On this week's episode of Gotham, Theo Galavan sets himself up as a major player in the insane part of the criminal underworld because he kidnapped the mayor. He's also training his new group of escape convicts, the Maniax, to be a presence that instills fear, which includes hijacking a bus full of cheerleaders and trying to set them on fire.
Gordon is on the case and trying to investigate, but he wants Bullock back to work with him, but Bullock is fine with where he's at in his life right now. Gordon ends up getting a call from Barbara. She leads him away from the GCPD, while Jerome and the crew shoots up and murders Gotham's finest. This tragedy marks the return of Harvey Bullock.
Over at Wayne Manor, Bruce fires Alfred after Alfred smashes up Thomas Wayne's secret basement hideout. While Alfred is at the bus station, Bruce shows up to try and get him to come back. However, Alfred "bumps" into Lucius Fox at a bar and essentially gives him a speech about trust.
Right off the bat, once again, Gotham has turned into this bizarre, live-action cartoon show that is so outrageously over-the-top in so many fascinating ways, as Jerome and some other "escaped" convicts from Arkham throw people off of a roof. It's silly but completely fitting for the tone that the first episode set for the new season. This little group of convicts also has a name: The Maniax!
More than anything else, the idea that Galavan is grooming these characters works extremely well. He's a mentor for their insanity and he's a great backpiece to that story line, he's completely overshadowed by Cameron Monaghan portraying the Joker Jerome. If Jerome is going to eventually become the Joker then Monaghan has the chops. His performance is odd and out-there, but feels like there's more to him. Every move he makes has a point. The scene with Jerome riding away on the back of the gas truck felt so Batman 66, like he was summoning his inner-Cesar Romero.
At the same time, parts of the video Jerome filmed didn't work. I loved when he shouted as he really shows a dark side, but overall, it really didn't work to well for the character. However, I could listen to his Joker laugh all day.
The Maniax are pretty awesome as far as villains go, as they've completely torn apart the GCPD by week two of this season. They surprisingly work well together and it's a threat that's an actual threat.
Bruce's story is interesting and working together with Lucius is a nice step to keep the story moving, but early on, Bruce's temper tantrum felt out of character for him, believe it or not. Bruce, in season one, had somber moments after dealing with his parent's death, but he never lashed out like he did here. In addition, the character goes through a whole gamut of emotion within this episode and it all feels a bit flat.
Last week, I found myself love the "live action" cartoon aspect of the opening episode, which was strangely the best part of coming back to this show. That continues here and it all makes sense. This episode deals with a lot of insanely dark themes and actions. If the show tried to play it a bit more straight forward, like the first season, an episode like this would be tough to swallow. This week offered a really dark story that had a lot of light-heartedness to it, mainly because of just how over-the-top everything was. It feels like the show has its own voice and is on the right track.
Moments of the week:
- Jerome asking the cheerleaders he just doused in gasoline if any of them has a light.
- Alfred orders a second gin and tonic without drinking his first.