Gotham S:01 E:19

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Beasts of Prey
Original Airdate: 4-13-15

After another brief hiatus, Gotham is back to finish up the season with its last four episodes. And while it once again has some rather eye-rolling moments, I did quite enjoy much of this episode, especially the way it handed some nice parallels with its multiple storylines. It has quite a few things to juggle as it returns, but it doesn’t take too long to get back into the swing of things with Gordon playing boy scout detective and Little Bruce playing plain old boy scout. The biggest point of contention which it often is would be the entire Fish Mooney arc which plays up to ridiculous heights as it appears to be coming to some sort of conclusion. It was also unfortunate that the best part of the episode which involved the serial killer played by Heroes’ Milo Ventimiglia was shown through a bit of an odd choice of flashback.
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Gotham S:01 E:18

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Everyone Has a Cobblepot
Original Airdate: 3-2-15

Throughout most of this season I have been complaining about how Gotham never seems to know any subtlety. Any reference it makes it has to hit the nail directly on the head as hard as it can, which is not what I really wanted from this show. Not only that, but it goes so far over the top that it comes all the way around the horn. But if you know that’s what you’re going to get, then you can just run with it and have a good time while it lasts. This episode is one of those times where it just went so far over the top that it came back around again. It’s the much touted about appearance of the Dollmaker, a couple of the worst moments of CGI, and also a moment of questionable morality once again on the head of Jim Gordon. Overall, it was another ridiculous episode, but it had its moments here and there.
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Gotham S:01 E:17

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Red Hood
Original Airdate: 2-23-15

If my opinion of Gotham was like dating, then we would definitely be in a rollercoaster on-again-off-again relationship. One week it’s great and everything’s clicking, and the next week it feels like I got slapped in the face. But I think I’m starting to take this metaphor a little bit too far. What I’m trying to say is that while last week’s episode was one of the episodes that I liked the least, it turns right around and this week’s episode was one that I liked the most. Where I hated the way that they teased the introduction of the Joker as a little kid, I really loved the way they handled this Red Hood gang that is yet another possible hint at a future early Joker in more ways than one.
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Gotham S:01 E:16

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: The Blind Fortune Teller
Original Airdate: 2-16-15

It was bound to happen, I had started getting my hopes up about how Gotham had turned a corner and was churning out more episodes than I enjoyed with only minor things that irritated me. But from the very notion that they were going to be introducing the Joker in this episode I had my doubts, and as I watched the episode I knew I was completely right. It wasn’t entirely a hate watch for me, but there was very little throughout the episode that I truly got invested in, and most of that was Dr. Leslie Thompkins who has become my third favorite character on the show next to Alfred and Harvey Bullock. I always thought it was going to be a mistake to introduce so many well known characters in the Gotham universe so soon into the genesis of the show, and I preferred the episodes where they steered away from that. But this episode introduced Robin’s parents as well as a very young and already disturbed Joker in a way that was not very satisfying at all, and honestly felt like the entire episode was all one big joke, which would be fitting considering.
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Gotham S:01 E:15

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: The Scarecrow
Original Airdate: 2-9-15

After a string of episodes that I’ve really enjoyed, this episode goes right back down into more territory that I don’t quite find as appealing. While they had some good ideas with Jonathan Crane’s father, they turned it into a very not-subtle and ridiculous origin for Batman’s Scarecrow. Meanwhile Fish Mooney apparently lost that anime battle teased at the end of last week’s episode and is now in a weird prison, though apparently unharmed. There’s also the perils of an office romance, a new club owner, and a traditional hike in the woods that have various moments of their ups and downs.
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Gotham S:01 E:14

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: The Fearsome Dr. Crane
Original Airdate: 2-2-15

One of the biggest complaints against Gotham seems to be how it has been taking too many of Batman’s villains lately and having them come into play long before Bruce Wayne even develops an irrational fear of bats. There’s a couple thought processes that go into this criticism. The biggest one against is the theory that it was the appearance of Batman himself that created the more eccentric supervillains of Gotham. If he hadn’t come around with his theatricality then the crime would still be there, but it would continue to be the stereotypical mob and street crime. The other theory is that the most interesting thing about the world of Batman, Gotham City, and Arkham Asylum are the villains and to have this show focusing on the city that beget Batman without using any of the rogues gallery would be a waste and be uninteresting. I find that the show is the best when it walks the fine line between those two sides, but it is a fine line and different for everyone.
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Gotham S:01 E:13

