Galavan and Penguin join forces with a dangerous family in Gotham. As the rivalry between the Waynes and the Galavans resurfaces, Gordon struggles to maintain order in the city.
"Scarification" sets out to properly explain why Theo Galavan is doing what he's doing in Gotham this season. The motivation of the character is a way to better understand his actions. And yet, he has been such a menacing presence this season that it didn't really need this whole tragic backstory attached to it. Yes, it signifies the next stage of his plan. One that will bring more chaos and blood to Gotham than it has ever seen before. And yet, that threat feels slightly empty now. It's a whole lot of teasing of what's to come without making the overall episode all that effective. It's typical plotting that feels like it came out of an episode from last season.It will probably be important that Theo feels righteous in his actions because the Wayne family exiled his distinct relative two hundred years ago. This family has held onto that grudge for centuries now. Theo wants to do something to restore the family name in a place where the Galavans helped create the city as it is today. And yet, there's nothing special about this tragic backstory. It's the same kind of tragic love story that has defined so many villains in the course of the medium's history. It holds no originality to it. It's simply one family that scorned another. And now, that family wants payback. All of it happened because one man fell in love with the wrong woman. It was a brutal piece of history that also featured disfigurement. But the show has desensitized the audience to such acts of horror on this show. How is this instance of physical harm suppose to be more distinctive and character-defining than all the other uses of the same device? How is this story so important to Theo?
All of this is being told to the audience because Penguin wants to know the man who is holding his mother captive. He sets out to understand the man in a way that no one else can in order to manipulate his emotions. Penguin knows that Theo is the big bad guy currently bringing destruction and chaos to the city. Jim and his unit of police officers are still just taking down small money operations in order to make a dent into a big business operation. They aren't aware of just how bad things are in Gotham. Penguin does have that awareness. He is forced to comply with Theo's orders because he has his mother prisoner. Thusly, Penguin wants to know why Theo is doing all of this and how he can take back control of the city. It leads to the grand story being told in the most expositional way possible. With a tale as boring as it is being the most important thing for the main villain, it needed to have something special about it. It just doesn't. Theo is still a terrorizing presence. But this added piece of information doesn't make him a more effective bad guy for the season. In fact, it actually makes him a little more formulaic and derivative.
"Scarification" also plays as yet another "creation of a famous Batman villain" episode. Theo wants Penguin to attack several key Wayne Enterprises buildings by setting them on fire. It's all a cover so that Theo can get his hands on the knife that disarmed his ancestor. Penguin outsources the job to a family that are professional arsonists. They are the people who the police deal with throughout this episode. But the episodic plot largely plays as the creation of a female version of the villain Firefly. She goes from the beat-up slave of the family to the monster who sets fire to the buildings and to one police officer over the course of this hour. It doesn't play like many of the villainous creation episodes of last season. She has a connection with Selina that will likely be explored later on this season. Selina is able to come to her rescue when Jim and the police show up to arrest the family for their crime. That means she will pop up again soon to cause more trouble. But in this episode, she's largely just a plot point that plays to the fans of the comic more than it does creating an interesting character for the show.
It's also difficult to believe how smart Jim and the new Strike Force unit are suppose to be considering they just seem to be reacting to the various crimes orchestrated by the villains. Barnes wants to take down the Penguin. That creates a compromising situation for Jim. And yet, that's not really addressed at all because the show has to have these characters go through the motions of attacking various places in order to make them feel like an important part of the show. They are literally just being manipulated by the villains. Sure, they stop the arson family before they are able to finish out the job. But they had already gotten the one thing they were after so it's not that important that they didn't finish. Moreover, Jim is continuing to fall under the spell of Theo Galavan just like everyone else. He doesn't have a sneaking suspicion that this man isn't all that he says he is. He believes that Theo is genuine simply because he talks about the psychological trauma that comes from killing Jerome. That's the only thing that establishes some kind of trust and connection between the two. But Theo has gotten his hooks into Jim. Jim is willing to endorse Theo for mayor. And yet, the longer that Jim doesn't know the truth makes him appear like he is bad at his job. It's an awkward situation for the show to find itself in that is getting more frustrating with each episode.
Some more thoughts:
- "Scarification" was written by Jordan Harper and directed by Bill Eagles.
- For an episode that talks about the demise of Bruce Wayne and the family company a lot, it's weird that this episode doesn't feature Bruce Wayne at all.
- Penguin's big plan to destroy Theo is by having Butch go undercover within Theo's operation. He plans on developing that trust by cutting Butch's arm off. That plan feels like it could go wrong any number of ways.
- Barbara's presence is explained away by her liking to sleep a lot. That feels like a very weird way of addressing that she's not in this episode.
- Finally someone mentioned the fact that no one knows if Fish will ever return to Gotham. Her exit was very ambiguous. Even though Butch was there and saw her fall, there is still no body that proves that she is in fact dead.
- Lee notices that Nygma is changing as a person because her and Jim's double date with him and Kristin isn't as bad as they initially feared. Too bad it's only going to take a turn for the worse in the future.
- The fact that there was a store that sold illegal weapons in Gotham was incredulous but the execution of the concept was very amusing and well done.
