Review: Gotham Season 2 Episode 16, Prisoners [SPOILERS]

Wow, do I love the promo for the Episode 17, and wow, do I have a lot to say about Episode 16. As usual, most of it is about Penguin, who I have to admit I love as a character. Strangely enough, though, even though this was a Penguin-centric episode, my feelings for it consist of 60% pure confusion and only 40% yay. 

 Let's go through the highs, mediums, and lows.

[WORST CRIMES DISCLAIMER: This episode mentions rape a few times.]

LOWS

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None.

MEDIUMS

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1. Penguin

I'm not sure where to start. 

Penguin spends this whole episode with his long-lost father and step-family, and the tone of all Penguin's scenes is...different from the norm. 

I've grown to trust Gotham to present evil as evil. When watching Gotham, I can let my guard down, knowing that I won't be tricked into laughing at something horrible and feeling guilty about it later.

This episode gave me a couple of moments where I laughed at a joke and then felt iffy about laughing at it. I mean, it also gave me several moments where I laughed at jokes and then felt fine about laughing at them, so overall, it was a fun episode, but those iffy moments are...well, iffy.

Gotham has walked the line when it comes to dark humor before, but it never crossed the line. (Except possibly in the first episode when Penguin was beating a man with a baseball bat. I'm still not sure what to think about that, and I just try to block it out.) But the thing about dark humor is that it's difficult to tell if you've crossed the line or not, so it's difficult not to cross the line. 

I think it's better to avoid dark humor altogether, and Gotham has often avoided it, even when the opportunity for it presented itself. Gotham certainly didn't avoid dark humor in this episode, though, which made it a bit stressful to watch, as I said, because it took me off guard and I felt a bit weird about laughing at the things I laughed at. 

In short, the dark humor in this episode? Fun, on the one hand. Stressful, on the other.

What's more, Penguin's scenes have less of an impact when they have this strangely humorous tone. It left me unsure of what I was supposed to feel at any certain moment. I'm used to Gotham forcing me to take serious things seriously and encouraging me to take happy things happily. I'm used to Gotham inspiring the proper emotions in me for any certain scene. Basically, I'm used to Gotham doing the work for me.

I always know how to feel because Gotham tells me the right way to feel.

...That sounds weird, but if you ask me, that's what a good story does. It does the work for you. You don't have to question the emotions it gives you because the story is handling your emotions responsibly.

During this episode, though, I was so emotionally confused.

At first, it's fine.

For instance, a smiling Penguin turns somber for a moment when it is mentioned that his step-siblings had an abusive father.

Okay, good, the light-hearted tone turned serious when things got serious. 

However, the tone didn't get THAT serious or stay serious for long. So maybe, I thought, Gotham is purposely (because, like a good show, it does most things on purpose) leading me to believe that the abuse was a lie Grace told Elijah to get him to marry her.

THEN, however, Elijah discloses the fact that he has a heart problem and is basically dying very slowly. The tone is serious, but not as serious as it could have been, so...just...what? Maybe, Gotham is purposely leading me to believe that the threat of Elijah's death is not particularly high? It obviously is, though. I mean, Grace is switching out his real meds for mints.

THEN, Elijah actually has a heart attack (or something), and the tone is actually humorous. Grace asks her children what they did to Elijah and then tells them to "clean up this mess, AND call a doctor."

...Huh?

Am I supposed to care about Elijah dying or not?!

Of course, I actually do care about Elijah dying, because I care about Penguin. I don't want him to lose another kindly parent. 

It's just confusing when it seems like Gotham, the show, is purposely leading me to believe that Elijah dying is not a big deal.

But then, it IS a big deal when it actually happens. Not only is the tone serious, and not only does Penguin react with pain and sadness, but the step-mother also seems upset by it. 

What the heck is going on?

First of all, why DOESN'T she want him to die before he changes the will? It seems like an even better solution than killing Penguin. I mean, she's already killing Elijah, just slowly. 

Well, come to think of it, maybe that's the point. There would be less of an investigation into Elijah's death if he died slowly, of "natural" causes.

But, still. Why was the tone so different when Elijah actually died than when he almost died earlier in the episode? Why did even Grace happen to take his actual death so seriously and appear at Penguin's side so quickly?

It's emotionally confusing, and it's already sad -- Elijah dying.

When Penguin screamed , it took me right back to when his mother died. In this episode,  the moment when Elijah died is the only moment I can decidedly say came across with the proper impact. 

In order to understand this episode and its tonal weirdness, I have come up with a couple theories:

- Theory #1:

The Gotham writers were trying to show us how horrible the step-family is. 

After all, Grace and her children were the ones who were blatantly disregarding serious issues. 

For example, there's a scene in this episode where Grace claims that they could have all been "raped and murdered" in their beds by Penguin. Obviously, that was her attempt to use fear-mongering to get Elijah to send Penguin away. At the same time, however, the humorous tone of that scene had me worried that Gotham, the show, was making light of rape. 

