Why on Earth we’re spending any time with Fish Mooney is beyond me; her storyline hasn’t been interesting since the day she left Gotham City, and I honestly wish that we were seeing this storyline after the fact, either via flashbacks or some other form of storytelling trickery. While a villain like the Dollmaker is certainly interesting and could exist in a Gotham that does not yet have Batman, there’s no real reason he should exist in this series at all. At least, not yet.
Part of what plagues Fish’s current storyline is the ridiculousness of it all. Not only has she now ascended from unwilling-organ-donor-to-be to the Dollmaker’s right hand, but she’s done so incredibly quickly. Perhaps the writers are trying to show off how vicious and cunning Fish is. We already knew that though, so this storyline isn’t really telling us anything new and is just taking valuable screentime away from the rest of plot lines.
Penguin is only in this episode to plant the seed of Gordon owing him a favor, with “no questions asked.” I’m sure that will come in handy later, which is fine. As over-the-top and cartoony as his methods of disposing Marge (guest star Becky Ann Baker) and her husband were, it’s nice to see Oswald back to his old tricks instead of fumbling around town looking for liquor for his bar.
Nothing very substantial in Bruce’s corner happened this week, either, though we did get another badass moment from Alfred, who seems to be recovering quite well from the stab wound last week. The way he dismisses the stabbing as “just a slight puncture; leaked a bit” is great and perfectly fits his character. I hope that as Bruce’s investigation into Wayne Enterprises continues, we see more of him and his trusty butler. Gotham may not be about Batman, but it can be about pre-Batman Bruce Wayne, who is surprisingly one of the best parts of this otherwise messy show.
