There’s a masked vigilante terrorizing the corrupt and criminal element of Gotham City, but it’s not who you think.
Despite the imaginative (if probably implausible) antics of “The Balloonman,” Gordon and Bullock’s investigation plays out nearly identical to last week’s procedural case. A crime is committed, nobody but Gordon seems interested in pursuing justice, circumstances change that force the police department to take it seriously, and, finally, a lucky piece of evidence leads them to the culprit. Bullock keeps things lively, with his offbeat style on the streets (accompanied by plenty of Gordon side-eye) and then his amusing fistfight with one suspect’s bruiser of a girlfriend. But it’s getting a bit formulaic.
The reign of the Balloonman – who, in some nice week-to-week continuity, was revealed to be a juvenile services worker pushed over the edge by the mayor’s dirty pool handling of the street kids – does bring up the issue of vigilantism, obviously an important one in the story of Gotham City. Even as the failure of the system weighs heavily on his shoulders, Gordon is at this point in his life adamantly against, insisting that if people take the law into their own hands, there is no law. And Bruce Wayne, watching the story unfold in the press, draws the distinction that the Balloonman killed people and is therefore a criminal himself, a cornerstone of the Batman mythology. A long journey lies ahead of the future police commissioner and the future Caped Crusader before they’re in a place to be partners-in-arms.
Meanwhile, Oswald Cobblepot has marched himself all the way back to Gotham. The scene where he takes in a city street streaming with crooked cops/pickpockets/prostitutes and happily sighs that he’s home is pretty hilarious. He gets work in a restaurant that serves as a front for Salvatore Maroni (David Zayas, “Dexter”), Falcone’s main competition in the criminal underworld, and makes a good first impression on the don (I guess we’re to assume Cobblepot was too low on the Falcone/Fish totem pole for Maroni to recognize him). Obviously, a longer game is being played here, but I am growing tired of Cobblepot stabbing anyone who gets in his way. The Penguin is supposed to be more than your average knife-wielding serial killer. I was intrigued, though, by his cliffhanger appearance on Gordon’s doorstep.
Surprisingly, not much of the episode is spent on last week’s, Selina Kyle revealing to Gordon that she saw who really murdered the Waynes. He takes her back to the scene and she tells him what we saw in the pilot, though she also claims that she saw the killer’s face briefly before he pulled up his mask. Is she telling the truth or, given how she uses the opportunity to slyly give Gordon the slip, did she lie, leveraging his interest in the Wayne case against him? Curious to see where and how she pops up next.
One of the more interesting surprises in the pilot was the reveal that Barbara Kean and Renee Montoya were previously romantically involved and that thread is picked up again this week as well. After Fish fingers (heh) Gordon as the one who executed Cobblepot, Renee goes back to Barbara to warn her against him and we get some more crumbs about their relationship. Sounds like Renee’s struggle with alcoholism made the jump with the character from the comic books. And I’m intrigued that Barbara, who’s mostly been strutting around her (awesome) apartment sweetly supporting Gordon thus far, has a dark side and secrets of her own.
So what did you think of “The Balloonman?” Float your feelings in the comments section. And be sure to share your theories on why Falcone and Maroni are so interested in Arkham Asylum (which happens to be the namesake of tonight’s episode).
