Despite their titles having a word in common, the two most recent episodes of “Gotham” – last week’s “Into the Woods” and Monday’s “Pinewood” – are rather different from each other. While the former was a scattershot affair that wrapped up a lot of stories, the latter really tightened the focus to solving the murder of the Waynes once and for all.
I’ve talked about “Into the Woods” already in my advance preview, but now that the episode’s aired, I have a few more thoughts. Particularly about Penguin-rella’s revenge on his wicked stepmother and stepsiblings. I caught on to what Oswald had, uh, cooked up as he was carving the, um, roasts, and even though this denouncement wasn’t visually gory, I still thought it was one of the most gruesome things “Gotham” has ever done. Granted, they were murderers and con artists and definitely deserved a comeuppance for their treatment of Elijah and Oswald. But...were we supposed to be entertained by a mother being tricked into taking bites of her children? By cannibalism as a plot point, for the second time this season? This show isn’t supposed to be “Hannibal.”
And then there was the abrupt schism between Bruce and Selina to pivot Bruce out of living on the streets and back into investigating the corruption at Wayne Enterprises. I thought Alfred’s ultimatum came out of nowhere; he’s never shown a particular interest in protecting Selina before. But Bruce “breaking up” with Selina made me realize that he has been acting a bit glib about experiencing her world all along. She’s not a thief because it’s fun or thrilling or to learn about the city or whatever Bruce’s motivations are. She’s a thief because she has to be – to eat, to keep a roof over her head, to survive. She doesn’t have a butler to turn to if times get tough and Bruce could have been more sensitive to that. In other news, the white stitching Bruce used to patch up Selina’s black leather jacket reminded me of Catwoman’s costume in “Batman Returns.”
Moving on to “Pinewood,” we see Bruce, Alfred, and Lucius Fox digging through Thomas Wayne’s secret computer (and, a reminder – it was introduced in the season premiere and has only become a source of pertinent story information in this, the eighteenth episode of the year). Bruce discovers a meeting his father was supposed to have the week he died about something called Pinewood Farms. Lucius hilariously offers that black op programs at Wayne Enterprises were often called things like Running Brook or Winding Ridge, “a bland name covering up nasty business.” Investigating further, Bruce and Alfred encounter Karen Jennings, a woman with a reptilian claw for a hand (does anyone know if she’s based on a Batman comic book character?) who was one of the first to be subjected to the company’s bioengineering experiments. Karen’s a blatant plot device, offering up exposition about the conspiracy/the experimentations and what kind of man Thomas Wayne was before being killed off to give Bruce a sad. But guest star Julia Taylor Ross (“Saving Hope”) was quite good in the role.
Coming at the conspiracy from another angle is Gordon. Now that he knows Matches Malone was the triggerman in the Wayne murders, he works out that he was contracted by, in a nice touch, The Lady, whose guild of assassins Tabitha Galavan hired to kill Gordon back in the fall. Lamentably, Gordon hasn’t learned any kind of lesson about tempering his violent tendencies following his recent ordeals as our “hero” spends the episode beating the hell out of hitmen even after they answer his questions (in a jaunty montage!), threatening to shoot several women, and assaulting a police officer. This character, in my opinion, has become really unlikeable, and honestly, Ben McKenzie's performance has gotten rather one-note as well.
It doesn’t help that Gordon’s storyline this week heavily involves Barbara. She shows up to announce that she’s, like, totally sane now and seems surprised when Gordon is reluctant to believe her. So when she spies that Gordon is looking at The Lady in connection to the Wayne murders, she offers to get him the information he needs. From there, the show tiredly teeters back and forth about whether Barbara is being sincere or is scheming against Gordon. Erin Richards is clearly having a ball when Barbara gets to vamp (and there’s a great little moment when she and Bullock bump into each other), but this character and this relationship have run their course. Barbara ends the episode throwing herself at the mercy of Tabitha (Butch’s “So...a threesome?” expression when Tabitha announces that Barbara’s come home is hilarious) so who knows what she’ll be up to when next we see her.
More fun is the return of Mr. Freeze. Between the cryogenic chemicals that have mutated his body and being cooped up in Indian Hill, Victor is feeling mighty cranky. So when Dr. Strange and Ms. Peabody (amusingly decked out in puffy red parkas for their visit) offer to send him on a “field trip” to deal with the Karen Jennings situation, he jumps at the chance. He even gets a snazzy new suit, although I thought it was weird his head wasn’t covered more. Curious to see how the show continues to use Freeze in the weeks to come.
“Pinewood” ends with two reveals the show treats as shocking even though, to the audience, they’re not. Bruce and Gordon connect the dots and realize that Hugo Strange is “The Philosopher” both Karen and The Lady fingered. And “Patient 44” – who Strange spent the episode trying to bring back from the dead – is, of course, Theo Galavan. More intriguing, given his connection to the Order of Dumas, is Theo’s crazy crowings about...Azrael.
So that’s my take on “Into the Woods” and “Pinewood.” Do you think “Gotham” went too far with Penguin’s culinary retribution? Are you sad Bruce and Selina are on the outs? Were you psyched to see Mr. Freeze again? And what do you think Strange has planned for Galavan? Share all your questions, speculations, and thoughts in the comments section.
