If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.
Synopsis: Gordon is called to the scene when the Toy Maker is hired to assassinate a doctor in Gotham; Lee tries to rebuild the Narrows with Nygma’s help; Alfred’s new life becomes complicated; Ivy shows Selina her new persona. (IMDB)
Writer: Danny Cannon
Director: Hanelle M. Culpepper
Rating: TV-14
Running Time: 42mins
Once a convoluted mess, always a convoluted mess.
Perhaps it was because this was the first episode after a long layoff but there was a lot going on here, more than usual, as it tried to fill us in on everything that was going on with the characters. Just like how countless episodes have done, this was a mess whose constant switching hurt the momentum of the episode.
Let’s run everything down:
- Gordon is looking for Bullock.
- Ivy is new again and is played by Peyton List. Her new power is to make plants grow inside people.
- Lee survived an assassination attempt from an assassin known as the Toy maker (Thomas Lyons) who Ed was surprised to learn that he hired him as his Riddler alter ego. Gordon later reunited with Lee who wasn’t worried. He later killed the Toy maker before he could reveal who hired him and why.
- Alfred develops feelings for a diner waitress with an abusive boyfriend who Alfred beat up. The boyfriend then killed the waitress and tried to frame Alfred who simply beat a confession out of him thanks to Bullock who is now a bartender.
- Grundy remembers who he was.
- Barbara, Selina, and Tabitha revamped Penguin’s club and recorded a cool commercial.
- New Ivy made an appearance and subtly hinted that she knew them.
- Selina ran into douche Bruce and was not impressed.
- Ivy showed off her new power and attitude to Selina.
- Finally, Gordon showed up at Bullock’s bar and Bullock was not interested in returning to the GCPD.
Overall, this was a mess of an episode whose many moving parts were somewhat interesting but didn’t quite fit together enough to form a cohesive narrative. This shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise anyway. It’s kind of sad that a 20+ episode season feels like it has to do so much in a single episode. If they were patient with their stories and characters, then it would make a more compelling series, however, it seems unlikely that it’ll change anytime soon.
Score: 5.5/10
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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.
