There are good moments in this week’s Gotham, but there’s also a lot going on and there’s a ton of fan service but I’m not totally sure how much fans care about all of it. It might be too much at once and I think it would actually be better if the show stopped to focus on things a little more. I’ll admit that the introduction of Clayface is really cool, but we’re getting nothing of his backstory. That was the one thing this show originally promised and it’s already gone back on that. The entire hook was to see who these people were before they became the villains we know and love and Clayface is already Clayface. We know nothing of Basil Karlo and neither does the character himself because he doesn’t remember anything before he woke up in Strange’s lab.
The show’s trying very hard to put as much focus as possible on the return of Fish Mooney. Somehow she’s even overacting more than the first season, mostly because she has more reason to be campy as she’s not just a mob boss, but an undead mob boss with superpowers. Speaking of superpowers, it feels like the decision to bring her back was made sometime after the release of Jessica Jones because while Mooney was good at influencing people before, actually possessing the power to make people do whatever she wants feels a little on the nose.
The interactions between Selina and Firefly are not nearly as interesting as they were in the previous episode. In fact, the whole interplay between them feels a little forced. It feels like they definitely looked forward to reuniting those two characters, but didn’t necessarily know what to do with them once it came time to write it.
Still, there are strong parts. Bruce’s scenes are mostly great with his scene alone with Alfred before heading to Arkham being the particular standout. Alfred talks about the two year journey they’ve been on together, talks about the way he’s tried to protect Bruce and the way he’s failed at that and decides that it might be better to actually let Bruce stand on his own and fight for what he believes in. It’s a powerful moment that easily reflects what we know of where those two characters will wind up. But thinking of it just as a discussion between guardian and child, it sounds wildly neglectful.
The other great moment comes in the scene between Bruce and Strange. B.D. Wong started out great, but they’ve clearly intended for him to go as larger-than-life as possible, so I don’t fault him for playing it the way they want to play it. With how big and insane Wong plays it the rest of the episode, it’s nice to see him in this semi-quiet moment with Bruce.
Hopefully, Clayface’s scene with Gordon at the end means he’ll have more to do as we move into the finale. The introduction of the Court of Owls was not what I expected it to be, but I’m interested to see where it goes.
