‘Gotham’ episode 12 review: A flower wilts in silence
“Gotham” has delivered cases of the week over the past several months, just as they have also delivered some intriguing character moments that make us wonder what could be. Yet, for whatever reason, this is a series that never managed to clump all of the correct components together.
That is, until tonight. With this episode entitled “What the Little Bird Told Him,” the writers delivered an emotional punch to the guy, comic-book fun, and a crime story like no other. This was so far and away the series’ best episode that it wasn’t even closer. It’s like someone just told the show to strap on a costume and become a superhero, saving the world from the mundane and the forgettable. It cut away so much of the series’ fate, and focused truly on what matters: A city clinging for dear laugh.
First, applause for the lack of Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, or Catwoman tonight. They weren’t needed. We would be perfectly fine at this point if they were reduced to six or so episodes a season. Remind us that they are still around, but without relevance to the main story, they are expendable as major players. Also, cheers to Barbara Keen having her story told within the confines of one scene, a request to stay with her parents which in turn led to her lying about her relationship with Jim Gordon. We know that this was a move out of desperation for a complete mess of a character with nowhere else to turn. This was a reminder that this story is going somewhere, but there is no need to focus on her for now when we have bigger and better things.
For example, the first cat-and-mouse game between Gordon and the Electrocutioner, a man expertly played by Christopher Heyerdahl. We learned tonight about his ties to Maroni, and how they could be used as a device to draw him out. Jack Gruber’s weaknesses is a thirst for human power just as much as his strength is electrical power; he could not avoid the temptation of trying to destroy Maroni within the confines of the GCPD itself. This character is the closest thing the show has delivered to someone who feels like a true Batman character; there are no superpowers, but there is something still about him that feels like a step above. He had such a simple weakness in water, yet until Gordon pelted that glass of water at him, no one had gotten close enough to even cry.
Gordon managed to balance this with also accidentally romances Leslie Thompkins in the process. Did “Lee” (it’s what she wants to be called, people) come across as a tad desperate? Perhaps, but there is more chemistry in a glance with these two than a full hour of Gordon with Barbara. There’s also a strategic advantage to their relationship; Thompkins can monitor Arkham, and now that Gordon has his badge back in full, he can send the warped-and-weary there for examination.
As good as Gordon’s showcase was, the end of Liza and the potential downfall of Fish Mooney was perhaps the greatest. The series played this out in a very intelligent manner. They did not try to pretend as though Falcone coming to his senses about his “housekeeper” was a surprise. Instead, it was that this man decided to kill her in cold blood, minutes after he considered leaving Gotham behind for good and being happy in the countryside. He loved her on some level (the physical resemblance to his mother is a strong indicator of what that love truly was), and he never wanted to see her hurt. Killing her himself was the display of aggression he needed, but the biggest burden, as well.
Carmine needed to teach Fish the lesson: She orchestrated the entire plan to destroy him, and it almost worked. If she had not underestimated the Penguin, Falcone would be gone. His information-trading, a shrewd game between Fish, Carmine, and Maroni, could not be more superb. His actions have empowered Gotham’s most notorious crime boss, and there will no longer be a woman willing to pin flowers to his pocket square and walk within his arm.
The real pain of it all was that Liza seemed to love Carmine in her own way almost as much as he loved her. She was just a woman swallowed by the city, who saw a promise for advancement and took it, deluded by the notion that it would actually bring her what she wanted. Now, her dreams are wilted, and the city is under siege.
“Gotham” still falls slightly short of perfection with a story of Edward Nygma that screams “trying too hard,” but with every Bullock quip to Penguin waddle, this is a show that is finding some empowerment of its own. Maybe it just needed the time, or to realize that the city is the star more so than any name you bring to the screen. This is going from a show limited in its scope to limitless in potential. Grade: A-.
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