Ah the end of the rise of the villains saga has finally come to a close, and while the majority of this episode felt a little stagnant, my previous issue with this show (being that no-one major would die) is now turned on its head, and I can now settle into this show knowing that comic book lore aside, anything is possibly in Bruno Hellier’s Gotham city.
The continuing adventures of Cameron Monaghan’s “Not The Joker -Joker” comes to a close when poor old Jerome gets shanked theatrically by Theo Galavan at the end of the episode both shocked and impressed me by his performance and then the fact that he would now be leaving Gotham as a central character. Surprisingly Selena was back this week, sneaking into an inappropriately timed fundraising gala (because that’s what Gothamites do when there are a group of villains terrorising the city?)
Gotham has finally found its stride in season 2, it feels confident in its season 1 establishment and has really let loose in this season to wildly and unapologetically be itself. Yes some of the characters and plotlines seem silly and outlandish, but we are talking about a comic book show here, it is meant to. The tone has shifted to be somewhat darker and this is also ok, however the balance of the silliness and violence may confuse its audience a little bit.
Bi-Sexual Barbara did throw me a little, as this character gets “Not Harley Quinn-Yet Very Much So” every time she is on screen, however the “act” of magician’s crazy assistant was entertaining and was her apparent kahoots with Galavan about the stabbing of Jerome.
While this was probably my least favourite of the “Rise” trilogy, it was still infinitely better than the plop this show churned out last season, so I really am just nitpicking because it has lifted its game quite considerably.
Ending the scene with the Penguin commentating on Jerome and his chaos for chaos’s sake rant was entertaining and further solidifies this show’s place in my “must watch” list every week.
