Gotham S4 Ep. 6 Thoughts & Easter Eggs

"Hog Day Afternoon"

In what is by far one of the best surprising villain spotlights on the show, Gotham delivers yet another highly entertaining episode for the new season. This would make six standout episodes in a row filled with fun and highly engaging storytelling and character development (which is a huge accomplishment for any series within this genre). So, let's talk about what makes a pig mask wearing, opera loving maniac a major highlight that shouldn't be missed for comic book TV audiences this week.

Professor Pyg Makes His Debut

Yep, that's right. Your eyes do not deceive you for it is in fact Professor Pyg that makes his grand entrance on the show this week. This is one of those rare situations in a "villain of the week" driven comic book TV series where a potentially terrible choice for an adaptation ends up being the highlight of the episode. Professor Pyg is one of the most laughably ridiculous characters in the Batman rogues gallery...depending on how you present him. What Gotham manages to do brilliantly is stay true to the wild nature of the character such as his flamboyant personality, love for opera, and obsession with pigs without ever hitting the peak of cheesiness. Instead, the snorting, psychotic villain comes across as an utterly creepy slasher from a long forgotten 70's horror flick. This is perfectly conveyed during the opening death scene.

What I've noticed during this season in particular is how well executed Gotham has handled their horror themed characters such as Scarecrow, Solomon Grundy, and now Professor Pyg. Strip away the Batman prequel cover and DC Comics branding and you're still left with a series of highly engaging individual tales of horror. With Scarecrow being presented as a nightmare inducing specter and Grundy's birth displayed in the vein of an old monster movie, Pyg is shown off in the likeness of a classic slasher. Similiar to films such as the iconic Texas Chainsaw Massacre, we're given shots of the killer's hands as he works on his twisted hobbies without ever really seeing his face. Throughout the majority of the episode, Pyg stays masked adding a sense of elusiveness to the character.

As I stated earlier, I loved that they stayed true to the character and, although the pig mask could have easily looked goofy, Gotham manages to make it work. Not only is Pyg's swine disguise legitimately frightening, but his impulse to say "Oink oink" to his victims alongside his vibrant personality felt disturbing. The idea of him killing corrupted cops as a means to cure the city was an interesting idea that strayed from his comic book motive of making people "perfect" via doll faces. However, like any good adaptation, the writers transferred the character's core traits (Pyg's drive to mold the world to his liking) to the show's universe (Penguin's political conspiracy climate). It's a great way of showing that, although Batman is known for creating his villains, villains can also bring about their own costumed enemies.

Similiar to when Mr. Freeze made his Season 2 debut, the episode played out like a great crime-thriller following along a bread crumb trail of uniquely killed victims. Instead of being literally frozen in place, Pyg's MO of placing a sewn pig head on top of his victims made for some genuinely freaky imagery. There's one moment in particular during Gordon and Harvey's attempt to save one of his victims, where a trapped officer is shown to have a grenade stitched into his stomach. It's an amazing scene from a horror perspective as it shows the twisted nature of our villain while also conveying his craftiness and unpredictability.

After Jim gets captured following the grenade explosion, we get our expected villain exposition scene. Now, this is where even a shockingly well adapted villain costume and great performance can fall down by the wayside...but it doesn't here. As Pyg explains to Gordon that they're basically after the same thing surrounding the ridding of Penguin's dirty cops, we get a great line that perfectly sums up the character's mentality while brilliantly keeping with the aesthetics of his design. After Gordon implies that Pyg's plan to take out all of Oswald's cops could be a station wide massacre, Pyg states "No one wants to see how the sausage is made, but once it is made, isn't it delicious?". This line could have easily come across as cringeworthy, yet, like the character's adaptation, it surprisingly works.

The Real Confrontation

Arguably Donal Logue's best performance on the show

One of my favorite elements of the episode aside from Professor Pyg's presentation was the fact that we were finally getting a Jim and Harvey buddy cop episode. These aren't as frequent as they used to be understandably, so it was great watching these two have their traditional hilarious banter and law stretching methods. However, in a more serious direction, there is a pretty emotional moment following Harvey's near death experience with Pyg. After watching his friend barely survive an intentionally mild throat slit wound, Gordon confronts his partner about taking Penguin's money behind the scenes. It's a tear jerking moment watching Jim having to expose his best friend for being as corrupted as the other officers placing Pyg in the background to unveil a much more intimate conflict.

