This week’s “Gotham” was kind of a weird one, I thought. It surprised me by wrapping up some stories I figured would stretch on for a while in this second half of the season, particularly one that’s been in play since the series began. But despite that forward push, “This Ball of Mud and Meanness” also felt a little thin plot-wise. Let me explain my thinking.
The episode’s main plot thrust is Bruce and Alfred’s hunt for Patrick “Matches” Malone. After Bruce secretly picks up the gun he asked Selina to procure for him (she’s somewhat reluctant, but does fork it over), Alfred decides that the best way to proceed is with Malone’s known associates. How it unravels from there is rather simple – the first person gives them the name of a second person, who then gives up Malone’s location. The show does try to dress it up with some showmanship. Contact number one is nicknamed Cupcake (and is played by newcomer Jamar Greene, whose performance reminded me of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s” Tituss Burgess) and he and Alfred end up brawling whilst the butler lectures Bruce about fighting styles and interrogation techniques. He leads them to Jeri, a singer whose art and appearance is clearly inspired by the dearly departed Jerome. Lori Petty (“Orange Is the New Black”) is a hoot in this part as her character needles Bruce and then really gets under Gordon’s skin when she lands in his interrogation room (“You are a lot less fun than advertised.”). But it’s pretty, procedurally, straightforward.
That said, the scenes where Bruce and Malone come face-to-face are quite good. David Mazouz plays Bruce’s mix of fear and resolve really well and guest star Michael Bowen (“Breaking Bad”) sells the casual disregard for human life as well as weariness from Malone’s side of the table. There’s also a great bit of dialogue from Malone when Bruce bristles at being called “son” by his boogeyman – “If I did what you think I did, then I made you what you are. Just like Gotham made me. Just like the rich folks like your parents made Gotham. I might as well call you son.”
But maybe it’s just me, but after the series-long buildup to this moment, it felt a little anticlimactic. Because whatever changes “Gotham” has made to the Batman canon, I never for a minute thought that Bruce would actually kill Malone, or even fire the gun. And then…it’s all just kinda over, and fairly neatly tied up. Malone offs himself before Gordon can arrest him. He and Bullock have some silly throwaway talk about why they never looked at Malone for the murders. Bruce, to Alfred’s amusing despair, decides to live on the streets with Selina for a while to “learn how to live in the same world other people have to live in.” And while the question of who hired Malone still lingers, it looks like the show is truly done with this story thread.
Meanwhile, Hugo Strange’s treatment of the Penguin continues. In an interesting callback, we overhear that Crane’s fear formula (I wonder if father and/or son are downstairs in Indian Hill) is part of the therapy slash torture Strange and Ms. Peabody have been subjecting Oswald to. We see that for ourselves when he has a terrifying vision of being unable to save his mother (hi there, Carol Kane!) from a bludgeoning. Strange appears to be trying to cure or suppress Penguin’s violent tendencies. He tests this by setting Oswald up for a beating with a scoop of ice cream, and then by seeing if he will take bloody revenge when the opportunity is presented to him, both of which Oswald passes with flying colors. Part of me wondered if Penguin was simply playing along, but when Strange confidently remarked that he knows when people are lying to him, I believed him. Let’s not forget the guy Strange somehow compelled to gouge out his own eyes in the spring premiere. Either way, Robin Lord Taylor plays the change in Oswald really convincingly.
And then Strange pulls out a certificate declaring Oswald legally sane that’s also his ticket to freedom. This surprises everyone – Penguin, Ms. Peabody, and me too, though I was more sad because I was really enjoying Taylor and B.D. Wong in scenes together. But Strange apparently has an “experiment” he wants to conduct with Oswald, but declines to share the details of his “deeper plan” with a concerned Ms. Peabody (to her credit, her remark that she’s fine not knowing if it’s worse than “building semi-humans in the basement” cracked me up). And so out of Arkham Asylum Penguin goes, much sooner than I anticipated.
Finally, the ghost of Ms. Kringle has returned to haunt Edward Nygma. Early in the episode, Leslie approaches Gordon – the tension between them after last week is still rather thick, by the way – with her discovery that Kristen hasn’t cashed her last few paychecks or left a forwarding address, which seem like sloppy loose ends for a smart guy like Ed to have missed. Gordon’s eager to get back on Leslie’s good side so he agrees to look into it for her, starting by quizzing a stone-faced Nygma (when Gordon asks to see Kristen’s “Dear John” letter, his snottily saying he didn’t consider it a keepsake made me chortle). But while Gordon’s interest is perfunctory, Nygma sees it as an outright declaration of war, as he spells out in several grandiose monologues. And so this week’s “Gotham” ends with Nygma drawing a big green question mark on a news clipping of Gordon. It’s mostly setup, but I’m looking forward to seeing what Ed has up his sleeve.
That’s my spin through “This Ball of Mud and Meanness.” What did you think? Where do you want to see Bruce and Oswald go from here story-wise? And will Donal Logue ever get a subplot of his very own? Come share in the comments section.
