Penguin’s world comes crashing down while Gordon opens his eyes to the truth.
By Matt Fowler
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
Another ghoulish, gutsy episode of Gotham this week as Penguin’s mother – Carol Kane’s Gertrude – got taken out of the picture in rather brutal fashion. A moment that reminded me of last week’s final moments between Nygma and Kringle in that it too was – essentially – the cold, killing off of a long Season 1 storyline. And a moment that worked to push a notorious Gotham villain even further over the edge.
Penguin’s attachment to his mother wasn’t exactly a freshman year highlight, though Season 2 seemed to know what to do with that very specific vulnerability. Gertrude would return as Penguin’s “Achilles heel”and then get wiped off the show. Ms. Kringle’s death was sort of in the same vein, though they actually allowed Ed to date her for a little while (and bed her) before he snapped. And now both murders have sent our proto-baddies spiraling. Penguin, on a suicide mission to kill Theo, and Ed into a riddle-filled tug of war with his own inner bad boy. One that, thankfully, ended with the two sides of his personality merging into one sociopathic package.
As much as Ed’s split brain shamelessly aped Fight Club (“bad” Ed even took over when he was asleep this week and created a sinister scavenger hunt for his more timid side), I was happy to see actual “riddles” come back into play here. Ever since “other Ed” popped up in the Season 2 premiere, I’ve been trying to figure out how this type of crazy individual would transform into someone like The Riddler. Now it’s a little more clear. Not fully, but it’s getting there. Though this show is still being a little nuts by having Ed become this crazy a full decade (at least) before Batman’s supposed to arrive. Of course, if it’s ditching all canon (which it should at this point) there’s less of an issue.
So, as with last week’s big Kringle death, I liked Mama Penguin getting the axe. Now Gordon will have to join forces with a Penguin on a warpath. And while Gordon seemed slightly compromised at one point, going after Penguin when Oswald had dirt on him, now the two of them can push all that aside and focus on taking out Theo. Though I honestly don’t know how Gordon’s going to do it with Theo being mayor. I mean, I know the show can figure out a way, it’s just that Gordon just got done fighting a war against a powerful superior, so this feels like a quick retread. Plus, is it smart for Gordon to make such a huge enemy, and confront him like that at the end, when Leslie might get caught in the crossfire? Again?
Speaking of crossfire, I get that Gordon and Bullock tracked Butch down to (what looked to be) a desolate part of town, but for the two of them to fire back at Zsasz with those machine guns – so damn recklessly – when they had no visibility and bystanders could have been walking outside, felt like a giant bonehead move. Like, what cops do that? Gotham cops, I guess. The show does just fine with lavish displays of grim and gross violence so these “extra” loud moves to juice up the action always come off clumsy. Like with the rocket launcher move from a few episodes back. It doesn’t make sense, but there it is.
Bruce remained in the dark this week (wrapped around Silver’s little finger as we discovered she was full Team Galavan), but Gordon began to see the light. Which was fine. I was not a fan of him being a sap for so long. But nothing really “clicked” for Gordon to leap to his conclusions. It was all just a series of “Does this seem right to you?” hunches (capped off with a Butch confession). Which is probably the least effective way to see your hero turn a huge corner. Because you then wonder why he didn’t connect the dots sooner. I guess it took one more “Penguin wouldn’t do that” type of move to push Jim into clarity. Still, not a very satisfying journey of discovery.
Penguin’s plan at the end was strange too – with all those decoy Penguins. Does he have more brainwashed minions – like Butch was? – because there’s a lot of loyalty involved in basically volunteering to dress up like that and become a human target. And why was Tabitha up on the roof when the cops would instantly become aware there was a second sniper? As far as we knew, Theo still wanted to keep his nefariousness a secret. Maybe he didn’t give a damn anymore because he was mayor. It happens.
Oh, and Martinez got the boot this week (literally), though his death via stiletto heel didn’t really resonate. Again, none of those Strike Force-ers were ever defined as characters. I feel now as though they were added in just to act as body buffers. Characters who could die without our real heroes getting damaged. More kindling for the fire. Kindling that this week also included innocent waiters and rich women at Theo’s victory party. Yes, this is definitely not the season to be attending big public wealthy events in Gotham.
I guess I should throw in something here about Selina and Silver showing their claws regarding Bruce. I’m glad, in the very least, Selina seems like a changed girl after what happened to Bridgit. She basically came to visit Bruce because she was down in the dumps and needed a friend. So there’s a vulnerability to her now. One that will also probably motivate her to expose Silver and free Bruce from her control.
And yes, Harvey Dent was back. Remember when him showing up in Season 1 was billed a being a big deal. Now he’s just around. And doing frustratingly dumb “Gotham Dent” things like unknowingly helping a criminal mastermind.
“Mommy’s Little Monster” made some big moves in the lives of Penguin and Nygma while also allowing Gordon to learn the truth about Theo. Naturally though, there were some hiccups. A lot of the cop stuff plays out in wonky ways and Gordon never really seems to make the best decisions when it comes to confronting his enemies. Or ascertaining their actual danger.
But – hey! – let’s give it up for AN ACTUAL MENTION OF HIS APARTMENT. A place he must have some how gotten between now and when he was crashing in the precinct locker room. IT EXISTS!
