Detective Gordon’s welcome back to the GCPD certainly wasn’t an easy transition, as he unseemingly made a deal with the devil that could come back and haunt him in the near future. Onto more pressing matters at hand, the writers continue to treat us as mindless drones who ignore the fact that the writing is getting lazier week in and week out. I thought we got the worst of the ineptitude of the GCPD out of the way in the Fall but clearly I was mistaken. It is, quite honestly, amazing how miserable and incapable these “police officers” are at doing their jobs. From letting a hired assassin like Zsasz walk into the police station and open fire, to this week’s episode where no one bats an eye as a clearly murdered man is ruled a suicide, the real kicker is that it happens in the police station no less. Believe me I get that the GCPD is corrupt, but I mean come on, this show is pushing it.
As far as the police side of Gotham goes, it follows the same template as always. Jim investigating things after he’s been told not to, Captain Essen continues to thwart him at every attempt to do his job only to act righteous the last minute of the show, and Harvey telling Jim they’re going to get fired every fifteen minutes.
One of the good things the police side of Gotham brought was, with the arrest of Detective Flass we can see there’s a higher presence calling the shots. Whether it is in fact Commissioner Loeb or someone else, that remains to be seen.
THE POSITIVES
With Bruce and Alfred returning we had to wonder what would be the mindset of both of them coming off the whole assassins ordeal. Alfred willing to lay down his life for Bruce, who on the other hand was a strung along puppy in love thanks to Miss Kyle. I chose to overlook the cheesiness of Bruce’s affection for Selina because I rolled my eyes enough when the GCPD was on screen. I was extremely pleased though to watch Alfred sort of kick Bruce in the butt and tell him to man up after he found him crying over Selina. One way or another Alfred will teach Bruce to stop feeling sorry for himself.
THE NEGATIVES
The thing that really disappointed me this week was the complete whiff on Fish being tortured. Last week her whole world came crashing down around her and her plan that took her the whole season to construe was demolished. So with her held hostage under Falcone’s thumb I thought this would set up a great opportunity for Fish to escape thanks to her wit and resourcefulness. But of course that didn’t happen as well, another missed opportunity.
As much as I love the rise of Penguin, the scenes with his mother and of him getting drunk were really unnecessary.
THE VERDICT
There were a few redeemable scenes with this episode of Gotham, such as Harvey showing his true feelings for Fish and Jim understanding the consequences of his decision. As a whole though this episode has stuck to mostly the same template, which is not a compliment.
