Gotham S4 Ep. 13 Thoughts

"A Beautiful Darkness"

This week's episode of Gotham brings us Batman fans two significant things to get excited about: a legitimate live action Poison Ivy on television and the closest step we've ever taken to actually seeing the dark knight himself. Interestingly enough, the Jerome component of the episode wasn't as strongly entertaining as I thought it'd be, but something tells me that next week's episode will be the one to deliver the goods on that front. For now, let's focus on the two obvious highlights of the episode as mentioned earlier.

We open this week's entry with a solid opening scene showing Ivy using her suggestive perfume to paralyze an entire family while Selena robs them offscreen. Fans of the Penny For TV Thoughts blog will know I've always been pretty mixed about the way the writers have developed Ivy's character since Season 1. Fortunately, although it's taken quite a while to get to this point, the journey has mostly worth it in the end as I've already fallen in love with Gotham's new iteration of the famous villain. Everything from the new Peyton Lists' seductive and powerful performance to the fact that we actually get to see her using plant based powers has been nothing short of geek out worthy so far. Also, gotta point out the solid visual FX and horror show that is Ivy's plants blooming out of her victim. This is a prime example that Gotham fully understands the profound Horror component of the Batman universe. 

Bats! Look at it! Look at it I tell ya!

Speaking of things that was worth the wait, getting to actually see some visual representation of Bruce's future as the cape crusader (with some bat imagery literally thrown at the screen) was absolutely fantastic. Now, I have to be honest here, hearing the deep "Batman voice" and seeing "a bat cave" didn't hit me as hard as I would have imagined. I believe this has to do with the fact that Gotham is still in its early return phase with people like myself who has tons of other comic book TV shows currently going. Sometimes it takes a couple of episodes to fully get back in the swing of things, so not jumping up and down after seeing Bruce interact with a proto-Batman of sorts isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, I did get immediately hyped up at the image of him standing next to the chalk outlines of his parents' murder while looking up at a dark silhouette scale half way up a building. Talk about powerful foreshadowing.

I'm not 100% onboard with the idea that Bruce perhaps gets the idea of the bat symbolism after experiencing a hallucination via Poison Ivy, but perhaps there's something much more deeper happening here. It'd be interesting if they reveal that he has always had this profound visual in the back of his mind and maybe Ivy's toxins brought it to the forefront. This is why Gotham is such a fascinating series for both hardcore and casual comic book fans. There are always several twists and turns that the writers can take with the source material with none necessarily being incorrect unless they decide to take things a bit too far and turn Alfred into Robin. Yikes! All that really matters in the end is that it perfectly fits in with the characters and story that is being presented to us.

I will say that I do like the idea of Ivy going after Wayne Enterprises making her now a Bruce Wayne villain before Batman's. Again, it's a bit of a twist to what certain fans are used to, but it works with the timeline that we're dealing with here. My only gripe, and this can easily be fixed, is that the character itself can significantly benefit from more backstory in regards to her obsession with plants. Again, obviously if you're watching the series then you know that Poison Ivy's most notable trait is her dangerously intimate link to mother nature, but that information shouldn't lie within viewer expectations. The story itself needs to flesh this out a lot more deeply so that the character herself never feels like a fan service entry more than anything. Just a thought. However, I cannot emphasize again how much I do like this new "evolved" version of the character presentation-wise.

Having Bruce go through his own psychedelic trip of self discovery (which Gordon underwent himself via the Mad Hatter) was definitely an interesting way to fast track his steps to maturity and building back his relationship with Alfred. Did it feel a little too convenient at times with the way certain characters so happen to be in the right place and the right time to save him? Sure, but sometimes you do have to make a little space for, as the kids would say, "plot armor". Seriously, who actually thought that Bruce Wayne would die in a series called Gotham that hasn't even shown us Batman yet? Unless of course he did and...well...that'd be the end of the show now wouldn't it. I do think that the writing in regards to how exactly Jim eventually got to Bruce was a little weak, but like I said, it's a somewhat manageable enough way to set his hero's journey back on course.

The Penguin is in a cell talking to a prototype Joker at Arkham Asylum. We truly are living out the golden years of live action comic book properties. And to think that the Scarecrow was literally in there not too long ago. Hmmm.

Overall, this was a pretty solid episode with nothing majorly standing out to me negatively speaking, but there were certain things that I felt should have landed a lot more strongly. Everything taking place inside of Arkham with Oswald planning an escape via Ed's split personality was interesting on its own. Unfortunately, as much as I thought Jerome was a memorable and captivating presence during Season 3, he never really stole the spotlight here for me aside from a brilliant miming scene. Is it the direction, the strangely stiff performance this time around, or maybe particular scene layouts that they decided to gave him here? Who knows? As I said, I do believe that we're only seeing the small beginnings of what may be the greatest Joker arc of the series. We'll just have to wait and see.

As for Ivy's end tag showing her utilizing the Lazarus water for her own twisted botanical experiments, my mind immediately referenced the Batman animated series with giant plant creatures. Now, I'm not so sure that Gotham can afford to show venus fly traps the size of apartment complexes, but the show has done an incredible job at wisely utilizing its production budget for its immense visual flare. It'll be fascinating to see what this version of Poison Ivy ends up throwing at our heroes as far as obstacles go. So, aside from a slightly disappointing return of Jerome and a perhaps too convenient lead up to Bruce's fast tracked course reset, this was a pretty decent watch altogether. I now look forward to what the clown prince of crime has in store for us, Sofia's random alliance with Lee (Yikes!), and of course whether or not we'll see Bruce and Alfred reunited sooner than later. 

Time to dust off the suit and mask or perhaps it's time for a...cape and cowl? Too soon?

Bonus Thoughts

Easter Eggs

No Bonus Thoughts/Easter Eggs this time around unfortunately as I'm still getting back into the swing of things with reviewing several shows at once. However, I HIGHLY advised checking out the previous Gotham reviews where I usually point out everything and the kitchen sink in the Easter Eggs section. If I may just slide in one cool easter egg here, it would be the obvious Joker card that Jerome tosses at Oswald. Interesting that we're still not 100% sure about his legacy.

Episode Rating: 8/10