Penny For Your TV Thoughts?: Gotham S4 Ep. 4 Thoughts & Easter Eggs

"The Demon's Head"

This week's episode of Gotham does what many other shows in its genre have failed to do which is officially seal the deal on a 4-Episode steak of high quality entertainment. Do we get to see Bruce kicking criminal butt in his new vigilante suit or Scarecrow giving us nightmare fuel imagery worthy of Freddy Krueger's attention? No, but what we do have is a truly fascinating look into the Ra's Al Ghul character, the Falcone name making its big return to the city, as well as the continuation of Bruce Wayne's ultimate transformation amongst other things.

The Legend of Ra's Al Ghul

First, we have to talk about this season's big bad himself, Ra's Al Ghul as this episode does an outstanding job at giving him an appropriate spotlight. Earlier in the episode, we see Bruce give Dr. Niles Winthrop the mysterious embalming knife to analyze overnight leading to an interesting and well crafted scene surrounding the doctor's death. As Niles reads the legend of Ra's Al Ghul to his grandson after discovering the blade's backstory, we're shown Ra's gently walking pass predatory animal exhibits in the museum which brilliantly symbolizes the super villain's intentions and sensibilities. After showing up to the doctor, I like the fact that we're given tidbits of character history as Ra's picks up a 2nd century Greek relic stating that it was forged in the 15th century by a man who told obscene jokes.

One of the more traditional tropes surrounding immortal characters in fiction is they'd occasionally have moments recounting famous ancient historical events as first hand accounts. Here, it's done very well as they never go overboard with iconic references and simply keep the comments brief and centered around Alexander's scene stealing performance. Now, I wasn't a big fan of Ra's walking by Dr. Winthrop's hidden grandson without noticing (someone's getting demoted off of being leader of a powerful cult of assassins). However, it did bring great tension seeing Alex quiver in the shadows as Ra's walks pass. Things always elevate in intensity whenever a young child's life is in question which we'll see later on in the episode.

Prior to the reveal of this week's minor villain of the week being dog boy...I mean...Anubis, we continue to venture through Ra's's mysterious background through Barbara's curiosity. When questioned about the knife, Ra's tells her that it's a destiny born of magic and blood 2,000 years in the making. Just as the previous episode alluded to Gotham's newest season baddie having a much grander scope mission than simply dominating one city, we're given implications that transcends anything we've seen before. The Anubis character debut may not have been much of an antagonist worthy of getting excited over, but I did like the idea of having the blade's mystical tale lead to a character with magical allusions from his name. Gotham appears to be carefully tip-toeing around the supernatural and I absolutely love it.

After Gordon and Bruce escapes Anubis's attack to retrieve the knife from Alex, to my admittedly shock, Ra's pops up at the GCPD as himself but with a guised persona as the minster of antiquities for Nanda Parbat. Geek out worthy name drops aside, I loved the idea of Ra's himself getting his hands dirty through deception which is a essential tool of the League but is usually done in the shadows. The fact that Ra's would put himself in the public eye, hiding in plain sight, makes him feel all the more bold and dangerous as a worthy antagonist.

With Jim playing along his guise for the moment, we get what is by far one of my favorite dialogue driven villain scenes on the show. Many of you will know that I'm a sucker for a good origin story, so the scene where Ra's describes the significance of the blade to his people's culture by recounting his very own story kept me glued to the screen with intrigue. It is through this story that we learn key elements to his origins as this legendary immortal who performed terrible acts in his time, raised a kingdom, then vanished with a vow to complete his destiny. What's great about this season so far is that we're given these different outlets surrounding one villain's backstory, yet certain things are never completely verified as being 100% true. This direction brilliantly adds to the allure of the character.

However, a lot of what makes the character work so well is the actor himself. I've already fell in love with what Alexander Siddig has done in the role playing up the menacing and snake-like traits of Ra's's personality. Every bit of dialogue comes with a sense of power, mystery, and a grand scaled hidden agenda yet never so much in the forefront to hit the "over the top" boundary. Speaking of mystery and power, it was amazing seeing some League of Assassins skills being utilized as Alfred comes storming through the office and punches Ra's only to have him dissapear seconds after. It's one of the artistically greatest scenes on the show due to how effectively eerie it was to have Ra's simply vanish out of the GCPD without anyone seeing. I have a feeling we'll be seeing this magical act done more often.

Bruce's Ultimate Loss

As A Vigilante

After having the death of Dr. Winthrop on his conscience, Bruce decides to watch over Alex due to the looming threat of Ra's Al Ghul hunting for the blade. This sets up one of my favorite character pairings of the show being Bruce and Gordon as they embark on quite the rocky circle of trust. There are several moments that I felt were done really well regarding the two's shifting dynamic now that Bruce has undergone his vigilante transition. I love the fact that, although Gordon has remained the same, you can feel that Bruce has tremendously changed being more aggressive now in finding answers which puts the two at odds with each other.

