“Gotham” 2.6 – By Fire (7 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 10/26/15.
“By Fire” brought a nice end to Bridgit’s arc into Firefly and served its purpose of setting up a interesting story for the rest of the season. There were still things that didn’t flow as well as others but all in all it was an entertaining episode.
Given what we know of the Firefly from the comics I don’t think there were many fans of the show who were surprised with Bridgit’s fate of burning alive, giving us the villain who has burn scars all over her body. It was a nice nod to the cannon while still allowing the writers of “Gotham” to put their own spin on things. I might be going out on a limb here but I don’t think there are many fans of the show who aren’t a fan of the Batman universe which could be comics, video games or just the movies in general. So it’s nice when the show has these little easter eggs woven into the story.
We saw a complete character arc with Bridgit in just two episodes but given the shows history of one shot villains this was a nice change of pace. She got kidnapped by her brothers this week and was abused into submission by having firecrackers thrown at her. After being told to make their food she put on her gear and burned them where they stood. Although her transformation was quick I really enjoyed seeing her switch from victim to villain. Her fight with the GCPD was nice as well, on one hand we have Gordon trying to do his best to save her peacefully and on the other we have Firefly making the choice to continue to be the villain. Her flamethrower malfunctions and she burns alive.
Later in the episode Gordon tells Selina her friend is dead despite doing all he could and this pushes Selina even farther from the light. She even says herself “I never should’ve trusted a cop.” Having her friend die at the hand of police helps her character become the thief we know from the Batman rouge gallery and overall I was very pleased with how it all played out.
Things that didn’t mesh as well were Riddler’s story this week. He finally wins Ms. Kringle’s affection and actually opens up to her about being a murderer. It was nice to see her recoil from him in horror and try and get out of the apartment, however she wasn’t the smartest about it. She instantly calls him a psychopath and tells him he’s going to jail. This causes Ed to freak out and choke the life out of her while yelling he would never do anything to hurt her ever again. After he realizes what he’s done we see the old Ed come back and scream at the murder he’s just committed.
I was happy to see this particular story close because it’s been going on pretty much sense the start of the show, but I still can’t figure out how this Ed becomes The Riddler. As far as the show goes. Ed represents the good and bad that resides in all of us and has trouble with which side is in control. I hope the evil side wins out or he meshes into one because as I’ve said before split personalities is Harvey Dent and Two Face’s thing.
We also saw more of Bruce’s training which included a sucker punch to the face from Alfred to prove to Bruce that he’s not ready to take on the corruption of his company. Then we later saw Bruce eating dinner with the Galavans and Theo promising Bruce that when he becomes mayor he would help Bruce root out the corruption that got his parents killed. Not much happened on the Bruce and Theo front so we’ll see where this leads.
Lastly was the Butch and Penguin story of sending Butch in as a mole into Galavan’s organization. Their plan failed miserably and Tabitha was able to break Butch and send him back into Penguin’s camp in order to lay a trap for him. Penguin, I assume is too blinded by the grief of his missing mother in order to see the trap for what it is or at least that’s how it seems. I hope he actually hasn’t had the wool pulled over his eyes and turns the tables on Galavan in the end.
For the end of the episode and possibly the biggest reveal in the show’s history we find out that Bridgit didn’t actually die and has been shipped off to “Indian Hill: A division of Wayne Enterprises.” Fans of the show will remember that back in season one Indian Hill was a place in Arkham and called a toxic waste dump on top of an old indian burial ground. We now know that there is a secret villain testing bunker underneath and no doubt the show will pull from here for its future episodes.
We were able to see a few of those future villains while Firefly was being wheeled to her room. There’s a lot of speculation about who they are and I have my own thoughts to add to the mix. First up we see what looks like a reptilian hand and then a fetus being held up. This leads me to believe this is the start of Killer Croc.
Then we have a man with a bandaged face wearing nothing else but a black speedo. There’s vents above him pumping something into the room. This could be either Mr. Freeze or even Bane, it’s hard to tell because we didn’t get a lot to go on. You can see one of the techs wearing a gas mask so clearly the air isn’t safe to breathe without one.
Then lastly we see a woman, dressed all in black with what looks like electrodes hooked up to her. My theory here is that this woman is Livewire.
I hope that we don’t see all of these villains during this season and “Gotham” doesn’t seem to mind taking their time with things, like revealing what “Indian Hill” really was. For the record though if you’re going to do experimental test on humans make sure it’s not in a bunker that has the company’s logo you work for by the doors. That’s just asking for someone with powers to come and kill you.
This week episode was on par with last week and did a very nice job tying up the Firefly arc. I’m excited to see what’s next and I’m still hoping Galavan will shine like the villain he’s trying to be. He’s evil no doubt but doesn’t do as good of a job as playing the city’s hero and the villain in the shadows as I think the character is cable of.