Gotham S4 Ep. 2 Thoughts & Easter Eggs

"The Fear Reaper"

Following up on what was by far the greatest season premiere in the history of the series, Gotham delivers yet another incredible geek out worthy episode. This week's continuation of the Scarecrow and vigilante Bruce arc offers up a bountiful of Batman goodies while carefully laying out the groundwork to what is shaping up to be a fun joyride of character transformations. We're only two episodes in, but I already feel confident enough to repeat the same quote that I gave during Season 3's finale being "If you haven't caught up on Gotham yet, and you're a huge Batman fan, you owe it to yourself to check out what is now a praiseworthy TV adaptation". So, with that in mind, let's dive into what makes this episode truly flourish.

Setting Up The Nightmare

First, as a proud horror film nerd and critic, I am legally obligated to point out just how amazingly Gotham utilizes its high caliber production value to create a classically eerie and atmospheric horror tone in its opening sequence. When Gordon and Bullock drives up to Crane's home, everything from the stormy night skies to the misty surroundings gave the setting itself an unsettling and quite haunting appearance. The opening shots of the house almost invokes the likes of Psycho or The House on Haunted Hill. Without Scarecrow even making an appearance, the show does a fantastic job at simply setting the mood for the horror freak show that's about to take place (just as many classic horror films would).

While inside of Crane's home,we're shown recently used bubbling test tubes and lab equipment showing the more mad scientist side to the Crane character and legacy all leading up to the reveal of Scarecrow's first victim. Following along the horror theme, we get what is possibly my favorite scene designed to hype up a villain for Gotham where the henchmen is found scared for his life inside of a scarecrow screaming that Scarecrow is coming. The terror on the bandit's face, the creepy scenery, and Gordon and Bullock's surprised reactions all beautifully sets up our new season baddie as some monster of sorts which is perfect in context to Crane's MO.

What Makes Scarecrow One of 

Gotham's Better Villains?

Now, it'll take a bit more than just atmosphere to cover up what could potentially be a laughably distracting costume design for any live action comic-book adaptation. In the case of Gotham however, I have to admit, Scarecrow's design mostly comes across as an understandably frightening image especially when considering the fear toxin being in effect. Is the suit perfectly handcrafted and presented on all cylinders? No, but why should it? We're talking about a kid who essentially lost his mind and took it upon himself to makeshift a visual representation of his "being one with his fear" revelation. With that in mind, I actually really appreciate the unevenness and cheapness of it given the situation. It also helps that the fear toxin does make him look appropriately creature-like at times.

The more important thing here is whether or not the character itself is being utilized to its full potential to which I'd happily say yes as a fan of previous incarnations. During the scene where Crane takes revenge on the warden at Arkham for his treatment, fans get to fully see what the new villain is capable of as he causes Warden Reed to envision his greatest fear of clowns. The imagery of Scarecrow grating his scythe along the table accompanied by the lightning flashes giving snippets of his full apparel was a nice little touch most likely taking a little inspiration from the 80's horror icon, Freddy Krueger. Clearly the producers of Gotham know how to showcase its more supernatural-horror oriented villains with a few nods to other fictional characters.

Where I take my biggest sigh of relief however comes with his motivation being explained during the scene to where he speaks about his reasoning behind the scarecrow outfit and the need to spread his fear toxin. Instead of the typical and overly played out "I'm just crazy and want to take over the world (or city) scheme, we get a refreshingly different turn with Crane wanting to "cure" people in his own twisted way. This gives Scarecrow a psychologically horrifying edge that I think the series hasn't really had in its rogues gallery as of yet (at least not in the way that it's being presented here). Yes, Tetch is a close comparison here stylistically speaking, but I feel as though the writers have done a much more detailed job at giving us a fully layered character here.

I love that Crane's threat level was made very clear early on in the episode after he gases up the Warden with fear juice resulting in him firing a gun at evil clowns. Of course there are no actual clowns present leading to Warden Reed actually shooting down Arkham staff members. What's great about the way in which Scarecrow's "power" is being handled here is the idea of having him verbally guide his victims to their crimes or fate by exploiting their vulnerability. The line "something from your childhood maybe?" as Crane stands over a traumatized Reed gazing at a demonic clown made the character feel like a sinister supernatural force creating a hellish world for his victim. Again, the producers know exactly how to deliver on the show's mind bending villains given the budgetary space that they have to work in.

