With the deadly virus spreading throughout the city, the search for the antidote continuesl Fish Mooney, The Riddler, and Penguin reveal plans of their own; Bruce meets Ra’s Al Ghul and completes his task; Gordon tries to win back Lee.

Gotham wraps up its third season with two episodes that are ADD with what feels like every major plotline being wrapped up with either lots of violence or just outright killing people.

The entire season has felt a little hapdash with just a lot of plotlines and their coming together towards the end. The Tetch virus is out and Gotham is burning which is a bit too much like Batman Begins.

 

From there, it’s a race to save the city by creating an antidote or gettin getting the one that Strange created, but we know that won’t be easy. Still, the episode leaves me shaking my head that an antidote can be wipped up that quickly and though everyone knows there’s this virus and threat out there, no one has done this preemptively.

But beyond the virus, there’s Bruce meeting Ra’s Al Ghul, predictable to an extent with Bruce committing an act that’s pretty brutal and a bit silly for the person he commits the act against to be so forgiving so quickly. We’ll see more of this in season four because this season was about fast tracking Bruce to be on his way to be Batman… as a 16 year old.

Then there’s Penguin and Riddlers battle and Barbara and everyone else. It’s a lot there and each story feels like it could be an episode unto themselves. But, things are wrapped up pretty well taking care of the major plot points and just getting rid of excess characters. But even for a Schumacher riffed season finale, this was a bit unfocused.

There’s some good, like a reveal about Butch that should be exciting but the entire season feels like it destroys Gotham just so we can get Bruce closer to being Batman. It’s a bit excessive and too much has been packed in giving us a lot but not much of it in a way where it feels satisfying.

The ending is predictable with visuals that play off of so much that has come before with its own twist that just doesn’t work as well, which sums up the season so well.

Overall Rating: 6.35

Gordon races against the clock to save the city from the Alice Tetch virus; Alfred sees a big change in Bruce Wayne after his work with The Shaman; Gotham’s most deranged villains band together.

Gotham takes even more steps back as it begins to wrap up its third season with just a few episodes left. Every storyline you can think is touched upon as the episode bounces around like it can’t keep focus and  changes tone and look at a drop of a hat.

That’s been my biggest issue with the season as it can’t quite figure out what it wants to be, the show with lots of crazy villains, the detective series focused on Gordon and Bullock as cops, Bruce growing into Batman, or all of the above. This episode is an all of the above as the war brews between Penguin’s crew and the Riddler’s. The Shaman confronts the Court of Owls before releasing the virus, and then we get Lee going all crazy and how that plays out with Gordon.

Every plotline feels worse than the last with Lee taking the Tetch virus and enacting her vengeance against Gordon being the worst of them. The resolution had me shaking my head as to where it all goes and what happens. That plotline is the worst of the bunch and that’s saying something as the plot with the Court of Owls is as uninspired as they come being a riff on Batman Begins (though that took inspiration from the comics) and even Ra’s Al Ghul is hinted at.

Then there’s Penguin and his battle with the Riddler with the actual plot feeling like it doesn’t really go anywhere, just the usual fake outs and confrontations that don’t result in anything really. It’s also so different in tone from the rest of the episode it’s almost as if there’s two different shows here.

And that’s the biggest issue of this season. Part of it wants to be the more serious Batman films and part of it wants to be the campier films. And those two things don’t work very well together, at least this show hasn’t successfully made it work.

With just two more episodes left in the season, what looked like a season that was going to end on a high note, actually feels like it’s giving us a finale that’s as much of a mess as the rest of the season.

 

 

Overall Rating: 6.15

Temple Shaman reveals his hand to Bruce Wayne and sets up the next phase of training. Gordon and Bullock are put into danger as they come across a crystal owl that reveals the most coveted secrets of Gotham’s underworld. Meanwhile, Nygma and Penguin are forced to work together to get out of a tricky situation.

Gotham goes backward with this episode that returns the silly to a point that it’s hard to take seriously and not roll one’s eyes. The Judge has been let loose to take on Gordon and we get a first look at this new get up that… just looks idiotic. A cross between steampunk and the Mask of the Phantasm, the character design just doesn’t fit into the world, which is saying something. With designs in the past that work, and work really well, it makes one wonder why there’s such a divergence from animated versions of the character. The end result is too silly and with Michael Chiklis’ performance not helping at all it takes what were really solid previous episodes.

Then there’s something that happens with Leslie that had me rolling my eyes so hard, it’s difficult to not say this episode drives the car off the road while the last few had righted it so well. That aspect, which I won’t spoil, isn’t something I trust the creators to do right with.

