The (Strike) Force Awakens
So a lot of people are mourning the loss of Jerome in last week's conclusion to the opening story arc. I can see why, he was a solid character with a fantastic actor. However I've also seen people saying that they were going to stop watching the show because of it...yeah, no this isn't the Jerome show. He was just a character and it opened the door for Galavan, who I find a much interesting villain, to step up as a new threat to the city.Now with the Maniax away, Theo Galavan shall play. So what happened when Galavan stepped up as well as the GCPD? Let's find out...
We open up to something I should have expected, but didn't: Penguin taking control of his mob. Since the new season began the Penguin has been in the background, which is fine since we were dealing with the whole Jerome fiasco. Since he's gone, Penguin can finally shine again, until we have Penguin and Galavan meet. I loved this scene and exchange as a whole. We see a pair of schemers each trying to further their agendas, but each also trying to one up one another on their importance.
However that being said, things take a turn when Galavan pulls out Penguin's kryptonite: His Mother. With no other option, he agrees to do what Galavan wants, which is take out the mayoral candidates.The thing that makes this so much better is it shows how having Penguin's mother put in danger puts Penguin in a hopeless state. Throughout the episode we see penguin on the verge of tears, either of anger or sadness. It shows that despite his newly acquired seat of power, he still loves and cares for his mother and never wanted her involved in his life. It shows the human is still in there and you feel bad for him.
Barnes and Gordon end up gathering the best of the best recruits to form GCPD's first Strike Force, who I can only assume is going to be used mainly to fight the bigger more colorful threats that arise in Gotham. This is where the Criminal story and Police story cross paths, and another issue I have. Zsasz is sent to kill one of the candidates and despite having 11 people against him(5 for the first round, and 6 for the second), he manages to dodge, wound and escape the fight. I get this is an elseworld. I get its a comic show and it's supposed to have a suspension of disbelief, but come on! I can see 5 goons, but not 6 cops, 4 of them being heavily armed.
The other two storylines this week had me split with a yay and a nay. The yay storyline came from Alfred and Bruce where they meet Silver St. Cloud, Thank Galavan for saving Bruce, and slapping Selina...Wait what? Okay, the slap had a lot of reason behind it, Alfred said he was doing it for Reggie, and told Selina to stay far away from Bruce as he knew how much of a bad seed she was for him. I don't condone violence on a child, but the conversation between the pair was awesome and pushed both characters forward in their development.
On the other hand, the character development for Nygma's storyline just fell flat. While the multi personality is fun to see, it felt just so unconnected to the main story that it would have been better just to keep it in season one, when we still cared about his relationship with Ms. Kringle (Though I won't lie, when Nygma said that her asshole ex was dead I instantly was on the edge of my seat to see what he would do).
In the end this episode helps solidify that Gotham Season 2 can be good without the Maniax and Jerome. It had great character moments with practically everyone, especially with the Penguin when he was alone with Butch. Barnes is a bit over enthusiastic in his work, but hopefully it will settle as time goes on. Nygma's psychosis still shows promise, I just no longer care for him going for Kringle.
KEYPOINTS:
+ Penguin humanity
+ Alfred and Selina's Talk(MINUS THE SLAP)
+ Galavan becomes more diabolical than Penguin
- Riddler storyline entirely pointless
- New Captain a bit to enthusiastic and Super Soldier Zsasz
8/10
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