Right off the bat we see Cobblepot returning to Gotham, and through his eyes we see the daily crime on the street level is ripe, even in broad daylight. He revels in this sight and delightfully sighs that he is once again home. Despite the tittle of this episode being 'Balloonman', I felt as though the episode was more a showcase of Oswald Cobblepots resurgence to a position within the hierarchy of Gotham's crimeworld. We see him from petty street thug to applying to a job as a busboy at a mafia-owned restaurant, where he manages to earn the interest of the Don. The Don tells Cobblepot that he sees his former self in him, and that he believes that Gotham is the city of opportunities(with a strong hint that it is only for the people willing to bend or break the law) and Cobblepot agrees. I find this statement very appealing from a more meta-point of view, as the serie itself is shot in New York City, the real-life city of opportunities.
But as much as I find this subplot interesting, it is only the subplot. The main plot of the episode is unfortunately not as appealing.
The mainplot involves a vigilante who targets publicly known corrupt people, and kills them off by handcuffing them to an weather-balloon and sends them to float away. Once again Gordon and Bullock is on the case, but for Bullock only after the second victim being a cop. By the end Gordon determines that the Balloonman is a man from juvenil services named Davis Lamond, who snapped after the mayor's handling of the child kidnapping of last weeks episode. Throughout the episode the people of Gotham are shown to sympathize with the vigilante much to Gordons dismay, as he feels his job as a detective, a defender of justice and the people, becomes increasingly difficult, as it is shown that the police do not have the faith of the people.
As this weeks villain Lamond fell short because of several factors:
- His motives for killing the people he chose were not clarified for all the three victims
- The confrontation by the end between him and Gordon & Bullock felt forced, as though his character suddently changed
- The show has taken a more realistic approach to villains so far, so the whole killing people with weather-balloons seems almost too silly.
The sillyness of the villain might harken back to the ealier years of the Batman Comics, with the likes of the Clock King, Calendar-man and other really weird villains, but this early in the show, I feel that the Balloonman concept felt misjudged by the showrunners. It is almost so laughable, that you might as well have used a parody version of the old Batman intro and change it to: "Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-Balloonman!
A fun little sidenote to Lamond as the Balloonman, is that the first time we see him in this weeks episode he is wearing a pig-mask. This pig-mask could very well be an homage to the Batman villain Professor Pyg, who is the only villain in the Batman mythos to have been known to wearing a pig-mask. And to make this little easter-egg even more exciting, the real name of Professor Pyg is actually Lazlo Valentin. This is significant, as Fish Mooney's so called "boy toy" is also named Lazlo, but we don't know his name yet.
This week's subplot with Bruce and Alfred felt much better this time around. Alfred's concern for Bruce is better showcased with him trying to distract him and at the same time teach him basic self-defense by swordfighting. His concern for Bruce also shows when his meals for him are brushed off. We are also shown how Bruce's earliest interests in detective work develops, as he has the file of his parents murder.
I like how the show slowly, but steadily builds up the foundation for Batman, but not too much so it feels forced.
One thing that did feel forced in this episode however, was the part involving Selina Kyle. She was suppose so reveal information about the Wayne-murder, but ended up didging Gordon while he was in the sewers. It felt like the showrunners needed to get Selina back on the streets, and this was the only way they could get her there. It is a shame, because the ending of last episode made us believe that she had some huge reaviling evidence in the case. All of a sudden that evidence conveniently manages to slip through Gordons fingers, because Selina knows how to break out of handcuffs with a pen? Riiiiiight....
Another thing that came totally out of left field for me was the fact that Montoya used to date Barbara? I knew there was a history there, but I thought they were merely old friends that have drifted apart. I guess now it does make more sense why she is so hard on Gordon. But that whole scene between Montoya and Barbara felt rushed and lacked disposition. When did Barbara start to smoke weed (the other two episodes had no indication of that), and the whole reveal of their past came so sudden that you couldn't see it coming.
The ending however with Cobblepot standing in the doorway of Jim Gordon's apartment looking very Penguin-like in his tuxedo makes me very excited about next weeks episode. Mostly because I want to know how he can go from a mere busboy to a seemingly big-shot in such a short while. Also I like cliffhangers that ends with potential conflict! I hope it will redeem this week's lackluster episode, as I don't want to see air leaving the balloon that is Gotham.
Popcorntroller Out!
Ingen kommentarer:
Send en kommentar