Starting A New

After Ed began exploring the idea of using Grundy as a cage fighter in order to gain money, we left last week's episode on a cliffhanger revealing Lee's return. I remembered thinking "Hmm, isn't it a little bit too early to throw this character back into the ring?". Fortunately, the writers did find a nice way to show Lee's significant place in the current landscape of the city. After Ed discovers that her position as a fight club doctor keeps her real job running a clinic for infected people, I felt like we were getting a meaningful use for the character. It's a strong follow up to what happened during the season 3 finale showing that the city hasn't fully gotten over the Tetch virus outbreak. With Lee's character in focus, the series shows us the major impact that cataclysmic events have on the overall universe.

Admittedly, I did feel as though the Solomon Grundy-Riddler stuff could have waited another episode to make room for more Professor Pyg antics. Although I've been having a blast with Grundy so far, I wasn't really feeling the idea of switching back and forth with their story. Given a bit of scene reshuffling, I honestly think that everything revolving around Ed trying to exploit Lee for treatment and Grundy's cage matches could have felt less distracting. Yes, it is fun seeing Grundy wipe the floor with every physically huge fighter thrown at him as Ed yells in excitement. I just personally wished that those scenes in particular didn't feel like a quick side break from the real highlight being the riveting crime-thriller taking place. If anything, I am at least looking forward to seeing where these three end up in the future. 

Overall Thoughts

This week's episode of Gotham was incredible introducing a new villain and offering up the perfect example that even the craziest of characters can be well adapted. Professor Pyg lit up the screen with a captivating screen presence and a threat level worthy of stretching out to multiple episodes. With an eerie cliffhanger showing the villain in his element surrounded by pigs creepily quoting some twisted nursery rhyme, Gotham winds up its audience for something profound on the horizon. With my only nitpick being a particular decision in story focus, I truly believe that this season overall has been one of the greatest entries in the history of the genre. I simply cannot wait to see what next week's crazy endeavors will bring.

Bonus Thoughts

Easter Eggs

1. Sofia's Plan Continues

Following up from the previous episode, we continue to see Sofia very carefully have Oswald completely wrapped around her fingers by coming across as a loving friend and more. This is the first time that we've seen a female almost completely dominate Penguin emotionally which perfectly reflects on his promise to Ed about never letting emotions get the better of him again.

2. Grundy's Development As A Meta

Through Lee's brief patch up of Grundy and his cage fights, we get what is sort of our "meta human breakdown" of Butch's new form. Grundy is shown to have no blood but instead swamp water, regenerative limbs considering his hand, numb to pain except for perhaps fire, and the lack of a heartbeat. Hugo Strange would lose his mind over this one.

3. Professor Pyg's Surgery Background

In the comics, Professor Pyg is known to be a gifted scientist and highly skilled surgeon which is implied during this episode. You can find these implications via the sewn pig heads, grenade body stitching trap, and intentionally mild throat slit towards Harvey even in a pressured situation.

4. Jim's Uphill Battle

Although an easily skipped over exchange, keep the moment in mind where Oswald essentially one ups Jim in information gathering due to his criminal license. There still remains a battle brewing between these two over who better fits Gotham as its protector. This scene shows that even Jim, to his dislike, needed Penguin's license to help solve a crime.

5. Mister Hammer

This may be an Easter Egg to the Batman Arkham City video game as Grundy's first opponent in the ring is codenamed "Hammer". In the Arkham City video game, one of the sub bosses (one of Joker's henchmen) is known as "Mister Hammer". If Grundy didn't officially kill him off, we could see him return as Jerome's main muscle. All that's missing is..well...the missing of his arm to be more accurate.

6. Professor Pyg Imagery

Playing up the horror theme of the episode and character, we're "treated" with quite a bit of dead swine and human imagery through the many masked victims. Gotham continues to go all out in presenting their villains in all of their twisted glory.

Episode Rating: 9/10