Gotham: The Little Bird Told More Than It Should

In this week’s Gotham, Jim Gordon sets out to reclaim his old job by chasing the escaped Jack Gruber, AKA Electrocutioner, while Fish Mooney and Penguin make their moves in the ongoing gang war.

After a couple of rather middling episodes, unfortunately both the season’s mid-finale and opener, the show gets back on track. The conflict with the crime families develops further with Maroni finding out about Penguin’s team-up with Falcone, and Falcone stepping down as the don when a fake kidnapping has an effect on his motivation.

It is nice to see strong progress with this storyline, though the way Penguin outs himself is rather hokey and contrived. Maroni redeems himself by the end, thwarting Mooney’s scheme with Penguin and Zsasz’s help.

This episode further delves into its comic book roots as the Electrocutioner is the closest the show has to a supervillain so far. It is a clever re-invention of a minor villain, though the comic book “science” greatly contrasts with the realistic tone the show has set since the beginning. Gordon’s victory over Gruber is also bizarre, as it comes off as both hilarious and anti-climatic.

Gordon is growing increasingly reckless throughout the episode, particularly when interacting with the corrupt Commissioner Loeb. This will definitely create more conflict in the future, but hopefully Gordon is smarter about it in the future.

All in all, this episode is an improvement over the last few, but it still has its flaws and feels disjointed at times. Now that Gordon is back as a detective and Mooney’s plot has been foiled, there is an interesting new status quo to follow. All that is needed now is a stronger execution.

What do you think of this episode?

Do you think Penguin is celebrating too soon?

Let us know below!