Although there is still so much work to be done, it looks like Gotham MIGHT be finding a groove. There are still problems to be addressed, but the narrow focus and streamlined storytelling of last week’s episode infiltrated this week’s “Penguin’s Umbrella.” This type of storytelling is essentially what Gotham needs to be doing; a near bottomless pit of characters, themes, plots, and symbols to draw from means the show doesn’t need to pack so much into one episode. The main problem with the early episodes were superficial attempts at developing main characters, while simultaneously integrating periphery characters and villain-of-the-week plots. The result was messy and confusing.
This week’s episode wasn’t the typical villain-of-the-week, but chose to bring DC villain Victor Zsasz into the fold as a member of Falcone’s army. It gave audiences the chance to explore the budding war between Falcone and Maroni without being obligated to care about another pointless villain. Zsasz is still alive by the end of the episode, which probably means we will be getting to see some more of him.
Some of the online comments regarding “Penguin’s Umbrella” weren’t so kind about Zsasz’s inclusion or portrayal in the episode, mostly because his presence in the comics was somewhat questionable and/or marginal in the grander scheme of Batman Villains. I was not familiar with Zsasz myself, so I did some Google research and, even though his portrayal this episode did remove some of Zsasz’s more interesting characteristics, I would argue his presence worked to contextualize some of Gotham City, albeit in a round-about way.
In my “research” I came across the Zsasz origin story. After coming to Gotham City and gambling away his fortune, Zsasz decides to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. Before he can jump, though, a homeless man tries to rob Zsasz and threatens him with a knife. Zsasz then realizes the meaninglessness of life and, after stabbing the homeless man to death, he dedicates his life to “liberating” people from their futile existence. Based on this brief background, Zsasz does seem somewhat bland because killing indiscriminately isn’t necessarily interesting (just watch the latest season of Sons of Anarchy). However, “Penguin’s Umbrella” works by questioning what drives or motivates people, which serves as a nice juxtaposition to Zsasz’s view that life is meaningless because it is precisely motivation, drive, and desire that makes life not meaningless. A more specific question, though, is “What motivates the people of Gotham City?” Although Gotham City hasn’t been explored nearly as much as it should at this point in the season, it is an interesting question because of how corrupt and shameless it’s supposed to be.
When Essen is telling Gordon to get out of town and give up on his quest to arrest the Mayor and Falcone, the reason is because no one in Gotham will help him, not even herself. When Victor Zsasz shows up at the station moments later, all he has to do is say a mildly threatening “please” to get all of the police officers out of his way to capture Gordon. When Penguin directs Maroni’s men to one of Falcone’s warehouses, he turns on one of the Maroni’s men. Before delivering the fatal blow, Penguin asks, “What drives you?” And when Gordon and Bullock decide to team up, once they infiltrate Falcone’s mansion preparing to make their arrest, Falcone asserts to Gordon, “Having nothing to lose must be liberating.” Maybe the most notable example of drive and motivation came in the flashback at the end revealing Oswald has been working for Falcone all along.
Interestingly, though, exploring character passion and motivation is precisely what Gotham has been lacking up to this point. For most of the season, characters have been acting without revealing why this particular act is important to them as a real character. Perhaps the inclusion of Zsasz was a way of contextualizing Gotham City – this was the first episode where Jim’s “mission” to clean up the city actually went somewhere, and trying to arrest Mayor James and Falcone was a ballsy move leading to a genuinely tense final scene at Falcone’s mansion. Not only was it the first time Jim legitimately acted on his motivation, but it was also the first time the hopelessness of Gotham City felt authentic.
In addition to an improved focus and storyline, the performances this week were also mostly positive. As I’ve said the last couple of weeks, the moments between Jim and Harvey are becoming more organic and genuine. Both Donal Logue and Ben McKenzie have great chemistry with each other, and their wordplay continues to be one of the most enjoyable parts of the show. Robin Lord Taylor consistently gives impressive performances every week as Penguin, and Jada Pinkett Smith has great chemistry with her costars, however I wish she was given better dialogue and more to do.
The overall downer of the episode was Barbara. It was all too obvious she wasn’t going to stay away for long, and her capture by Falcone completely deflated the tension the episode worked so hard to build. None of her decisions make sense, and it was nauseating to learn she went straight to Falcone to plead for Jim’s life. Barbara’s character is a pointless plot device, with all of her agency anchored to Jim. In seven episodes, audiences have only seen Barbara in THREE locations: 1) The apartment, 2) The police station, and 3) The bus station this week. Give this woman something to do.
Another unnecessary scene this week was when Jim went to go visit Bruce Wayne to let him know Allen & Montoya would take over the murder case in the event he doesn’t make it. It was way too inflated and unnecessary because we all know nothing was going to happen to Jim, and also because it felt like another forced attempt to remind audiences Bruce Wayne exists. The growing relationship between Bruce and Jim is important, yes, but these moments would feel significantly more poignant and emotional if they didn’t happen every episode.
On the plus side, though, Edward Nygma didn’t show up with any question-mark branded mugs, and Selina Kyle didn’t show up to … say nothing and act like a cat.
I Have Notes 