See, Penguin informs his step-family that he never raped anyone.

And, of course, if you ask me, they shouldn't have assumed that he did. The newspapers certainly didn't say that he did...because he didn't. 

Most likely, Grace and her children did not really believe that Penguin had raped anyone. They -- the step-family, not the Gotham writers -- simply take rape lightly enough to use the idea of it in their manipulation of Elijah. That's what the Gotham writers are showing us with that scene: the evil step-family's complete disregard for anything but their quest to inherit Elijah's money. 

At MOST, that's the case, I decided. But it took some deliberation. 

I mean, after Penguin says he never raped anyone, Grace comes back at Penguin with a sarcastic, "Well, that's a mercy, isn't it?" Which, taken a certain way, could mean that the Gotham writers think rape is not a big deal compared to all the stuff Penguin did do. Taken a certain way.

Taken another way, though, her sarcasm could mean something more along the lines of "That's not something to brag about. That should be a given. It's bad that you even have to say that you never raped anyone." 

Basically, then -- Worst case: Gotham writers and the step-family were making light of rape. Less bad case: The step-family alone were making light of rape. Best case: Gotham writers and Grace were pointing out the fact that NOT having raped anyone should be a given. 

I choose to believe either the best case or the less bad case. I choose to do so because I have a good amount of faith in the Gotham writers. 

(By the way, I know there's a pattern in my Gotham reviews: I worry that the writers might be going wrong but I choose to believe they're going right. And the fact is they always do. Or HAVE, so far. But I've been burned many, many times by shows that seem good but eventually go bad. Thus, I worry, and I have to voice my worries because what if they turn out to be right? But, like I said, the Gotham writers have built up a good amount of trust in me because they always seem to go the right way, and the more they do that, the more trust I'll have in them.)

- Theory #2:

Penguin is dreaming.

I didn't come up with this theory until a second viewing of this episode. In the "Previously on Gotham" segment, the episode replays the scene of Penguin asking his father, "Is this a dream?" 

Why did they replay that? 

No reason, maybe. In fact, "no reason" is probably slightly more likely than the case that Penguin actually is dreaming.

However, if he IS dreaming (or hallucinating), it would explain so much:

-- It would explain the tone of this episode, which is nonchalant, as if the Gotham writers are purposely leading us to believe that none of it matters that much. If none of it is actually happening, none of it does matter that much. 

-- It would explain why Penguin seems to subconsciously know that something's wrong with his father's pills. If all this is in his subconscious, he does subconsciously know that something's wrong with his father's pills.

-- It would explain why Hugo Strange seemed to have an ongoing plan for Penguin. If this is a dream or hallucination, it could be an ongoing effect of Hugo's experiments on Penguin, experiments meant to transform Penguin with hallucinations.

-- It would explain why the emotion feels realest when Penguin loses his father. If this is a dream or hallucination, the death of one of Penguin's parents might feel realest because it's the only part based on something real.

-- It would explain why Elijah Van Dahl showed up right when he did. If this is a dream/hallucination, it could have been brought about by Penguin's despair and his need to find a way to go on without his mom. 

-- It would explain why his father seemed unreal, in the sense that he was an ideal parent but not much else besides. See, one of the things I loved about Gertrude was that she seemed like a real person, because she had many interesting nuances. She was a boy-crazy former dancer AND a parent with an unconditional love for her son. Elijah was the latter, but that was about it. Maybe that's one reason his connection with Penguin seemed inferior to Gertrude's connection with Penguin. Elijah just didn't seem like a fully fleshed out person/character.

-- It would explain why Penguin's whole family seems isolated from the outside world. Do Grace and her children have ANY friends outside of the mansion? It seems they don't. They spend their off-time lounging around the mansion, and they seem to have nothing but off-time. It could be that they simply don't fit in with anyone outside of their own family, which would almost -- almost -- endear them to me. But it could also be that Penguin didn't bother to conjure up friends for them in his imagination. 

-- It would explain why Penguin's old musical theme, the lighthearted mischievous one, was reintroduced, but for his evil step-family, not for Penguin himself. As far as I can remember, Gotham creators only ever played that theme for Penguin, they haven't played it since his mother died, and in this episode, they play it for his evil step-family. If this is a dream for Penguin, it's all Penguin, so the theme should be able to play at any time and still be Penguin's theme. 

-- It would explain why it feels like less time has passed for Penguin than for Gordon. We know the trial took four weeks, and it seems like Gordon has been in jail for a long time. Yet, Penguin seems to barely know his family. I mean, he just this episode learned about the pills his father was taking regularly. Hmm. Hmmmmmmmmmm...Could mean nothing...Could mean something.

