- This topic has 357 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 7 years ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Oh and yes the whole relationship between Harvey and Gordon has finally been good to watch as of late. More of that.
[adrotate group="5"]Some thoughts on this week’s episode!
General Thoughts: The first half of this episode was pretty good. It had the same play or be played feeling of last week with Gordon and Nygma, but this time with Gordon and Barbara. I like how all the plot points eventually came together, even if it couldn’t escape some of Gotham’s clunkyness. Barbara is just delightfully crazy but there is this vulnerability to her performance that makes us want to be sympathetic. The second half was, by no means, bad but it wasn’t as interesting as the first. The heavy feeling was replaced by the over wrought emotions and campy appearance of Mr. Freeze who will always–ALWAYS–look like a cartoon character, even in a gritty procedural like Gotham keeps threatening to be. Also, I’m worried that the show is getting seriously bogged down in their villain line up. Because now we have: Penguin, Nygma, Mr. Freeze (three of the big four of Batman Lore–and I suspect Joker is coming back here realllll soon), but also Dr. Strange, Barbara, Tabitha, Azreal, and little side villains in case-of-the-week episodes.
LIKED
–In S1 I hated Barbara more than any character on this show. She was tiresome to the point of tears. And then the Ogre story happened and yes, it was gritty and hard to watch and it should probably rub my feminism button the wrong way, but hot DANG it turned her into a thoroughly complex character that is really fascinating to watch. And she proved to have those same complexities this week. Brava.
–“Hi Harvey. Jim will catch you up.”
–“The whammy drawer.” (We don’t deserve Harvey Bullock)
–YES to beat downs set to punk music (heart eyes)
–Props to the prosthetic dept for the hand!
–Michelle Gomez! (Hi Missy)
–“They turned me into the monster everyone thought I was” #Theme!
–“Told you I had a plan”
–“What if I had stayed outside?” “…rly”
–I’m nerdy enough to be excited about Azreal
DISLIKED
–Lucius Fox is still a thing on this show? Okay sure (but this is a problem with the show; too many characters and too many stories that keep plopping in and plopping out. If you want me to care: develop plz! cf: Ed Nygma)
–*Dr Strange explains what is going on in clunky dialogue designed to remind audience the story at Arkham that came to a bit of a standstill over the past few episodes* (but Miss Peadbody’s “you said that the first 10 times we did this…” was hilarious)
–“I’m not afraid to die if it means doing the right thing.” A 10 yr saying this is silly. Even if he is Baby!Batman.
–The Philosopher. Gee. I wonder who it could be. Trying to hide behind more nicknames is silly. It’s easy to see where it’s going with the threads playing out side by side (girl with deformity was experimented on talks to Bruce, Dr. Strange looks over girls x-rays, and Jim tries to solve Wayne murder) We get it. Dr. Strange is the Philosopher.
–Man, Jim was really lucky that underpass was totally empty! It’s a good thing people aren’t out and about in broad daylight!
–“It’s not a burden. It’s who I am.” No, it’s not because you’re not actually Batman yet! You’re still just little Bruce Wayne and to be so sure in your hero identity at this stage leaves no room for heroic growth the older (and more morally complex) you get!
–The return of Tabitha and her simplistic sex-kitten one dimensionality is not welcome. Ever.
–I seriously expected Dr. Strange to yell “It’s aliiiiiiiiive!”
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Overall I liked this episode too. It’s crazy how they can turn the worst character on television into one of the best. Barbara was once again a delight. I continue to like Hugo Strange and now we are finally starting to see his motives and what it means for the final few episodes here. Although as you said, we all knew where the plot was going and we all knew the Philosopher was Strange. I am however looking forward to them tying together the first half here with Galavan coming back and then I’m sure they will bring back Fish and Jerome as well. And then we will have so many villains…..”wrath of the villains” seems pretty on point now.
First time I’ve gotten to watch live in a long time, so forgive this if my thoughts are more jumbled than usual.
General Thoughts: Here’s what made this episode successful: it was tonally consistent. Even the moments of humor came from a dark and twisted place, matching the gritty and raw look at the rise of Azrael. It wasn’t meant to be cartoony but to drive home how twisted this city and this reality is. Taking a week off from Penguin and those highly campy antics he’s been a player in this season was needed so that the show could find its niche in dark mythology building.
LIKED
–“He’s wonderful, isn’t he?” Not the word I would use, Strange (but this fits perfectly with Dr. Strange’s Mad Scientist trope)
–Gordon and Strange have excellent tense chemistry, especially when Strange calls Gordon’s bluff and gets pretty gosh darn threatening.
