Gotham S2 Ep. 18 Thoughts

"Pinewood"

What Gotham has beautifully done this season is not only evolve in its visual presentation and direction, but also in its overall world building which are two things that are usually very significant with the Gotham City title. What this episode has done specifically is continue in that tradition by revisiting certain doors within the city's dark and mysterious lore that were opened up in previous episodes, but were never touched upon again until now. So, with a heavy focus on lore building, character development, and villain debuts this season, let's see what this week's episode has to offer as there may be some nice little trinkets here to enjoy.

Punch First, Ask Later: Gordon's Back

Although not sporting a badge this time, it was fun to see Gordon kicking down doors and bashing faces for answers again. I love the fact that Harvey had a draw full of weapons for Gordon to use on his solo mission since he wasn't officially under the GCPD badge. Even though this may not have been a major scene to pay attention to as far as storytelling goes, this was definitely one of the more "for your enjoyment" scenes that I really got a kick out of. I'd never tell anyone that Gotham is equally as funny as it is intriguing, but I'd be lying if I said the show didn't have its moments every now and then.

The Perfectly Sane Barbara Kean

Now, this is one of the more head scratching parts of the episode as far as character moments go. When Hugo Strange released Barbara in the previous episode, we were lead to believe that she would obviously go back to her crazy ways as implied by Ms. Peabody. With the Penguin's release, there was already the built in concept of something eventually pushing him over the edge as he is one of the biggest villains on the show. With Barbara on the other hand, I feel as though we might actually be seeing a more sane and somewhat stable version of the character here.

I'm actually curious to see if they keep her as someone who legitimately trying to redeem herself as shown in this episode which might end up leading into something tragic down the line for either Jim, Lee, or Barbara herself. Something tells me that Barbara will attempt to help Gordon on a case that will eventually lead to her demise. Another idea that came to mind was the possibility of her seeing Lee again on her own to make amends and accidentally killing her in some twisted and tragic scene.

The Lady

Going back to my review of Episode 9, it's great to see that the show finally revisited the secret underground agency of assassins via "The Lady" in this episode. What's interesting here is not only do we learn that her character is in the process of finding ways to redeem her reputation after the failed assassination attempt on Gordon, but we also see that she was merely tased in the end and not completely out of the picture. My idea of Barbara potentially accidentally killing Lee in the future comes with the idea that "The Lady" will be after her now which may bring danger to anyone around her as well. Perhaps we might get to see more colorful characters like we did with Flamingo.

Something else that should be noted here is the fact that Barbara can easily slip back into her psychotic and seducing personality whenever she wants even if its to help Jim on his case. Whether or not she is claiming to be perfectly clean is up for debate, but the fact that she can "pretend" to be back to her old ways is dangerous in of itself.

Pinewood Farms

In Bruce's mission to find the secrets behind his father's files, we meet one of Gotham's mutated characters, Karen Jennings. Before getting into the character, I do have to point out how great it is to see Gotham fully embracing the more science-fiction horror elements of its universe as seen during this season. With Indian Hill and now Pinewood Farms being introduced on the show, we've been given characters such as Mr. Freeze, a potentially mutated Firefly, a re-incarnated Theo Galavan, and now Karen Jennings alongside other teased characters. There's something very intriguing about this particular part of the Gotham lore that is being slowly interweaved into the story and I'm enjoying every second of it. 

We learn that Pinewood Farms was a codename given to the biological experiments done to different subjects by Hugo Strange as an earlier version of what is now Indian Hill. The fact that we only get to see the building and the abandon interior only being briefly talked about by Karen was a nice little tease and perhaps a foreshadowing of a Pinewood Farms flashback scene involving Hugo Strange and Thomas Wayne. It would be interesting to see just how much the show dives into the more creature-like characters of the Batman universe and if this episode is any indication at all, we might just get to see a lot more than we think. 

I see Indian Hill and Pinewood Farms in the same light as I do with the underground assassin agency and Arkham Asylum. These are essentially gateways to introducing to new villains down the line, so audiences should definitely be keeping an eye out whenever these locations are shown or mentioned down the line.

Karen Jennings 

Back to the introduction of Karen Jennings, we get a pretty interesting look into the history of Pinewood Farms as well as a more mysterious perspective towards Hugo Strange as he was only known as "The Philosopher" to his subjects at the time. It's a pretty bizarre character introduction being that she basically attacked Alfred with her mutated reptilian-like hand before Bruce is able to talk her down by stating to be Thomas Wayne's son. We learn about her tragic past being crippled and abused by her father which led to her murdering him in self defense and being thrown into Blackgate. 

