Gotham season 5 episode 4 review: A Jim Gordon, Barbara Kean surprise

There are a number of things that were very surprising about Gotham season 5 episode 4 as a whole. Take, for example, seeing Oswald Cobblepot and Jim Gordon working together. Or, think in terms of Edward Nygma learning that he was behind the Haven building explosion. Or, seeing Selina Kyle sneak in and attack Jeremiah while wearing Ecco’s disguise.

Yet, the biggest surprise of all may come in the closing minutes where Jim Gordon and Barbara Kean kissed — and he clearly wasn’t opposed to the idea! Is this actually going to happen? If you think back to the early days of the show, it felt like a sure thing … but that was before Barbara snapped, murdered her parents, and became a crazed villain who, over time, has taken on many permutations. Just one season ago, she thought she was destined to be the Demon’s Head and one of the most powerful people alive.

Now, Barbara is about survival and protecting the people fighting under her — she’s not a hero, but Gordon can relate to her perhaps in a way that he was not able to previously. That’s probably one of the reasons why the two are able to see eye to eye in a way that they were not previously able to. We don’t know if this relationship is actually functional, or if this is just a nod to the comic-book relationship that exists but wasn’t so fleshed-out. Either way, we’re keeping watch on it.

The other big surprise within this episode is Victor Zsasz not taking advantage of the opportunity to murder Jim Gordon when he was standing right in front of him. Jim had just saved Victor from a miserable death at the hands of Penguin for a crime he did not commit (the building explosion) and after that, Jim clearly wanted to test him. He wanted a reminder that while Victor tried to be ruthless, he didn’t run Gotham like he wanted or hoped. There was still some element of humanity there and we saw it with his decision to walk away.

The development for all of the different characters at the moment is fairly top-notch. We’re seeing more of Selina’s sneaky side now — while she did get a few good stabs in on Jeremiah, you can be assured that the character is going to be okay on the other side of this. Meanwhile, you’re also getting a good chance to see now a little bit more insight into the Riddler’s oscillating personalities, and also just how brutal Penguin can be for the sake of keeping his people happy.

CarterMatt Verdict

Even though Bruce was reasonably quiet tonight, there’s no question that this was a great Gotham episode with a lot of action, some cool comic moments, and then of course some really shocking stuff with Gordon at the end.

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What did you think about Gotham season 5 episode 4 overall? Be sure to share now in the comments! Also, stay tuned for some other insight coming up down the line. (Photo: Fox.)