Ok, so there’s a very specific reason there wasn’t a Gotham review last week (SPOILER WARNING FOR EPISODE 3), I was angry at the death of the best part of the whole show in Jerome who is not The Joker as we all assumed which made me think how many other people are running around Gotham killing for fun and laughing their heads off about it. Kinda makes the Clown Prince of Crime part of the jaywalking jester brigade, everyone’s doing it and no one can tell one from another.
Frankly I was not anticipating anything from Gotham when I sat down but to my utmost surprise (ahem) killing Jerome was the best thing to happen to the show. Please put down your pitchforks, torches and Hot Topic vouchers and let me explain. Following the most charasmatic character the show had was not going to be easy and what he did in the show is causing ripples for both good and evil that is gonna make Gotham impossible to look away from.
We have the arrival of Michael Chiklis’ new captain of the GCPD who’s mission statement includes IMMEDIATELY FIRING SEVEN CORRUPT COPS because he can, you could see Gordon’s insides having a carnival at that sight. The assault on the GCPD has caused them to react, creating a strikeforce of committed academy cops headed by Gordon, severing all ties with organised crime which leads into my next point about why this episode rocked.
The Penguin’s relationship with Gordon is over. Like really over, with Penguin’s hand being forced by Galavan (more on him later) and Gordon no longer able to contact ‘the other side’ valuable resources of information were decimated.
On the subject of villains, Theo Galavan is the man we have been waiting for. I, going into Gotham, had never heard of him before and I’m so glad because this is a breath of fresh air, for so long it was about who can out gangster each other but now we have someone who knows what everyone’s doing, how to push their buttons to make them do his dirty work and is a tactical genius. While yes it’s weird that he and his sister are sharing Barbara in every sense of the word he’s still a bad ass that’s gonna create a hurricane of chaos by the end of this season. We also have a rare nice moment where Ed Nygma finally has a date with Ms Kringle and it’s really very sweet, well done you puzzling man (see what I did there?).
And last and not least we have Master Wayne. True to his word he’s gone back to school but he doesn’t fit in for some reason, I don’t know but if I knew my classmate was one of the richest people in the country I wouldn’t leave that guy alone. Anyway he has a new love interest in the form of Silver St Cloud, Galavan’s ward (seeds are sowing…), and Selina got some harsh justice from Alfred. Apparently if you kill a guy his mates aren’t as forgiving as you thought, who knew!
Gotham has finally nailed down the characters that have the most stories to tell and they’re gonna run with it and very soon I won’t be laughed at for actually liking this show because it’s gonna be the superhero show to beat.