One of the best moments after Bruce storms in unannounced to get answers from Barbara about Ra's is the talk that both him and Gordon have immediately after. There's a great line to where Jim grills Bruce about needing to let the cops do their job by giving information about Alex saying "You wanna play detective? Now is your chance!". This of course sends up flags for Batman fans as we're familiar with the vigilante's "World's Greatest Detective" title. You can just feel the tension brewing between these two which perfectly connects to the traditional moments in Batman history to where the cape crusader would hold out certain information from Jim only giving him what he felt was necessary to the mission.

You're "weirdly cool" - Alex to Bruce

Leading towards Bruce's major lost, we get a couple of noteworthy character moments such as him lying to Alex about not knowing about the knife's danger relating to his grandfather's death. Not only are we seeing Bruce evolve as a crime fighter and detective, but we're also seeing one of Batman's more unpopular traits being his tendency to lie in order to protect someone. We also have a touching moment where Bruce tries to temper Alex's fear by talking about how he felt during his parents' murder and what he decided to do with said emotion. Through this discussion, Alex talks about how the other kids thought of Bruce's isolated lifestyle and family tragedy which was refreshing to hear. The cartoons and films never really explored how kids perceived Bruce, so it's great to have Gotham insert that little detail.

As Bruce and Alex hides from Anubis after retrieving the knife, we get the discussion that I've been waiting for since Season 3's big cliffhanger as Gordon grills Alfred about them keeping secrets from him. You can just hear the "Why is Bruce never around when Batman shows up?" question ringing in the horizon. Alfred may not seem like a major player in this episode, but his scenes are some of the more emotionally charging as he storms around in search for Bruce. What's important to note here, and one of the key points to the vigilante arc that I'm happy to see isn't being brushed aside is Gordon and Bruce's slowly fading circle of trust. It's something that was bound to happen surely, but it's nice to see those seeds organically being planted in the story here through distressing character scenarios.

It's a pretty intense situation to see Bruce's "other life" start to slip out publicly more often during desperate times such as the scene to where Ra's takes Alex as hostage. The moment itself is tension driven due to the fact that a child's life is in question, but what I also took note of was Bruce slipping out major information such as Alfred's death and resurrection. Again, it's moments of distress where secrets come to surface and I absolutely admire the idea that the whole vigilante agenda can easily be exposed with a simple emotional outburst. What this does is makes the actual keeping of the crime fighting secret that much more complicated which is how it should be. Kudos to the writers for exploring all sides to the Batman story arc including some that previous iterations have skipped over.

After Ra's mercilessly kills Alex telling Bruce that he's finally seeing things clearly, he surprisingly turns himself in which can only mean terrible things to come for the authorities. As far as that circle of trust that I mentioned, I do like the fact that Gordon continues to try to help the dynamic duo, yet they still refuse to reveal the whole picture. What's instead being focused on is Bruce having to deal with being the cause of Alex's death. This will definitely play a massive part in his evolution due to him having to utter the words "I killed him" about someone who looked up to him. Gotham has done an incredible job at slowly but carefully laying the foundation for the cape crusader's rise, and although this particular moment wasn't as emotionally powerful as the "I will not kill" scene, it's still one worthy of remembering for future reference.

The King of Gotham Meets

The New Queen of Crime

After having a meeting with Sofia about her reasoning for being in Gotham, Oswald mentions that some of Falcone's men went underground during his rise in becoming king potentially waiting for a new Falcone to lead them. This of course added tension to Sofia's arrival in the city to which we get our first strong mention of Carmine himself. I loved the idea of Oswald referencing Falcone as sort of a past mentor figure stating that he learned many things such as nurturing a healthy paranoia. This adds weight to not only Penguin's influences as a crime boss, but also Carmine's fainted shadow over the city. Despite not physically being present, it is through Oswald that we see a twisted image of Carmine's vision running rampant with power.

Eventually, we do see these associates of Falcone make their presence known to Sofia in secret to which she surprisingly rejects them leading to Penguin's ambush. Similiar to the brilliantly simplistic but impactful approach to Ra's Al Ghul's vanishing act, we get what may just be the first spine tingling gun shots shown on Gotham. With the camera staying steady on Sofia staring off in a demoralized manner, you can hear the sounds of gun shots ring off as well as muzzle flashes shown in the background. No gore, no blood, no screaming…it's all implied. This is the type of stylistic direction that we normally don't see in this particular genre, so it's nice to see the Gotham production team not being afraid to show less in order to convey more.

