Gotham S4 Ep. 10 Thoughts & Easter Eggs

"Things That Go Boom"

This season of Gotham has proven itself over and over again at just how much of an evolutionary step the series has taken since its beginnings. From the grander yet intimate feel to the show's dramatic conflicts, to the beautifully laid out character development, all wrapped up nicely and presented in a magnificent flare of production value. Gotham has truly found its direction and place amongst the now heavily crowded market of comic book based television series. This episode takes all of these spoken praises while managing to deliver on a couple of great character twists and turns along the way. Let's dive into what makes this week's Gotham another solid entry.

Revealing The Monster Behind The Mask

By far one of my favorite elements of this episode was the idea of us (and the characters involved) finally getting to see certain villains fully reveal their true nature. This is highlighted with both Sofia and Pyg as we witness their facades completely shatter away once the tables get turned on them. It's the popular idea of a cornered desperate animal being at its most dangerous that is intriguingly explored here in a sense.

Having the most profound exposure, so to speak, is Pyg during his final conversation with Gordon. As Jim and Lucius begin to uncover new details about Pyg such as the fact that he was given (or possibly self operated) facial surgery to mask his identity, Jim decides to pay him a visit in order to get him to expose himself. This leads to one of my favorite villain moments on the show as Pyg, in his fancy showman way of speaking, attempts to avoid all of Gordon's attempts to get under his skin. After Jim calls him a forgotten 2nd rate psychopath and that he himself will leave him having no impact, Pyg's natural southern accent slips out of anger. This caught me completely off guard and was a truly eerie scene as we saw someone immediately turn from a flamboyant Bond-like villain to sounding like someone right out of Deliverance. 

It's one of the more brilliant use of simplicity that I've seen on the show (and Gotham has quite a bit of examples under its belt) for the impact that it has. By just a radical change of accent and demeanor, we're able to discover a new and captivating layer to the character. This is only made possible by an incredible and chilling performance by Michael Cerveris. Please, let this guy stick around for future seasons. Eventually, Jim and Lucius is able to boil down their search of Pyg's identity thanks to the southern accent slip and a sketch of what he potentially looks like underneath the surgery. With a name finally given to our mysterious swine mask wearing lunatic, Lazlo Valentine, and Pyg murdering his way out of Arkham, I look forward to seeing this villain make his grand return. 

Out of all of the Batman villains in the history of the character's impressive legacy, who would've thought that Professor Pyg would make such a positive impact on the series. This proves yet again that Gotham isn't afraid to take a few deep cuts into the most obscure corners of the comics in order to deliver something incredible in the end.

Crazy cop killers aside, we turn our attention to Sofia who has acted as the clever snake slithering behind a brewing all-out war between Penguin and Gordon. Things however get completely flipped around for the criminal mastermind as both Oswald and Gordon are finally able to expose her ulterior motives prior to eventually deciding to work together. Sofia has been one of my favorite new additions to the show primarily due to her being our first true siren-like major villain. Sure, we've had characters like Barbara or Lee under the Tetch virus acting as a seductive anchor for Jim, but none has ever been a force of nature primarily surrounded around this trait. After Oswald outs her officially as his enemy, we're given quite a few interesting twists for the villainess.

Going back to my cornered but dangerous animal analogy, I loved the idea of seeing Sofia now completely showing her cards and contingency plans when placed in a life threatening situation. At the risk of being tortured by "the Dentist" (one of Penguin's goons who I'd love to learn more about in the future), Sofia reveals that doing anything harmful to her would then guarantee his family's death. There are no play on words, no innocent smiles hiding back sinister motives, or seductive mannerisms. Just a straight forward threat showing a more unleashed character given the stakes that are thrown upon her. It's truly fascinating getting to see the "mask" of an antagonist fade away as it gives off the impression that something transformative is about take place in the story at hand.

During the course of the episode, we're essentially given one long cat and mouse game between Sofia and Oswald with the two constantly attempting to one up one another. One of the more interesting turn of events comes with Sofia encountering the Sirens (which I'm guessing is safe to call them for the time being). After reaching an impressively long point in longevity for a series, a great idea to implement in order to keep things refreshing is finding alluring character pairings that are worth exploring. In this case, we have Sofia, a powerhouse female criminal mastermind who has been using seduction to destroy Oswald, paired with the Sirens who has something of a similiar nature with a different outlet and style. This created a nice mix up of an uneasy alliance accompanied by a heated backfiring of schemes that I very much enjoyed.

