Welcome back to our Gotham recaps! Where I find out what is happening with the world’s favourite breeding ground of dastardly, deranged criminals and the possibly just as deranged people trying to stop them!
This week things got gayer, angstier and we discovered a more sinister side to weather reporting.
As always the recap is divided into The Plot, The Gay and The Ugly, so read on to find out what went down.
The Plot
In last week’s recap I noted that Gotham’s weather system is greyer than all of the hair on all of the dye-deprived pensioners of the world, so you’ll be glad to know that we finally have some idea as to why – some blasted blighter has stolen all of the weather balloons!
Is this thief looking to become a ragtag weather reporter? Do they want to get to the root of why Gotham has the most miserable cityscapes in all of TV-land? No, the Balloonman actually wants to strap Gotham’s corrupt officials to it, send each of them up into the atmosphere never to be seen again. Well, until the chilly weather makes them pop and they come crashing back down to Earth. Alas that’s how Detective Jim Gordon finds himself on the case, tasked with finding the fellow behind it.
As luck would have it, one of the deceased literally hits the Gotham streets, allowing Gordon and Bullock (his partner) to investigate. And then, like a man who chowed down on Lucky Charms for breakfast, Gordon finds a form on the dead body (that was stolen from the murderer) and realises that it had been written on the same person who he’d met hours before to take Selina Kyle (Catwoman) out of juvenile detention for the day.
With the person behind bars actually having the right, corruption-eradicating ideas, Jim naturally feels a bit sorry for himself, the city and those who have to live in it. ‘Boohoo’ thinks the morally grey police officer, despite y’know, having been a bystander to the biggest corruption scandals in the city (the mayor not caring about children, the cops being paid off by the mob, cold-blood murder etc.) in the first three episodes of the show.
Across town one criminal is still doing her bit to sully Gotham’s reputation and Bruce ‘Future Batman’ Wayne is furthering plotting how to improve it.
Future Bats has gone on hunger strike for reasons unknown to the billionaire heir’s butler, Alfred Pennyworth. But, after a heart to heart we find that poor Bruce is hung up on who was behind his parents’ murder. He’s got the case files scattered across a desk and has been poring through them for clues. Despite not liking the character or the “hero” that he grows up to be, I can’t fault his reasons for doing this and giving that the entire police department is as useful as a chocolate teapot, he’s probably the only one who’s going to solve the case.
As for the other criminal antics, those are courtesy of mob boss Fish Mooney. She’s decided to send a team of goons to beat up fellow mobster Carmine Falcone’s girlfriend (after he had the same done to Mooney’s boyfriend the following episode) and he is rightfully ticked off. He doesn’t think Mooney’s behind it though and so she gets away with it. If she had moustache I’m sure she would have twirled it plenty this week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEg332m4ZQk
The Gay
There was a lot of gay this week! Well, ok, there was a moderate amount of lesbian activity but it was so heartbreaking that it felt like a lifetime.
Still hot on the trail of who killed Mooney’s former assistant, Penguin, Renee Montoya dons her best pantsuit and heads over to…Barbara and Jim’s apartment? She actually has a key which is a surprise to both the viewers and Barbara who comes out of the adjoining room ready to high kick an intruder.
It’s soon explained though as this week’s episode of Gotham confirms that the two used to be lovers and they lived together too. It doesn’t sound like it was all sweet nothings and roses mind you, as the two have a heated debate about Barbara’s continued drug use (Renee notes the drugs on the living room table) and what got her hooked on the stuff in the first place.
Renee, now sober, regrets that she was the one who introduced the drugs to Barbara.
Barbara is too. Then, while my heart was cracking to a million and one itty bitty pieces Renee tries to kiss her, but Barbara doesn’t return it.
The reason for Renee showing up at all was to tell her that Jim is as corrupt as all those other chumps and that he killed Penguin not so long ago. ‘Ask him’ Renee says. Barbara isn’t exactly straightforward with her probing once Jim comes home from work, but Penguin shows up not long after proving that he’s alive whilst simultaneously scuppering Renee’s plans to make Jim look like morally corrupt pillock in the process.
The Ugly
This week’s episode of Gotham was actually rather disappointing, if I’m honest. It saddens me to say that ‘Renee and Barbara were the only redeeming things about it’ but that’s the God’s honest truth.
Everything was just a bit too convenient for my liking. For example, Catwoman takes Jim back to the scene of where Bruce’s parents were killed, he goes down into the sewers to go trudging through the waste and find a wallet that proves she was there, while she picks the locks of her handcuffs with a pen she swiped from the precinct. Obviously she escapes because this is a TV show but the entire thing felt really, really silly.
Then, Penguin stumbles into town and immediately kills a guy. In broad daylight! With blood everywhere! Then, he hits up a local eatery looking for a job, kills one of the employees to for his shoes and finds himself at the heart of another mob boss’ territory which he’ll be able to use to gather information inevitably getting revenge on his former boss. Gee whizz it’s almost like an unseen cosmic force is guiding him! Or y’know, a ham-handed writer hasn’t read the script back to see how ridiculous it all is. That seems more likely.
I’m hoping that the show is able to find its footing in the coming weeks because as it stands it could be a valid entry point to the comic book world outside of the comics or the many movies. So keep an eye on this one (it airs every Monday) and I’ll be back with another recap next week.
