When a killer begins targeting the first born of Gotham's elite, Bullock is forced to confront traumatic memories from a nearly identical case he worked in the past. Later, Gordon is confronted by past decisions.
"Spirit of the Goat" is the episode of Gotham in which we realize that Detective Harvey Bullock is so much more than just the lackadaisical detective we've seen during the first five episodes. I would sure hope so because Harvey speaking in cliche-riddled dialogue every week was severely getting on my nerves. In fact, Harvey is the way that he is because of all the years he has served on the Gotham police force. When he first joined more than a decade ago, he was very much like Jim Gordon. And now, the return of the Spirit of the Goat case lights a fire underneath him again. He is frustrated. He already solved this case once before. And now, he has to deal with it all over again. The case is even more complex now though because it seems more like the actual killer instead of just a copycat one. Of course, that then branches of to a conspiracy theory. One that wasn't completely surprising to me because I knew the show would have cast Susan Misner as more than just the therapist of the latest victim's family.And yet, this episode is an improvement over the standard of the season so far. It's largely focused on the case. It's not trying to balance every single aspect of the show in one hour. There is the case and how it effects Harvey and then just offers brief cutaways to Jim dealing with Major Crimes and Barbara, Bruce staying in his familiar environment and Nygma trying to organize the police's files. It's still a lot. But it's not as severe tonal whiplash as the last handful of episodes have been. Sure, the case-of-the-week is really dark. A mentally ill man is kidnapping and killing the eldest child of Gotham's wealthiest families. It just so happens that all of his victims are female. When Alfred asks Bruce if he would consider leaving town as well, I half expected him to respond, "The killer won't take me because I'm a boy." Gotham continues the trend of victimization of women. It's not a major focus in the case. And it's important that the whole thing was put into motion by a woman with crazy ideas. But the violent aspects remain.
I'm willing to look past that because the show took Harvey in a better and more meaningful direction. It still wasn't great but it was better than what he had been doing. He was the one who solved the case. His former mentor believes there is no heroes in this line of work. That mentality has slipped its way into how Harvey operates. But he is still capable of being a great detective and making a difference in this city. The crazy therapist did all of this in order to make Gotham a better place. That seems to be the rationale for every villain so far in this city. They all have ideas on how to improve Gotham. It's not that crazy to think that this city needs an asylum because there are so many crazy people with crazy ideas on how to make the place they live in a better place. It is a corrupt system and one that is slowly falling into more chaos.
Montoya and Allen claim to be the good guys and they are hellbent on proving that Jim is just another corrupt officer who killed their latest informant, Oswald Cobblepot. We know that he didn't but it is a slippery slope Jim is walking because of the ever-changing landscape. The drama between him and Barbara was never that compelling. I was hoping this break between the two would make them better as individuals before making them great as a couple again. But nope, the show enjoys the two of them together and they will keep each other together - even though they are never allowed to be happy or intimate. Their struggles aren't real enough which makes me not care about them or her past with Montoya. And now, the agents from Major Crimes have arrested Jim and Harvey for Oswald's murder. That would have provided interesting complications for the show. They could finally break free of the case-of-the-week structure in order to figure out which balance of tone they actually want to achieve on a week-to-week basis. And then, Oswald shows up at the police precinct. It's a dramatic ending. What the hell is that character thinking? He's out in the open where he doesn't exactly know what could happen. News of his death being faked could easily make their ways back to Fish and Falcone - both of whom take this week off. I'm interested to see how this changes things. I'm just hoping it's not an excuse to get Jim and Harvey out of handcuffs so they can investigate the next minor case to hit their desks next week.
Some more thoughts:
- "Spirit of the Goat" was written by Ben Edlund and directed by TJ Scott.
- I still don't give a crap about Edward Nygma. The show is now trying to say that he's weird but also yearning for love which no one will give to him because he's weird. It's a cliche and frankly not interesting at all.
- And come on, you honestly want me to believe that Nygma would use the "Wolf, Rabbit and Cabbage" riddle? Everyone knows how it works. Instead of making us see him as a genius, we see him as an everyman with very odd and peculiar eccentricities. If he's gonna do that, at least have him add his own spin to it. Basically no one but Fargo and Key & Peele can tell the riddle refreshingly.
- Why did Montoya and Allen arrest Jim in Barbara's apartment and then drag him through the police precinct just to arrest Harvey as well? That makes no logistical sense other than both being in that setting when Oswald walks through the door.
- Selina breaking into Bruce's mansion seems very easy for her to do and something completely tangential to the rest of the action.
- The relationship Oswald has with his mother is almost too creepy and intimate. I wonder where that will go.
