I’ve had my share of problems with Gotham so far because after that stunning pilot, the following couple of episodes fell flat. Luckily, Viper was a good installment that corrected some of the show’s mishaps.
There are still many things I find ludicrous about this show, such as the lousy writing. The dialogue is very cheap for a show that’s expected to bring its A-game, and I hope the writers can fix that soon. But I was glad that the villain-of-the-week was somehow connected to the Waynes, which gave Bruce more material than ever. I still enjoy every bit of Bruce screen-time we get, and it will be interesting if he finds out his parents weren’t necessarily as perfect as he thought. I’m not sure if that’s a path we’re about to head on to, but I wouldn’t mind it for sure.
The Viper drug story was very well-executed. I loved the scenes where the drug is getting passed around on the streets. It’s really a stunning universe Gotham has created, and unlike anything we’ve seen on TV. Plus, for once, they were very subtle about the fact that this is a great nod to Bane, the comic-book villain that uses the same drug under the name Venom. This is the first time the show didn’t try to smother us with comic-book references (seriously, the whole Penguin thing?).
While I still find Fish quite uninteresting, I did enjoy her scene “training” Liza. Like I said, I think the show needs sharper writing but scenes like that were effective because they’re obviously building up to a bigger story down the line that uses both Fish and Liza in some sort of Big-Bad up against Jim. I’m only hoping, of course.
Bat Bits
– Speaking of cheap writing, I literally laughed when the Captain of GCPD said “A drug did that? Wow!” C’mon, guys. Really?
– Detective Harvey still gets on my nerves, but I couldn’t believe he wanted to call 911 to deal with the case at the start because he was busy having lunch.
– Fantastic scene with Bruce and Alfred in the end going through pictures of everyone connected to the Wayne Enterprise.
– It wasn’t the most intense scene, but Jim, Sal Maroni and Oswald did effectively have me intrigued when Jim was telling the story of what happened since the Waynes died. It was all sorts of dark that only this show can pull off.
– A very quiet ending for Gotham this week. I kinda liked it.
Cracks From Gotham
Taylor Reece: WellZyn has no connection to this tragedy. We will vigorously pursue legal action against any individuals making assertions to this contrary.
Harvey: Do you think we push a button, or she just rewinds automatically?
Harvey: What’s altruism?
Bruce: I don’t want revenge. I want to understand how it all works.
Maroni: What’s your name again?
Oswald: Everyone here calls me Penguin, sir.
Harvey: Where the hell have you been?
Jim: Personal business.
Harvey: You disappear in the middle of a case, and you can’t even tell me why?
Jim: That’s what “personal” means.
Conclusion
An effective hour of Gotham that is definitely a step-up over the past couple of missteps.
Chris Rating
B