-- It would explain why Penguin's story doesn't seem to be going anywhere new. I mean, I hate to say it, but we've already seen Penguin lose a parent. We've seen him go after the people who killed his parent. We've seen where that gets him. How will this be different? Well, maybe it's not supposed to be different. Maybe it's supposed to be a subconscious retread of where Penguin has already been. 

I usually hate it when exciting events turn out to be hallucinations. In this case, however, a hallucination might in fact be more exciting than the actual events. It might be interesting to be able to say that we spent a whole episode in Penguin's head. It might be interesting to see how Penguin gets out of this dream/hallucination, especially if it was designed by Hugo Strange. 

I'm not saying this storyline isn't interesting, as is. It obviously is interesting, and I do have faith that the writers will take Penguin's story somewhere new if they continue down this path. I just can't currently see where that new place might be.

But, you know what? That's okay. In fact, it makes me even more excited to see what they'll come up with. 

2. Penguin's nightmare

I have a bit of a problem with the nightmare Penguin had in this episode. In it, he was: 1) killing Frankie Carbone, 2) chopping off Butch's hand, and 3) killing Fish. My problem is that those were among the lesser of Penguin's crimes, I feel. 

I mean, all those people were decidedly bad people. Penguin has hurt plenty of seemingly innocent people. 

What about the old man he killed by the river in the first episode? What about the guy he killed for delivering flowers from Maroni? What about the young couple he broke up by cutting the guy's fingers off? (In my opinion, that last one is the actually the worst. I mean, I guess you could say that the guy chose guitar-playing over his girlfriend, so it's not THAT sad...but it is. It is sad.) 

I mean, those people could have been bad people, but they could have been good people.

So, Penguin should have nightmares about THOSE crimes. Yet, he only has nightmares about the crimes he committed against more prominent characters. It's a little unfair and irrational, but I guess I understand why the writers did that. Viewers remember prominent characters better.

However, the nightmare scene did make me think about how I would feel if I had a nightmare of myself doing things like that. I think Penguin's reaction is quite right. So, that was an interesting journey into my imagination.

3. Penguin's goodness

I have to say I kind of started to believe in Oswald's goodness again. When he was with his dad, I truly believed that Oswald's actual goodness was shining through. Not his brainwashed-ness. Actual goodness. Or at least, as he was faking it, he was making it. And if allowed to go on faking goodness for long enough, with encouragement from his father, Penguin might have become a good person.

This idea kind of throws out my conviction from last episode that Penguin is not truly good or happy and cannot develop as a human being unless he reverts back to his old self first. 

But, now that his father has died, and this whole episode might have been a dream for Penguin, I'm once again unsure of whether Penguin can develop as a human being. 

I mean, I know he'll never be a good person. The Penguin has to rule Gotham's crime world eventually. But he could, maybe, be better than he was before. Who knows? 

I don't know how I feel about this topic anymore.

HIGHS

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1. Gordon and Lee

The writers and actors did a good job of making me empathize with Gordon in this episode. I really felt the boredom and sadness of Gordon's first few minutes on screen. It already felt like his life was over while he was in protective custody, doing the exact same thing every day and missing Lee. Moving Gordon to general population, with the threat of actual death, didn't seem that bad.

Losing the baby is also sad, especially since I was excited for Batgirl. (Excessively excited. There's no way that baby would actually become Batgirl within this series.) However, it does raise the stakes for Nygma if Lee lost the baby because of the stress and heartbreak of losing Jim. That is the likely cause, and Jim's not just going to let that go.

Also, poor Puck. And poor Jim for losing Puck.

2. The lies. The lies!

I was impressed with how good a liar Grace is. If I was Elijah, I'd believe Grace was only trying to help me. 

This is something I like about Gotham. Lying characters are good at lying whether the audience knows they're lying or not. In a lot of movies and TV shows, characters are only bad at lying when the audience already knows the characters are lying. It's silly and cheesy and insulting to our intelligence. We know that they're lying. You don't have to make it blatantly obvious that they're lying. Doing that just makes it weird when the other characters believe the lies. 

Gotham never makes that mistake. Not when Penguin is pretending to be a loyal minion to Fish, Maroni, or Falcone. And not when Grace is pretending to be a loving partner to Elijah. 

3. The promo for Episode 17 

Nygma is turning into a really creepy, badass villain. That riddle about death that he tells in his voice over for the promo? Chilling. 

I could totally see Nygma being THE villain for Season 2b at this point. But I suppose that's unlikely. It's more likely that Gordon will defeat Nygma in the next episode and send him to Arkham, from whence he will escape, as is the tradition among supervillains at Arkham. 

Also, Barbara's going to be in the next episode. Seems like she'll be working for Dr. Strange now. Fascinating!

RATINGS

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General: 8/10

Compared-to-All-The-Content-I've-Ever-Loved: 7/10