Penny For Your TV Thoughts?: Gotham Season 3 Finale Thoughts & Easter Eggs

Well, after an entire season of interesting character twists and turns, well implimented comic book fan service, and amazing story development, we finally come to the endpoint of this fulfilling chapter of Gotham. To my surprise, the season finale was split into two parts giving this finale the runtime of an entire film, so I'll treat this review as one long episode discussion pointing out the things that mainly stood out to me. In the end, does the finale live up to everything that the season sought out to build up towards? Well, let's dive into this two parter of even more crazy twists and turns to inevitably lead into a final verdict.

When Gotham Is Ashes...

In the opening sequence of the finale, we see the entire city in complete disarray as pedestrians attack each other with brutal intentions as buildings go up in flames in the background. It was exactly the type of imagery that I was hoping to see being that the Court of Owls' entire mission since the beginning of the season was to lead towards an apocalyptic-like judgement. So visually speaking, the finale definitely succeeded in its presentation of this grand scaled spectacle. There are several panning shots of the city in flames which was absolutely breathtaking to gaze at during the usual transitional shots of the setting. It felt as if the series was letting the audience know that the skies are the limit from now on regarding the scope of future climactic events of this nature.

What I also admired about the finale in this regard is how the city's destruction played a major part in the overall story as opposed to just being shock factor imagery thrown up on the screen. Every key player involved in the criminal underworld is attempting to exploit the chaotic setting as an opportunity to gain control over the city. This power struggle between criminal factions is something that's been brewing for quite some time now, so it's nice to see the two separate plot lines converge together as one big boiling pot of psychotic opportunists. You have Barbara and her schemes to use her pawns accordingly for domination, Fish Mooney and her plan to use Strange to build her an army of freaks, and Penguin who is essentially caught in between with his own personal agendas with Ed.

One of the biggest things that I took from this finale was that the Court of Owls (although having their own presence as a major powerful foe) was merely a tool to bring forth everyone else's goals and story arcs to its climactic peak in the end. Whereas I would normally nitpick about season villains feeling utterly useless during the finales of several comic book TV shows, this is one of the rare exceptions that I'd give considering what the villain's goal ultimately led to. When you actually break things down, it's the Court's attack on the city that paves the way to the creation of several big reveals during these two episodes. So for that, I do have to give the writers a round of applause for properly utilizing their cards on the table for a greater purpose.

The Virus, The Cure, & The Powerful

With all of our prominent gang leaders chasing after the same goal being Strange's antidote, much like my statement about the Court being fully utilized, I was happy to see the mad scientist as a central figure of the finale. I'm still not entirely onboard with the idea of making one of the best Batman villains into a guy who is constantly taking orders and responding to people in a cowardly manner, but it all makes sense given his position in the story. He is essentially the key to everyone getting what they desire whether it be conquering an entire city or getting revenge towards a previous altercation in the process. So again, I say bravo to the writers for giving their characters purpose despite my personal feelings on their presentation.

It is through Strange's cure for the virus where we learn what everyone's ultimate mission is as well as the intersecting point where we see shaky alliances and major character twists taking place. One of the many being the death of Fish Mooney which, and I know I'll get some flak for this, was one of the most welcoming moments of the finale for several reasons. For one thing, being a fan who has always felt that the character was a bit too over the top for my liking and sometimes unnecessarily forced into the story, I was glad to see her finally leave for good. We've seen this character die, resurrected, sick, then thrown to the side for the majority of a season (which they even comedically reference). It was about time that we permanently get rid of what personally felt like a waste of a character slot.

Was her death a bit anti-climactic? Yes, that I can definitely agree with if I were to place myself in the shoes of someone who actually enjoyed her presence on the show. However, it just goes to show how much the current story line really doesn't have any need for another gang leader with nothing interesting to offer but a group of metahumans that still hasn't resurface yet. Either way, nitpicks aside regarding the handling of her departure and significance this season, it is nice to see her permanently leave. Perhaps now Season 4 will have an interesting group of meta humans to deal with now that their leader is out of the picture. Did someone say "Villain of the Week" potential?

Another thing that I liked about her death scene was that it gave us our first tease of the League of Assassins. We've seen the Court's talons in previous episodes show off their skills in combat, so I was curious to see how the series would make another faction of assassins feel unique. Although we don't see a ton of the League here, we are given just enough to make a major differentiation between the two groups. One of those contrasting qualities being their traditional ninja-like design as well as them carrying swords as opposed to retractable wrist blades. I also like their initial debut with them leaping out of the dark corners of the room in an ambushing fashion which is a commendable display of their style from previous iterations.

