Review: Gotham Season 3 Episode 12, Ghosts [SPOILERS]

OVERVIEW
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Was a I disappointed? Yes. Was I entertained? Also, yes. 

LOWS

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None.

MEDIUMS

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1. Evil(?) Lee

Lee was uncharacteristically unreasonable this episode, but only for a while. And I kinda liked it.

She's got close ties to the mafia now and she's bitter and vengeful. Understandably so. And that sounds like a promising villain origin story. But, no. It just took her a bit longer to come around than I had expected. Or maybe I just expected her to get her frustration and pain out in a more low key way.

Either way, we never really found out if she was infected or...*gasp*. That's why she was so angry this episode! She's infected with the Tetch virus because Mario's blood got on her!

...Could be. That virus keeps sneaking up on us. Who knows?

2. Penguin and Nygma's Plot

How did Penguin lower the crime rate? I actually want to know.

He's the crime lord of Gotham in addition to the mayor. Did he shut down his shadier businesses? I'd think he'd want to increase them too. I mean, I'm not at all unhappy to hear that he's apparently downsized them. That's great...but how?

Anyway, I kinda liked that bright-eyed, bushy-tailed assistant that kept stopping Penguin on his way into the office. I dunno. I just feel like she has potential. I'd like to see more of her.

Also Olga? I'd like to see more of her too. And Gabe too. Where does Gabe always disappear to?

See, Penguin has, like, no friends these days. (I don't think even Gordon counts at this point.) And that only made Nygma less likable this episode, since he has all the allies right now (Barbara, Tabatha, Butch, Clayface). So it's five against one. Just feels like they're ganging up on him super hard, you know?

But the thing I really disliked this episode was the "ghost." More specifically, it's the fact that the ghost turned out to be a "ghost." I wanted it to be a real ghost.

First of all, I love ghost stories. Secondly, I thought we were finally getting the pay off for that little throwaway Penguin line, "I've seen [ghosts]."

When your character says something like that, you have to follow up. You have to either 1)tell the audience the instance in which Penguin saw ghosts or 2)establish that it's not that uncommon for Penguin to see ghosts. And if it's not that uncommon, show it happening.

This would have been the perfect time for it to happen. It would be awesome if Elijah actually came back to warn Penguin about Nygma.

Unfortunately, Penguin's one ally turned out to be just another one of Nygma's allies.

3. Selina and her mom

Selina forgave her mom a bit too quickly. Most things in this episode happened a bit too quickly, but that's a staple of these Gotham setup episodes. I guess I didn't mind much this time because, for one thing, I want the whole Penguin/Nygma war to get over with as quickly as possible.

Now there's the question of whether Selina's mom is pulling a con, trying to get money out of Selina and Bruce. I don't know the answer. It genuinely could go either way. That's one great thing about Gotham: it can really keep you guessing, right up until the end. Even in this episode, I wasn't sure until the end if the "ghost" was part of a plot by Nygma.

One the one hand, we know that Penguin has and possibly does see ghosts, and we didn't know how Nygma could create a "ghost" of Elijah. On the other hand, we knew that Nygma's only mission in life is to make Penguin despised and, clearly, making him crazy on live television would be one way to do it.

Anyway, it's the same with Selina's mom now. On the one hand, if that guy is her partner, he probably would have just settled for the money instead of going to see Bruce. Plus, Maria risked her life to save Selina from Talon, so if she's willing to die for Selina, would Maria steal from Selina? On the other hand, Selina's mom is clearly super shifty and it's unlikely that her relationship with Selina will end happily.

4. Jim

I liked the fight/confrontation scenes with Zsasz because, well, I like Zsasz. And also because I dunno about you but I felt a real sense of danger when Zsasz threatened Jim. It didn't last long, though.

I guess it makes sense that Falcone called it off because Lee asked him to. However, it also would have made sense if he refused to call it off, and I would have preferred a multiple-episode arc with Zsasz as the main adversary. That would have been more exciting.

But I guess they have to move on to the Jerome storyline.

5. The Jerome Storyline

What is going on? Didn't we see Jerome alive at the end of Season 2? Is he dead again? Just asleep maybe? Or did Strange not reanimate Jerome? If that's the case, I feel like the Gotham writers have some real explaining to do.