It's a pretty sympathetic story and a deeper look into the type of person Hugo Strange is as she was eventually taken out of Blackgate and promised at getting her crippled arm fixed. Throughout the show we've seen Hugo Strange being developed as sort of a manipulative genie presenting wishes to damaged individuals of being reborn and improved only to later use them as a tool for his own scientific gain. It is through Karen's character however that we get an even more horrific look at the type of monster Strange can be both visually with her arm and the emotional backlash with the character when she revisits Pinewood.

We also get to learn a little more about Thomas Wayne through her character as she talks about him shutting down the Pinewood Farms program after discovering what was really taking place inside. With her being the first volunteer in the program, it is intriguing to have a character who was actually present at the beginning of Hugo Strange's rise as a scientist with unethical practices and unlawful sensibilities. It's also cool to see the first major discovery in the Wayne Family murder mystery as far as motivations go. 

With the puzzle pieces beginning to piece together, it is heavily implied that Hugo Strange's opening of the Indian Hill facility led to Thomas Wayne's murder as a way of removing any potential obstacles to his plans. When the three visit Pinewood only to find it empty as part of Karen's plans to hopefully discourage Bruce, the three are attacked by Strange's men after he finds out that they've been searching through files on his projects. Keep a mental note at the fact that Strange has dangerous connections outside of Arkham as it may resurface down the line.

When Karen turns around and kills one of the men when she clearly could've ran off with Bruce and Alfred, there's a very brief moment in which Bruce looks down at the body and back to Karen. What I took from this quick scene is the idea that Karen's "out of self defense and nothing more" story was being put into question, but due to the desperate situation, Bruce may have simply brushed it off just for the moment. I might be reading into this scene a bit too much, but I couldn't shake the fact that she really could've just ran off with them without staying back to fight. This might also be her way of getting back at Strange in the only way that she can at this point.

The Dynamic Trio

This leads to the cops temporarily taking them which Harvey has a quick funny exchange with Alfred telling him that he should stop getting arrested for a change. With Jim now being a part of the Alfred-Bruce team, I started to realize how much more entertaining the show gets whenever these characters are placed into the same storyline and adventure. Seeing Jim, Alfred, and Bruce team up was some of the most thrilling moments on the show as far as character team-ups go and it's definitely shown to remain that way in this episode. With Jim matching up his intel with the two, the group decides to hijack Karen's prisoner transport vehicle in order to help her escape Hugo Strange's men at Blackgate.

Again, there's something specifically fun about watching a driven cop who constantly stands on the line of the law, a badass butler who has shown to still be quite the fighter in his old age, and a young rich kid with a vendetta all teaming up to take down a powerful force that has consistently remained out of their reach. 

The Return of Mr. Freeze

Speaking of powerful forces, we get the big return of one of my favorite villains of the season so far, Victor Fries. I was wondering how the show would revisit the character as I did see a promotional pic of him in a new suit a while back. There's an interesting dynamic being shown between Hugo and Victor here as he is almost being presented as one of Strange's most powerful lap dogs. However, at the core of it, you can tell that although Hugo is merely manipulating him to be used as a weapon, Victor isn't entirely under his control as he is shown to throw tantrums during his work.

There's almost a ticking time bomb feeling to his character at the moment which I do believe will explode before the season ends. I simply cannot see the character of Mr. Freeze being shown as a henchmen for someone else as he has always been developed as more of a solo powerful and threatening force with his own individual conflicts and mission. This is definitely a character that should be used down the line in a future episode specifically with him as the spotlight villain operating on his own agenda and no one else's. I'm really curious to see what the producers have in mind with him if they don't kill him off this season which I hope they don't make the tragic mistake in doing.

When Victor shows up stopping Gordon and the team from exporting Karen out of Gotham, we get to see his new upgraded suit in action after he takes quite a few shots from Alfred and Jim without getting harmed (though they obviously weren't aiming for his face here). After Karen sacrifices herself knowing that Victor was one of Hugo's men only coming after her, we get to see the freeze gun in action as Victor not only freezes her but actually smashes her to pieces afterwards. This is the most cold blooded (no pun intended) that we've seen of this character and it also shows how warped his mind has become since he's been at Indian Hill. 