Continuing with his reign of terror, Scarecrow forcefully recruits some of Arkham's residents as his army of "cured" lapdogs for when the GCPD arrives to which Jim ends up being the poor sap flying solo after his fallout with the station. Here we get the continuation of the episode's horror aesthetics making themselves known as Scarecrow's goons attack Jim in the vein of a hungry zombie herd. Actually, there's a part of me that would've liked to see Crane engulfing the asylum in fear gas actually causing Jim to see the inmates as zombies. Either way, it's a great scene showing just how capable our hero remains to be as both a soldier and a cop even when on his own. Although we don't get to see fear gas induced zombies, we do get crazier than ever asylum inmates so no major complaints here.

As Jim fights his way through waves of "where the hell is security anyway?" inmates, we get one of Gotham's traditional reunions between Gordon and someone who desperately wants to kill him. It's here where Scarecrow unmasks himself and confronts Jim about his father's murder. We also get a deeper look behind Crane's mentality regarding his father being a genius as opposed to a criminal. Once Scarecrow sprays Jim with fear gas, we're shown a pretty twisted image of Lee laying in a tub filled with her own blood with her wrists slit due to her hatred over him. It's definitely one of Gotham's more gruesome visuals but a powerful and warranted one considering where Season 3 took the two characters' relationship. It's always interesting to see the many ways in which Gotham pushes and justifies its TV-14 rating. Again, no complaints here.

Tribute To The Arkham video games?

Just like with the warden, Scarecrow is shown verbally guiding Jim to a horrible fate, only this time, Jim manages to snap out of it reminding us of his formidability. Following this moment is what I can only describe as being an Arkham (name of a Batman video game series) boss battle adapted into live action. Jim enters a room to which he sees Scarecrow (the boss) hiding behind an army of goons. Jim then uses objects from the environment to take down said goons leading to the villain scurrying away. As icing on the cake, we have a much larger goon showing up as the final obstacle to take down. Sounds familiar? The video game lover inside of me couldn't stop grinning at the sight of seeing Gotham possibly tribute a video game based off of the same source material that it adapts. I truly hope this was intentional.

Formation of The Bat Team

In past seasons, we've seen the show teasing its way towards the eventual team up of Batman's inner circle of heroes. However, it's particularly in this episode where we see things truly skyrocket towards that concept becoming a reality. Just when I thought that Season 4's vigilante Bruce presentation would be the peak of awesomeness during the first couple of episodes regarding Batman's beginnings, Gotham wastes no time in including none other than Lucius Fox to the mix. It was an inevitable collaboration waiting to happen and was perfectly hinted at during Season 3 where Fox implied his unfulfilling position at that the GCPD. What have I been saying since Season 2? Gotham knows exactly how to plant seeds for future endeavors. Here's one finally sprouting into something.

One of my favorite moments early on in the episode is where Lucius sees right through Alfred and Bruce's story about rock climbing being the cause of Bruce's bruises at the GCPD. It is through Chris Chalk's brilliant performance that we're able to see the gears turning inside of his brain leading to what would later be a moment for Gotham fans to rejoice. It's hard not to smile when watching these characters begin to finally see the bigger picture that's right in front of them.

Before this happens however, we do have to talk about the continuation of the amazingly woven through Alfred-Bruce relationship with the now, and I still can't believe that I'm saying this, vigilante arc. We get some incredible scenes between the two as Alfred lectures Bruce about his careless sloppiness and arrogance to which Bruce shrugs off the advice in favor for his commitment. These are the type of conversations that I'm more than happy to see the writers not shy away from as it significantly pinpoints the struggle and ordeal that it took for the two to become the future highly effective crime fighting duo. Perfection takes time. It's nice to see the writers understand this.

This unfortunately leads to Bruce's downfall being trapped and captured by the same group of thugs that he nearly died from previously. What's amazing about this scene is not only how seriously intense the situation feels with Bruce being both threatened for death (or worst as implied) and actually unmasked which is shocking in of itself, but also his drive to face the issue with a tactical mind. Honestly, if you would have told me during Season 1 that we'd see this innocent looking kid threatened with a gun to his face, surveying the environment, taking on criminals, and using a grappling hook to scale down a building in his escape, I'd say that you're insane. This entire scene essentially yelled "I'm Batman!" without ever having to say the words and I couldn't have been more joyous.