It's looking like a morgue night manager named Dwight is about to achieve what Strange only achieved by accident: legit resurrection, with memory and personality firmly intact.

First of all, Strange is a genius and an established character in the Batman universe, and he had extensive equipment, staff, facilities, funding, and backing from the Court of Owls/Wayne Corporation. This guy, Dwight, has what? A dirty warehouse and "Indian Hill lackey" on his resume?

WTF?

Secondly, I thought Jeri was the leader of these Jerome fanatics. She certainly had a lot more charisma than this guy. What happened to her? I want her back.

Thirdly, during that convention of crazies watching Jerome's police station footage, I was struck with the feeling that Gotham was showing us a depiction of Jerome's real life fans.

Gotham has always been its most meta when it came to Jerome, which is fitting since Jerome has crossed over into the real world more than any other part of Gotham.

Take, for example, when Theo and Barbara discussed Jerome's death and Theo stated that Jerome was an interesting character but had limited potential, and Barbara disagreed. I could almost picture the writers of the show having that same conversation while deciding whether to kill Jerome off.

More prominently, however, Jerome has hardcore fans both within the show and within the real world.

Watching the Jerome fans watching Jerome this episode, I was suddenly like, "Is that what his real fans are like? Boy am I glad I'm not one of them." But the thing is, if I feel good that I'm not one of his fans, are his fans feeling bad that Gotham is parodying them?

Now to be honest, I loved Cameron's performance as Jerome. I thought it was nuanced and captivating and Jerome himself did have potential. I thought it would be fascinating to really delve into his feelings about his parents.

And I loved the whole idea that "nothing's more contagious than laughter." I thought it was brilliant how Jerome's virus piggy-packed on laughter. I loved the warning Gotham relayed about how laughter can infect us and how our legacies, good or bad, can live on even if the world's memory of us dies.

I thought all of that was very real world...maybe a little too real world, hmm? I mean, if Jerome's real life fans are anything like the fanatics in this episode.

So, if the writers are seeing this kind of behavior in Jerome's real life fans, I can understand why they might want to parody it within the show. I think it's kinda brilliant. I think it might open some people's eyes.

On the other hand, I'm not sure it's helpful to the show's ratings. I'm not sure it won't offend a bunch of fans. I just don't know.

But it certainly gave me something to think about. How much has Jerome's legacy bled into real life?

(On a side note, I didn't like that Jim and Harvey broke up the party when, as yet, nothing illegal had taken place. That was also a little too real life...)

HIGHS

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1. Barnes

I love Barnes. I just love him. I love him so much. More Barnes, please. He doesn't even have to do anything. I'll be content just to listen to his beautiful rants again and again.

RATINGS

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General: 7/10

Compared-To-All-The-Content-I've-Ever-Loved: 5/10

Review: Gotham Season 2 Episode 12, Mr. Freeze [SPOILERS]

Overall, I was well pleased with the Season 2b premiere.

My only complaint was that the episode seemed a bit choppy in terms of pacing, compared to a usual Gotham episode. Maybe it only felt that way because I binge-watched the whole first season just a few months ago, and sometimes, binge-watching changes the way the pacing is perceived.

Or maybe this episode really was choppy in terms of pacing because the writers were trying to touch on each and every character's story and set it up for the rest of the season. (Even though a ton of characters were in this episode, by the way, Bruce and Alfred weren't.)

Now for the things I liked about the episode.


1. Penguin

For the most part, we are left to guess at exactly what happened after the mid-season finale. But I see at least two reasonable assumptions: 1) Penguin became too depressed to competently rule his men anymore, or 2) Penguin purposely let Butch take over, and Penguin purposely let himself get captured by the GCPD as part of some sort of evil plan.

I much prefer to assume theory #1, since it so perfectly addresses the issues I talked about in my review of the first 1.5 seasons. What issues? Namely, the idea that having no love means having freedom, and the question of how Penguin could go back to being so sunny so soon after his mother's death.

