This was a very good episode. It was surprising, intense, and emotional. It was definitely worth the two-week wait, even if the two-week wait did leave me overly attached to a certain Penguin-is-hallucinating theory.
Let us begin. Here are the highs, mediums, and lows of the episode.
LOWS
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None.
MEDIUMS
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1. Penguin
a) Penguin is not hallucinating?
With every episode that Penguin spends in the mansion and/or with his family, it becomes less and less likely that Penguin is hallucinating all this stuff with the mansion and/or his family. At this point, it's very unlikely that Penguin is hallucinating it. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem because, normally, I hate it when large, exciting portions of a story turn out to be hallucinations.
However, I spent the last two weeks thinking about how much sense it would make if Penguin was hallucinating (see my Review of Episode 16 to see why I thought so), and how good a twist it would be if it turned out to be the case.
If it turned out to be the case that Penguin was hallucinating, it could still be very exciting, depending on the reveal of what Penguin was actually doing this whole time. Maybe he found an abandoned, broken-down mansion near Gotham and wandered around it for weeks, surviving off of who knows what.
Or, maybe -- and here's the really exciting option -- maybe he wandered straight into another of Hugo Strange's "medical establishments."
I think that's the exciting option because it would demonstrate the terrifying extent of Professor Strange's power. Imagine if Hugo could program everyone to wander straight into one of Hugo's establishments, all the while hallucinating that they had found happiness. (Even if he had that power, he probably wouldn't use it, though. This episode basically established that Hugo just likes experimenting on people.)
And Hugo did say he had plans for Penguin, post-Arkham. The longer we, the audience, go without knowing what those plans are, the bigger our expectations grow. If an ongoing hallucination had been the extent of Hugo's plan, I would have been satisfied. It would have been an immediate and adequately shocking plan.
I can't say I'll be as satisfied with whatever it turns out Hugo's plan for Penguin actually is, especially if it's very far off in the future.
But the thing is, I'm still not mad. I LIKE that Gotham knows how to keep it simple. See, a lot of shows these days are like, "Here's an exciting story development...Psych! It's really this other exciting development." Which is entertaining enough the first couple of times, maybe.
But when the "twist" is used too often, it negates every exciting development, because who knows what the truth is anymore?! When everything's a plot twist, nothing's a plot twist.
If Gotham had been like, "Here, Penguin found his long-lost family and then lost another parent...Psych! It's really a hallucination designed by Hugo Strange," I think it would have worked for Gotham because Gotham has been saving up its twists and keeping things simple.
Most Gotham story developments are just as they seem. For instance, Lee really did move down South and, almost definitely, lost the baby. She hasn't been kidnapped (a possibility that didn't occur to me until after I wrote the review for Episode 16). And it's intense enough that she lost the baby and moved away. Gotham does not need to replace that story development with another intense story development. I appreciate that the Gotham writers seem to know that.
b) Penguin is Penguin again
Anyway, back to Penguin. It seems he is once again himself. At first, he begged to stay with his step-family because his father loved them all so much and wanted them all to be together. By the end of the episode, though, Penguin had discovered the truth about his step-family, murdered and cooked his step-siblings, tricked his step-mother into eating them, and stabbed his step-mother to death.
I have to say, for a moment, I was shocked that Gotham went that far with the cannibalism thing. However, for a moment BEFORE that moment, I thought Penguin had cooked the dead dog and was feeding it to Grace. THAT idea was upsetting to me. As a vegetarian, I personally feel that it's no worse to eat humans than to eat other animals, so upon reflection, I realized I wasn't that upset about the cannibalism thing.
I was still upset about the dead dog, but let's talk about that.
At the start of the episode, Penguin said that he couldn't hurt a fly even if he wanted to. Maybe he was mistaken...or maybe -- after all, Strange brainwashed Penguin pretty well -- he wasn't. See, later in the episode, when he finds the bottle his father last drank from, he offers some of the beverage to the family dog, who drinks it and dies. At that moment, Penguin turns evil again.
Now, either Penguin consciously tried to kill the dog to prove the wine was poisoned (in which case Penguin COULD hurt a fly) or Penguin inadvertently killed the dog because Penguin COULDN'T consciously distrust his step-family.
If so and if that inadvertent murder triggered Penguin's evil side, that scene might be an interesting statement on how sometimes two perfectly good values (trust and kindness) conflict with each other, and a Catch-22 like that can break a person.
I'm probably reading too much into it, but if the Gotham writers explore such an idea further, I'd be very interested in what they have to say.
c) Penguin still has nothing/no one he loves
Finally, on Penguin, I'm still concerned by the fact that he hasn't gone anywhere new as a character. As I said in my Ep 16 review, we've seen Penguin lose a parent and exact vengeance on the people who murdered his parent. We've seen where that gets him: left with no one to love and no reason to go on.
So far, the Gotham writers have done an excellent job of not just dropping Penguin's issues (of having no love and therefore no motivation to do anything). I'd hate to see them come this far just to drop Penguin's issues now and have him inexplicably begin re-conquering Gotham.
