Gotham doesn't know what kind of show it wants to be. The previous two episodes provided a glimpse of hope that it could pull out of an early tailspin. The more streamlined plot approach was working. This episode had the show indulging in some of its bad habits again. The female characters are written without any regard for coherence to the narrative or their respective places in the future of the series. 




The case that Gordon and Bullock are assigned to only have the larger purpose of bringing some of the GCPD cops who walked out on Gordon previously to back him up. The show's heroic detectives still do very little detective work, and still, Gordon gets into a life-and-death predicament before getting the upper hand on a villain that we won't ever see again. There isn't much risk present in the show's chosen procedural format. If that plot doesn't work, there's little that the show can fall back on to carry its weight.


The one decent thing that comes out of the corporate fight club case is that those involved keep Gotham City's social upheval in mind. I wish the series would push this aspect a little more in the narrative. The villain is much more grounded in reality than some of the other villains that have been seen so far. The big problem is that the fight club doesn't really affect the populace of Gotham in a meaningful way. Gordon and Bullock find the body, some of the force gather clues from the body, and Gordon gets entangled within the whole operation once he gets too close. It's a predictable through line that viewers can track in their sleep. The complication is that Gordon receives no help from any of the other officers on the force after leaving him to face Victor Zsasz alone. The faceoff with Zsasz nearly got Gordon killed and suggested that there could be widescale corruption within the police. 




That's a meaty plot. When Alvarez and some of the other cops accede to Bullock's impassioned requests to find a kidnapped Gordon, the suggestion of police corruption was completely undone. Bullock is becoming more and more likable as a character due to the fact that a noble side seems to be coming out from under a cynical shell, but the police isn't shown consistent characterization from episode to episode. It's as if the writers make a decision for one episode, only to back track later on.



This inconsistency rears its ugly head in the mob war storyline as well. There's a welcome unpredictability to the interplay between Fish and Cobblepot. Now that it's been (partially) revealed what Cobblepot's true intentions are, the initial scene between the two crackles with tension. Fish feels rightly betrayed by Cobblepot's turn to Falcone and so blithely stabs him in the hand with his own peace offering. There is, unfortunately, too little of the kind of tension that scene generated running throughout the other scenes that involve the mob war. The show has to move along these pieces since Falcone is sidelined (and missed as a result) for the moment. Fish gives a mission to Liza, her "weapon" to be used against Falcone, that Liza nearly fails in accomplishing.




While it's nice to get Fish out of her comfort zone (which is her always-empty club), Liza doesn't feel like a crucial character. It's possible that I think of her that way because she has only explained that Falcone has her doing menial tasks. The weapon isn't being properly deployed by Fish. This is the entirety of Liza's contribution to the narrative, and then she immediately asks out of the operation. If Fish grants her request, then her weapon hasn't put much of a dent in Falcone's side of the war. Penguin just figured out that Fish has someone in Falcone's camp, too. It's fortuitous timing, and foretells a storyline where Penguin might kill Liza just before Fish is able to extricate her in time, but this is such haphazard plotting. It's not giving me a good reason to trust anything the series does.



At least it did one logical thing and put young Bruce Wayne in a place that isn't Wayne Manor. He's an angry teenager, and angry teenagers belong in school. The problem is that Gotham won't suddenly follow Bruce Wayne's travails of learning in a learning institution. He immediately gets bullied, and this event presents another opportunity for Bruce to bond with Alfred. Alfred allows for Bruce to casually assault the bully just so Bruce can get a taste for fighting. That leads to the unsettling agreement for Alfred to give Bruce combat training. It's hardly subtle, but yet another sign of what will make Bruce Batman in the future. This in addition to the detective skills that are encouraged by both Alfred and Detective Gordon. Given Bruce's future as the Caped Crusader, we know that these traits will stick.






The show needs to work at developing its other aspects. Chief among them is Barbara. The female characters as a whole are still lacking, but Barbara is the one character that the writers struggle to figure out. She's scared because of Victor Zsasz, who isn't likely to kidnap her again (unless the plot calls for it), and still doesn't seem to trust Gordon for some vague reason. She leaves the apartment at the end of the episode, seemingly ending her relationship with Gordon.


By going down this road again, within a span of four episodes' time, there's no guarantee that it will be permanent. Barbara is dependent on Gordon to fuel her actions and whatever is going on in her subplot. It's more than what is given to Selina Kyle, yet doesn't feel all that substantial. The show isn't able to plug all of these holes that keep springing up.