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Gotham: Let Them Eat Pie

Pigs eat people. People eat people. In other words, just your average Gotham episode with the level of gore cranked up from merely hysterical to positively disturbing, but hey, we get a musical number, so it's not all bad.

In terms of plot, this episode is Jim versus Pyg tied into Oswald versus Sofia, with the Bruce C-story hanging on the side like an infected little appendix. That's not to say it's a "bad" appendix, but it sure is infected.

Bruce's behaving like a complete asshole, and it's pretty clear why actor David Mazouz teased that the audience will come to hate the character through this storyline. It's disconcerting to see and it sure is hard not to feel for Alfred but it isn't at all unbelievable, and for one thing, I'm grateful for Gotham taking the time to show the fallout of earlier events.

Some people are annoyed with this, but in my book it's markedly better than the Bruce-as-mindless-zombie fare we got in the Court of Owls arc - here, we actually get a good and credible explanation for how Bruce's "playboy jerk" persona came to be, and this isn't anything that's really been explored in any other retelling of Batman canon. We also get a few tidbits on Alfred's earlier life, and as everyone suspected, it isn't pretty.

The twists between Jim and Pyg initially threw me and looked utterly contrived. Why would Pyg let Harper live? Why would he let Jim live when he had him knocked out cold, then start throwing meat cleavers at him right when he shows up at the so-called "dinner"?

However upon closer meditation on the subject, they actually make sense. For whatever reason, Pyg wants to build Jim up - this is why people speculate of him and Sofia being in cahoots - and he wanted Jim to catch him, save Harper and come off looking like the hero. The evidence is in the dialog at the end of their fight scene, with Pyg telling him, "don't give up. You'll ruin everything."† So, what's the end game?

Anyway, in summary we get Pyg producing a suitably shocking crime scene, as well as a musical cabaret number for Gotham's elite, then finally succumbing to Jim's fists of fury in the closing moments of the show. We also get Penguin finding out the truth about Sofia's affair with Jim from Martin, who looks like he might be sticking around for a while. That's nice as the rapport between him and Ozzie has been quite rewarding so far.

We get murder, cannibalism and underage drinking, as well as the really nicely shot fight scene - it's just a shame it has to involve the least interesting and rootable character on the show. Like I said above, nothing Gotham isn't known for, though I'm a bit sad the show didn't allow Ozzie the luxury of referencing his own experiences in "alternative cuisine" from the second season.

With the trailer for next episode, we know this is an installment setting up for all-out war, with Penguin effectively attempting to take on the whole of Gotham City - the GCPD, the Narrows gang, the Falcones, even the Sirens. As per show logic he definitely can't be allowed to defeat them all, he will lose. It's just a matter of how he'll be losing and who will possibly perish.

This concludes my shortest review of the show. I don't have anything spiritual to say about this episode, but it's well-acted, well-paced and actually somewhat clever stuff. Let's hope the payoff in the upcoming episodes is all we hope it to be.

†: Thanks to /u/WildCard777 for catching that tidbit.

1 comment:

  1. Gotham and Chicago: the crossover we never knew we wanted!
    What's next then? Sofia telling Gordon "if you're good to mama, mama's good to you "? Harvey singing Mr. Cellophane? Jim gives a press conference claiming "they both reached for the gun?" The possibilities are endless!

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