auction; Ra’s Al Ghul proves his deadly devotion; Sofia Falcone is on a mission to win back Gotham from Penguin.

Gotham focuses a bit in this episode as we move into four main focuses, what’s with the knife, who’s Ra’s, Sofia Falcone vs. Penguin, and Penguin vs. Riddler.

The first two plot threads feel like they get amble time to play out and a lot of that is used to explain things and why they matter. All of this is actually pretty decent. How Ra’s is presented feels like it’s a bit more grounded than what we’ve seen in other iterations with a focus on myth more than anything else. Presented as a legend there’s something that works and works better than say a guy with a giant cold gun. And that presents some of the issues and hurdles this series has, the fact that it has to balance these two settings, the fantastical and the real. This episode is a bit more on the real side.

That is helped a bit by the Falcone plot which has Sofia going through her own history and out of all of the current plots, this one has the most potential. The series feels its strongest when it sticks to the “mob wars” type storyline and hopefully we get more of that this season.

Then there’s the Riddler vs. Penguin storyline. The quicker this is over, the better as it not only feels played out but it’s downright silly. In the comics we recently had the Joker vs. Riddler and that feels like Shakespeare compared to what’s being presented on the small screen. It’s bad. It’s really bad. Frustratingly bad. The acting is silly, and it took me out of the rest of the episode which was an improvement.

There’s some brutal stuff here as Ra’s kills quite a few to get in a position that he clearly wants. Is it weird to say, more of this and less of the other rogues?

 

The episode has some ups and downs and isn’t good but isn’t bad too. There’s bright spots, and in this episode we’ve gotten more of those than low points.

Overall Rating: 6.65

Gordon travels to Miami hoping to convince Carmine Falcone to help him fight the Penguin, only to have his daughter follow him back to Gotham.

Gotham is all over the place with this episode that has Gordon focused on stopping Penguin and Bruce’s story circling with the reveal of Ra’s Al Ghul last season. Both stories are ok with Gordon’s being the stronger of the two.

Whenever Ben McKenzie‘s Gordon has dealt with John Doman‘s Carmine Falcone the series has felt like it has found its footing. As a whole the show does better when it focuses on the “street level” crime fmaily drama and seems to derail any time it deviates. What’s interesting is the introduction of Crystal Reed as Sofia Falcone, a new femme fatale for Gordon to flirt with. If the show just focused on this, it’d be stronger for it.

Instead we get some side questions.

The first involves a superfan of the Riddler, Myrtle Jenkins, who springs him from Penguin’s ice cage. It’s a little weird and while the acting is entertaining, it doesn’t quite jive with the more grounded and serious segments involving Gordon.

Then there’s Bruce who I’m now dubbing the “Douche Knight” in his quest to solve crime and purchase a knife that leads to Ra’s Al Ghul. The acting as usual is atrocious and Bruce is played as a childish dick as opposed to an arrogant and aloof playboy. It’s weird and definitely a different way of depicting the character, sadly it just doesn’t work as again it’s a weird tone in between Gordon’s story and Riddlers.

And that’s the issue with the series, it wants to do everything and doesn’t commit to one thing. The tone and vision is all over the place. If the show focused on one thing it’d be stronger (any one thing) but by trying to cover all tones, settings, and characters, it doesn’t do any of them well and feels like it’s a bit ADD about it all. A more focused series would be a stronger one.

 

Overall Rating: 6.50

Gordon attempts to bring in Jonathan Crane to prove that the GCPD is still powerful; Selina and Tabitha must consider risks that come with joining Barbara in the weapon business.

Gotham generally is on the right track but it seems much like the first, the second episode throws in just enough to cause the episode the trip over itself.

When the series focuses on the police, corruption, and Penguin, it shines. You can see this to some extent towards the end when Penguin recruits the police directly, though I still am scratching my head as to where the Feds are during all of this? The series as a whole has been solid when it keeps things somewhat grounded. In this case, with it more mob focuses, that’s entertaining and I want to see more of it. Even Gordon’s focus on bringing in Crane is decent enough and uses the character well and delivers a take on the character that feels like a mix of different versions we’ve seen.

The other part of the episode is Tabitha and Selina possibly making a deal with Barbara and Ivy’s thrown in there too. This too works well as the internal politics and dynamics are interesting. It plays nicely into Penguin’s new rules for the city as well. Again, sticking with this would be solid.

Again, where things go wrong are Bruce Wayne and his transition to Batman. Not only does Alfred need to come save him but Lucius Fox steps in with new equipment for Bruce and the series doesn’t even attempt to make it all interesting. Instead, lines about rock climbing feel like they’ve been taken directly from Batman Begins, a rather silly thing that reminded me of the far superior movie.

 

 

Much like the previous season, this one feels like it’ll have a lot of ups and downs. If it focuses on just the police it’s entertaining and a show I want to watch. Wen it focuses on Bruce, something just doesn’t click. The writers feel like they’re committing to the later, so we’ll need to suck it up and deal with it, hopefully it’s to a minimum.

Overall Rating: 6.75