–“Puzzles are my forte, and nobody beats me.” “I did.” Everything that is Ed Nygma is fabulous, especially him analyzing all the patients in Arkham. He’s an egomanicial sociopath who thinks he is better and smarter than everyone and this scene really proved his particular brand of neurosis.
–Ms Peabody continues to be the much needed “we ain’t got time for this” comic relief.
–I really like the idea of Strange creating his own monster based on the notion that everyone needs a story and an identity. Everyone on this show creates one another with their own heroic and villainous acts and we all tell our own story and understand our own identity through those acts; this is a pretty extreme, in your face, way of selling that point, but it’s a good one to sell.
–The sword thirsts for blood? Is it Stormbringer??! (yes, yes. All heroes–or villains believing they are a hero–must have a magical sword. It’s tropetastic)
–“This is leather on a stick!”
–“I find you to be a PITA (abbreviated for forum)” <–this is literally the first time I’ve ever liked Barnes because yes Baby!Batman, go home.
–Nygma’s attempt to find the hidden passage while the happiest music in the world plays in the background until his descent into the bowels of hell (more or less). Dark, twisted, weird, humorous moment that actually fits with the tone of the episode.
–RIP Barnes
DISLIKED
–“I needed to be sure you were behind this, and now I am.” Because Strange lied? And you could tell? Sorry, Gordon but that isn’t exactly hard evidence that stands up in court. (10 minutes later, at least Gordon acknowledges this to Baby!Batman)
–Nygma is in the medical profession; he would know that it’s no longer called “multiple personality disorder” but goes by the more proper term: Dissociative identity disorder
–Let’s run to the roof to get away from the madman! (this is a terrible idea. This is what gets people killed in horror movies. Get in a CAR and DRIVE AWAY)
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"–“I find you to be a PITA (abbreviated for forum)” <–this is literally the first time I’ve ever liked Barnes because yes Baby!Batman, go home.
How can we agree on so much about OUaT, but disagree on so much about Gotham!?
Whatevs.
But we get BatCat back next week, so yay!
How can we agree on so much about OUaT, but disagree on so much about Gotham!?
Because TV is a strange creature, my friend. 🙂
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"It’s funny because I’m the opposite. I agree more with RG about Gotham than I do with OUAT. Man did I like Barnes this week. And I’m pretty sure he isn’t dead….
Liked:
– Nygma continues to be amazing. I am a little afraid of him being down there by himself though….
– Ms. Peabody is going to die at some point….just waiting for it. Strange will have gone too far and one of his monsters will kill her. But I continue to cringe every time B.D. Wong says her name.
– I really enjoyed Strange’s transformation this half season and how they are inevitably going to bring back everyone from the first half and potentially create quite the formidable set of villains. It just shows they actually planned out the whole season…which I can’t always say for OUAT.
– Liked the Mad Hatter tease…..although I thought we were going to see my second favorite villain this season (Clayface) so sad face.
– I liked that Barnes showed some fight in him. I just feel like this character has gotten much better since he was first introduced.
Disliked:
– Strange has made the same mistake twice now. I love B.D. Wong’s interpretation of this villain, but why on earth did he send out another famous killer and political face like Galavan? Mr. Fries last failed at killing Gordon and was seen to boot. And now same thing happens to Galavan. You would just think he would be more tactful here. Now everyone can put the pieces together that Strange is up to something.
– Man Penguin has been useless this season and his look when he saw Galavan should have been anger…that’s hes still alive. Not, Galavan me meet again type reaction. He already contributed to killing him last time. It’s not like he really missed out. He should be very angry Galavan is alive because now the man who killed his mother is still alive after all.
– Once again, lets send out basically the whole police force after Azrael and leave Jim in a cell completely locked up and defenseless…..what is Barnes doing? For protection? We know Azrael wants to kill Gordon. So of course he’s going to show up at the station. Except now all your officers are out in the streets. What would have been smarter is setting up a trap that revolved around Gordon and once Galavan took the bait, all the officers would pop out and surround him. Just dumb on Barnes’ part and he got a few of his officers killed for it.
But overall I liked this episode a lot. Very surprised in this season. Quite the bounce back.
It’s funny because I’m the opposite. I agree more with RG about Gotham than I do with OUAT. Man did I like Barnes this week. And I’m pretty sure he isn’t dead…
Hilariously I almost responded to Jiminiy with “it’s the opposite of @thedarkonedearie so it all balances out…” 🙂
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"General Thoughts: Oh dear. @Jiminy’sJournal close your eyes! But episodes that revolve around the adventures of Baby!Batman and the constant danger that follows him is just weary. We know he’s not in any danger; he’s gonna live, clearly. I wish I could put into words, really well at least, why I find this show’s Baby!Batman so tiresome. I guess it has something to do with the fact that in many ways he’s already Batman but he’s not Bruce Wayne and right now at this age, he should be more of the latter and almost none of the former. You have to develop him into Batman, show how he got there. But he’s still just 15; he needs to act like it a bit more instead of being so self righteous, heroic, and older than his years because it’s like this giant neon sign from the writers trying to reinforce that this kid is gonna be Batman someday. Yeah, I actually know that, show. I’m….like fully well aware. Stop making him be so “Batman” already and let him be Young!Bruce Wayne.
