Gotham Season 4 Episode 3 A Dark Knight: They Who Hide Behind Masks Review

If you would like to read my review of last week’s episode, click here.

Synopsis: Gordon travels to Miami hoping to convince Carmine Falcone to help him fight the Penguin, only to have his daughter follow him back to Gotham.  (IMDB)

Writers: Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt

Director: Mark Tonderai

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 42mins

Intentionally or not, the beginning of this episode did a lot of foreshadowing while confirming most of our suspicions on a few things that have happened so far this season. The episode started with a quick origin story for Ra’s al Ghul, from his time as a fallen Arabian knight to when he was revived in the Lazarus pit and was given a ceremonial knife that would play prominently in this episode.

In the last episode, Bruce got an upgraded suit that made him look like a gimp and he went right back out with it here, this time watching a shipment for Penguin come into the harbor. However, he got a distracted by another female thief entering the scene. Bruce saw that he was in danger and tried to save her but only got hurt and lost the shipment and the other thief, who ended up being Selina, in the process. To figure out what was in the shipment, Bruce went back to the docks using his acting skills and got pretty far until he got found out but Alfred, and his American accent, was luckily there to save him.

We later learned that Selina was trying to steal Penguin’s shipment for Barbara. This was all so she would be considered an equal to Barbara but since she failed, Barbara was reconsidering this. However, Selina was still determined to prove her place. Seeing that Selina couldn’t get the shipment, Barbara tried to buy it from Penguin. He was going to sell it at an auction so she tried to buy it for triple beforehand but he would only accept if she revealed the name of her benefactor which she refused.

Thanks to Bruce, we learned that the shipment Selina was trying to steal was that knife and that Ra’s al Ghul must want it. The next step for Bruce was to go to the auction and buy the knife but he could not be himself so he acted like a spoiled teenager buying everything to avoid suspicion. When the knife came up, he and Barbara entered a fun bidding war that Bruce obviously won. Barbara sent Selina to get it but Bruce was not willing to give it up.

Ed wasn’t going to stay frozen forever so once the club was empty, a masked woman came with a blowtorch freed him. The woman was a fan of his named Myrtle Jenkins (Ilana Becker) who wanted to be his sidekick. He learned that he had been frozen for 5 months but he was unable to move with his muscles being atrophied. Being frozen not only affected his muscles, his mind was not as sharp either which frustrated him. He was probably better than he was letting on so he got fed up with her, knocked her out, and left.  Penguin and Zsasz caught up with her and disposed of her accordingly.

Also in the last episode, Gordon set out to find Falcone in order to ask for his help with Penguin. This journey took him to Miami and his only daughter Sofia (Crystal Reed). Gordon asked for his help but he refused, telling Gordon that he was dying. Sofia volunteered but Falcone believed she wasn’t ready. Sofia was close to Mario but she understood why Gordon killed him. Over time they became closer but it seemed like there was more to it than that and it was. She followed Gordon back to Gotham and was willing to claim her place.

The episode ended with the obvious reveal that Barbara was working with Ra’s al Ghul (which was how she got revived) and that they were close. He was not angry because of her failure. Bruce having the knife was interesting. The knife was not just any knife as it was the key to everything in his mind.

Overall, this was a good episode despite the obvious reveals. Storylines that looked to last longer are starting to come to an end with Ed free, Sofia Falcone in Gotham to deal with Penguin, and Ra’s al Ghul looks to figure in more prominently. Hopefully Gordon and Sofia will not have a romantic relationship as it was heading in that direction. Not every new female character has to have a relationship with him. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here.

Score: 8/10

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Keith Noakes

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.