Gotham S2 Ep. 20 Quick Thoughts:

"Unleashed"

I've been beginning to see shades of Season 1 in tone with the recent two episodes which is a bit of a problem for me considering how much I disliked the constantly shifting over the top feeling of that season. However, I did like seeing Tabitha return and we do get a little bit more of that St. Dumas lore that I've been interested in and hoping that it returns in a significant and spectacular way. 

I also thought that Tabitha getting stabbed was a little unexpected, but I actually liked the idea of Theo getting just enough memory back to remember her betrayal. I'm still hoping to see the writers place her back into that underground assassin club with a returning Silver St. Cloud as we were teased with during the mid-season finale, but obviously they might have other plans with the character leaving her with Butch (which I'm not the biggest fan of at the moment).

As for Galavan's death, this is where the episode really took me back to the overall stylistic feel of Season 1 from the musical choice and some of the over the top performances. I also wasn't a big fan of Penguin magically appearing in the nick of time to kill Theo with a rocket launcher out of everything (speaking of over the top), as it felt like a complete overkill for the sake of shock value. I was kinda hoping that he'd use the umbrella in a way that introduces the iconic swiss army knife-like trick umbrella, but I suppose they'd have to set that up first. 

I was also hoping that we'd see Azrael in action in a far more suitable way to the character than having Alfred actually hold his own against him in a fight (nothing against Alfred) as they did hype him up quite a bit in his debut. Perhaps a more badass and fitting incarnation of the character will rise to the position in a later season directly from the Order due to Theo sullying the title in public. We'll just have to wait and see I suppose.

Now, let's talk about the return of Firefly for a second as I've been really looking forward to seeing what they'd do with the character. From the moment she appeared talking to Selina in the background, I was actually really happy with the way her character looked overall as the shadows covered over her face entirely only showing the traditional goggles of the character. 

I didn't realize that it was actually shadows covering her face and not a dark colored mask as I was hoping for. From the moment the light revealed that most of her face was uncovered, I was immediately disappointed by the aesthetic choice from a visual standpoint. 

This specific frame during that scene perfectly shows how the character should be visually presented

Everything else on the suit, from the tubes on her shoulders and the goggles, looks perfectly fitted and designed to invoke the Firefly image. However, there's something slightly off putting about the way her facial structure looks when its revealed in the mask that really doesn't work for me. I think they should fully cover up her face as her comic book counterpart does, but perhaps let her reveal her burnt scars to Selena by fully taking off her mask for a moment to reveal the monster that she's become. 

Then she can place the mask back on once she starts slipping back into her insanity before blasting out the flamethrower. If the makeup department on the show really wants to show off Firefly's scars, this would be the best way to do so without compromising the look of the character. 

Overall, this was definitely one of the more weaker episodes recently as I did have issues with some of the stylistic choices flashing me back to the first season, but there was just enough entertainment value to keep things on a balanced line. I'm just hoping that these past two episodes are by no means signs of what's to come as far as the overall tone of the show goes as I've been absolutely loving the more serious tone presented in previous episodes. With Galavan out of the way, I'm really excited to see what the writers have in store for us with Firefly's return as well as whatever other secrets lie within the hellish depths of Arkham Asylum.

Bonus Content:

Killer Croc?

Is this Gotham's incarnation of one of Batman's biggest brutes from his rogues gallery? I'm actually hoping that the writers keeps the character in their back pocket for Season 3 before fully unleashing him. If he is in fact Killer Croc, I do hope that they visually develop him a bit more before calling him so.

The Firefly Themed Gotham Logo

One of the coolest things that Gotham has done is actually alter its ending transition title logo to fit the theme of the new villain threat. I do believe the previous one was regarding Mr. Freeze's introduction.

Episode Rating: 7/10