There’s some decent things here though. There’s some reveals involving Bruce and the Temple Shaman that has me going from hating that storyline to actually looking forward to seeing what they plan on doing. But, the biggest surprise is Alfred who steps forward in a way that’s unexpected and gives that character some of the best we’ve seen from him in the entire series.

The episode is a painful one for me to watch, especially since the last few were so good. There’s aspects that just don’t work at all and are presented in a way that loses the vision the series has had for the last few episodes. Hopefully the next episode gets things back on track.

Overall Rating: 6.95

Gordon discovers the weapon the Court of Owls will use to destroy Gotham, which leads him on a dangerous path as he tracks it down. Meanwhile, Kathryn (guest star Leslie Hendrix) and Temple Shaman (guest star Raymond J. Barry) reveal their next move to Bruce, and Ivy comes to Selina’s aid.

Gotham continues its streak of entertaining episodes, this one with some minor bumps, but overall pretty solid as it begins to wind down the season towards the end game.

The good is Gordon and his toying with the Court of Owls which plays out completely in this episode where he’s forced to make a choice between the Court and doing what’s right. What’s really solid is the episode has everything flowing naturally building to the moment when things shift and we as an audience are left wondering where it’ll all go. That moment also gives us solid action though a head scratcher moment when a gate is supposed to protect against gas? but, what I like most about this plotline is it brings together a lot from this series into a coherent story. Oswald’s story too is great as he attempts to put pressure on Gordon. Actor Robin Lord Taylor has been the highlight of the entire series and here his acting is on full display.

The mediocre of the episode is Selina’s story and Bruce’s. We saw Selina’s turn towards Catwoman in the last episode with a scene straight out of Batman Returns and Bruce’s experience feels straight out of Batman Begins. It feels like when it comes to these two, the writers weren’t sure what to do, so decided to just do an homage to what’s come before. It’s not a bad decision and has prevented from being a disaster to being bearable in a nostalgic sort of way. But, that also means we’re getting nothing new, yet. We’ll see. But, it looks like the writers finally have a direction for these two characters and a better handle as to what to do with them, after a lot of misses.

The episode continues a singular vision now with a style and voice that feels like it’s one. Gone are the episodes where different segments felt like they could be a completely different show. Instead, that has all gelled into a series that feels like a proper follow up to Tim Burton’s vision, mining a lot of the visual look and queues he set up in his two entries.

Though the first half of the season was a mess, this latter half building to the finale has delivered in a way that the series has been missing for some time.

Overall Rating: 7.80

Some of Gotham’s worst villains band together while the Riddler continues his conquest of the city; Gordon’s quest for answers leads him back to the Court of Owls; Alfred begins to notice a change in Bruce.

Gotham continues its streak of entertaining episodes with this one that builds upon the last with Riddler on a mission to find out who really runs Gotham and at the same time James has to decide how he’ll deal with the Court of Owls.

It’s a solid episode as it tamps down the silly instead delivering an episode that’s reminiscent of the Batman and Batman Returns. The camp is removed but at the same time there’s winks and nods from what’s come before.

Cory Michael Smith steals the show as the Riddler and his quest. There’s a little bit of Jim Carrey, but he makes the role his own by keeping it grounded and not campy. At the same time, there’s still a bit of fun with it all.

While Riddler is on his quest and James attempts to capture him Penguin continues to gather allies and evil-Bruce does something… well, I said the episode was like Batman Returns. The episode’s side stories are still solid again removing the camp and keeping things focused in tone and style.

Overall, a really great episode that has focus, a consistent tone, and a clear direction. The vision here feels completely different from what we’ve seen the rest of the season, other than last episode. That’s an improvement as lack of focus has plagued this season.

Overall, a solid episode that continues the series in the right direction overall.

Overall Rating: 7.95

The Court of Owls devises a new plan regarding the future of Gotham, as Gordon uncovers information about his father and uncle’s past, connecting him back to the organization. Meanwhile, Bruce wakes up in the temple and learns of the Shaman’s wish for him.

Gotham delivers what might be the strongest episode of the season as Ben McKenzie steps behind the camera to direct his first episode of Gotham. The episode is broken down into three parts, Penguin plotting his revenge with Ivy, Bruce being trapped, and Gordon dealing with his Uncle and the Court of Owls.

There’s some oddness to the episode, but that’s mostly due to the writing as the bad guy gives us the viewer an idea of their plan, which in the big picture of things is rather silly in how it’s played out. That’d be the Court of Owls announcing they’re going to purge Gotham. We get a sense of why and we’ve seen this before since it’s the plot of Batman Begins. That’s all just ok as Gordon’s uncle tries to help Gordon stop it all and we finally learn who really killed Gordon’s parents. It all plays out rather neatly, but in moving the plot along, it’s solid.

