Gotham Season 2 Episode 22 "Transference" Review and *SPOILERS*

Some Days, You Just Can't Get Rid of a Bomb!

Director: Eagle Egilson
Writers: Bruno Heller
Air Date: May 23, 2016

*NON-SPOILERS AND SCORE AT  THE BOTTOM*

It’s time for the end ladies and gentlemen. Gotham has fully accepted it’s comic book nature, and while it truly has improved the season, there are still a few flaws. The one I noticed a LOT is that while the arcs start out great, half the time they can’t stick the landing. They are either an emotion filled conclusion(like the end of Freeze’s arc) or an ending that trips and falls on its face(Azrael’s arc). Tonight we’ll be getting not only the conclusion to a story arc, but to the whole season. We last had Lucius and Bruce captured by Nygma, The revived Fish plotting her escape with her new power, Bullock and Alfred heading to the Asylum to save the team, and Gordon face to face with a Doppelganger(Clayface). How will this all come to a close? Let’s find out…


We open up with the GCPD about to bust in the gates of Arkham, but the doppelganger comes out and tells them it’s all clear… While completely acting like a weirdo. I know the plan for Clayface is to get them off Hugo Strange’s back, and I get he’s a lunatic, but wouldn’t Strange tell him to relax and not twitch and look around like a clearly insane person?! Well, the cops fall for it, leaving Strange time to get the experiments out and prepare a bomb to blow up the Asylum.

Strange tortures Gordon by injecting him with truth serum as Nygma threatens to gas Bruce and Lucius. The reason both sides are doing this is because they need to make sure that the group doesn’t know who is really in charge of the Indian Hill Project. While I did love the psychoanalysis that Hugo was doing to Gordon, going into his past and insecurities, Edward’s felt… annoying. Maybe it was him gloating that they only had 20 seconds to answer or the fact that the pair just standing around acting like it was an inconvenience over a death threat. Well, the death threat was just a hoax and the gas just knock the pair out and is thrown in with Jim. Now that they are all cornered how could things possibly get worse? Oh, right the bomb goes off in an hour…

Meanwhile at the GCPD, our fake Gordon is still pulling the same act as he did at the Asylum... AND HARVEY IS FALLING FOR IT! I get that Harvey isn't the brightest tool in the shed, but it's so obvious it isn't Jim Gordon. Alfred is able to call out something is weird, but the one who REALLY pieces it together near instantly? BARBARA! Due to how obsessesed she is with Jim, she figures out that Clayface isn't Jim and smacks him to reveal the truth. Quick recap: Harvey couldn't figure out this facade in hours while Barbara pieced it together in 2 minutes... Gotham's finest everyone!

While all this is going on Fish is able to get ahold of Peabody with her new power. She orders her to let her out and lead her to Strange. When Strange arrives to make sure the experiments are all on the bus up north, he sees the pair and ends up activating the bomb 30 minutes earlier than expected. As the asylum enters shutdown, he orders Freeze to murder the group, to which Selina, who as of the last episode has become Firefly’s friend, disagrees with and tells Firefly she has to stop him… No we don’t get a badass fight between the two, but we do get a shot of their beams clashing and it’s pretty cool. However during one of their clashes Hugo gets blasted by both flamethrower and ice cannon… and survives… no clue how. he just does.

When Strange comes to, he breaks down tells Gordon that there’s a bomb in the lab and they have to get out of there, due to the fact there are some nuclear isotopes left in the lab. Bomb plus Nuclear Isotopes equal NUCLEAR EXPLOSION. Jim heads down to disarm it with Lucius as the children run out. The clock is down to one minute and it’s time for Lucius and Gordon to be the best Gotham has to disarm this bomb and save the city! How? By pouring water on the circuitry… Yup. THAT is how they disarm the bomb. The bomb made with Strange, one of, if not THE, smartest men in Gotham… Disarmed by water…  How did they come to this? A knocked out Ms. Peabody asks for some, and they instantly think she meant the bomb. Let’s just move on, we're almost done…

While Gordon and Lucius were playing bomb squad, Fish took control of the bus and began driving to get out of the city. Harvey hears about it over the radio and tells Jim that a squadron of cars is going to the bus… A Squadron apparently consists of only two cop cars. Fish is able to disable one, but when she attempts to play chicken with the other, Butch and Penguin arrive with their squad. Butch then begins riddling both cars with his GATLING GUN?! WHERE THE HELL IS THE MOB GETTING THIS HIGH-END EQUIPMENT?! Penguin thought that Strange would be on the bus, only to be shocked when Fish comes out of the car and he faints. I’ll admit, it was pretty funny. Actually, there are a few moments when I chuckled… which shouldn’t be a priority for a nail-biting finale!

We end the season with Bruce telling Alfred that they need to dig a little deeper to learn of the “council” that controlled Indian Hill, Harvey remaining the temporary captain as Jim goes off to find Lee, Doctor Strange practically on the verge of tears afraid of the Court that will clearly come for him, and an old woman doing something stupid. Opening the bus letting all the experiments out, including Killer Croc, a laugh that resembles Jerome’s… and a long haired Bruce Wayne clone… Which strangely reminds me of Tommy Wiseau’s part in The Room… YOU ARE TEARING ME APART, GOTHAM!

Bits and Pieces:
Oh boy, was this not a good finale. If you showed me this episode and told me this was a midseason finale, I would believe that because the last scene DOES set up the next season well. The facts are that the episode embraces it’s comic side too close, and it ended being a very ridiculous and silly mess. It clearly didn’t stick the landing and we have to wait till the fall for a do-over

5/10