After a few bumpy weeks, this week’s Gotham was one of the strongest and most entertaining episodes in a while, as Barbara puts Jim through a living hell while Theo Galavan tries to trick Bruce out of his company.
I was almost terrified that Bruce was going to make me dislike his character the minute he started considering Theo’s offer, which I honestly wish he had been smarter with. The man offers you the identity of your parents’ murderer, but is only willing to give it to you if you sign over your shares of Wayne Enterprises? If I was Bruce (or at least writing Bruce on the show), I would have viewed Theo as insensitive and a horrible human being, because who asks you for a price like that to get the answers to who brutally killed your parents?
That person is probably not a very good person if he can’t give you the identity without a price. I know I have to remember that Bruce is just a kid who can sometimes still be naïve, even an everyday teenager would know in a heartbeat how sick Theo’s demands were. I do appreciate Bruce’s struggles, though, especially as he, while crying, expresses to Alfred how much he wants this to be over already. Luckily, Theo’s masterplan runs into one hell of a corner at the end, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
Let’s talk about Barbara, who stole this whole episode. While Season 2 of Gotham has had a few bumps in the road so far, Barbara has not been one of them; she’s been one of the more positive aspects, and it’s purely because of her insanity and the fact that they aren’t trying to redeem her or hold it back. I can’t blame Gordon too much for desperately wanting to find some hope within Barbara because that’s pretty much the characterization of Jim Gordon. Even later in life, when Jim will have lived in this corrupted city for who knows how long, he will still have that tiny glimmer of optimism.
The thing that also makes Barbara such an entertaining character now, other than the embracing of the insanity, is that she is completely unpredictable, and as a viewer, it’s nice to not always be able to tell what her next move will be. Even though we know that they weren’t going to end up being married, it’s intriguing to just see how Barbara tries to break the bond between Leslie and Gordon, which doesn’t go as she had planned. It says a lot about how much my views on this character have shifted when I am actually cheering for Barbara to get away or not be killed off. In addition, since they had to kill off Jerome, there aren’t that many comedic aspects on Gotham left, but we have a few and one of them is crazy Barbara. Luckily, as she reveals where the former mayor is being held, it gives the GCPD enough to arrest Theo, so that will be an interesting follow up next week.
Last, but absolutely not the least, Nygma’s new adventure is the best, because like Barbara, he isn’t holding back anymore on the insanity as he has embraced his crazy side and merged with it. The episode ends with him finding dear old Penguin in the woods and thus the setup for their team-up that has been teased by the producers for a while now begins.
Other than my nitpicking with Bruce almost making the wrong decision, “Tonight’s the Night” is the Gotham first episode in a long time where I genuinely enjoyed the hour as a whole. And good lord, I can’t stress the excitement for Nygma/Penguin because you know we are in for a treat with those two.
Gotham airs Mondays at 8/7c on FOX.
[Photo credit: Nicole Rivelli/FOX]
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