Fon-duped.
By Matt Fowler
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow…
Is there any scene, so far, that effortlessly represents the “style over brains” aspects of Gotham better than the dude shooting off that rocket launcher during the Strike Force raid? What was that going to accomplish? He shot it right past everyone. He should have aimed it at the ground and…argh. Whatever. Like I said, the act itself was meant to represent the unsubtle over-the-top criminal tendencies of the city. While also, perhaps, unintentionally encapsulating some of the show’s more boneheaded ideas.
Gordon even said “Welcome to Gotham” right afterward. Which I enjoyed, but only because it helped explain that Barns – I guess – transferred to the GCPD from somewhere else. Which was a bit of backstory that wasn’t explained last week. Though I am still waiting to hear about who hired him since there’s no mayor, deputy mayor, or police commissioner.
“Scarification” wasn’t terrible, but it did kind of feel like a return to some of the lesser aspects of Season 1. The over-arching Galavan story was in play, but we’re now back to introducing famous DC villains who we’ll never get a chance to see fully manifest into their future selves. Granted, I liked the female twist on Firefly, and the origin of a sad, abused character being forced to commit crimes they don’t want to do (there’s a little Killing Joke in there), but this is all still somewhat empty prequel-style storytelling. Like with Season 1’s Scarecrow. It’s become this show’s crutch.
And in the midst of all this, Gordon came off as being totally ineffective. Usually tracking unimportant leads, running around blandly in circles, getting duped, etc. This week, he was tricked by Theo into providing a big campaign endorsement all while chasing down the wrong end of the larger conspiracy – which is Penguin. Meanwhile, Barns, for all his bravado, is proving to be just another character who can’t seem to get out ahead of Gotham’s craziness. Last week he was like “We’re getting the Penguin!” Then this week he was like “Scratch that, find the arsonist!” Now he’s all “We’ve got a cop killer out there!”
“Scarification” had some notably vicious moments, and those always seem to help Gotham stand out from the rest of TV’s current slate of comic book adaptations. A dude with C4 in his pants exploded all over the place. Sid Bunderslaw got his eye carved out. Penguin beat one of his own henchman half-to-death. Then, later on, he chopped off Butch’s hand. I’ll tell you, it’s a good thing Butch has been conditioned/programmed to do Penguin’s bidding (who actually did that to him though? Zsasz? Seems odd.) because it seems like getting his hand lopped off might be something he’d seriously resent.
Also, the aforementioned cop killer was one Bridgit Pike, this show’s proto-Firefly. And since her torching of the officer was an accident, I’m sure it’ll haunt her as her story continues net week with Selena. Though I doubt any of us cared when whats-his-name bit the dust. Not only are we only a two episodes removed from the Maniax slaughtering a bunch of cops, but nothing’s been done to make any of these Strike Force characters stand out. After their initial interviews, they’ve just been background support. So there was really no reason for us to care about his demise.
In closing, we got some specifics about the Galavan grudge, and how it all started with Celestine Wayne hundreds of years ago. A character named “Edwige” (a name striking enough to make one google it to make sure there’s no DC connection) recounted the sordid tale of lust and betrayal and how it all now ties into Theo’s current plans. I mention this last because ever since Theo crashed the party, there’s been a bunch of “Ra’s al Ghul” chatter. Not that he’s Ra’s, but that within his story/background lay the “seeds” of the League. Or something. Since that’s all this show can do. Plant seeds. We know there are overseas cult(ish) elements to the Galavans. And now there are warriors on the way over. I’m not saying there’s going to be a tie-in, but there are similarities for sure.
Oh yeah, there was a fondue double date. How could I almost leave out the most riveting part of the episode?
There wasn’t anything egregiously wrong with “Scarification” except that it felt like the show was backsliding a bit. Supposedly, the “cases of the week” are gone but this episode sort of proved that you can’t fully leave that aspect of the show behind. Yes, this week’s case tied into a “future” DC villain, but it also worked to take our heroes even further away from the main conspiracy. They’re now three times removed from the main plot.
Anyhow, I feel like the Firefly stuff will have to get more intense, and therefore more interesting, next week in the second half of the arc. Just given the sort of character Bridgit is supposed to wind up becoming down the road.
