I haven’t even gotten to the Penguin plot in this episode, or the terrible Riddler stuff that must be some kind of episode requirement for the writers. That’s because the two have little to no bearing on the rest of the goings on, and could have easily been cut out in order to flesh out the other stories, or shed some more light on the parts of the episode that did work.
Instead, Riddler rambles about video games for no apparent reason, and Penguin stalks Fish Mooney’s little “weapon” that she’s hired to woo Falcone. What they amount to are hapless comedic moments that unnecessarily crowd an already crowded episode.
Oh, and Barbara Gordon has run away and is now staying (and sleeping with) Montoya. The two are both barely characters, even nine weeks into the series, and this little revelation does absolutely nothing for the emotions or for the rest of the series. I seriously hope that the two run off together and never come back.
Despite these missteps, and the boring stuff with both Selina Kyle and the bomber chase, I came away not hating this episode of Gotham. It’s certainly a step down from the past few weeks, but it was filled with great little moments that make up for its bigger stumbles. The aforementioned Alfred/Bruce fighting lessons (and Alfred allowing Bruce and Selina to throw food at one another when he sees that the kid is happy for the first time in months), Harvey’s few scenes, and the Arkham connection were all high points that elated an otherwise flat and forgettable hour.
