The Most Epic Fantasy and Sci-Fi Website

Gotham "S1E18 Everyone Has a Cobblepot " - Review


Gotham "S1E18 Everyone Has a Cobblepot " - Review
8 out of 10

Everyone Has a Cobblepot – When Bullock is manipulated into testifying to get the murderer Detective Flass vindicated, Commissioner Loeb’s prints are all over it. When Jim learns that Loeb has a vast blackmailing stash over half the city’s cops he, Bullock and Harvey Dent launch a dangerous investigation to cut the strings from this corrupt puppeteer. Meanwhile Fish Mooney finally meets The Dollmaker and tries to work her services into his operation.

After his jump ship from Sony we find a few Spidermen on the streets of Gotham this week Jim and the Harvey’s try to untangle the far reaching webs of deception and manipulation within their police force. This forms a great full circle story reveal right back to the first episode as Jim’s forced “not-killing” of Penguin was intended as his source of manipulation just as a rookie Bullock was cohered at gunpoint into becoming the murder for his leverage/Cobblepot. What’s more this has some great far reaching implications as though we can finally see the web glistening in the light we don’t know everyone that’s caught in it creating a wonderful “trust no one” scenario for Jim & Bullock. Take Harvey Dent; he’s openly asked by Jim if he’s under anyone’s thumb that’s  met with denial.... but is he just being two faced? Then we have the brilliant surprise that Loeb himself has his very own Cobblepot in the wonderfully creepy form of his unhinged captive daughter who secretly murdered Mrs Loeb 20 years ago. Full credit to Nicole Tom (the voice of Supergirl in several animated shows) here as Miriam Loeb; you really can’t take your eyes off as she twitches out over her sparrow jewellery. She constantly teases us of a psychotic lash out that never actually arrives. So just when we’re ready to paint Loeb as the season’s big bad (which was superbly bluffed in his last appearance) we find that he himself was being manipulated all along. It’s like the cover of Iron Maiden’s Number of The Beast album (kids just Google Image it kids.... then listen to it later) where the devil pulling the strings of man is shown to be controlled himself by an even bigger evil. The final confrontation scene between Loeb and Jim is a brilliantly character switch from dominant to submissive as Mr Grey hands Anastasia the whip and braces for a good spanking. He suddenly goes from being a stern menace to being rather humanised as he’s willing to give it all up for his daughter’s safety. It’s equally fascinating to see Jim forcing him to stay on under his own influence it not control in almost becoming the villain himself. As Jim runs for (and presumably will win) the union head will he find that absolute power corrupts; seeing himself become the abuser of the system? It would be a great story twist of showing Jim not ready for a position of such authority and implying that he must become the man he needs to be to ultimately seize the commissioner’s desk in the same way Bruce must grow to become Batman.

This episode makes great use of Penguin getting directly involved with the main plot as he becomes the Leo Getz to our regular Riggs and Murtaugh paring with varying degrees of willingness.  Any episode that forces Jim to reluctantly spent time with penguin always works well and here it plays perfectly into the blackmailing and manipulation theme as Penguin regains his position as Jim’s Cobblepot by brokering a no questions asked favour for his help in their investigation. This is made all the more ominous by Bullock’s foreboding warning to Jim that in matter what good he does it won’t make up for whatever Penguin has in store (presumably drawing from his own dealings with both Loeb and Fish Mooney). As for what that big call in will be there’s a subtle name dropping of Maroni as Penguin casually educates Jim on said bosses exotic tipple of choice. The previous episodes have painted Maroni and Penguin into a cold war Thunderdome; only one will leave after a tense statement. It’s a safe bet that Jim will either be asked to take out Maroni or at least cover up someone else doing so. The flapping side kick routine also routine also lets Robin Lord Taylor showcase is characters trademark dark humour. His climactic scene with the two captured Loeb henchmen is worth his audition alone as he grins like school boy peeping into the girl’s locker room while making husband and wife try to kill each other for an empty promise. It also serves as a great parallel to his criminal ascension in the way this feels like his own adaptation of Fish’s “audition” for the Liza asset.

Speaking of Fish her surprising story arc continues to get more interesting each week is in a mimicking fashion to Penguin’s journey this season (it’s so cool how the pair are unexpectedly mirroring each other’s plotlines) she finds a new higher power and does everything she can to advance her own position by siding with it; with all other parties and lives becoming secondary. Again it’s great to see Fish proving herself with her back to the wall when it matters as she wins over The Dollmaker’s trust. The man himself is a surprising alternative on our expectations in his quiet and conservative mannerisms. He feels much more a doctor than a mad scientist despite witnessing the gruesomely beautiful results of his experimentations; like villain insanity is a force in his mind but not yet a dominant one. We still don’t have any real notion of how this story ties into the main weave but its none the less enjoyable and visually ace as we journey through the elaborate set pieces of the mansion facility. We also get some brief but rewarding scenes of Bruce and Alfred to set up their story for the last few episodes as the go after Reggie. Alfred for revenge and Bruce for evidence against the Wayne board; from what we saw last week we’re in for a hell of fisticuffs session when these two SAS buddies are reunited. Kyle’s re-inclusion feels right as rejoins with relevant skills to help them track down their man and her consoling of Bruce marks a new glimmer of hope for their highly enjoyable young pairing. Finally Nigma looks to have finally reached breaking point as his new romantic rival has the sheer audacity to riddle him! In short, it’s about bloody time. He better do something crazy soon because his character is really the most drawn out villain creation of the season and without some seriously worthwhile payoffs in these last few episodes the riddle of “why did we bother” will become very hypothetical indeed.

It’s a good expansive episode that deepens the corruptive rabbit hole and even gives Jim’s romantic triangle what many will call a welcome break (not even a mention of Leslie or Barbara). Although it’s good to see Harvey Dent back again his unexplained disappearance half way through the episode makes his presence feel rather less defined. These last two episodes have nicely started two move the pieces into place for their end game.... which why it’s a genuine frustration that the show is now taking a 6 week break before finishing when it had some genuine momentum on the go. While it makes sense it’s also a shame to see Fish regain an eye so soon as it reduces the significance of that incredible moment last week (I genuinely shouted W*** T** F***) in a way we’ve seen Gotham do a bit too often over the season. Well, I guess consistent continuity is just Gotham’s Cobblepot.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Anime and Reviews page.