Gotham season 4 debate: How do you utilize Poison Ivy?
When it comes to purpose, you can still say that Ivy is somewhat of an enigma. While she doesn’t have all of the necessary skills just yet to become a notorious villain, she’s getting there. She knows that she can be very influential, but for now, she’s used that for the most part in order to initiate petty crime. The next iteration of this character is one who goes the extra mile for the sake of evil, and does things that would make some other characters start to shake in their boots. There may be an awareness of Ivy, but there isn’t much of a fear of her yet.
What can the show do in order to bring things to that place? Well, one of the biggest things is to develop an even greater source of Ivy’s rage. She was terribly mistreated as a child (really not that long ago, all things considered), so how do you direct more of that anger towards Bruce Wayne? How do you advance her character to the point where there are more nefarious motives? It’s one thing to rob for the sake of survival, but what about for the sake of excess, and having an empire of herbs and ferns? To make Ivy a great villain, you need these spark plugs and these turning points. Putting her in a near-death experience could be the key, or placing her accidentally in the line of fire for the GCPD or Bruce as a newly-minted vigilante. The more that you cause some chaos in her life, the more likely it is that she will develop that motivation.
Beyond that, you need to just include her more in the plans of some other villains. Maybe you have her work more with Penguin, or you really ramp up the bond between her and Selina now. With Selina getting closer to becoming Catwoman, she could be more on her way towards being the character that she needs to be, as well.
The only drawback to all of this development for Ivy is that some of it may happen off-screen. In the press releases for the first two episodes Maggie Geha was listed in the guest cast. Therefore, there is no guarantee that we’re going to be seeing her on a weekly basis.
What do you want to see for Ivy when it comes to Gotham season 4?
Be sure to share some of your thoughts on that subject in the attached comments! Meanwhile, we do have some additional news on the premiere episode here at CarterMatt — check that out over here. (Photo: Fox.)