Gotham Review: The Fearsome Dr. Crane

Synopsis: Fish Mooney reveals a secret of Oswald Cobblepot’s, prompting Maroni to take him on a trip to test his loyalty. Meanwhile, Gordon and Bullock hunt down a killer who targets victims with severe phobias and Bruce Wayne confronts Gordon for failing to make progress on his parents’ murder case.

At this point, we can say Gotham is what it is. It didn’t take any steps backward but didn’t take any forward either. We had some good character moments, but had a few too many that didn’t do anything. We were left with a cliffhanger, but it wasn’t much of one either. Do you get my drift?

I don’t mean to beat down the show every week. It’s actually one I wouldn’t be able to miss and make sure I watch each episode. I guess I’m just disappointed at times (read last week’s review for an explanation). This show has great elements (Penguin!), okay elements (Fish), then just plain bad elements (Barbara)… not to mention almost trying to set up too much within an hour show.

This week, a certain Mr. Crane (perhaps not the one you’re thinking of) enjoys bringing fear to the innocent, Bruce fires Jim Gordon and Fish Mooney gets Penguin in deep trouble.

As far as storylines go, the Penguin one easily takes the cake. I actually got a little nervous for the guy this week! I haven’t seen/heard/read anything other than Robin Lord Taylor being the BEST thing about Gotham, and he only exceeds everything he’s done this week. This guy is nailing it. He went from happy, to nervous, to scared, to angry, to panicked then to angry again… all in 45 minutes. This guy is great.

Bruce “firing” Gordon is an interesting setup for the future. Does this mean Gordon won’t be stopping by the manor for a while? Sidenote: did Alfred really have to be a dick about it?

And finally, Crane. This is an interesting take on the name, even though it is Scarecrow’s dad (did you notice Jonathan making a brief cameo? Maybe we’ll see more in next week’s episode). He got away which I enjoyed, leaving it open for more fear stories later on this season.

Overall, I enjoyed this week’s episode of Gotham. It was the usual, but we saw some good and some REALLY good things… which once again gets me optimistic about the city’s, and show’s, future.

Rating: 7/10

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