Although, the real deal sealer here was the fact that Bruce still needed Alfred to show up to save him despite all of his skill and dedication. This is the fact that I hope gets laid across thick being that Batman is only as strong as Alfred's support. Judging by what we've seen thus far, I'd say they've done a stellar job at conveying this. Fast forward to Lucius showing up just in time to deliver the holy grail of all fan service moments: "the suit". Yes, there are no bat ears yet, but seeing Fox open up a briefcase including a black colored military grade suit tailored for missions placed a Joker wide grin of approval on my face. Then, as icing on the cake, we have one of the more geek out worthy moments in comic book TV history where we get to see Bruce try out the suit leaping over building tops with Alfred's commentary. 

...Yep, we're living in the golden age.

Overall Thoughts

Both starting off and ending on a high note twice in a row, Gotham delivers another fantastic episode laying the groundwork for a thrilling and dramatically engaging season of character arcs. Seeing a villain as iconic as Scarecrow get an excellently crafted debut as well as finally experiencing the moment where Bruce dons a crime fighting suit causes me to believe that we might just be witnessing the birth of one of comic book TV's greatest seasons of all time. With the city undergoing another power struggle between Penguin and the GCPD as well as a returning player in the criminal underworld making her presence known, things are shaping up to be quite the joyride of chaos for fans to buckle up for. I look forward to seeing the season hopefully keep its current streak of success.

Bonus Thoughts

Easter Eggs

1. The Proto Bat Suit

Gotham finally introduces its first true prototype to the bat suit which, according to Lucius, includes gloves that can cling onto any surface, a light weight feel, and bullet proof material. The fact that Bruce can now potentially become more agile, a more effective climber, and can withstand gunfire just makes me smile at the possibilities of future action scenes. This is truly Batman in the making.

2. Barbara's Back

This is one of those story ideas to where I say "Let's just wait and see how this plays out". I loved the Barbara character's presentation during Season 3 as this psychotic power hungry mob boss figure but having her "return from the dead" goes along my issue of Gotham constantly resurrecting villains. I do love the new setting (Sirens club?), character design, and weapons dealing idea, but I'm not fully ready to jump onboard just yet.

3. Scarecrow's Presentation

Some of the cool little details that I left out in the main review is Scarecrow's amazingly haunting theme as well as the stylistically subliminal editing style used for him showing up around Jim during the attempted suicide scene. Yes, the character does hold many comparisons to Jervis Tetch, but I honestly feel as though Scarecrow presents a whole new unique element to the show's gallery of villains on his own.

4. Someone's Wearing Purple

Although clearly a much darker shade to her comic book counterpart's classic appearance, we do see Selina sporting a purple colored leather outfit here. Perhaps down the line we may even see some metal claws make their way to the apparel before the season ends.

5. The Grappling Hook

During the failed ambush by Bruce, we see our cornered vigilante in training use his resourcefulness and environmental awareness to not only use a makeshift flame thrower, but also a grappling hook to propel out the window. Perhaps this is where the future cape crusader gets the idea for his legendary tool of choice.

6. Ivy's Transformation

Ever since Ivy's physical transformation  the character has been nothing but a question mark popping up randomly in everyone else's story. Here, we finally get to see some real semblance of a character spotlight as we not only learn where she's been getting her herbal ingredients, but we also see her ingest a mysterious and seemingly powerful DNA altering concoction. Is this what I think it means? Let's just hope that we get a real Poison Ivy arc that doesn't feel forced.

7. Crane's Self Cure

Scarecrow's mask is briefly shown to hold the fear toxin in tubes connected to what seems to be the mouth area. Does this suggest that Crane inhales his very own fear toxin as a means to face his own fear? 

8. Harvey's Wit

Despite the dark horror tone being implimented this season, it's nice to see that Gotham still has a great sense of humor at times. Spotlighting this is Harvey's hilarious comment about whether or not a Penguin is a bird or a mammal to which he holds up the embarrassing "Penguin or Chicken" newspaper article to the press.

9. Visually Keeping the Joker Alive

Alright, obviously this has nothing to do with Jerome or the Joker, but for Gotham to slip in a crazy character in clown make up is no coincidence. Perhaps this is the writers keeping the imagery fresh in everyone's mind? No?

Episode Rating: 9/10