Review: Gotham, Season 2, Episode 8: Tonight’s The Night (A Nice Day For A White Wedding?)

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

“Bad dream”

‘Tonight’s The Night’ was a thoroughly entertaining piece of TV, and one of the best episodes of Gotham since the time of Jerome. Having one over-arching story (that of Galavan’s quest for vengeance) has glued everything together and given mostly each character a reason for existing. Even Barbara has had something to do. This episode is her shining moment, where all of the potential of her mentally scarred character was pushed into the foreground, rather than lurking in the foreground. Bookended by two weddings, ‘Tonight’s The Night’ packed enough in between the bookends to be rewarding TV.

Review: Gotham, Season 2, Episode 7: Mommy’s Little Monster (A Freudian Slip In Quality?)

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

“No, no, no, that’s not possible”

Will Gotham be anything more than a mixed bag of a TV series? Seven episodes in to the second season, and the quality hits highs and lows every couple of minutes! The beginning to this episode was shocking and rather brutal, but the rather ridiculous Riddler sub-plot dragged the flow down soon afterwards. Galavan continues to be an intriguing ‘big bad,’ and most scenes involving him keep the show afloat. But what really happened, of substance, between the pre-credit teaser and the final shoot-out? And yes, we were subjected to yet another shoot-out that looked identical to all the other shoot-outs that we’ve seen thus far!

Review: Gotham, Season 2, Episode 2: Knock Knock

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

“You’re part of the great endeavour, the great cleansing”

Well, why didn’t ‘Gotham’ begin its second season with an episode like ‘Knock Knock?’ This was ‘Gotham’ at its best; granted, that doesn’t mean the highest level of quality, but you settle for what you can get in ‘Gotham.’ Although I could have done without the Bruce Wayne/Alfred subplot, which felt like we’d been cheated yet again, the ‘Rise of the Villains’ certainly came to the fore, in an equally entertaining, brutal and shocking manner. At times, the brutality seemed too camp, diffusing the shock factor, but overall it was well done. It felt more like a mid-series cliffhanger than merely the second episode! Let’s hope they don’t peak too soon…

Review: Gotham, Season 2, Episode 1: Damned If You Do…(Damned If You Watch This Show!)

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

“Dark days are coming”

Gotham is back on Channel 5! If it was up to me, I wouldn’t watch Gotham. The first season, while containing some good episodes, failed to conjure up much of anything apart from boredom and frustration. However, my fiancée adores it, so in the name of compromise, I continue to watch it! With the subtitle ‘Rise Of The Villains,’ we were promised a great deal…but the first episode of Season 2, ‘Damned If You Do…’ did what Gotham does best: disappoint! One pleasant observation was that it no longer takes itself too seriously, but nothing made a great impression. The writers have not learned any lessons from Season 1.

Review: Gotham, Season 1, Episode 22: All Happy Families Are Alike (I’d Rather Watch The Sopranos!)

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

“A brand new day”

Last week’s ‘Gotham’ left us with the average cliffhanger of mafia warfare starting in Gotham between Maroni and Falcone. Regardless of comic books fans knowing who would win, there was still little suspense about the outcome. Who cares who wins? Both characters are as unappealing (not in a “good” sense!) as each other. But we don’t see any of the mafia warfare. We fast forward to Falcone being on the receiving end of a grenade launcher and being imprisoned in a hospital room. Of course, the writers felt the need to include almost every character in the finale, so what we get is a bunch of scenes that serve only to show us characters. Fish Mooney reappears and Selina Kyle teams up with her. Barbara goes for psychotherapy with Leigh. Kris Kringle and The Riddler share a scene together. As usual, it all adds up to an episode full of empty plots and even emptier characters…

Review: Gotham, Season 1, Episode 21: The Anvil or The Hammer (Either, Just Knock Me Out Now!)

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

“So we do it the hard way

The penultimate episode of ‘Gotham’s’ first season, ‘The Anvil or The Hammer,’ left us with a promising cliffhanger but little else. The Ogre’s story was wrapped up with a series of lucky guesses from Gordon and Bullock. Barbara’s character fell to a mere part of that plot line. Her character was the strongest it’s ever been in the beginning of last week’s episode. Here, Barbara was nothing more than a person to carry along the plot. Nigma was shoved in an autopsy room for most of the episode as he disposed of the dead body. Bruce Wayne’s adventures with Wayne Enterprise came to little more than a precursor to his (much-mentioned) will to follow the law. The saving grace was the cliffhanger, involving Penguin’s plot. He stole the show, but there wasn’t much of a show to steal… 

Review: Gotham, Season 1, Episode 20, ‘Under The Knife’ (Hard To Dissect…)

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

“Didn’t you know, I’m a member of society”

If you had Attention Deficit Disorder, then ‘Under The Knife’ was the perfect episode of ‘Gotham’ to watch. It flitted through scenes like there was no tomorrow. Not to say it wasn’t entertaining; on the contrary, plot developments came thick and fast. Nigma’s obsession with Kris Kringle finally came to something. Bruce Wayne was reeling after Selina Kyle’s murderous actions last week. However, there was hardly a moment to focus on the ‘present.’ The episode sped on, dipping from story to story without room to breathe. If ‘Gotham’ hadn’t lost its focus for much of the series, then the multiple strands wouldn’t have to been ploughed through so quickly.

Review: Gotham, Season 1, Episode 19: Beasts of Prey (You need to hunt to find the focus of this episode)

(Spoilers Ahead)

“Make that mistake again, and it will be your last”

‘Beasts of Prey’ was another episode of Gotham that fell flat due to the uneven focus on several stories at once. Oswald’s side story took up too much time. Fish Mooney’s extended vacation at the Dollmaker villa has thankfully come to an end, but what has it achieved, exactly? Other than reminding us that Fish is still a character in Gotham? However, both the ‘main story’ of Gordon’s murder case and Bruce Wayne’s commitment to finding Reggie reaped some benefits along the way. 

Review: Gotham: Season 1, Episode 18: Everyone Has A Cobblepot (I don’t!)

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

“I’m like the phoenix…I’ll just rise and rise and rise” 

What’s this? An episode of Gotham that doesn’t focus on too many stories at once? ‘Everyone Has A Cobblepot’ contained two main stories: Gordon’s mission to dig into Commissioner Loeb’s past, Fish’s mission to meet Mr. Thankfully, the focus was more on Gordon’s story, for once! Fish’s story didn’t develop much, but at least it didn’t take up too much screen time. There were two smaller stories involved, that of Bruce and Alfred and Nigma and Kris Kringle. While the latter didn’t achieve anything, the former used the smallest amount of time to progress Bruce’s quest to investigate the Board of Wayne Enterprise. Less is more, as they say…

Review: Gotham, Season 1, Episode 17: Red Hood (Prince of Thieves?!?)

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

“You’re doing great folks”

‘Red Hood’ was another over-stuffed episode of Gotham. There was quite a lot to admire about it, but quite a lot that didn’t need screen time. Fish Mooney’s and (oddly) The Penguin’s screen time felt unnecessary and forced. They both dragged out storylines that could have been resolved in a better-structured episode. The main storyline of the ‘Red Hood’ gang was squandered, due to the short duration it was given. However, we delved a little into Alfred’s past, and a storyline involving Bruce Wayne actually rewarded us!