My only worry is that the series do not end up making the same mistake with the League as Arrow did with their version of the character. What am I referring to here? Well, anyone who has watched Arrow since Season 2 will know that the League of Assassins started off as a powerful foe who was only matched by the show's most capable heroes being Oliver Queen and Sara given their training and background. Eventually, they were unfortunately downgraded as expendable enemies who could hardly take down the weakest of street level vigilantes. This is something that I'm hoping the producers of Gotham see as a potential negative that must be avoided with their own iteration in the future. At least in this episode, we have the excuse of a super powered Gordon and two metahumans taking them out.

With Fish out of the way, we have our eyes for Gotham's criminal dominant future set on Barbara, Penguin, Ed, and an easily overshadowed duo of angry sidekicks. This is where our gallery of shaky alliances start to hit their breaking point and where the gang war plot reaches its fulfilling climax. Throughout the season, there's been these inner conflicts within Barbara's inner circle of "partners" such as Butch and Tabitha's opposition to Barbara's decisions as well as their hatred towards Ed. With Jervis and Strange being the center of attention as major insurance policies, we get to see these inner conflicts explode as everyone makes their big move of exacting revenge. Suffice it to say, it was pretty entertaining watching these characters finally let loose upon each other after such a long build up.

In another surprising character death, we see what currently looks to be the end of Barbara Keen. Now I know readers will be quick to say "She's not dead you idiot!", but I'm only referring to what the season left us off with. I actually enjoyed the way that they handled Barbara's death a lot more than Mooney's as Barbara's held a greater sense of weight considering who did it. The final interaction between Butch and Barbara was great before she surprisingly shot him as well as the fight scene with Tabitha that followed. It's a great battle of ex partners to see play out with a nice helping of shock factor (no pun intended) considering that two well known characters die in the process. It also leaves the door of potential wide open for Season 4's criminal landscape.

By crossing off two other names off the board, we are now left with Oswald and Ed with their own personal agendas to sort through in all of this mess. Again, it's great seeing these various conflicts finally reach a peak of absolute closure which is what season finales are usually known for handling. Although the cat and mouse game between these two have always been one of the more sidelined plots for me this season, I absolutely loved where they eventually took things in the end. There's an incredible moment where Ed seemingly gets the upper hand against Oswald and takes him to the docks to officially finish him off. What makes this scene stand out is Robin Taylor's amazing performance as a much more subdued Penguin during Ed's overconfidence of the situation.

When Penguin revealed to have previously taken out all of the bullets from Ed's gun as well as giving him the false victory of escaping his cuffs by himself, I couldn't help but smile. Seeing the Riddler get outsmarted by someone like the Penguin is something that I never thought was remotely possible until now. There's a satisfying feeling of victory during Oswald's speech to Ed about exploiting his predictable obsessive nature of completing something. Although I love the Riddler character, I couldn't help but cheer when Oswald essentially told him how easy it was to defeat him and that he'll only keep him around as a reminder to never make the same mistakes again. It's a powerful sign of maturity and evolution for the Penguin character and one that I'm eager to see followed up in Season 4.

Gordon & The Serpent

The Season 3 finale of Gotham offers up quite a handful of twists and turns, but one of the major plot threads woven through everything is Gordon's slow decline towards the dark side. After last week's episode pulled the rug under fans by having our central hero inject himself with the "drug of pure evil" essentially, I was curious to see if the season would end on a pretty crazy yet highly disappointing cliffhanger with Gordon becoming a full on villain. Thankfully, the writers didn't take this direction, but instead give us a pretty interesting take on the popular concept of a hero having a demon on his shoulder. What I'm referring to is the idea that even our most heroic figures can turn into our greatest enemies given the right influence which the finale heavily explores.

There are several moments to where Jim is surprisingly keeping things under control (which is a great way of showing off the character's strong willpower), but is immediately challenged once Lee gives him a call or whenever something isn't going his way during a mission. This is where Harvey plays a key role as Jim's lifeline to normalcy as he constantly tries to set him back on the right track after frequently losing it. It was kinda fascinating having Lee repeatedly call Gordon filling his brain with her seductive words of surrendering to the virus and going away with her. It presented her character as sort of a demonic-like parasite for the Gordon character to undertake which was the perfect follow up to the horror-like tone surrounding her transformation.

