Gotham 5×12 – review

“Gotham limps over the finishing line in an underwhelming and unnecessary instalment that’s really only for die-hard Batman fans”

Ever since the first episode of Gotham, which featured Thomas and Martha Wayne being cut down for the thousandth time in Crime Alley, the show has had an air of implicit promise about it. Stick with us, it said, and everything will make sense. Stick with us, and the payoff will make up for everything you don’t like about us. Stick with us though all the weirdness, campiness, and generally bizarre bullsh*t, and you will be rewarded with a final, satisfying shot of Bruce Wayne donning the infamous cowl. Now, I quite like Gotham- for basically all the reasons just listed-so it pains me to say that it really fluffs the landing with this final episode that jumps us forward ten years into the future. What should be the series crowning accomplishment comes across as a mostly irrelevant afterthought.

Opening with Harvey and Gordon sitting in Mayor James’s office (Last seen all the way back in series three) we discover that the criminal element of Gotham is running scared from a shadowy assailant who shows up, beats them senseless and then vanishes into the night, in a mystery that is just unsolvable. Even worse, the police have made no progress in identifying the thieves responsible for hitting a US army warehouse. On top of all this, Gordon has decided to retire.

Meanwhile, Barbara has used the time skip to become the real-estate queen of Gotham, buying up half the city in the aftermath of the last episodes battle. Barbara has always been an unlikely character and her final evolution-from criminal psychopath to caring mother over the course of this series really hasn’t rang true for me. Regardless, here she is, apparently on amicable enough terms with Gordon that shared custody isn’t a problem.

Elsewhere, Nygma and Cobblepot have spent the last ten years in Blackgate and Arkham respectively, in a move that somewhat undercuts the two of them agreeing to become partners and reclaim Gotham in their excellent moment at the end of the last episode. Lastly, Selina has become a Gotham socialite while moonlighting as her Catwoman persona.

With the new status quo established, we’re all set up to see Gotham’s version of the Batman in action. Starting off with little glimpses and teases, it seems like for the first time ever Gotham has decided to go for subtlety over spectacle, as we get some effective sequences of Batman helping Gordon without fully revealing himself. However, as the tease goes on and on, the expectation of a payoff increases. The episode’s final shot-of Gordon, Bullock and Alfred looking up in amazement of Bruce perched on a building above them might have been enough, had we had the opportunity to check in with Bruce at any point through the episode.

Sadly, we don’t, which is pretty alienating after following his evolution for nearly five years. I understand that maybe they didn’t want to attempt to recast  David Mazouz (Despite the fact that his acting has not been Gotham’s greatest asset) but considering that the casting department did such a fantastic job of finding a new actor to represent Selina Kyle after the ten-year-time-skip it seems baffling that they couldn’t do the same for Bruce Wayne. Ultimately, it mostly comes across as a case of the show not being allowed to put too much of its own lunatic stamp on the character, in case it conflicts with the DCEU’s current version.

Adding to the episode’s issues, we also get Nygma and the Penguin suffering from the same problems they had last week. Gotham has humanised them far too much for them to be any sort of real threat, relegating them mostly to the position of comic relief. Case in point, we see the Riddler, effortlessly manipulated by Jerome Valeska, the episodes true antagonist, into attempting to blow up the Mayor at the opening of Wayne tower, in a scheme that makes absolutely no sense (If you can already sneak explosives into a heavily policed opening night, why break the Riddler out of Arkham in a move that will only call attention to your plan?).

Normally, Gotham’s lapses of logic amuse me more than anything else. So it really says something about the quality of this episode that I found myself becoming irritated with the lack of sense. The final confrontation of the episode, which features Gordon, his daughter and Valeska at the Ace chemical plant is passable enough, even if we know for a fact that Gordon’s daughter won’t be taking a bath in the same chemicals that resulted in Jerome becoming the disfigured proto-Joker he is here. It leads to a pretty effective Batman sequence as well, so it gets points for that.

Overall, it’s fair to call this episode a disappointment. Everything was wrapped up pretty nicely last week, and that should have been Gotham’s final episode. Instead, we get this dull and obligatory effort to close out the maddest and most enjoyably surreal show on TV for ages. Unless you’re a diehard Batman fan, give it a miss. There isn’t anything for you here.

OTHER STUFF

• Great to see the Riddler, MASTER CRIMINAL, openly walking around in full costume around the building he is planning on blowing up to grab a snack.
• What was the deal with Bullock? Not only was he disarmed laughably easily (Gordon is the only cop allowed to be competent in Gotham, don’t forget) but what did Valeska say to him? Why was he kept alive? What part did he play in the wider plot?
• I liked Jim’s moustache.