An assault on Wayne Manor by
professional assassins sends Bruce and Selina running to the depths
of Gotham city to escape. Can Jim, Alfred and Harvey find them before
the killers?
So this episode succeeds in every way
that the previous one didn’t. Every element of the plot revolves
around the escape of the children and those hunting them. The
simplicity of the plot allows for the characters to have breathing
room. This focus on character over weekly villain makes this one of
the strongest episodes yet.
I feel sorry for Gotham in one respect.
It’s fairly obvious that they have realised that the character of
Jim Gordon is relatively weak in comparison to the other characters
available. For that reason he is replaced as Bullock’s partner this
week by Alfred. This new double act could easily be a spin off in
itself with the scenes they share being the strongest of the episode,
if not the series.
It is nice to see the character of
Alfred being expanded and small nods being given to his pre butler
past. Hopefully Alfred will get more opportunities to leave Wayne
Manor and go on adventures with other members of the expanded cast. Pen-fred anyone?
Although not as dynamic, the pairing of
Selina and Bruce also creates some nice moments. The difference
between the two characters is established clearly and the seed has
been planted for future encounters between the pair. I don’t find
the burgeoning relationship between the two of them very convincing
however. It is hard to play the highly sexualised relationship
between Catwoman and Batman out correctly when it is being portrayed
by young actors.
As usual the weakest element of the
episode is the inevitable weekly rent-a-thug villains. The biggest
issue with them is the chief female assassin. She is given
enough personality to stand out but not enough to feel well defined.
She comes across as comical, both in terms that she seems ridiculous
and that she feels like she’s been ripped from a comic book. She
strangles men to kill them or knock them out in a way very similar to
Xenia Onatopp from Goldeneye, complete with humorous quip.
Gordon seems to have pretty bad and
repetitive luck. He is again framed for a crime he didn’t commit
and finds himself at the mercy of the government system. I appreciate
that Gordon needs to be against the corrupt system but the more times
the showrunners pull this trick, the less believable it will be.
Gordon being forced to become an Arkham security guard is an
interesting direction. Assuming they hold their nerve for a while
this could create some interesting character moments. Although my
suspicion is that it will be undone within a few episodes.
So Gotham once again took me to the
point of not caring and brought me back again. Maybe they have a stack of good scripts and
space them out amongst the rest? There certainly seems to be a
pattern developing of bad scripts being immediately followed by
considerably better ones. Hopefully a mid-season break will have
given the show a bit of a rest by the time it returns and it will
have a new lease of life. Oh well if all else fails we can have the
adventures of Butch and Alfred I suppose.
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