I’m afraid that “The Fearsome Mr. Crane” – the first of two episodes inspired by classic Batman foe the Scarecrow – wasn’t my favorite episode of “Gotham.”
The procedural A-plot – a maniac infiltrating an anonymous support group and using what he learns there to turn its members into his prey – was something you could have just as easily seen on “Criminal Minds” or “Law & Order: SVU.” It didn’t have enough of a gothic “Gotham” spin to elevate the standard, even if the psycho in question was Dr. Gerald Crane, the father of future Scarecrow Jonathan Crane. On the plus side, portrayer Julian Sands is one of television’s great go-to bad guys. And there was the (intentionally or unintentionally, I’m not sure) hilarious scene of Crane terrorizing one of his victims with a teacup pig.
Both detectives’ personal lives end up getting tangled up in the case. Bullock develops an instant attraction to the salty and straightforward Scottie Mullens, who tips them off about the fear support group. And Donal Logue gets a great scene where Bullock opens up to the group about his own fears of dying alone on the streets. Gordon, meanwhile, reaches out to a receptive Leslie Thompkins. I do think Ben McKenzie and Morena Baccarin have chemistry, but the show is trying to push them as some grand romance right out of the gate, with a weird scene that went on forever of them full-on making out in the squad room while a bunch of officers stood around and watched. Still, an improvement on Barbara.
On the mob front, it’s another week of shakeups as Maroni gets tipped off by Fish that the Penguin has been playing both sides. Unnerved by her accusations, Maroni takes Oswald out into the wilderness for some trust exercises that end up exposing Oswald’s deceit. Knowing that the Penguin is in no real narrative danger drains some of the tension out of the situation (and how Oswald ultimately escapes is a little silly), but Robin Lord Taylor and David Zayas play off each other really well in these scenes.
Elsewhere, someone has finally noticed and had enough of Edward Nygma being an overstepping weirdo. The medical examiner apparently isn’t too happy about Ed poking around bodies just for fun and has been complaining to Essen, who thinks she, Gordon, and Bullock need to tread lightly after arresting Flass last week. So when they catch Nygma with his hands in a corpse (in a fun bit of macabre comedy with awesome reaction shots from Zabryna Guevara), she suspends him. But after some extremely slight support from Kristen Kringle, Ed decides to fight back! Which means breaking into the medical examiner’s locker, filling it with mutilated body parts (Gordon exposits that tidbit to Leslie and Ben McKenzie delivers the line in an extremely hilarious “golly gee!” tone), and gets him fired. Yay?
Having run into the squatting Selina while at Barbara’s (who escapes by leaping off the balcony and presumably somehow landing safely since we don’t see her again this week), Gordon hears the same story from her about not having seen who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne after all. So he visits Bruce at Wayne Manor, where he is hilariously fired…I mean, released from his promise…by Lil’ Wayne, who vows to handle the matter himself.
The show has taken a step back from the Wayne murders story arc since the hiatus. There’s been no follow-up re: Dent or LoveCraft or even the shadiness with the Wayne Enterprises board. So maybe it’s smart to free up Gordon’s focus for other stories and leave this one to Bruce. Especially since I’m increasingly confident that David Mazouz can handle the material.
And finally, there’s the bizarre cliffhanger. After her call to Maroni, we saw that Fish was fleeing Gotham aboard some kind of steamboat. But in the final minutes of the episode, the ship is overrun…by pirates? Fish and their leader lunge towards each other (in a weirdly edited or stylized shot) and…cut to credits. I’m sure we’ll get some context next week, but it was still a strange note to end on, especially since the Scarecrow story is supposed to continue.
So have no fear, share your thoughts on “The Fearsome Mr. Crane” in the comments section. And can we talk about Oswald Cobblepot and Edward Nygma coming face-to-face in the previews?