The introduction of Martin has been another one of my personally favored additions to the season due what he adds for the Penguin. Having this character who is essentially able to, in just his presence alone, bring out the humanity in Oswald was a brilliant idea and allowed for some genuinely touching moments for the antagonist. I never would have expected to see him being used as the center of the table turning battles taking place during this episode, but this is Gotham after all, so no one's truly safe from being exploited. This all leads to one final climactic exchange between Oswald and Sofia (alongside the Sirens) as she decides to use Martin as leverage for trading. It's an incredible scene as we see the Falcone offspring showing off her final hand as Oswald cleverly appears to desperately get rid of Martin by blowing up the car that he steps in.

The explosive shootout following was a solid and unexpected action sequence for fans to revel in the idea that we'd get to see Penguin not being held back anymore. Any scene where Zsasz gets to shine and Oswald gets to look like a psychopathic mob boss with an army behind him is always a win in my book. What follows is one of my favorite scenes of the episode surrounding the twist reveal that Oswald set up an escape plan for Martin before the explosion. Having Penguin stage an explosion to save the the adorable future criminal in the making may not have been entirely shocking, but it was no less of a touching scene.

Is it strange to feel sad watching these two say goodbye to each other? Probably considering that I'm basically watching a murderous killer say goodbye to a mentally traumatized kid. Yep, that's Gotham alright. I look forward to seeing this character appear in the future in some capacity. A future villain of the week for Bruce Wayne's vigilante endeavors? A formidable right hand man for Penguin's grander schemes? We'll just have to wait and see.

Overall Thoughts

This week's episode of Gotham may not end up being the most memorable of the season considering what started off as a Proto-Batman/Ra's Al Ghul story with the introduction of villains like the Scarecrow. What it does offer however is a thrilling turn in direction as villains begin to competely reveal themselves igniting what was a previously slowly brewing war on the horizon. With Sofia now officially paired up with the Sirens and Oswald alluding to having something special up his sleeve for the villainess, Gotham is shaping up to have quite the exciting remainder of the season. Also, let's not forget about Crane, the League of Assassins, Indian Hill metas, Jerome, possible remaining Court of Owl members, and several more characters in the wind. It appears that the series hasn't lost its touch in constantly having a laundry list of stuff to look forward to.

Bonus Thoughts

Easter Eggs

1. Lee & Ed's Relationship

One of the more peculiar character pairings is that of Ed and Lee which I admittedly wasn't a fan of in the beginning. Now, I'm able to see the brilliance in having Ed, who is seeking medical help in fixing his "Riddler dilemma", aligned with someone surrounded in medical science. It was actually pretty cool seeing them having to take down their own villain of the week.

2. Mirror Ed Is Back

After Lee reveals that Ed's problems are psychological as opposed to being a medical effects of being cryogenically frozen, Lee reveals that she kept it a secret in order to keep Ed as the friend that she remembers. As touching as this may be, the episode ends showing Ed seeing his Riddler persona in the mirror invoking the old days of him interacting with a split personality.

3. The Dentist

Not entirely sure if they mentioned Penguin's professional torturer's name, but there is a character under the alias "The Dentist" in the comics. His real name is Philip Miles and he's apparently a maniac obsessed with dental care and the Joker. Perhaps a future pairing with Jerome?

4. Jerome Foreshadow

While attempting to exploit Pyg's ego by naming off previous psychopaths that made bigger impacts on Gotham city, Jim mentions Jerome amongst Fish and Penguin. Being that Fish is officially dead and Oswald is already playing a major role on the show, one might expect this to be a foreshadowing for an upcoming return of the Joker precursor.

5. Great Use of Background

Thought it was a nice touch showing a significant item from each villain's lair during their phone conversation. Penguin's neon umbrella logo is the center piece, alongside what used to be a frozen Nygma, of the Iceberg Lounge and a significant symbol of the character's history. The rack of guns behind of Barbara is a prominent piece to her weapons dealing operation and represents the chaotic nature of the character.

Episode Rating: 9/10