In an attempt to get his job back, Gordon seeks to capture Jack Gruber, a deranged electrical genius who escaped Arkham Asylum. Meanwhile, Falcone struggles to hold onto his empire after Fish makes her next move.
The weight of Jim Gordon's demotion to security duty at Arkham Asylum was a pivotal turning point for the character in the midseason finale. He took the job because he wanted to send a message to the corrupt officials who wanted him to just go away. The new setting also opened up the possibility of a fresh perspective. Gordon would go there and deal with a new structure of authority before finding a way to rise up the ranks and get back to his old job. I just didn't think it would only take two episodes before he was a detective was more.The role of police commissioner is a very crucial part of Gotham. It's the position that Gordon will one day achieve - although it's unlikely that the series will ever actually show him in the role. It makes sense that that previously unseen character would be the one who unwillingly pulls Jim back to his regular job. The only reason Commissioner Loeb does it too is because Gordon proves himself to be invaluable to the police precinct. That is only true because he helps capture the mad men who escaped from the asylum in the previous episode. So, the entire Arkham plot was about getting Gordon back to his old job. It was working that angle from the very first second. The show presented this twist to Gordon's story. And then, when the show came back from its holiday hiatus, it only wanted him back to the status quo as quickly as possible. Gordon's time at the asylum isn't rewarding. Yes, he gets to stop one of the more memorable bad-guys-of-the-week. But the only thing to really come out of his time at Arkham is this new relationship with Dr. Thompkins. Her only purpose so far is to help with the police investigations each week - both conducted by Jim. And then, all of sudden, the two are kissing in the end. That didn't have any natural character progression. We get a brief cameo by Barbara and see what she's up to. But the romantic entanglements of Jim Gordon aren't that compelling and that's because the show doesn't want to spend the time to develop its female characters. It just wants them to be kissing Jim already.
Jack Gruber aka The Electrocutioner is a very entertaining villain. His ability to manipulate electrical currents makes him one of the more deadly bad guys the show has done so far. And yet, the human and emotional aspects of the character are largely absent. He's going after Maroni because of something that happened in the past. But the explanation for why he does anything is completely missing in any kind of meaningful way. And then, he's given such an anti-climatic ending. He and Jim are facing off an epic showdown in the police precinct. He's charging up his machine for a lethal attack. And Jim flings some water or coffee on it and it is suddenly rendered completely useless. What a letdown. You would figure the bad guy would have been smarter than that. He was certainly built up as such - he tried killing someone in the middle of a police precinct after all!
The stuff with Jim reached its conclusion much earlier than I expected too. I figured Gruber had one final trick up his stuff. But nope, he got sent back to prison, Jim became a detective again and then got to make out with Leslie. All of that was done so the grand conflict between Fish and Falcone could have as much screentime as possible. That plot was the best thing about the episode because it was paying off stuff that the whole season had been building towards. Fish had been planning to oust Falcone as head of the crime family since the very first episode. And now, she enacts her plan to make it a reality.
It's a particularly great episode for John Doman as Falcone. Once Liza is "kidnapped" by Fish, he becomes introspective about what he wants out of life. He could head into Fish's club with his assassins and try to take her out before she can do the same to him. Or he could retire to the country and live the rest of his life with Liza. He could get out of this business while still actually being alive. That's simply not a major option in this line of work. Fish gives him that out. As much as she wants his job, she still respects him and what he did for her in the beginning. He is ready to take that option. And then, Oswald shows up - after several contrivances keep him away for most of the day - to tell Falcone that Liza has been working with Fish this whole time. That lights a fire underneath him once more. He heads into the club to kill Liza and all of Fish's men while holding both Fish and Butch captive. Was there enough reason for him to keep both of those characters alive? I don't know. It would have been fun if he killed Fish for manipulating him through the image of his mother. That would add an unpredictable element to the show which is desperately needed. Though keeping Jada Pinkett Smith around could prove beneficial later.
Some more thoughts:
- "What the Little Bird Told Him" was written by Ben Edlund and directed by Eagle Egilsson.
- Hoping to see more of Peter Scolari's Commissioner Loeb very soon. He could be an interesting player in this world if used correctly.
- Leslie still provides an entry point to Arkham Asylum as a place of interest within this universe. Though I'm not expecting much insight from either one right now.
- Nygma is still weirdly pining after Ms. Kringle who works in the records room. It still doesn't interest me one bit. Though him being distracted by her is the only acceptable reason as to why he didn't see Gruber's attack coming.
- Fish hasn't exactly been a very nuanced character. But her taking time to respect Falcone and not get self-congratulatory like Butch was an interesting insight into her point-of-view.
- Maroni has to be more weary of Oswald moving forward, right? If he's not, he's an idiot who deserves to die. Oswald basically blurted out that he was working for Falcone - in the most contrived way possible too.