There's a great use of audio with the sound of a racing heartbeat and the word "killer" popping up whenever Jim is struggling to hold it together with a complimentary use of visuals via the incredible facial aesthetics used on him. There's also a surprisingly balanced line of drama and comedy between Jim and Harvey that I was happy to see come together in the end. As Jim flips out every now and then harnessing his super strength, there's a few moments that utilizes it in either a funny way via Harvey's reaction or a serious manner showing Bullock being genuinely afraid for his friend's well being. I've always enjoyed the chemistry between these two since the show's beginning, so it's nice to see that friendship significantly highlighted during these last couple of episodes.

The horror tone that I mentioned earlier strongly continues throughout the finale showing Jim slowly surrender to Lee's requests. However, my favorite segment of this particular story is the train station sequence where Jim nearly kills Harvey before injecting Lee and himself with the antidote. There's this beautifully tragic Romeo & Juliet-like imagery with Gordon and Lee leaning on each other lifelessly in their seats after the injection as the camera slowly zooms out. Readers of my reviews will know that I've continuously praised Gotham for it amazing visual storytelling which presents itself here yet again. There's something dramatically impactful and poetic about seeing our hero exhaustively leaning on the person who he almost completely turned to the dark side with after saving them.

This final stamp on the Tetch virus arc eventually leads to a great ending speech sequence with Gordon reading Lee's goodbye letter about Gotham being a dark place with a glimmer of hope. Having Lee's narration cover over a montage of different characters being reborn in some fashion was a great way to seal the deal on Season 4's bright future of new beginnings. It was also a touching way to end things off for the character herself showing her boarding a train in hopes that Jim may follow her one day which is a nice callback to her arrival sequence during the beginning of the season.

Speaking of happy endings and nice callbacks, I also liked that the finale ended things off on a positive note with Harvey and Gordon having a funny conversation about finding some "normal" detective work to do while Harvey suggests getting a drink too early in the day. It's a nice scene on its own and a great way of happily paving the way to a new season for our heroes considering the tidal wave of bleakness and terror that they went through beforehand. It's nice to see a season finale for a comic book TV show end on something that is equally uplifting as it is promising for its protagonists.

The Dark Knight Rises

Ah yes, and now for the more geek out worthy portion of the finale, let's discuss Bruce Wayne's journey towards being reborn into something profound and powerful. First, let's talk about that heartbreaking moment at the precinct with Alfred trying to reach Bruce by appealing to his happier memories only to have him shut him down. I mentioned during the previous episode review that things would be a bit shaky with their relationship after his mentor died, but I wasn't expecting Bruce to be completely lost in anger towards his only true friend. It was pretty sad to see Bruce lash out on Alfred about never giving him the satisfaction of revenge that his mentor did. What's also important to note here however is when he teases the idea of "someone coming" which peaks Alfred's interest as well as the viewers'.

Things start to get really emotional when Alfred talks about his fatherly love for Bruce and that his family's tragic history was also what brought them together. It's a really touching scene and one of my favorites between the two as we get little snippets of Bruce Wayne's childhood before the iconic murder took place. You can tell that Alfred's words are finally reaching Bruce until an unfortunate shootout takes place outside distracting him which snaps Bruce back into his trance. In that discussion however, it was great to see that, even under a mind controlling influence, Alfred is basically the beam of light that can guide him out of things given their bond and history. I have this feeling that we're going to see another version of this scenario in a future episode.

Now is where things get really interesting as Bruce finds the Yuyan building that was instructed by his mentor to seek out and ventures through the lair of the League of Assassins. This is yet another example of the show's amazing set design work as the lair presents a very mystical and mysterious atmosphere never before seen on the show. I also loved how the League surrounds Bruce and guides him towards the Lazarus Pit room (which by this point causes my inner comic book nerd gauge to shatter from peaked levels of excitement). Honestly, even before our big character reveal takes place, just the imagery of ninjas leading a young Bruce Wayne to a well of glowing green water is enough to make me cry out in excitement.

Of course things do not end there as we see one of Batman's most legendary villains emerge from the shadows to introduce himself to Bruce as the legendary Ra's Al Ghul. It's by far one of the coolest villain debut scenes on the show and what I can officially consider as being my most highly anticipated character for Season 4. During his introduction, Ra's tells Bruce that he has seen and done things that would shape the core of his beliefs while also alluding to his immortality. Now, before I get to the big story arc tease, I do have to acknowledge how great this iteration of Ra's Al Ghul already is. The grey streaks in the hair, the sorcerer-like robe, the ramblings of past accomplishments, and the actor himself immediately won me over.