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Welcome Back, Jim Gordon
Original Airdate: 1-26-15

Some days I feel like I’m too much of a positive person. There’s plenty of Batman fans that didn’t like this show and still don’t. But there is enough of an audience to give it a second season and episode by episode I’m falling more in line with the fans of this show rather than the detractors. In fact, this episode is one of the first episodes where I didn’t have any major issues with any moment in the show. There were still a couple little moments, but they were brief and often made up for even within that same scene. This wraps up Fish Mooney’s story arc, puts some more much needed kick into Jim Gordon as a character, and gives a bit of play to several of the other supporting characters’ arcs. It may be that I’m just getting a better feel for the characters in the show overall, but I thought this was definitely one of the strongest episodes of the season so far.
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Gotham S:01 E:12

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: What the Little Bird Told Him
Original Airdate: 1-19-15

After a week off last week, Gotham comes back with the first villain that really feels like it could have been one of Batman’s villains, and after doing a quick Google search turns out that he actually is a Batman villain when he goes by the name he is given in this episode: The Electrocutioner. But even though that aspect of the episode was the one that was played up the most in the previews, it didn’t actually take up a great deal of the actual episode. A large chunk of it dealt with wrapping up a good chunk of the grand conspiracy between Fish, Falcone, and Penguin. Overall, I thought it was another good episode with a few nice touches and once again a few real eyerolling moments that didn’t feel like it furthered the plot or the characters in a good way.
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Gotham S:01 E:11

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode: Rogue’s Gallery
Original Airdate: 1-5-14

I’m not going to call this episode a “midseason premier”, but Gotham does return from its brief hiatus with a bang. I wasn’t entirely sure what was going to happen with Gordon being knocked down a peg working security in the newly re-opened Arkham Asylum where his boss knows that he’s doing doggy duty and lets Gordon know it every step of the way. It’s not quite One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest but it does have its share of crazies for the sake of being crazy as well as a few more interesting and psychotic characters. What this episode does do well is the mystery aspect of the crime at hand where someone in Arkham is performing electro shock experiments on the inmates and it’s up to Gordon to figure out who it is. There were several twists and turns as well as several red herrings and couple nice bits of comic relief to round it out. What the episode did not do well, which it often doesn’t do well with is the rest of the characters.
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Gotham S:01 E:10

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode: Lovecraft
Original Airdate: 11-24-14

I’ve gone on quite a bit about how I go back and forth on episodes of Gotham, often even within a single episode. But more than any other show this season, Gotham is the one that keeps me coming back week after week and is the one show that I tend to watch same day rather than waiting a day or two to go back to it. And it felt like this episode really paid off and was the show firing on all cylinders. Nearly every character that I have been iffy on came back in a strong way here, and the characters that I have always enjoyed really got a chance to show their stuff. Alfred was a real powerhouse, and I really enjoyed the chemistry he had with Donal Logue’s Bullock. Baby Bruce has been a bit of a weak spot in my eyes, but I thought that this episode finally gave him something interesting to do in a way that didn’t feel overly forced. There’s also a great chemistry between little Bruce and little Cat that hits the right notes of a childhood romance combined with the elements of who they will become in future Gotham City. In a show not known for its subtlety, it felt like it finally started to get the right balance of foreshadowing without hitting people over the head, like with Ivy’s brief moment in the show. And to wrap up the episode, Richard Kind gave a great performance as the Mayor. There were a few moments within the episode that I had issues with, like Harvey Dent still rubs me the wrong way, and I was not fond of the female assassin who only cared about her target, but made some odd decisions. As for the ending, I’m curious about shifting the focus more onto the newly reopened Arkham Asylum, but if they can give me more episodes like this one, I’ll be happy.