With Jim Gordon’s demotion and re-assignment to head of the
newly re-opened Arkham Asylum at the end of Gotham’s mid-season finale
‘Lovecraft’ I revelled in the series taking such a drastic change so early on
in its run. Gotham has yet to reach its potential as a series, with its
overdramatic characters and dialogue and inability to settle on a tone –
problems which were still present in ‘Rogue’s Gallery’. Gordon’s shift from the
police prescient to Arkham Asylum however offers the series an easy opportunity
to explore its greatest asset in its mythology first hand, assumedly (and I’m
not sure of this as I’m not a Batman aficionado) from a new perspective.
With the change ‘Rogue’s Gallery’ was almost like a pilot
for however long this new part of Gotham’s story will run, with the
introduction of many new characters including patients and colleagues alike.
But as is the nature of a series now based in a home for the criminally insane,
particularly when someone is experimenting with electroshock therapy,
characters end up dead and by the end of the episode Jim’s new boss Director
Jerry Lang, and patient-turned administrator Dorothy Duncan were dead, along
with two other patients.
The case of the week wasn’t particularly compelling despite
the twist that could be seen coming in Dorothy’s involvement in everything, as
well as the late bait and switch with another patient Jack Gruber. Gruber,
underused as he was, was the best part of the episode, though, actor Christopher
Heyerdahl channelling his best Hannibal Lecter for the part. I particularly
enjoyed that the episode ended with an Arkham Asylum riot (although it probably
was too soon to be using what could be such a great plotline) and Gruber’s
subsequent escape. It was a dark and foreboding ending to the episode’s events,
a tone which I hope the series tries to continue. Morena Baccarin also
joined the cast as Dr. Leslie
Thompkins who at this stage only provides the role of damsel in
distress/ potential love interest, which is bland and uninteresting.
Despite Gotham’s shift to the Asylum, the series’ inability
to juggle multiple storylines successfully, particularly in tone and pace, was
evident in ‘Rogue’s Gallery’. Gotham’s crime war is a very intriguing concept,
but thus far the series, much like the character Fish Mooney herself, seems to
be biding it’s time to give audiences something good. This episode saw Mooney
use her right hand man Butch to try and convince another crime boss to join her
in rebelling against Falcone, predictably resulting in his death. Elsewhere Salvatore Maroni taught
Penguin a lesson when he tried to raise taxes on some fisherman; Selina Kyle
took ill Ivy to recover at Jim’s apartment; and Montoya attempted to remove
herself from her toxic relationship with Barbara., resulting in a call home to
Jim and an unfortunate conversation with Ivy. The ridiculous of the last scene
basically sums up the problem with Gotham’s subplots – they lack cohesion and
importance. Perhaps with more time to develop they could mean something, but
they come across as attempts to fit in every character for the sake of it, and
even worse than that, filler to spread out the main plot of the episode.
Rating: 2.5/5
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