It felt as though I was watching the character from the comics jump right onto the screen which is high praise for any live action property adapting something. Ra's begins to talk about the fact that, despite his history, he has yet to find an heir which is where Bruce comes in. As a Batman fan, I automatically found myself trembling with excitement at the thought of Gotham tackling one of the most iconic story lines in the history of the character. Let's just say that in the comics, as well as one of the greatest episodes of the 90's animated series, things take an interesting turn for the great detective after Ra's Al Ghul sees him as the only worthy heir to his name. There's a lot that I'm intentionally leaving out for the sake of potential spoilers, but just the fact that we're seeing this conversation play out is enough to geek out over.

What's interesting is that he references the mentor's previous mission for Bruce to unleash the virus which adds a new layer to the Court of Owl's plans. It makes me wonder just who was it that came up with the whole "cleanse the city of crime" agenda as both Ra's Al Ghul and the Court of Owls share a similiar extreme nature of exacting justice. The real highlight here is of course when Ra's brings in a captured Alfred for Bruce to redeem his loyalty by killing him. The finale is filled with dramatically powerful moments between Alfred and Bruce, but this one takes the cake considering the surprise ending.

After another heartfelt trip down memory lane by Alfred, Bruce still ends up stabbing him with Ra's Al Ghul's sword as requested by the Demon's Head. This leads to Bruce snapping out of his conditioning due to the emotional shock of his actions which is an idea that I personally really liked. What is the one thing that can break Bruce Wayne out of a trance? The most shocking thing that he can ever do which is killing off his own best friend. Minus the out of place evil laughter, I loved how Ra's actually tells Bruce to use the Lazarus Pit waters to heal Alfred before telling him that their time will come. He even drops the line of the prophecy having Bruce becoming his "knight in the darkness". This gives Ra's an intriguing clairvoyant-like role that has never been done on the show.

After such a traumatic and fascinating scene introducing a new character and expanding on the lore of the series, we see a completely distressed Bruce awaiting Alfred's status at the hospital. We've seen the Bruce Wayne character mature over the years, but it's during this episode where I truly felt as though I was watching a young man dealing with life and not an older child growing up. It says quite a bit for the strong character development on the show as well as David Mazouz's maturity in the role itself. It's intriguing to see how a child actor's growth can impact their character's evolution just through their performance and appearance alone. It'll be interesting to see where this character ends up say two seasons from now.

Before we get to the big geek out moment, I do have to point out that amazing and, although I'm sure you guys are tired of me saying it, heartfelt scene between Bruce and Alfred at the hospital. I absolutely loved the conversation that they have revolving around Bruce losing his way and struggling to find out who he is supposed to be. It's the central theme of the finale as other characters wrestle with their own identity crisis, but it's the most effectively addressed here given the context and people in question. I also love when Alfred tells him to find his true north as guidance and that his has always been to protect Bruce. As if their dialogue didn't give me enough chills, the moment when he turns to the TV afterwards during a broadcast about the city's poor condition sealed the deal for what's to come.

Okay, now let's talk about the scene that everyone is most likely still gushing over. Gotham is known for its big cliffhangers, but this one has to be the most significant yet. It's that iconic moment that fans of the show have been eagerly anticipating since the series' announcement. That's right, the point where Bruce decides that his destiny involves becoming a vigilante of the night. We see an innocent happy family walking through a dark alley eventually getting ambushed by a robber. In comes a masked man who beats down the mugger before disappearing to the rooftop. Once he unmasks himself revealing to be Bruce, I honestly had no words to describe my reaction. I was basically speechless with geeky excitement. My only thought at that point was the repeated words "They actually did it!".

Overall Thoughts

As I hoped, Gotham ends what was a pretty strong season run with an equally strong finale that successfully tied up a few loose ends while teasingly paving the way for a promising future. With major characters getting crossed off the roster in mostly satisfying ways, emotionally impactful character interactions, an amazing villain debut, and the ultimate cliffhanger for comic book lovers to scream out in excitement over, Gotham leaves its fans with something worthy of holding onto till the next season. I now look forward to Season 4 with not only immense curiosity, but an even higher level of anticipation than the previous season did. And now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be spending the rest of the months buried in a sea of speculation for what's to come.

Bonus Content

1. Bruce Wayne's Vigilante Beginnings

In possibly the greatest visual easter egg, we see Bruce Wayne on his first outings as a vigilante sporting a ski mask and black jacket. This is a great callback to both the animated classic Batman film "Mask of the Phantasm" and "The Dark Knight Rises" where the character utilized a similar attire for his pre-bat suit crime fighting.

