In this week's Gotham Pyg keeping up with his bloody crusade, Bruce is living it up, and Selina might finally get the family she's been looking for. The main current story lines from the show are:
Bruce story arc – “I think I’m going to try it out for a
while“:
Bruce is hosting a benefit at the Wayne Manor, but is clearly not himself.
He is going through waves of being angry and then simply despondent. We see him
snapping at Alfred and a waiter over nothing and it is clear that he is having a hard time
dealing with the fallout of killing Ra’s. A former classmate of Bruce’s, Grace,
comes to say hi and convinces him (easily) to leave the fundraiser. Bruce and
Grace meet up with a few of her friends and they head to a club looking for an exciting
evening. After some issues with the bouncer letting them inside, Bruce decides
to just buy the club so they can get in – I imagine a nice tip for the bouncer
would’ve sufficed, but this new Bruce we’re seeing decides to pull out all of
the stops. We see Bruce partying it up with Grace and her friends, a stark
contrast to the Bruce we have come to know from the show’s previous seasons.
My thoughts: During
the episode, we get an interesting look at the anger bubbling inside of Bruce. He
is suffering from the decisions he has made to lead him up to this point. Bruce is transforming into the party boy Bruce Wayne – buying clubs, drinking heavily,
dancing and making out with girls, and wanting to immediately resort to fighting to solve his problems. I am curious to see how this story arc plays
out and what will happen to snap Bruce out of this and get him focused on his
training and higher purpose again.
Professor Pyg story arc “I’ll bring justice to where there
is justice no more”:
Harvey is back to work after getting his neck cut by
Professor Pyg and Jim immediately brings up the money he has been getting from
Penguin. Luckily for Harvey, a delivery of 44 boxes (one for every officer in
the GCPD) of severed pig heads arrives so he can avoid the conversation. It
turns out there are 45 officers and Pyg gave the delivery men instructions to
not give a box to Jim. Penguin shows up with his new security consultant “Head
Hunter” to discuss how they can work together to rid Gotham of Pyg. Jim scoffs
at the idea, but Harvey has already agreed – leading to further tension between
the two. Jim pledges to arrest Pyg alive to bring him to justice before Penguin’s
men can butcher him.
Harvey and Jim are informed that three officers have gone
missing in the narrows. A large group of GCPD’s finest get to the spot just as
Head Hunter and his men do. The two groups storm a building in the narrows side
by side, much to Jim’s dismay. It doesn’t take long before Head Hunter takes it
too far and threatens to kill a resident unless someone talks. Of course this
doesn’t sit right with Jim and there is a giant standoff. Before bullets start
flying, they get the information they are looking for – that Pyg took the
officers in a Hearse driving down 7th street, heading west. They
find two of the three officers with pig masks on, but Pyg and the third officer
are still missing. One of those two officers is alive and Jim questions him for
information – finding out that Pyg is planning something at the abandoned court
house.
Jim goes to take a look for himself, but Harvey has a
different plan and sends reinforcements. The whole operation turns into a media
circus with Penguin giving interviews to the press. Harvey wants Penguin’s men
to go in first to take the brunt of Pyg’s fire before sending in the GCPD. Jim
gets a call from Pyg warning him not to enter the court house and he tries to
convince Harvey to call off the raid while Penguin argues to
keep the plan as-is. In the end, Penguin makes the decision for them by sending his
men to in and Harvey has the GCPD follow. Harvey loses his cool with Jim and orders him to stand down
and wait outside. Pyg has indeed set up a trap with two machine gun turrets
shooting from both exits at the GCPD, trapping them in a room. Jim grabs a
grenade launcher and saves the day by blowing up both turrets, but not before
Pyg’s plan takes down a large number of GCPD officers and Penguin’s men. Pyg calls Jim
afterwards and lets him know he has a grand idea for the next step in his plan
and he considers Jim his Muse.
My thoughts: Pyg
has proven time and again that he is quite the formidable foe. He has a lot of
tricks and deception he employs to confuse Jim and the GCPD. The fact that
Harvey is allowing Penguin’s men to be a part of this, leading to a large
degree of dysfunction, is only making Pyg’s job easier. It is looking like Pyg
is planning quite the spectacle and I’m looking forward to seeing what the
maniac has in store. Unfortunately, the rift between Harvey and Jim is only
widening, heading towards a breaking point. I’m afraid it may have gone too far to
ever reconcile again – and knowing how vital commissioner Gordon is to the DC
universe, might spell bad things coming for Harvey.
Barbara, Selina, Tabitha story arc – “How about a parting
lesson from big sis“:
Barbara is shutting down shop now that Ra’s is not
available to bankroll the operation. Selina wants to keep the operation going,
but Barbara has no interest. Tabitha clearly has taken a liking to Selina and
reassures her that the two of them will figure it out. Selina brushes this off
and decides to take matters into her own hands, going to rob some thugs known
as ‘The Demons.’ Selina gets trapped in the Demon’s garage and calls on Tabitha
for help. Barbara ends up coming and saving the day, leading the three of them
to decide to keep the business going and the good times rolling.
My thoughts: Selina
again demonstrates that her lack of experience and inhibitions are still
present and leading her into danger. Luckily for her, she has two ‘big
sisters’ looking out for her now. This business partnership between Barbara,
Tabitha, and Selina will definitely help aid in Selina’s growth and full
transformation into Catwoman – which I know everyone is excited to see.
Next week on Gotham:
It is looking like a lot will be going down next week. Grundy
is once again called to wrestle and this time Tabitha is in the audience and
sees Butch as Grundy for the first time. Jim and Harvey continue to butt heads,
but there is considerably more venom in the relationship than ever before with
Harvey reminding Jim that “nothing in Gotham is free!” Oh, firefly is back! By
the way, when are we going to see the new poison ivy!?
