There are a lot of good things going on in this week’s Gotham. Right from the opening, we’re still reeling from Vale getting shot and the choice Gordon made. Luckily, it seems more than likely that she’s going to be just fine. She made the decision to remove Gordon from her life, but it’s tough to really feel the dramatic weight of that because whenever a character makes that decision, it feels like the right choice.
It is a little questionable how quickly everyone assumes Gordon’s decision making process, given the situation. Both Vale and Lee are sure that he knew which one of them was going to get shot. But, given the stakes and how close they both came to dying, it would make sense to consider the alternative.
The Mad Hatter continues to be one of the best villains we’ve seen on this show so far. He’s the right mixture of Gotham-appropriate TV terrorist, over-the-top bad guy that this show loves to embrace—but he also feels like the comic book character. The show hasn’t had a great track record with this so far, so I’m delighted to actually see it. It could just be that the character itself really gels with the sort of world Gotham has created.
Gordon’s drug trip, which takes up a good portion of the episode, is a little on the nose. There are definitely interesting parts to it, especially the bit between Gordon and his father, but it definitely goes on a little too long.
I think the best bits of the episode are between Nygma and Penguin—or at least that developing love triangle. Penguin, now having realized his feelings for Nygma, will do anything to remove this new love interest from his friend’s life.
It’s interesting to watch and it’s amazing how quickly and coldly Penguin tells her that Nygma was in Arkham for murder. In fact, it’s probably the best scene of the episode. However, despite that, it feels a little unnecessary because it’s more than likely that the situation would work itself out. There’s a higher likelihood of Nygma killing this woman than not, especially if she looks like his first victim. That’s called repeating and it’s basically a serial killer trademark.
If Penguin just let the situation play out, it would drive the distraught Nygma right into his arms, and I feel like he would know that.
That’s a small gripe against what’s really a pretty well put together, engaging episode. There’s a lot of developing story going on here, and I’m becoming more and more interested to see how it all wraps up.