His situation is no different now than it was at the start of Season 2b. I mean, sure, he has a mansion now, but is it even legally his? And how is it going to help? A mansion can't replace a parent.
As I said, I'm concerned. But I'm going to wait and see what happens.
2. Easy Three-Episode Wrap Up
By the fourth episode of Season 2b, I was seeing a pattern: the three-episode story arc. I had hoped the story arcs would be longer than that, but this episode wrapped up the Gordon-as-a-convicted-criminal arc, the Nygma-in-his-first-outing-as-a-supervillain arc, and the Penguin-family arc. It seems three-episode story arcs are to be the format for this half-season.
On the downside, this format gives us some artificial-seeming wrap-ups, like the resolution to the conflict between Gordon and Captain Barnes. On the upside, this format has been giving us a particularly kick-ass episode every third episode, and there are some threads that do continue, like Lee being gone and having lost a child.
a) Penguin is not hallucinating?
With every episode that Penguin spends in the mansion and/or with his family, it becomes less and less likely that Penguin is hallucinating all this stuff with the mansion and/or his family. At this point, it's very unlikely that Penguin is hallucinating it. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem because, normally, I hate it when large, exciting portions of a story turn out to be hallucinations.
However, I spent the last two weeks thinking about how much sense it would make if Penguin was hallucinating (see my Review of Episode 16 to see why I thought so), and how good a twist it would be if it turned out to be the case.
If it turned out to be the case that Penguin was hallucinating, it could still be very exciting, depending on the reveal of what Penguin was actually doing this whole time. Maybe he found an abandoned, broken-down mansion near Gotham and wandered around it for weeks, surviving off of who knows what.
Or, maybe -- and here's the really exciting option -- maybe he wandered straight into another of Hugo Strange's "medical establishments."
I think that's the exciting option because it would demonstrate the terrifying extent of Professor Strange's power. Imagine if Hugo could program everyone to wander straight into one of Hugo's establishments, all the while hallucinating that they had found happiness. (Even if he had that power, he probably wouldn't use it, though. This episode basically established that Hugo just likes experimenting on people.)
And Hugo did say he had plans for Penguin, post-Arkham. The longer we, the audience, go without knowing what those plans are, the bigger our expectations grow. If an ongoing hallucination had been the extent of Hugo's plan, I would have been satisfied. It would have been an immediate and adequately shocking plan.
I can't say I'll be as satisfied with whatever it turns out Hugo's plan for Penguin actually is, especially if it's very far off in the future.
But the thing is, I'm still not mad. I LIKE that Gotham knows how to keep it simple. See, a lot of shows these days are like, "Here's an exciting story development...Psych! It's really this other exciting development." Which is entertaining enough the first couple of times, maybe.
But when the "twist" is used too often, it negates every exciting development, because who knows what the truth is anymore?! When everything's a plot twist, nothing's a plot twist.
If Gotham had been like, "Here, Penguin found his long-lost family and then lost another parent...Psych! It's really a hallucination designed by Hugo Strange," I think it would have worked for Gotham because Gotham has been saving up its twists and keeping things simple.
Most Gotham story developments are just as they seem. For instance, Lee really did move down South and, almost definitely, lost the baby. She hasn't been kidnapped (a possibility that didn't occur to me until after I wrote the review for Episode 16). And it's intense enough that she lost the baby and moved away. Gotham does not need to replace that story development with another intense story development. I appreciate that the Gotham writers seem to know that.
b) Penguin is Penguin again
Anyway, back to Penguin. It seems he is once again himself. At first, he begged to stay with his step-family because his father loved them all so much and wanted them all to be together. By the end of the episode, though, Penguin had discovered the truth about his step-family, murdered and cooked his step-siblings, tricked his step-mother into eating them, and stabbed his step-mother to death.
I have to say, for a moment, I was shocked that Gotham went that far with the cannibalism thing. However, for a moment BEFORE that moment, I thought Penguin had cooked the dead dog and was feeding it to Grace. THAT idea was upsetting to me. As a vegetarian, I personally feel that it's no worse to eat humans than to eat other animals, so upon reflection, I realized I wasn't that upset about the cannibalism thing.
I was still upset about the dead dog, but let's talk about that.
At the start of the episode, Penguin said that he couldn't hurt a fly even if he wanted to. Maybe he was mistaken...or maybe -- after all, Strange brainwashed Penguin pretty well -- he wasn't. See, later in the episode, when he finds the bottle his father last drank from, he offers some of the beverage to the family dog, who drinks it and dies. At that moment, Penguin turns evil again.
Now, either Penguin consciously tried to kill the dog to prove the wine was poisoned (in which case Penguin COULD hurt a fly) or Penguin inadvertently killed the dog because Penguin COULDN'T consciously distrust his step-family.
If so and if that inadvertent murder triggered Penguin's evil side, that scene might be an interesting statement on how sometimes two perfectly good values (trust and kindness) conflict with each other, and a Catch-22 like that can break a person.