But, the concept of purging Gotham isn’t the only thing taken from Batman Begins. Bruce is captured and at some temple where he’s forced to deal with the Shaman. We’re not explained a hell of a lot here, but the whole setup is Batman Begins meets Doctor Strange complete with trippy scenes and imagery. The sequences are good, but it doesn’t make sense to send Bruce some place where he’ll be trained. Why not just kill him if you’re going to replace him? It is utterly idiotic and the biggest plot hole of the season. The scenes are decent and we get some movement in Bruce becoming Batman, which feels like it’s been accelerated as a plot point this season.

The highlight though is Penguin and Ivy. Penguin wants his revenge and Ivy is sort of helping him. While the aging and sexing up Ivy’s character has been beyond creepy, Maggie Geha steps up here and puts her spin on the character. She stands out from the crowd which is impressive considering Robin Lord Taylor as Penguin has been the most solid character the entire season. Her vamping it up and at the same time acting somewhat childish work perfectly for this version of the character and makes me wish we just got a Batman show and Geha had been a start from the beginning. She hasn’t gotten much screen time and this episode shows she’s been underused.

The episode is a solid one properly balancing all of the plot points and while things feel too convenient at times. The one think that needs to be fixed is McKenzie’s Gordon who growls through clenched teeth like he’s trying to be Bale’s Batman. He’s a bit too serious at times and this episode that doesn’t work well really hurting some scenes.

It’s take a long time, but it feels like this is the episode that might get the series on track this season. If nothing else it’s a highlight for what’s been a very bumpy ride.

Overall Rating: 7.95

Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) convinces himself that he doesn’t need Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) to succeed and begins to introduce himself to Gotham as “The Riddler.” Bullock (Donal Logue) and Lucius Fox (Chris Chalk) get caught up in Nygma’s mind games, while Gordon (Ben McKenzie) learns troubling news about his father’s death. Meanwhile, the Court of the Owls reveals its next move.

Gotham returns with an interesting episode that focuses almost completely on Nygma and it’s all presented in a series of mind games featuring Lucius Fox and Harvey Bullock. What’s interesting is the episode is mostly devoid of Gordon whose story is relegated to the secondary story. Instead, coheadlining the episode is more of a focus on Bruce and “evil Bruce.”

There’s some good and a lot of bad.

The good, actually close to great, is the story featuring Nygma, Fox, and Bullock. The story is entertaining, especially to see Fox and Nygma challenge each other’s brains. The focus on brain instead of brawn is a nice shift from the more physical aspects of previous episodes. But, the story really feels like we’re just getting to the point Nygma calls himself Riddler. Almost as the story is crafted around that concept. It’s not a bad aspect, but it feels a little forced. Still, Cory Michael Smith as Nygma has a solid spiral into his insanity.

Then there’s aspects involving Bruce and Gordon and while they move things along, there’s just not much excitement there. The series is clearly pushing Bruce to his eventual turn into Batman, which is strange since he’s barely a tween and we see some of those steps here. Then there’s this Gordon and the Court of Owls story, which also involves Bruce… that I’m holding out to see how it really plays out.

Overall, not a bad episode in its return but it still shows some issues with mixed acting and story plotting. The series isn’t consistent in its quality within its episode which makes for a choppy experience and entertainment.

Overall Rating: 6.45

With Jerome (guest star Cameron Monaghan) on the loose with one target in mind, Bruce and Alfred’s safety is compromised. Meanwhile, Gordon’s uncle Frank (guest star James Remar) pays him a visit, and ‎Nygma and Penguin are forced to confront their issues face-to-face, with possible deadly consequences.

Gotham ends its winter run before returning in April with an episode that is an interesting one as it has much more of a focus on Bruce becoming Batman, something the show has hinted at then slinked away.

Jerome is on the loose and after Bruce, eventually kidnapping him taking him to a display of carnage and never quite explaining why of it all. Jerome, a proto-Joker, is a combination of Nicholson and Ledger tip-toeing the line between the goofy of the former and pure chaos of the latter. And, the results are mixed. Monaghan in the role clearly is leaning more towards Ledger’s performance with a raspy voice and hunched over body language to evokes the iconic and award winning Dark Knight performance. Except, it comes off as a facsimile, not quite as good as the original.

We begin to see Bruce standing up and figuring out his beliefs when it comes to justice. David Mazouz in the role is his usual stiff self giving off no reason to be entranced by the character. There’s a lack of charm. There’s a lack of confidence. There’s almost no emotion in the performance which is par for what we’ve seen in three seasons. One hopes if the series jumps forward we get a new actor to fill the role.

