The villain this week, a throwaway pawn in the larger Gotham conspiracies, served his function well but ultimately didn’t amount to much. Regardless, I really like that Wayne Enterprises was revealed to be shrouded in just as much danger and secrecy as the Falcone family, and it makes me wonder if members of the board were somehow involved in the Wayne murders.
They obviously have something to hide, as evidenced by their involvement in the production of Viper and the mystery of Warehouse 39, and it was in this development that Gotham truly began to shine. It took a well-known element of the Batman mythos and gave it a new, interesting spin that we haven’t quite seen before. It’s world building at its finest, which is hard to do in a prequel series and especially hard to do in one that’s playing with material as beloved as this.
Unfortunately, Gordon and Bullock took a bit of a back seat this week, and felt a bit unnecessary to the rest of the plot. In fact, Gordon’s little rendezvous with Maroni was the most interesting part of his journey this week. I find it funny that the “cleanest” cop in Gotham now has his hands dirty with both rival gangs; he’s pretending to be in league with Falcone’s camp, but is now under Maroni’s thumb as well. How that power struggle will continue to pull Gordon in darker and more compromising directions is intriguing as hell.
The biggest triumph of Gotham this week was how it handled its two halves: the comic book drama and the police procedural. We’ve seen different variations on this dynamic each and every week, which in turn has made it feel like we were watching a different series each episode. “Selina Kyle” felt like a Tim Burton film, while “The Balloonman” felt more like a riff on Batman Forever. “Viper,” however, approached a near Nolan-esque balance of comic book camp and grounded realism. We were given a small introduction into more superpowered elements, but didn’t fall too far down the rabbit hole. On top of that, the campier bits of weeks past, namely the depiction of the Riddler and Fish Mooney’s plot against Falcone, were toned down to a swallowable degree. Ham gave way to subtlety, and things were better for it. Now let’s just hope Gotham learns from these improvements and doesn’t over-correct itself and drift the other way.
Additional Thoughts:
- Last week, Adam described Gotham‘s reliance on Easter eggs as a game of Whack-a-Mole. This week, that game became harder to play, as Gotham finally settled down let the eagle-eyed fans work for those clues and winks. Let’s have more of that, please.
- Mathis, the board member who spoke with Bruce and watched as Gordon and Bullock investigated Warehouse 39, may in fact be tied to the Dollmaker. In the comics, the Dollmaker is Barton Mathis. Is this week’s Mathis his mother? And is Wayne Enterprises somehow involved in the kidnapping of Gotham’s orphans? Hm… Time will tell.
- I thought at first that the villain this week, the disgruntled WellZyn employee, was the Mad Hatter because of the “Breathe Me” clue on the Viper bottles. Instead, he was exactly as he seemed. Oh well.
- Falcone has some Mommy issues, eh? I’ve got to say, the way he completely crumbled in Liza’s presence was a bit surprising. Perhaps Fish’s scheme will pay off after all? The source material says otherwise, but maybe Gotham has a few surprises up its sleeve.
- My favorite moment of the episode: When Alfred sits down with a handful of folders and starts investigating along with Bruce. Sean Pertwee has played Alfred as a tough-as-nails guardian, but finally began showing his softer side by episode’s end.
