Review: ‘Gotham – S1E8’ From The Editor

Gordon and Bullock investigate a Gothamite who runs a deadly fight club for candidates applying for a job at his financial firm. Meanwhile, Bruce returns to school and gets a visit from a new friend

Tensions are mounting as the temporary peace between Falcone and Moroni is tested by a meet between Penguin and Fish Mooney.  Obviously, Cobbelpot’s secret plans revealed last week involve what could be a triple or quadruple cross against the mob families and somehow involve Jim Gordon.  Penguin’s obsession with Gordon is only matched by his desire to gloat in front of Fish.  After a menacing theft of a broche on a Gotham street, Fish shows her promise to only “spill a drop” of blood is true as she stabs Cobblepot through the hand.  There is a lot of menace in both actors performances as the mob story arc continues to be the most intriguing on the series.

The main Gordon/Bullock story this week returns to a crime procedural story about a fight club between business men.  Almost exactly as it has opened the past three episodes, Edward Nygma investigates a crime scene as Bullock drinks coffee and complains about how early it is as Gordon arrives late.  This time, Nygma discovers a finger bitten off in the mouth of the victim and doesn’t make any veiled Riddler references.  Add to that the detective’s deductive conclusion that because the victim was wearing suspenders means he must have been involved in the world of finance.  Bullock’s change of heart last week and supporting Gordon’s crusade to fix Gotham seems to have shifted the duplicitous

One of Jim’s finest scenes this season came when he confronts Sionis. See, Richy broke the first rule, he talked about fight club. Well, not really, but he did compare his business tactics to that of a warrior. To which Jimbo retorted, “Warriors fight wars.” Richard quickly tipped his hand here that he is responsible for the murder. Jim and Harv quickly make an arrest. Harv’s line, “I’d give you the good cop routine, but it’s not in my toolkit,” was hilarious.

Speaking of which, mixing in with the ultra violence was a lot of comedy this week. Harv calls Jim an asshat in his impassioned speech to get the cops back on Gordon’s side. And when Jim finds himself surrounded by Goons, he tries to reason with them. Only to have Sionis offer a million to whoever takes Jim down. At which point Jim shrugs and just fights back.

Edward Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) is starting to pick up steam as a character. I was glad he got a riddle in this week. And it was creepy the way he performed an unauthorized autopsy. I like the pacing with him, slowly watching him descend into the brilliant madness of The Riddler. I’m hoping we see some more interactions with the female co-worker he has been creeping. I feel like that’s going to be a major plot that transforms him down the road.

cop who now feels like a guardian to his young partner and wants to protect him from the rest of the GCPD who turned on the guy when Victor Zsasz came calling.

Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) had an entertaining back and forth. It was also informative as we got insight as to how the crime families work with one another. The ONLY thing I didn’t like about this scene was that Fox itself kind of ruined it in the promos. In the previous scene, where Penguin acquires the broach, you knew Fish was going to use it to stab her former goon.

In Wayne’s world, we find that Alfred (Sean Pertwee) is insisting that Bruce (David Mazouz) should return to school. Exactly what you would expect to happen, happens. Bruce becomes a target of a bigger, badder bully. This was the strongest part of the episode. It was Alfred’s performance that made it work. Alfred show’s that stiff upper lip and desire to protect Bruce though and the violence continues.

Gordon, now getting support from Bullock and the captain, and armed wit the knowledge that Sionis has had four others killed, goes to an abandoned office building where Sionis makes his job candidates fight to the death.  There he finds a new victim locked in a cage and is tazed by Sionis.  When he awakes, he is between three masked men and a PA carries Sionis’ promise that whoever kills Gordon gets a job at his firm plus a million dollars.

The Episode was better than last week’s. A little slow in parts, the show has lagged some since “Spirit of the Goat.” The comedy was strong and the fight scenes were intense. All the plots got moved along and story keeps building towards something. The Game of Gotham has turned back into a cold war. But Fish and Penguin have both acquired what they think are WMD’s to help turn the tide in their favor.