“Gotham” 2.8 – Tonight’s the Night (8 out of 10) – Written by Bruno Heller and John Stephens, Megan Mostyn-Brown Based on characters created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Howard Chaykin, Frank Miller, Greg Rucka; Starring Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue, David Mazouz, Sean Pertwee, Morena Baccarin, Erin Richards…; Rated TV14. Aired on Fox 11/09/15.
Crazy Barbara was back this week in full swing and I loved every minute of it. She lures Jim into a trap and tells him he can either marry her or die, it’s his choice. She brings Lee in to try and make her see the dark side of Jim but her plan falls apart when she learns that Jim has already told her everything. In the end the police show up to save Jim and like he tried to warn her Theo left her to twist in the wind. While watching the episode I had feeling she would die in the end with Jim trying to save her and thought I was right when she fell out the window and the show cut to commercial but then right when the break ended there she is being loaded into an ambulance in critical condition.
By keeping her alive I’m at a complete loss for where her story is heading in the show. This could be her road to redemption to become the Barbara we know from the comics but I doubt it. In my opinion she’s too far gone to come back and ever have a life with Jim. During the little ceremony she was putting on she let it slip to Jim that Mayor is still alive and well, she even gives up his location. What’s unclear is whether or not this was all part of Theo’s master plan. I’m hoping it wasn’t and that Barbara really just thought that because Jim was going to die it didn’t matter if she told him but on the other hand she never admitted that Theo was behind it all so it’s possible he wanted to get caught for whatever reason.
Continuing on the Theo story line this week he tried to get Bruce to give up his 51% of his company. He said that if Bruce sold him his shares he would clean up the corruption at Wayne Enterprises and Gotham but to sweeten the deal he offered to tell Bruce the identity of the man who killed his parents. This was a pretty dick move and helped tear away the façade that Theo had been projecting. When Bruce tells Alfred of Theo’s offer Alfred very bluntly tells Bruce that it’s really not an offer at all, helping Bruce realize that if Theo was a good person like he claims to be he wouldn’t hold this over Bruce’s head.
In the end Bruce decides not to sell his shares on his own, it seemed like he was going to and Alfred was letting him make his own choice. I loved that Bruce chose not to go through with it. He wasn’t interrupted or forced to stop he made that choice on his own. He had pride in himself and his family name and accepted the responsibility to fix the problems himself. One of my favorite moments of the episode was when Alfred tells Bruce that the legacy of his parents isn’t the company they built but that it was him, their son. Helping Bruce see the light and love in the world and in this case from his parents among all the darkness is what Alfred does best. The scene was powerful and emotional, it’s one of those that stick with you and the characters throughout not just the season but the entire show.
Lastly we come to Riddler, who is now one person thanks to last week and as he says he owes it all to Ms. Kringle and her death. He’s burying her and having a picnic in the woods when a hunter interrupts him. Hitting the hunter on the back of the head either knocks him out or kills him I’m not sure but either way Ed is going to bury him in the same grave as Ms. Kringle. All of this is just so he can follow some tracks that lead to an injured Penguin camped out in a trailer in the middle of the woods.
I’m assuming next week we’ll see Riddler and Penguin team up and have some fun killing people. To Penguin, Riddler can now be his inside man at the GCPD. It’ll be interesting to see what plays out between these two. I’m excited to see Riddler continuing his journey to the villain from the comics and killing people is part of that journey, I just want to see him give people a chance to escape if they can answer his riddles.
Overall it was a really enjoyable episode and I can’t wait to see what the show has in store for all of its characters. I’m excited to what happens to the whole cast and what new threats are introduced now that Theo is behind bars or if getting arrested and sent to maybe even Arkham are part his plan.