If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.
Synopsis: Arkham’s “finest” give Gordon and Bullock a run for their money, as they hatch a plan to escape the asylum. Meanwhile, Bruce devises his own strategy to thwart their plans. Also, Barbara gets an offer she can’t refuse. (IMDB)
Writer: Charlie Huston
Director: Ben McKenzie
Rating: TV-14
Running Time: 42mins
Airs: Thursdays at 8pm on CTV (Canada)/Fox (United States)
Wow, two good episodes in a row for the first time in maybe ever. In this episode, Gordon and the GCPD dealt with yet another prison escape, Bruce took matters into his own hands, and Barbara had her first day at her new job.
Jerome had been putting together his super team for a while now and in this episode, it was time for them to break free from Arkham and wreak havoc in Gotham. Tetch is back and he helped both Crane and Jerome escape along with several more inmates. So of course it was up to Gordon and Bullock to find them all. Meanwhile, Gordon’s internal struggle with coming clean has been wreaking havoc on him so it was up to Bullock to keep him focused.
Tetch lured them to something that wasn’t towards a trap. He was no longer interested in games and simply wanted revenge for his sister. First, he drops a wrecking ball on a hypnotized couple. His next clue led them to a rooftop where a group of people were standing on a ledge and in a position to jump and they weren’t the only ones as hundreds of people throughout the city were joining them. Gordon and Bullock discovered that they were being hypnotized via the radio but now it was a matter of finding the right station so Bullock sacrificed himself by listening to all the stations until he found the right one. After he arrived at the station, Tetch wasn’t much of a help so Gordon shot him in the hand for his trouble. However, as he always does, Gordon saved the day.
Feeling responsible after their last encounter, Bruce took it upon himself to track down Jerome. To do so, he asked Selina for help to steal his file out of Gordon’s office. Once he got the file, Bruce wanted to go forward on his own. He tracked Jerome down to his uncle’s diner. Jerome and his uncle were not on good terms so Bruce arrived just in time to sort of save him. Instead of saving Bruce, he just watched him get beat up. Obviously, Selina wasn’t far behind and tried to shoot him but Bruce stopped her.
Barbara was still struggling with her current condition. She had been looking into anything about Ra’s al Ghul to find a solution. She didn’t know why she was chosen but then she started to remember what happened to her, from the time that Ra’s al Ghul found her after she died to when he gave her some lazarus water to bring her back to life.
He was obviously grooming her for something and here we learned that he was grooming her to take his place as leader of the League of Shadows. Her hand served as a beacon, calling upon the members of the league to come to her. Once they arrived, the male members weren’t fond of taking orders by a woman but her response inspired the female members to eliminate the males.
After a job well done, saving the rooftops and capturing most of the inmates, it was time for Gordon and Bullock to celebrate and mend fences but that ended when Bruce called with information about Jerome. Jerome had visited his uncle earlier for information and Bruce got hold of the same information before he left. Bruce was going after him so Gordon wasn’t going to be far behind.
While being transported back to Arkham, Jerome and Crane saved Tetch and thanked him for distracting the GCPD while they worked on what their bigger plan was.
Overall, this was actually a good episode, one of the best in the series for that matter (the other was also directed by Ben McKenzie), with the newest set of Arkham escapees proving to actually be a match for Gordon and the GCPD and they don’t look to be done anytime soon. The episode mostly focused on this without getting too convoluted which was nice. Though too short, Tetch’s game was entertaining to watch and Barbara’s new position is an interesting one as we finally got the truth about why she was brought back to life. The only negative was perhaps Bruce’s intentions with Jerome since they didn’t feel earned. Either way, it was fun to watch another good episode and hopefully this trend will continue although the odds of that happening are still low.
Score: 8.5/10
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.