2. The Origin of Catwoman

Just as we're seeing our first tease of Bruce's future as a vigilante, we also witness Selena Kyle's acquiring of the iconic whip. It's a pretty cool and absolutely brilliant concept to have the Tabitha character be the one that helps usher in the Catwoman persona out of Selena. Season 4 is gonna be quite the interesting run of transformations taking place across the board.

3. The Iceberg Lounge

The Iceberg Lounge gets an awesome namedrop as Oswald prepares to make arrangements for his future endeavors by officially choosing a logo for his club. The Iceberg Lounge is usually known as the base of Penguin's operations while acting as a luxurious nightclub for well known personnel. Perhaps this may act as one of Season 4's key settings. Also, notice the umbrella sketch?

4. Cyrus Gold Easter Egg

One of the most surprising character reveals of the finale takes place during Butch's arrival at the hospital. The doctors discover that his name is actually Cyrus Gold which directly teases the forthcoming of none other than Solomon Grundy of the same identity. Grundy is a super strong zombified brute with a less than desirable intellect. Sounds kinda familiar?

5. Where Are The Freaks?

That's right, we still haven't seen the Indian Hill mutants resurface after their supposed exile during the beginning of the season. You'd think that they would show up in the finale considering Fish Mooney's situation, but I'm guessing they went off in their own direction. This does at least make me curious to see what Season 4 has to offer with their hopefully inevitable return.

6. Where Are The Talons?

Another thing that unfortunately gets swept under the rug during the finale are the Talons and the Court of Owl's presence. Yes, we know that the safe houses were raided by the GCPD and the leading council was killed off, but the talons were still shown to be many and still alive. This leaves the speculation of their questionable return and who would be leading them by then? Ra's Al Ghul perhaps?

7. Where Is The Clone?

The last time that we saw the clone was in the previous episode where he attacked and could've nearly killed both Selena and Alfred. The fact that his lifespan is on a ticking clock soon to be over tells me that his time during Season 4 will either be brief or he'll find a way to prolong it. Well, we did just introduce a pit of magical glowing waters that can do the trick didn't we? I smell an interesting twist coming.

8. Throwback Imagery of Torture

When Penguin tortures Hugo Strange with the same head gear used on him during his time at Arkham, a similiar visual effect of color manipulation is used to show the victim's mental suffering.

9. Mr. Freeze & Firefly

Just like the Season 2 finale, Mr. Freeze and Firefly are presented as mere bodyguards for someone and one of the main visual FX spectacles of the episode. However, I'm actually fine with the way that they were used here as it fits in perfectly with Penguin's goal to create a partnership of freaks. I'd imagine that the Iceberg Lounge will be filled up with more individuals like these two.

10. Riddler's Fate

I...I got nothing for this one. I honestly have no idea where they'll take the Riddler in the future given his current state as the Iceberg Lounge's grand trophy.

11. The Lazarus Pit

The Lazarus Pit plays a key role in the prolonging of Ra's Al Ghul's immortality over the centuries. The finale briefly touches on this concept when Ra's alludes to his mysteriously long history of influence and legendary status. We also get to see the healing properties of the pit's magical waters on Alfred's wound.

12. Ra's Al Ghul's Sword

It may not be much to point out, but I've always been fascinated by the ancient weaponry that Ra's Al Ghul always seem to desire using. In most of the iterations that I've seen, he usually carries his own personally valuable sword by his side. I do believe that we're seeing this special sword during the finale. Not entirely sure its significance, but its design always stand out.

13. The Riddler's Ringtone

The Riddler's ringtone being an easter egg to the 60's Batman television series was something that I brought up in a previous episode review, but it was fun and quite surprising to hear it yet again during the finale.

12. Spreading of the Rage

As I mentioned earlier in the review, the finale did a great job at displaying the aftermath of the Tetch Virus. There's a couple of individual bits that caught my attention such as the flaming blimp in the background of one of the shots, the "Gordon has the rage" writing on the locker, and a group of girl scouts attacking someone. Yep, that last one actually happened.

13. Subzero Fatality

This one is specifically for Mortal Kombat fans who caught the reference. Honestly, I couldn't have been the only one who thought of Subzero's iconic move from the MK series during Mr. Freeze's shattering of one of the League's members.

14. The Military's Presence

Something that we rarely see in these comic book shows is the military's presence during some of the craziest of times. Gotham remedies this bizarre lack of a government appearence by having the military actually show up during the city's chaotic setting. Will they show up in the future given the city's metahuman threat still lingering? Hmmm.

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