In this episode of Gotham we learn more about Harvey Bullock, and the way he became the lackadaisical detective we’ve come to love. Meanwhile, Montoya gets the evidence she needs to take down Jim Gordon. Interpersonal drama and tensions between the city’s haves and have-nots continue to escalate against a backdrop of the hunt for a ritualist serial killer. Watch where you step, there are SPOILERS everywhere.
1. There Is a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside E. Nygma
Well, everyone loves a charming sociopath. That seems to be the rule these days. From Greg House, to Sherlock, to the Doctor, there seems to be quite the public affinity for the accidentally lovable, antisocial genius. Nygma is poised to become that character on Gotham. By the time he snaps we may be too enamored with him to care. His misguided attempts to engage with the rest of the personnel at GCPD are hard to watch, but strangely endearing.
He begins this episode pestering Harvey Bullock with an ill-timed riddle, and as per usual, Bullock blows him off. Then we suffer through one of the most disastrous attempts at a romantic gesture imaginable. Everything about his interactions with Kristen Kringle, a file clerk at the precinct, is like a train wreck in slow motion, but you can’t help but feel bad for the guy. He just can’t get it right.
Nygma’s likability is influenced by Cory Michael Smith’s portrayal. He sells the idea that this character is relentlessly fascinated by details and impervious to criticism. With an eerily cheery, unchanging expression, it seems entirely possible that this character doesn’t pick up on social cues. When that grin vanishes, as it does when he learns that Kristen is not pleased with his attempt to help her, we know the weight that the moment carries for him.
Also, Smith wears a tie-pin made from a question mark key from a vintage typewriter on the show. Isn’t that perfect?
2. A Boy’s Best Friend Is His Mother
Carol Kane as Gertrude Kapelput kind of made this episode for me. After learning her missing son, Oswald, of course, is alive she accuses him of having been, “tangled in some hussy’s demon purse.” I don’t even fully know what that means, but I know it’s a fantastic line. Everything about Gertrude reinforces the idea that she is not in touch with reality. Her apartment is a vulgar imitation of elegance, and her ideas about Oswald are more delusions than observations. Kane plays Gertrude with a hint of madness and an air of whimsy that makes it difficult not to be captivated by this character. Alongside this veteran character actress, Robin Lord Taylor holds his own as Oswald. He is a truly talented young actor who commands attention every time he is onscreen.
There is something so delightfully unsettling about the way in which the mother and son interact. Understanding the cuckoo’s nest that Oswald flew out of allows us to understand more about the way the character came to be who he is. Somehow, the fact that the Penguin is unintentionally humorous and impossible to take seriously has been channeled into an inner turmoil that gives him a world of darkness to play with.
3. Harvey Bullock, White Knight?
We have come to know Harvey Bullock as the detective who cannot be bothered to care. He’s the guy that would rather get a danish than solve a murder. If someone says, ‘Harvey has done this interrogation by the book’, we assume that he has beaten a suspect using a telephone directory. He’s bedraggled, jaded and unmotivated, but in this episode, we learn that that has not always been the case.
We watch as an enthusiastic young Harvey learns Gotham’s golden rule in flashback, ten years earlier. In pursuit of a killer known as, ‘the Goat’ Harvey’s then-partner Detective Dix is paralyzed as Harvey tries to play the hero and take down the villain. This event has a profound effect on Harvey, causing him to internalize the golden rule of Gotham, ‘no heroes’.
After a killer with the same M.O. surfaces in the present, Harvey confronts his bad memories and finds motivation to take action in solving the case. Jim and Harvey visit Dix in an assisted living facility to question him about details in the case. Dix pulls Jim aside and warns him that Harvey is a loose cannon who tries to play the white knight. Jim is obviously confused by the statement, not knowing this side of his partner. However upon exiting Dix’s room he sees Harvey paying for his old partner’s care. Jim is forced to consider the idea that he is there is a great deal of good in his partner. Harvey is not a bad guy, he’s just had all the hope beaten out of him. Harvey exhibits more agency in working this case than we have seen in him all season. He’s heroic in spite of himself, going the extra mile to eliminate a threat that would have surely continued to plague the city.
Continued below4. Group Therapy
The killers in this episode of Gotham claim to be possessed by ‘the spirit of the Goat.‘ The ritualistic murders committed by the Goat and the copy-Goat give the series a chance to explore the occult serial killer archetype, playing on conventions of horror and suspense throughout the episode. The staging of the victims is elaborate and visually complex. The victims are strung up on historic landmarks in Gotham, wearing all white. Altars with calla lilies and candles are set up at their feet. The unique presentation of the victims makes the killers’ pattern instantly recognizable. Taking the eldest children of Gotham’s rich and powerful families from their own homes, these killers target the upper class exclusively.
The Goat operates like a classic boogeyman. Wearing a patchwork leather mask with animal horns attached, the killers look fearsome. When we see the Goat in action, the direction of the episode takes on a classic horror vibe. Tight shots and quick cuts add to the suspense as he stalks his next young victim. Unable to ignore the pattern and the duplication of details that were not released to the public, Harvey realizes that more than coincidence and misplaced admiration guiding the hands of this new version of the killer.
He confronts hypnotherapist and counselor, Dr. Marks. Harvey realizes that Dr. Marks has treated both incarnations of the Goat for mental illness before they before they began their sprees of violence. Marks readily admits that she used the power of suggestion to introduce the plans for these murders while her patients were under the influence of hypnosis. Showing no remorse, she tells Bullock that these killings were a kind of therapy for the entire city of Gotham. She says that it is impossible to convince someone to do something they do not already want to do, even using hypnosis. “We all want to eat the rich,” she tells him. By punishing the corrupt and self-absorbed ruling class of the city, she is attempting to give the people of Gotham a sense of fulfillment. She’s just giving these wealthy families what they deserve, in her mind they deserve to be afraid. Pulling the strings of violent killers to orchestrate her own brand of terrorism, Marks is the true villain of this episode. Though, her motivations reveal just how desperate the people of Gotham have become for an avenue to rebel against the corruption of those in power.
5. We’re on the Same Side!
Renee Montoya has a witness, and a warrant and a more than a little personal motivation; everything she needs to take down the man she considers to be the (well maybe just her) biggest problem in Gotham, James Gordon. Jim is more of a personal threat for Montoya than a public menace. That doesn’t mean she is any less enthusiastic about putting him in cuffs. She and her partner, Crispus Allen place Jim under arrest for the murder of Oswald Cobblepot at his home in front of Barbara.
Barbara has made it clear that she plans to channel her inner Tammy Wynette and stand by her man through this ordeal. She is desperately trying to atone for past mistakes that no one seems all that bothered by. She has cast herself in a supporting role that she is intent on playing to perfection. This might make her character seem dull or trope-y, but the complex motives driving her to be the perfect partner make her actions more complicated and interesting.
After leaving Barbara, Jim is marched through the precinct in handcuffs, loudly protesting all the while. Pandemonium breaks out as Captain Sarah Essen and Harvey come to his aid. The entire scene is steeped in dramatic irony, as we know that Oswald is alive and well. There is an edge of humor to every exchange in the scene. Just as Harvey is about to placed under arrest for his role as an accessory to this crime, the one person who can put a stop to all this shows up. Oswald makes quite an entrance and driving the scene to a screeching halt with a simple, ‘Hello’. Jim is now forever in his debt, which should go exceedingly well.
What does it say about Gotham that even the boy scout detective is not above suspicion? It takes a criminal to save a good guy. There is nothing conventional about the morality of this city.