In other news, why is it that whenever Penguin walks into the scene lately, I feel like I’m watching a totally different show? Even the music changes from something dramatic and subtle to these loud “bom bom bom bombombom” (I’m sure you guys know what musical cue I’m talking about). It’s utterly buffoonish and that’s okay if the show wasn’t also trying to be so gritty and dramatic (see, we’re back to difference in tone that I tend to harp on every week).
Overall, I think this episode lacked tension (nothing bad is going to happen to Baby!Batman or Baby!Catwoman). It’s a nice continuation of last week which shows some growth on the writers part who tend to flit from villain/story to villain/story willy nilly but it also ends the Galavan/Azrael story after just two episodes! Come on; use your villains more creatively than this; it was also pretty slow and didn’t really progress anything except the basics: Azrael = bad; Jim = in trouble; Baby!Batman=Baby!Batman; Arkham = bad joint; Penguin = vengeful.
LIKED
–“…and dressed like a spaceman!” also “the bad guys in this town just keep getting weirder and weirder!” See, show, this is why you should give many things to Donal Logue. Actually everything about Harvey was great this episode.
–“It’s like I’m saying things and you’re just not hearing them!” I love when Nygma meets other future!comic characters. Or maybe I just really love Nygma. Yeah that’s it.
–“Think that will stop me, manservant?” “I’d like to give it a try if that’s okay.”
–The fight scene between Galavan and Alfred was really well done (man, Sean Pertwee just keeps having to do these intensely physical things)
–Did not expect Baby!Batman to run over Azrael. I give him some props there.
MIXED
–I’m glad Tabby gave a nice little background to Azrael but….I’m not sure it lines up entirely with canon. This whole “he’s a mythological figure but no one knows if he was real or not…” (correct me if I’m wrong but Azrael was the title passed down to the assassin, yes? So definitely real?)
–Just when I finally found Tabby to be something either than an annoying “sex kitten” cliche, they go and stab her/knock her out of the story!
DISLIKED
–So Barnes isn’t dead? He honestly annoys me so I’m not sure I’m happy about this news.
–“I’m tired of trusting Jim Gordon!” Baby!Batman, go home. You’re 15 and shouldn’t be running off on heroic quests until your voice drops fully.
–What happened to Selena’s hair??? She has access to hair product and a straightener? And maybe some hair dye??
–I’m sure I’d care about Butch and Tabby if we had seen anything of their relationship or if the two individuals were more than cartoon characters (didn’t he have a mallet for a hand or something once?)
–Did Penguin walk all the way to Wayne Manor? Man he got there just in time TO BAZOOKA GALAVAN. (no really?! A bazooka?! Where did they get that?! How?! And what is that stupid music that accompanied that???)
–This show burns through more villains and plot than any other.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Re: Baby!BatCat — They kind of remind me of a gender-swapped DucklingSpark.
Anyhoo…
Random Thoughts:
• Could the original Azrael’s name have been Jean Paul St. Valley?
• Bruce ended up being in more danger in his own home. Go figs.
• Noticed Selina got a new coat. I wonder if Bruce will ever mention if he still has her old one.
• I wonder if they will hold on to that whip and give it to Selina.Liked:
• Proto-Batmobile! Whoo-hoo! Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-Batboy!
• Was expecting Alfred to pull the “Big Dang Heroes” moment. Was pleasantly surprised. And Galavan’s “Oh.” is probably the funniest line of the episode.
• Bruce Wayne and Alfred agreeing that they should not be trusting Gordon anymore. Hopefully, the ending doesn’t reverse that.
• Captain Bullock. Yes.
• KILLER CROC!Disliked:
• No. Please do not kill Tabitha. Please don’t kill an LGBT WoC. We already lost an awesome WoC (Essen) in the beginning of the season, for no reason (she was killed just to make way for Barnes, despite having ALREADY been made commissioner, mean she could have just been transferred to a new office, not getting over that).
• So, Butch just kicked out Barbara off-screen? And we never got to see her visit Tabitha in the hospital?
• Agree with RG about Selina’s hair. Did they try to hide it with that hat and fail?Trailer Thoughts:
Fish is (finally) back! And she is not being Strange-inated! Because she’s Fish Mooney, dang it!
The topic ‘Gotham’ is closed to new replies.