See, if theory #1 is correct, here's what I imagine happened with Penguin in and after the final episodes of Season 2a:

1. Penguin believed Nygma when he said that having no love means having freedom. Penguin needed to believe that because he was in so much pain at the time.
2. Penguin's quest for revenge on Galavan allowed Penguin to carry on as his usual, sunny self.
3. Once Galavan was dead, Penguin couldn't carry on like that. As I said in my previous Gotham review, love is the only real motivator. Without love or some sort of quest based off of love, Penguin didn't have anything to push him through the hard times. The GCPD cracked down on his criminal organization, and Penguin lost control of his men.
4. In this episode, Penguin was far from being sunny, but he was still delightfully sassy and entertaining. He was still himself. He was just a very depressed version of himself, which makes perfect sense.

Therefore, because it makes so much sense, psychologically, for Penguin to become so depressed after killing Galavan, I hope that that turns out to be the case.

But from Penguin's general attitude when being taken in by the GCPD, I have a suspicion that he let himself get captured.

I'm confident we'll find out the truth before long.


2. Nygma

The scene of Nygma comforting Penguin in his prison cell was very sweet. I like that Penguin reacts to Nygma with the same kind of warmhearted chuckles with which Nygma's fans (like myself) also react to him.

That scene also seems to confirm theory #1, above, that Penguin did not plan to get captured, since Nygma did not seem to be in on any evil plot that involved Penguin letting himself be captured.

That scene also, however, raises the question of why Nygma has given up on trying to convince Penguin NOT to give up. It could just be that Nygma really doesn't see a way for Penguin to get out of this whole being-in-prison situation. Who knows?

We'll have to wait and find out, I suppose. I imagine all will be revealed when it is revealed whether Penguin planned to be captured or not.

I also like that the writer's aren't rushing Nygma's transformation into The Riddler. He is obviously different now, more openly angry toward others, but he hasn't quit his day job to pursue crime full-time or anything like that. Yet.


3. Despite the four-week jump, we don't skip most of the hard stuff in Gordon's story.

I hate it when TV shows end a season/half-season on a cliffhanger and then come back a few months later with a sizable in-story time jump. That is, I hate it when shows end on a cliffhanger, time jump over all the interesting stuff that happened after the cliffhanger, and come back to the story when everything has simmered down.

Often, the characters will simply describe what happened, or brief flashbacks will show what happened.

What's the point of ending on such an exciting note if you're not even going to let us SEE what happens at that point?

Show me the interesting stuff, the hard stuff that the characters had to go through at that point, because that's the stuff that really defines the character and keeps the story gripping.

We may have skipped some of the hard stuff for Penguin, but I'll be okay with that as long as the truth is revealed eventually and the truth turns out to be theory #1 (Penguin becoming too depressed to rule his kingdom). See, in that case, Penguin is still going through the hard stuff, so we didn't entirely skip it.

However, when it comes to Detective Gordon, it seems we didn't skip any of the hard stuff. We pick right up with him being questioned about Galavan's murder. So, it seems, with Gordon, we merely skipped a lull in his life.

That's the right way to employ time jumps, as a way of skipping the boring parts.


4. Mr. Freeze and Nora Fries

As I've said before, it is common to try and make villains sympathetic by showing the audience that the villains love other people. However, much of the time, it's done wrong and I'm not convinced of the love these villains supposedly have for other people.

For example, I wasn't convinced of Loki's love for his mother in the second Thor movie, because he was just never that nice to her.

But Gotham does it right. It convinces me of the love these villains have for other people. It 100% convinced me of the love Penguin had for his mother, and now, it has convinced me of the love Mr. and Mrs. Fries have for each other.

If Nora had ratted on Victor after the cops picked her up, I'd think, "Oh, see, look, Mr. Freeze. Here you are killing a bunch of people to save someone who can't appreciate it even a little bit." And I just wouldn't care anymore. Not about Victor as a villain, and not about Victor and Nora's relationship.

But Nora DIDN'T rat on Victor. I love how plainly she expressed her feelings on the subject. She said that Victor had done horrible things, and she was inexpressibly sorry for that, but he did them for her, so she couldn't betray him. I mean, that's just a very realistic set of conflicting feelings. It's how I imagine I would feel in her situation.


Overall, a very good episode.

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RATINGS:

General: 8/10

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