I'm probably reading too much into it, but if the Gotham writers explore such an idea further, I'd be very interested in what they have to say.
c) Penguin still has nothing/no one he loves
Finally, on Penguin, I'm still concerned by the fact that he hasn't gone anywhere new as a character. As I said in my Ep 16 review, we've seen Penguin lose a parent and exact vengeance on the people who murdered his parent. We've seen where that gets him: left with no one to love and no reason to go on.
So far, the Gotham writers have done an excellent job of not just dropping Penguin's issues (of having no love and therefore no motivation to do anything). I'd hate to see them come this far just to drop Penguin's issues now and have him inexplicably begin re-conquering Gotham.
His situation is no different now than it was at the start of Season 2b. I mean, sure, he has a mansion now, but is it even legally his? And how is it going to help? A mansion can't replace a parent.
As I said, I'm concerned. But I'm going to wait and see what happens.
2. Easy Three-Episode Wrap Up
By the fourth episode of Season 2b, I was seeing a pattern: the three-episode story arc. I had hoped the story arcs would be longer than that, but this episode wrapped up the Gordon-as-a-convicted-criminal arc, the Nygma-in-his-first-outing-as-a-supervillain arc, and the Penguin-family arc. It seems three-episode story arcs are to be the format for this half-season.
On the downside, this format gives us some artificial-seeming wrap-ups, like the resolution to the conflict between Gordon and Captain Barnes. On the upside, this format has been giving us a particularly kick-ass episode every third episode, and there are some threads that do continue, like Lee being gone and having lost a child.
HIGHS
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1. Nygma
This was one of Nygma's best episodes.
It revealed Nygma's insecurities about his "friends." For instance, Nygma couldn't convince himself that Penguin was a good friend who wouldn't snitch, and Nygma outright asked Gordon if he was really his friend or if Gordon just felt sorry for Nygma.
The emotion felt extremely real when Gordon confronted Nygma in the woods. I very much appreciate the fact that Gordon did not jump straight to "Me good. You bad. Me puts you in jail." He expressed the confused, hurt emotions anyone would feel in Gordon's position. I like that that whole scene was allowed to happen. It made sense.
See, a practical villain would have shot Gordon right away, but we have already established that Nygma is not a practical villain. He's a narcissistic, hammy super-villain who voices his evil thoughts out loud to himself. He WOULD have a whole conversation with his prey at gun-point or reveal to them the reason he framed them for murder.
It makes perfect sense and it's emotionally satisfying to see Nygma and Gordon have the conversation they had in the woods.
I also enjoyed the conversation that Nygma and Gordon had in Nygma's apartment. I'm glad Gordon was at least called out for being a murderer. That is, I'm glad that the Gotham writers are bringing up the spectrum...of evilness.
I mean, I think it's clear that Gordon doesn't need to be locked up like Nygma probably should be. I think Gordon is not as dangerous as Nygma. Nygma thinks murder is thrilling, while Gordon is in fact basically a good person. Just this episode, he put himself in jeopardy to save someone else from a mugging, for example. However, the difference between Gordon and Nygma is by no means crystal clear, and I'm glad that fact was brought up.
Also, I was surprised when Nygma knocked Gordon out by electrocuting him after Gordon found out that it was Nygma who called internal affairs. I genuinely didn't expect that.
I wasn't surprised when Gordon got Nygma by having Captain Barnes and Co. hide behind the trees to overhear Nygma's confession, but Gordon's plan was smart, start to finish. And once again, it made sense with Nygma's character, since we'd previously established that Nygma is paranoid and would absolutely fall for a plan like Gordon's, which preyed on Nygma's paranoia.
2. Barbara Keane "just really needed some sleep."
Is that really the explanation they're going to go with? Well, I'm all for it. I've always thought that there would be, like, half as many wars in the world if people just slept more. If only because they'd have less time to fight.
Make sleep, not war.
On the other hand, it does seem a little too convenient that Barbara just woke up all sane and good. If it turns out that Dr. Strange actually brainwashed her in her sleep somehow, I'd accept that explanation too.
Either way, I think I'm seeing a pattern here of the villains returning to a state of innocence in order for the writers to answer the question, "Can people change? Explain why or why not."
Obviously, Penguin couldn't change, and from the promo for next week, it seems like Barbara can't either. For both Penguin and Barbara, I think it's a bit early to explain why or why not.
I'll need some time to think on it.
CONCLUSION
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Overall, this was a very exciting, emotional episode and offered a lot of food for thought.
Make sleep, not war.
On the other hand, it does seem a little too convenient that Barbara just woke up all sane and good. If it turns out that Dr. Strange actually brainwashed her in her sleep somehow, I'd accept that explanation too.
Either way, I think I'm seeing a pattern here of the villains returning to a state of innocence in order for the writers to answer the question, "Can people change? Explain why or why not."
Obviously, Penguin couldn't change, and from the promo for next week, it seems like Barbara can't either. For both Penguin and Barbara, I think it's a bit early to explain why or why not.
I'll need some time to think on it.
CONCLUSION
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Overall, this was a very exciting, emotional episode and offered a lot of food for thought.
RATINGS
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General: 9/10
Compared-to-All-The-Content-I've-Ever-Loved: 8/10
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