Mad Grey Dawn – As Jim Gordon follows a trail of question-marked crimes set by Edward Nighma, he knows little of what he’s walking into. Bruce finds out that living on the street means taking a few hits when he and Selina attempt to rob some criminals, and Penguin’s return to Gotham results in a very unexpected reunion.
There is a lot of fun to be had, not just in the events of this episode but the meta references behind them. The Riddler arc is the best example as it makes an honourable bow to Frank Gorshin’s Riddler debut in the classic Adam West era series (in fact, it’s very first episode), which similarly begins with an art gallery heist and question mark clues. There are also a couple of visual nods to the 1966 film’s “sometimes you just can’t get rid of a bomb” sequence throughout the episode. The Riddler scheme itself is nicely put together. It’s not OTT elaborate to stay in keeping with the developing character “hitting his stride”, so too are there just enough audience clues to keep viewers a step ahead of the unfortunate Jim. It builds anticipation well. Cory Michael Smith is a lot of fun as he puts on the facade in front of Harvey and Jim, just seething with smarminess under the surface like he’s laughing to himself about the whole thing. The events have good consequences as the battle of Jim Vs Riddler has a clear winner that makes some big changes for episodes to come. Admittedly said big changes come with the warning signs a “Gotham classic” bluff, ending one episode with a big season altering change only to take it back within 20 minutes of the next episode. The seeds are certainly there for the losing side to make a comeback in a good and entertaining fashion and as long as the show waits at least a week or two before implementing it the results will be worthwhile.
Bruce’s introduction to street life is quite enjoyable. The young Ivy/Poison Ivy wasn’t the best of Gotham’s young villain characters previously, but her role here as a budding young magic mushroom horticulturalist plays well to her character, letting her be nice and weird while developing her nature loving side. As for the heist, Sunny makes a fun villain, or rather villain’s nephew with delusions standing, big, loud and annoying, which make us easily root for Bruce when the pair lock fists. Bruce’s Obi Wan Kenobi moment of hearing Alfred in his head could have been overly corny but it works well. Of course, we couldn’t have Bruce going through anything so significant without a good old Batman foreshadowing speech. It’s not the best he’s delivered but it’s purpose for finding confidence and self believe within a fight plays well even if his notions of being unbreakable pushes things too far. Although “unbreakable” immediately conjures up imagery of Knightfall and while we can be 100% sure we won’t see a proto-Bane smashing David Mazouz across his knee, some representation of those events could be a plausible season endgame for Bruce’s character. His street living decision is more likely to end due to something bad happening rather than merely heading home for a Netflix catch up. We could well see Bruce biting off way more than he can chew in the criminal underworld and taking a big, life-threatening injury because of it -- something that he can rehabilitate from during the off season to return with a new determination in the Autumn.
The Penguin story brings us the other big fat meta moment of the episode as Penguin’s father shows up as none other than Pee Wee Herman himself, Paul Reubens; the man who played Penguin’s father in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns! While Gotham is taking his character in a very different direction, maximum respect goes to Playhouse proprietor for being willing to make the reprisal. As well as the happier and bizarre humour moments of Penguin’s reunion, there is a great feeling underlining sinister deeds at work when following the 4-week time jump, penguin is pledged as a full member of their extended family. The looks certain family members cast each other imply that membership may mean a lot more than a place in the family portrait. Could this be the gateway into another Court of Owls style story? Either way, the most important thing is that Penguin’s character is going somewhere because while seeing his sweet lamb chop “I’m a good guy now” persona has its comedic charms, they quickly wear off. Another episode of a judge watching him waddle about would be too much. This is the right move for his character.
Aside from a cameo, Arkham takes the week off for off-screen development and while the likes of Strange are missed there’s so much other great stuff going that we can live without them. We’ve waited a long time for Nigma to find his Riddler form but this was worth and his final, menacing on balcony shot is just awesome. It’s an episode of great character developments and hits a lot more emotions than expected (particular the moments of tragedy). Until next week, let’s all ask the King of Cartoons to let the Batman animated series boxed set binge commence...... it’s not like there are any big movies out this week?