The Spirit of the Goat has reappeared
in Gotham to murder the rich children of Gotham. The Goat case was
considered solved ten years earlier when Harvey Bullock gunned the
mask killer down. Is a copycat killer continuing where the Goat left
off or has the Spirit of the Goat returned from the dead to find a
new host? Can Harvey and Jim solve the mystery before the Goat
strikes again?
Why does Gotham tease me so? Every time
something good happens in the program something stupid undermines it.
This week’s episode makes a real effort to expand the character of
Harvey Bullock. We see a flashback to ten years ago, when Bullock was
idealistic and wanted to save the city. We then skip forward to the
present day and follow the older, less honourable Bullock having to
investigate the same case. This idea works well as it allows us to
see the good in Bullock and his reawakened passion in trying to solve
the case.
The problem comes in that the case is
painfully easy to solve. Within seconds of being introduced to the
‘real’ killer I guessed the final twist of the episode. Now even
assuming that Bullock couldn’t immediately solve the case in this
way, he seems to miss vital details. Harvey and Jim know that the
original Goat had keys to the victims’ houses. They also know that
the new Goat can get into houses without forcing their way in. It
bothers me that Jim and Harvey have to talk for several minutes to
figure out that maybe the new Goat also has keys to where the victims
live.
The police also don’t think to
investigate the original locations of the Goat murders. I would
assume that if a copycat killer were operating you would consider
checking out the previous locations he killed people in? It’s nice
to see the character of Bullock being given a redemptive arc but this
episode largely undermines it by making him look incompetent.
While Harvey is obsessing with the
case, Jim has his own problems. He is attempting to fix things with
Barbara but this is complicated as Montoya and Allen, of the Major
Crimes Unit, have finally managed to get a warrant for Gordon’s
arrest. It’s nice to juxtapose Harvey’s redemption with Jim’s
possible fall. That being said, this element of the plot takes the
back seat to Harvey’s story and it might have been better served
with its own episode.
Edward Nigma is vastly expanded in this
episode, his compulsive nature demonstrated. I’m curious about his
obsession with his co-worker, Christine Kringle and where this plot
point is going. Nigma seems to be presented as somewhat comedic at
this point; I hope that he doesn’t become a completely comedic
character. As much as I laughed, Nigma’s question mark mug fills me
with concern.
Oswald Cobblepot finally visits his mother in this episode and
things get weird. Mrs Cobblepot and her son have a very strange,
almost oedipal relationship. As much as this episode possibly over
egged this theme, it was good to show the unconditional love of his
mother. It’s easy to see why the Penguin thinks of himself as a king,
given that he was brought up to believe that he is one.
Jim and Harvey’s stories intersect as
all the plot points of the episode converge. The cliffhanger to this
episode is pretty strong but it has already been used once already in
an earlier episode. Overall this episode was reasonably strong but it
could have been a lot stronger. Failed good ideas still started life
as good ideas and hopefully Gotham will learn from its mistakes.
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