With “The Executioner,” “Gotham” executes a story point I’ve been predicting all season – Captain Barnes going under the bus to shine up Gordon now that he’s returned to the GCPD. Couple that with two pretty boring subplots and this was not the most thrilling November sweeps episode ever.
As the title suggests, Captain Barnes – his darker impulses now fully unlocked by Alice Tetch’s blood – has indeed appointed himself judge, jury, and executioner of Gotham’s criminals. This plot reminded me of two (better) episodes of the classic “Batman: The Animated Series” – “Judgment Day” and “Lock-Up” – that also saw former law enforcers go to brutal lengths to punish wrongdoers. Of course, we the audience already know that Gordon is on to Barnes and they quickly come into conflict. The show does acknowledge the reversal between the two men, including welcome talk of Gordon’s murder of Galavan. But after the nuanced job they did last week with Barnes’ descent into madness, it really seemed here like they were rushing through the story beats to reduce Barnes as quickly as possible to a cartoonish caricature for Gordon to defeat. And nothing – the acting, the action sequences, etc. – really saved it for me.
Meanwhile, Ivy’s back. Stealing from her latest mark has landed Ivy in enough trouble that she, in a rather anti-climactic moment, reveals her identity to Selina and asks for help. Looping in Bruce, they try and backtrack her out of the mess she’s gotten herself into, but only bring more trouble down on all their heads. Maggie Geha does some nice work showing that Ivy’s still a young girl in a grown-up body, but besides that, these scenes are mostly set-up for later. Also, Selina’s aggressive annoyance with Ivy given the weeks she spent sad and guilty about her “death” was weird to me.
And elsewhere, Edward Nygma is devastated by Isabella’s death, while the Penguin is pleased that his rival for Ed’s affections is out of the picture. Unfortunately for Oswald, Nygma’s grief doesn’t prevent him from putting the puzzle pieces together and realizing that foul play was involved. It ends in an interesting place, but again, there’s not much meat on the bones of this subplot.
You can render your own verdict on “The Executioner” when it airs tonight on FOX. Until then, come share your thoughts on this “Gotham” preview in the comments section.