What we're seeing here is a different side to the Falcone name with Sofia being broken up about being played by Oswald in order to eliminate all of Carmine's men in hiding. What's great here is that she actually tells him what Carmine would've done in his place presenting a more sophisticated approach. It's interesting to have someone who can actually commentate on Penguin's methods of being the king of Gotham's criminal underworld. This leads to what is probably the perfect line that defines Penguin as he responds to her by saying "New times. New methods". The Penguin character may not have been in my positive highlights during Season 1, but I must say that I've warmed up to him now. This season has so far reminded me how much fun it is to see this psychotic crime boss rise in the ranks.

Unfortunately for him, we find out later that Sofia was playing Oswald the entire time in order to gain his confidence via a reveal through a steamy confrontation between Jim and the seductive gangster herself. Now, I do like the plot twist of having Sofia essentially be the grand schemer on top of Oswald's double crossing plan as it shows off her high level of intellect as a manipulator. However, I'm hoping that Jim's "I'm just gonna make out with her after she revealed her villainous plan to me" idea doesn't lean towards him just acting out of desperation to take back the city. Gordon is a guy who isn't afraid to go outside the law once in a while, but this season has emphasized on showing us the more boy scout side to Jim which definitely does not match up with making out with criminals...although who can blame him.

Again, this may obviously be a plan to use Sofia to get justice against Penguin, but I'm starting to have flashes of previous season plot points such as crazy ex-girlfriends and Gordon getting into fire with the GCPD after personal unlawful decisions. All I can say for now is that I hope to see the writers not completely rethread any established ground already. We're doing such a fantastic job this season with pushing forward into new territory that it would be slightly disappointed to see repeated and re-skinned story points. Fingers crossed right?

Overall Thoughts

Gotham continues to hit it out of the park with yet another solid episode of villain spotlights and deep character development. Some of my favorite moments in the episode was really anything involving Ra's Al Ghul as he continues to showcase why fans should be truly intrigued by his presence on the show. Although there aren't any highly engaging action scenes to look forward to (not that one should expect such a thing with every episode), I still found myself glued to the screen and all around entertained by everything that was taking place. With a promising cliffhanger showing our mysterious season villain grinning in cuffs, I cannot wait to see what's in store for us next week. I'm happy to say that Gotham has now given every other series within its genre a run for their money moving forward.

Bonus Thoughts

Easter Eggs

1. The Riddler's Crisis

Following last week's Riddler arc, we continue to see Ed struggle to come up with a worthy enough riddle. This time, as revenge, Oswald actually confronts him about his now terrible riddles deciding to let him live out his day as a shadow of his former self. It's an entertaining idea, but the Riddler honestly feels a bit forced in at the moment.

2. Nanda Parbat Namedrop

In his guise as a minister of antiquities, Ra's states that he represents Nanda Parbat which is the mystical hidden city located in the mountains of Tibet. The mysterious city acts as the headquarters of the League of Assassins. Perhaps we'll visit this location with Bruce before the season ends.

3. Blackgate Penitentiary

Ra's Al Ghul is said to be taken to Blackgate prison after being arrested which, in the comics, is where several of Batman's biggest villains get taken to. Will we possibly see some familiar faces and names from the comics as well as from the show? This will definitely be the right place aside from Arkham.

4. "I want Victor to Freeze him again"

With Ed getting caught dead in his tracks, Oswald decides to freeze him again via Mr. Freeze, but changes his mind in the end. Was it awesome seeing Mr. Freeze again? Yes. Is it fun watching a compelling villain with his own powerful and emotional story be reduced to a hired gun? Well, let's just hope that the writers find something worthy of his screen time.

5. Victor Zsasz's Hilarious Moments

Zsasz absolutely kills it in this episode with the few scenes that he has. The "I'll stab you" gesture towards Sofia and his reaction towards Ed's rappers were some of the funniest moments on the show.

6. Ehhh...What?

Readers of Penny For Your TV Thoughts know that Gotham is a hit and miss situation for me regarding its attempts at comedy. While the Victor Zsasz moments were gold, there is a brief scene to where Jim throws a dinosaur bone out of the window causing Anubis to follow it out like a dog. Yes, I do understand the context of this scene and the previous "dog boy" remark, but the moment itself just felt a bit too ridiculous for my taste.

7. Ed's Lair

Several images and articles surrounding the Penguin can be seen briefly in Ed's lair.

8. Possible Easter Eggs? Let Me Know In The Comments

Just like the boat manifest in the previous episode, there is a possibility that easter eggs in the form of names, numbers, etc. can be read. Found one? Let me know in the comments below and I'll place your name on the review.

9. Possible Easter Eggs? Let Me Know In The Comments