This episode forces Jim Gordon to confront demons, both internal and external. Fish asserts her claim on the throne, and Bruce finds his inner badass. Just another week in Gotham City. Spoilers a-plenty below.
1. Welcome to the White Collar Gladiatorial Games — Sponsored by Patrick Bateman
The villain-of-the-week formula continues to give the program a predictable format, while introducing the audience to a new, unpredictable threat. In this episode, after a young would-be business man from the finance sector shows up dead, Jim and Harvey discover a business for which the hiring process is absolute murder.
We first get a glimpse of the madness in a great cold open. Two men in ski mask, crisp white shirts and suspenders are squaring off against one another in an abandoned office building. Fighting as though their lives depend on it, they assault one another with all manner of office equipment until one emerges victorious. During this scene it is revealed that someone is watching the action on a surveillance monitor. This isn’t a scrape between coworkers, someone is deliberately forcing them into combat.
There’s something eerie about the professional atmosphere being overtaken by complete savagery. Gotham’s timeless setting takes on a mid-nineties aesthetic that sort of forces the audience to remember American Psycho and combines that with a Hunger Games structure driving the action. Further inquiry into the business reveals that Richard Sionis, the head of this company has quite literally been getting away with murder for years. Nygma reveals that four bodies have shown up with office supplies as the cause of death in the last three years. This gives an entirely new meaning to ‘inhumane working conditions’.
2. When You’re Good to Mama…
There is so much talk about mothers in this episode of Gotham. From the reason for Bruce’s confrontation to his classmate, to Fish’s self prescribed role as the ‘godmother’ of Gotham the importance of the maternal figure is everywhere. Let’s start with Bruce. After returning to school, Bruce is confronted by a classmate who has decided to be a real little shit and tease him about being an orphan. Bruce holds it together pretty well until the boy, Tommy Elliot, mouths off about his mother. At which point Bruce slaps him with an open hand across his face (this is the future Batman, folks, I wish he still used this approach, personally. I can think of several villains that need a good slap across the face) and tells him not to talk about his mother. When he confesses what he has done to Alfred, his butler agrees that the boy deserved that and more. The memory of his Martha Wayne is clearly worth fighting for.
Moving from the saintly figure of Mother Martha Wayne to one bad mother shut your mouth, Fish Mooney, the maternal role is further explored. In a tense meeting with Oswald Cobblepot, she tells him, ‘I treated you like a son’, and makes it clear that betraying her was an unpardonable sin. Interestingly, after Fish rejects a gift that Oswald brought her, an elaborate broach he stole from a well-to-do Gothamite, he presents the gift to his own mother, further highlighting the importance of that figure in this episode.
A clandestine meeting in a church confessional between Fish and Liza begins with Liza offering a sardonic, ‘forgive me, Mother, for I have sinned’. She then goes on to tell Fish that she is not sure if Falcone sees her as his maid, his lover or his mother. Fish tells her that she can be all three. In fact Liza’s current appearance and persona were directly modeled after what Fish knows of Falcone’s mother, again highlighting the importance of that figure. This scene is also interesting because Fish is occupying a traditionally male space, the seat of the priest in a confession booth. Liza and Fish continue a dialogue on mothers later in the episode, when Liza comes to see Fish at her club. Fish tells Liza that she is so determined to take Falcone out because when she was a child, one of his men killed her mother. Liza believes Fish is out for revenge, but Fish quickly corrects her, telling her she resolved to, ‘never again be powerless, to never let a man — any man, be over me’. While it seems that the story about her mother being a prostitute murdered at the hand of Falcone’s man may have been pure fiction, as evidenced by an older woman, presumably Fish’s mother, approaching her after Liza leaves; this assertion still seems to be a true driving force for Fish. Very much afraid of what could happen if Falcone finds out her true intentions, Liza makes it clear that she wants out. Fish tells her that she won’t let anything happen to her, and has Liza call her, ‘Mama’. This is significant because it directly contrasts with an earlier exchange the women shared in which Fish told Liza she was not her mama, that she would have to ‘earn that’. It shows a deepening affection and strengthening of this relationship. Though it might be nefarious in nature this is still a significant example of female mentorship that we rarely see on network television. From Gertrude Kapelput, to Martha Wayne, to Mama Falcone to Fish Mooney, mothers are everywhere in this episode.
Continued below3. You’ve Got to Start Somewhere
As previously mentioned, Bruce Wayne gets into a scrape with his classmate after returning to school. What is most remarkable about this exchange is Alfred’s reaction to the entire thing. After school, Alfred drives Bruce to the home of his classmate, Tommy Elliot. At first, it seems they may be there to allow Bruce to apologize, but such is not the case. After Tommy answers the door, Bruce begins to beat him senseless, his knuckles girded in his father’s watch. Tommy exclaims, ‘he tried to kill me’, and Alfred tells the boy, ‘you remember that I let him’. This tells us that Alfred does not believe that every problem can be solved with words, and sees the value of a good show of force, every now and again. Perhaps most telling is a later scene in which Bruce confesses to Alfred that he enjoyed hurting the boy, and Alfred says matter-of-factly, ‘of course you did, he deserved it’. Batman is starting to seem the inevitable conclusion to this kid’s unorthodox upbringing.
4. He May Be an Asshat, but He’s My Asshat
The last episode of Gotham found Jim deserted by his fellow police officers. He alone faced the consequences of crossing Falcone. Eventually, though, Harvey joined him on his crazy quest for justice, and now he faces the consequences of that choice. Unused to pariah status, Harvey struggles with being an outcast in the GCPD. Despite the reaction from his fellow officers, Harvey makes it clear that he believes in Jim, telling Captain Essen that the reason people don’t like him is because ‘he reminds them of what cowards they are’. After Jim disappears later in the episode, no one at the precinct will help Harvey look for him. Cue a Bullock-style rallying cry that only Donal Logue could deliver. Harvey concedes that Jim may in fact be a ‘total asshat, but he’s still a cop’. Somehow, the bumbling words inspire a sense solidarity in the police, and they offer their assistance.
This is significant because it gives Jim allies and positions him to take on a leadership role in the future. Though he is able to handle himself, the emotional tole of working alone or even against the rest of the department weighed heavily on him. This new attitude if it prevails will make Jim a better cop, and a more effective force for good.
5. There Are No Monsters
Jim is forced to face down his own demons through his confrontation with Richard Sionis. During his initial conversation with Sionis, the businessman tells Jim that he recognizes a fire in him, that he can tell that he has really killed people and that he must miss the battlefield. Jim seems unable to deny any of this. Later in the episode, Harvey tells Jim that he seems to like all the fighting, not just with the bad guys but within the GCPD as well. ‘You got a demon in you’, Harvey says to him. The idea of Jim being plagued by a demon creates an interesting comment on an earlier interaction between him and Barbara. She begs Jim to tell her that there are no monsters, even if he has to lie. He may well be one of the monsters she is so afraid of, and he must confront this possibility. Presented with the opportunity to kill Sionis, Jim exercises self-restraint and proves that he is more man than monster.
*And a note: Not only is Jim not smoking, but in this episode he tells an officer, ‘to go smoke over there, wouldya’? Come on.
