Review: Gotham Season 2 Episode 19, Azrael [SPOILERS]

OVERVIEW
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thus episode was gorgeously cinematic in terms of the visuals and action. The supernatural elements and character moments were especially gripping. I have almost nothing but glowing compliments to give about 'Azrael.'

LOWS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
None.

MEDIUMS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Penguin
Penguin had two brief scenes this episode. The first had him talking to corpses amid torn-up furniture, apparently going mad as he hung around the house with no purpose in life. A promising scene, because it showed an obviously understandable response from Penguin to all the recent losses in his life.

As I have said in nearly every review of Gotham I have written, I am so very pleased with how the Gotham writers have handled Penguin since the loss of Gertrude, his mother. It has had a lasting effect on Penguin, as it obviously should. It's notable, however, because most TV shows tend to gloss over their characters' pain and adjustment to loss. Perhaps most TV writers consider such subject matter too dull to hold an audience's attention for more than an episode or so. The Gotham writers, however, have shown that they trust their audience to be smart enough to appreciate psychologically realistic characters.

Penguin has been shown dealing with the loss of his mother in every episode he has appeared in since that loss. That's at least 12 episodes, over half a season. And he lost his father, too, and has also been dealing with that ever since. Honestly, since the loss of his mother and father, all his responses have been obviously understandable responses to pain and loss.

In Penguin's second appearance this episode, he sees Galavan on TV. "Hello, old friend," he laughs gleefully with no hint of anger. (We will have to wait until the next episode's review to see exactly what this means, but honestly -- tiny spoiler alert -- it might mean the end Penguin's obviously understandable responses, which troubles me.)

HIGHS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Galavan as Azrael
The supernatural aspects of the show were front and center this episode, with the return of Galavan from the dead, and him finding his identity in a story of saints and demons and resurrectected knights. I much prefer Galavan as Azrael. The overly calm attitude that made Galavan boring made Azrael interesting, after he did calm down, that is. And somehow, Galavan's voice sounded so much more badass coming from behind a metal mask. I am really liking Azrael.

2. Nygma
Oh, Nygma.

In just this episode, the audience gets half a dozen new reasons to love Nygma.

For those of us who would secretly like him to be our hero (in spite of everything he's done), he plays the role of a hero to some extent in this episode.

Near the start of the episode, he (very entertainingly) mediates a conflict between some of the lesser minds of the asylum. On more than one occasion, he protects them from getting hurt or from hurting each other. (Take, for example, even the brief moment wherein he fly-swatted one inmate as that inmate reached out to strangle another inmate). He does a better job of being a therapist to the inmates than Professor Strange does, as Nygma himself points out. "Everyone has a story," says Nygma, "and they just need to be listened." What an understanding and empathetic thing to say.

HOWEVER, at the same time, Nygma fulfills the desires of those of us in the audience who want him to be a crazy evil genius.

At the same time as he is 'mediating,' he is manipulating the inmates of Arkham. He says so himself. As he protects them, he earns their loyalty and builds a little group of followers. There is certainly much he can accomplish on his own. At one point, he rather casually escapes the rec room, like he could have done it all along. However,  using his new friends, he's able to do much more than that, and he discovers Strange's secret experiments.

Of course, he's terrified by those experiments and decides to escape alone without his "friends."

The thing is it's still easy to believe that his kindness toward the other inmates was more than manipulation. Slight spoiler alert -- the next episode has Nygma trying to help someone, this time, obviously not expecting anything in return. That's a testament to...well, something!

Nygma is a great balance of good and bad, and he's complicated enough to be interpreted in slightly varied ways.

3. Barbara
Poor Barbara just doesn't fit in, even with her evil friends (as opposed to her righteous acquaintances). Butch thinks she's scary, and Tabatha just doesn't really understand Barbara. I mean, Barbara is clearly in a lot of pain, as she flips hurriedly through TV channels. In a frenzy. With no clear goal except to distract herself from whatever it is she can't stop thinking about anyway.

If you ask me, the fact that she didn't even notice when Butch took the remote away shows that she is desperately trying and failing to forget about something very unhappy. That very unhappy thing is most likely her situation with Jim and her overall loneliness. But all Tabatha can say is, "Relax." Not helpful, if you ask me.

4. Strange's Collection of Books
King Arthur, Shakespeare, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass...Strange's evil laugh as he held those books in his hands. Can you say exciting? =)

5. Beautiful Visuals
The red and black Gothic theme, the large scope, the cinematic action scenes -- wonderful!

6. Azrael's Effect on Batman
I thought it was interesting that Bruce was clearly affected by seeing Azrael jump around all Batman-like with his cape and everything. I don't know much about Azrael, but I seem to recall that he takes over as Batman in the comics for a while, so maybe that's part of what this episode was alluding to. For me, it was just neat to realize that that's probably what Batman will look like if he ever shows up in this series, and to think that apparently Bruce took inspiration from a villain.

7. Captain Barnes's Ideas about the Moral Compass
Barnes once again brought up his philosophy that the law is the line you don't cross. It was more thought-provoking this time because Gordon was much more resistant to such a philosophy, having seen for himself how the law can fail.

I agree the law is no concrete indicator of where to draw the line, but then you have to ask where DO you draw the line? Gordon said that HE decides that. Of course, if everyone said that, it would be chaos. So, it is interesting to see how this same conversation is different between Gordon and Barnes this time, and it is interesting to ponder where this conversation will go next.

RATINGS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

General: 9/10

Compared-To-All-The-Content-I've-Ever-Loved: 8/10