The Penguin/Nygma plot line continues to an interesting ending, but one we’ve seen before. And I think that’s some of my issues of the series and this particular season, it’s things I feel like I’ve seen. Jerome evokes past performances with a swirling plot around him that feels lifted directly from comics. Penguin’s result here is something we’ve seen already. Cor Michael Smith as Nygma for some reason channels Nolan’s Batman with a raspy voice that makes a case he could take on the role in the films.

There’s also the ADD like plotting. Selina is absent this episode. Ivy has disappeared. But, the Court of Owls are back setting up the next story arc in a season that can’t stay focused on one or two things for too long.

We’ll see what type of show we get when the series returns in a few months. I hope during the break things might have been retooled some to figure out the “vision” of a show that feels like it has too many cooks, too many ideas, and not enough adults to keep it focused.

Overall Rating: 6.15

On the run from Gordon and Bullock, Dwight tries to revive Jerome and, in turn, activates his acolytes around Gotham City. Meanwhile, Selina’s mom’s intentions in Gotham are revealed, and the power play between Penguin and Nygma escalates as Barbara’s plans are set in place.

Gotham is interesting as the return of Jerome is the focus of the episode. The episode has definitely taken its inspiration from Batman comics with individuals being inspired by the Joker, in this case the proto-Joker in Jerome. The laughing is there. The clown-ish make-up is there. It follows some of the comics and it’s a mixed bag as far as how much it works.

There’s something fun about David Dastmalchian’s Dwight who was a Joker acolyte in The Dark Knight. We learn how he’s reviving people, but things are still a bit muddled as to why folks have fallen for Jerome. There’s some explanation by other characters, but it really just falls into “he opened our eyes.” It’s as generic as generic can be.

Cameron Monaghan as Jerome, the proto-Joker, is at times great and at times boring. Monaghan feels like he’s channeling Ledger, Nicholson, and even Hamill in some ways never quite making the character his own.

The “not making it his own” comes to this Joker’s design too which feels like a mix between comic artist Greg Capullo’s take on the Joker mixed with the Joker’s Daughter. It’s interesting, but doesn’t quite work for me.

The situation itself involving Jerome is again all over the place in tone mixing in Schumacher and Nolan evoking Batman movies of the past. The series needs to choose a style and tone and just go with it.

There’s another story too as Penguin’s world is twisted and a gang war heats up. This is the strongest part of the series and episode and if the show just focused on this, it’d be all the more stronger.

The episode also deals with Gordon and Thompkins’ relationship which at this point feels utterly silly and boring as it also resolves Selina mother’s story. That final story seems to end and does so in a way that makes me question the inclusion of it other than to give something for Selina and Bruce to do.

The episode packs in a lot and continues to be all over the place in tone and look and content. A more focused series would boost it overall because right now it’s trying to do too much and does it all not well enough.

Overall Rating: 6.55

Falcone (guest star John Doman) places a hit on Gordon (Ben McKenzie). ‎Gordon and Bullock (Donal Logue) discover a follower of Jerome (guest star Cameron Monaghan), who plans to bring him back to life. Meanwhile, Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) spirals out of control before the biggest television interview of his Mayoral career, and Bruce (David Mazouz) and Selina (Camren Bicondova) deal with Selina’s mom’s return to Gotham.

Gotham returns from its winter break with an episode that continues some things from before the break and head straight in to some all new things in an episode that absolutely reflects the ADD season so far.

After Gordon killed Falcone’s son at the end of the last episode it’s a focus on revenge in the absolutely silliest thing we’ve seen this season. Hitmen running around with automatic weapons lighting up places trying to kill a cop seems bizarre even for this series and a mob boss would be much more subtle than this is. Even for a show that’s over the top, this is a bit too much and it’s resolution is so quick that any actual drama is wasted.

There’s Selina’s mom’s storyline which is… a distraction it feels.

Then there’s a focus on Penguin which is actually interesting once it’s clear where things are going by the end of the episode. The build up had me scratching my head and thinking things were a bit silly until the payoff that actually is solid in how it comes together.

Finally, we get a whole new story about the dead rising and the eventual return of Jerome, aka proto-Joker. It’s yet another storyline thrown into an already packed episode and season. It ties into Indian Hill, but maybe it’d be better to save this for the next season?

That’s my issue with this episode, it attempts to do too much adding onto a season that’s already packed with storylines that aren’t focused enough on and not given enough depth. Focusing just on the Court of Owls, or just the rage virus, or just Falcone’s revenge, or the return of Jerome, or Penguin’s meltdown, or two of these things, it’d work and work really well. But packing too much makes the episode and series a master of none of them.

Overall Rating: 6.75