Gotham S2 Ep. 19 Thoughts

"Azrael"

After what I would consider as being a 10 episode streak of fun and interesting pre-Batman entertainment this season, I do believe that we've finally reached a little bit of a low point in this week's episode. However, there are a couple of redeemable qualities that are definitely worth mentioning (which I'ill get into a moment). Before I dive into the positives, I'll quickly mention why this episode felt like a slight downgrade in quality in comparison to the past 10 episodes of Season 2. 

Stay Far Away from Season 1!!

I cannot speak for the rest of the audience that watches Gotham, but for me, there was a long period of time in which I actually disliked the series quite a bit. I refer to the first season with its over the top performances by some of the major castmembers as well as its horrendously shifty tone and atmosphere. I absolutely disliked the overall presentation of the show that the producers and writers were trying to force out during that time. However the series began to improve quite a bit getting rid of some of my main issues as well as improving on its character development and atmosphere. 

I mention this mainly because I felt this week's episode felt like a callback to the presentation of the first season in many ways. Hugo Strange (currently one of my favorite characters on the show) felt like he was ripped right out of Season 1's cheesy and outlandish performances in a few scenes during the beginning of the episode. The tone during a major portion of the beginning half of the episode felt like a completely different tone in its overall direction truly giving me that revolting feeling that the first season did. Fortunately, this was repaired once Azrael was released upon Gotham which leads me to my positives.

The Rise of Azrael

After watching the fun marketing device that was the Azrael movie trailer released online by the studio, I was actually pretty excited to see this character in action given that the series never fully pursued a cape crusading villain until now. One of the greatest things about Gotham's version of Azrael is the fact that it allows the show to dip back into a piece of its lore that felt left off and forgotten many episodes ago. The Order of St. Dumas is one of the most interesting parts of the Gotham universe and I always felt as though the writers completely abandoned it after Galavan's death. Fortunately, the writers were simply holding it back for Strange to utilize it in the future. 

The idea of Galavan being presented as Hugo Strange's powerful henchman isn't something that I would've completely agreed with in the past as I actually really enjoyed Theo as a major season villain with his own powerful force behind him. However, as Strange started skimming through "The Will & Order of St. Dumas" book for the sake of manipulating Theo into becoming his own powerful assassin, I started to realize the potential that it brought with it. 

Not only are the writers essentially creating a new and rebranded villain out of the same mold of clay that was left in the past, but they're also bringing forth a new major story arc to explore down the line. I do hope that with Azrael's introduction comes a deeper look into that sub universe within Gotham city. Perhaps there are other members of the Order still alive which Theo will eventually rally up in his new image as "Azrael: The Champion of the Order of St. Dumas". 

Speaking of image, I do have to mention the costume which I have mixed to positive thoughts about. Considering the fact that Strange probably rushingly put together something from a costume shop with legitimate pieces of armor attached, I can't honestly argue about the aesthetics of the outfit for not looking as awesome as I'd like in comparison to the comics. The metal mask does look a bit too big and wonky at times and elements of his suit does in fact look like I personally bought it off of an online costume store, but again, one can't expect too much in context of the situation. 

This isn't necessarily Azrael in his natural form but in fact a manipulated and quickly crafted together lie (with a cheap sword to match) by Hugo Strange. However, there is potential for Theo to completely become a more fitting image and persona of the character by revisiting remnants of the Order as I mentioned earlier. I imagine that they'd fit him in the more appropriate armor and arsenal of weapons once they're convinced that he in fact their resurrected champion. 

Whether or not they do upgrade the look of his armor in the future, I do have to give props to the show for actually going forward in giving us some version of a Batman character that I never thought I'd see in a live action setting. Also, the color scheme and overall look does work effectively when he's shown from a distance and definitely invokes the look of Azrael to me as a big fan of the Batman universe.

As for the way Azrael is presented as a threatening new villain, we do get these pretty cool shots of him basically catching people by surprise with his ninja-like acrobatics considering that the show has never really explored that territory as of yet. I was automatically thinking about Gotham finally seeing some version of Batman as far as Azrael's swift agility and ability to appear and disappear in the shadows go. Just from a few encounters with the police, we're already given news footage of a black cape wearing silhouette leaping off of buildings and crawling up walls which I'm pretty sure is an awesome foreshadow for the future.

The Return of Galavan

As I mentioned earlier, Azrael's debut can definitely bring forth a major arc on its own, but there does lie an interesting dilemma after Galavan's identity was revealed to the world. Not only does his public reveal hugely impacts a significant amount of the major and even minor characters on the show, but it also creates an interesting dilemma to the city itself. With the entire city now seeing Galavan as their supposedly dead mayor running around in a bizarre costume, what does that lead to as far as the city's perception of its major public figures in general? There are so many questions to be asked whenever an entire city's population is inserted into a twisted situation. 

As for our key characters, I did like the scene where everyone basically has their own individual "No freaking way!" moment when looking at the news footage of Galavan falling on top a van, getting up as if nothing happened, looking at the news camera, and then running away into the distance. There's even a great line where Alfred says "What the hell is happening to our city?" in which Bruce replies "Nothing good". It's a pretty cool moment showcasing that the entire city of Gotham has been currently undergoing a major transition period, and as the audience watching, we get to watch it unfold before our eyes with new and interesting villains every few weeks.

Gordon: "Harvey, we're gonna need the batman for this."
Bullock: "Jim, he doesn't exist yet. Let's just admit that we're screwed"

With only a few negatives towards the beginning as far as the over the top feeling of the tone via a few slightly cheesy performances, this episode did manage to succeed in other areas that matter more to me such as its character arcs and storytelling. The debut of Azrael may not have felt as impactful as I'd like from a visual standpoint, but it was by far one of the more entertaining and interesting parts of the episode mainly because of its potential filled future. 

Bonus Content

The Mad Hatter Foreshadow

With Hugo now creating personas for his inmates, we get an interesting scene foreshadowing a future Arkham villain as Hugo maniacally reads "Alice in Wonderland".

Classic Hugo Strange Imagery

One of the coolest images that will definitely fly over casual audiences is the subliminal Hugo Strange imagery during Theo's conflicting mind after seeing a political poster of himself. As a fan of the character, I was excited to see them use the very classic image of his glasses being presented as these haunting-like spotlights that peers into your soul.

Bruce Wayne Gets A Batman Vision...Sort of

One of the scenes that honestly felt a little forced yet interesting was the moment in which Bruce Wayne shows up just in time to see Azrael scaling walls and leaping around in a cape

Classic Batman Imagery

There's quite a few iconic Batman-like imagery as far as Azrael goes during this episode, but one of the most famous is the scene where he cuts the lights then enters through the room in a surprise glass breaking fashion.

Commissioner Gordon Foreshadow

This episode is simply filled to the bone with foreshadowing, but the scene where Gordon tells Barnes that one day he might run the GCPD followed by Barnes possibly dying towards the end basically paints a solid picture for Batman fans.

Nygma Discovers Indian Hill

I wasn't entirely a fan of what the writers did with Nygma this episode, but his scene towards the end where he actually discovers Indian Hill while looking completely horrified was pretty exciting. What does this mean for the character exactly? That I cannot wait to see.

Episode Rating: 7/10