We also get to see possibly a new freeze bomb in action shooting shards of ice at the team as he makes his escape after killing Karen. The look on Bruce's face seeing Karen (someone who he promised to protect after getting him the closest he has ever gotten to closure for his parents' murder) being shattered to pieces in front of him was powerful. Even as Victor's ice bomb debris flies around him, instead of looking scared for his life, he is only showing pure rage after losing Karen to something that he simply could not predict or fight off. I'm wondering if this scene specifically is the moment that we should officially label as the "Batman vs. Mr. Freeze Origins" moment. Note that Bruce has never encountered Victor before this scene.

The Moral Compass of Bruce Wayne

"Not because of you Master Bruce. Because of what you're pursuing"
-Alfred to Bruce Wayne about Keran's death

What we get towards the ending of the episode is what I'd like to consider as another great Batman moment to remember. Throughout the season we've seen a few Bruce Wayne scenes showing him evolve ever so closely towards the vigilante that we know in the future through various character moments. During the scene where Bruce places the weight of Karen's death on his own shoulders, we see both Alfred and Gordon attempting to level him out by telling him that not only is he not alone in his crusade or that he must understand what this new life of his will potenially do to the people around him, but that he should also have faith in order to move forward.

After Lucius Fox steps in revealing his discovery about Hugo Strange being the man behind the Waynes murder, I started to realize the "Batman inner circle" vibes that the scene was giving off. This is the group of people that matters the most in the Batman story and I do believe that we've finally seen them altogether in the same scene driving towards the same mission as a team. It's moments like these that are easy to step over considering everything else that is happening, but in retrospect, these are some of the most significant moments to the Batman origin story that fans should pay attention to. These are the people that not only pushes Bruce forward in his mission, but also acts as an all around moral compass for the character. 

It's also cool to finally see the true main villain of the story being place in the crossfire of both Bruce and Jim especially when Bruce angrily states that it's not right that Hugo and Thomas were friends. We've already gotten the iconic scene where Bruce confronted the man who shot his parents, so I'm starting to wonder if the show will repeat such a scene with now Hugo at the end of the gun instead of Matches. I doubt that the writers would rehash the same impactful character moment, so something tells me that Strange will have something up his sleeve that will ensure that neither Bruce or Gordon will ever step one foot in his area unless under his full control. Do not underestimate how much of an opportunist Strange can be.

Azrael!

That control that I'm referring to is foreshadowed in one of the more surprising moments of the episode which shows the rebirth of Theo Galavan or should I say "Azrael!". We knew that Indian Hill was engaging in experiments with Galavan, but this was merely implied towards the ending of the mid-season finale. This is the first time that we've fully revisited the character's whereabouts in a pretty violent and Frankenstein-like fashion as he wakes up and beats the life out of Strange's staff members. Now, the fact that Theo mutters "the holy city", "sister", and then yells out "Azrael" after killing one of the doctors shows us possibly where his mindset is at. 

Azrael from the 2015 Batman game, Arkham Knight

The name "Azrael" is the title given to champions of the Order of St. Dumas which we are fully aware that Theo was a significant part of earlier this season. The real question is what Hugo intends to do with Galavan now that he has successfully resurrected him. Knowing Strange, he might actually play into the St. Dumas lore to make Theo his "Azrael" champion in order to take on Gordon and his team. Just imagine Gordon's reaction in seeing Theo again. Now, I'm really excited just thinking about the possibilities surrounding this character.

Overall, this episode was one of the more world expanding, Bruce Wayne driven, and potential presenting episodes this season. It's incredible to see how the writers on the show have managed to juggle a huge murder mystery upon loads of deep and rich character development with other major and minor story arcs introduced as well. If there was any indication that Gotham has potentially rose up the ranks in the category of comic book TV series, this season's progression is definitely the biggest sign to that claim.

Bonus Content

Karen's Mutated Hand

Not the greatest visual FX on the show, but it was pretty cool to see the studio go as over the top as possible with her design.

Joker Graffiti

After Jerome's death, fans have been wondering what the future of the Joker character will be. Viewers might notice some Joker foreshadowing taking place throughout the season through background images. Here we have some obvious Joker graffiti next to Mr. Freeze.

So Much For Redemption...?

I'm just not ready to dismiss this scene as Barbara obviously going back to her old ways as I feel that the writers wouldn't just throw her back into the show in a very redemption seeking manner only to toss her right back down the same psychotic and villainous well in the next episode.

Episode Rating: 9/10