Gotham continues delving into the filth and corruption of its world, and I have to admit, I’m still watching.
The story for this episode revolves around the Balloonman, a vigilante type criminal who is actually hunting down the crooked and corrupt who still manage to get away with it and stay famous in positions of power. His nickname coming from the fact that he’s stolen weather gallons and he entraps his victims with them, leaving them to float to their death (then drop like a watermelon onto the pavement).
Gordon and Bullock are on the case, and after some good cop bad cop investigating, they finally track the Balloonman down into a morality infused showdown were Gordon shows his colors of being the only honest and good cop in the city, as he is willing to sacrifice himself to save/capture the Balloonman and let him be judged properly, in court, instead of letting him die.
The episode definitely focused on how messed up everything in the city was, and how the corruption, was even worse the higher up the social/economic ladder you went. Though the vigilante was attacking these crooked, he was doing it the wrong way; judge, jury, executioner.
During the episode, we are introduced with Las Maroni, the other top dog mafioso who basically wants to take down Falcone. He’s also a very important character in the comics and he has a little “connection” with district attorney Harvey Dent (still to be introduced), but I’ll leave that out so it’s a surprise if you don’t know what I’m talking about. Bruce shows an interest in the crimes going on in Gotham and this “vigilante”. We also see the Penguin make it back to Gotham, unable to stay away from the city he loves so much. He slowly works on making it back up the ladder, and the episode ends with him showing up at Gordon’s place.
The Good: Introducing Maroni… his rivalry with Falcone is a big one (and one that I believe to become the main drive of the show). Lack of extra cameos… I’m glad they didn’t add all these cameos just for the sake of cameos… Cat is only in it in the beginning, giving Gordon some info on Bruce’s killer (and she finds the opportunity to escape custody and make it back on the streets). Riddler is not in the episode either. The Bruce Wayne scenes. I realized this show was going to be about the crime, and had not thought about how much Bruce they were gonna have, and in fact, I thought it would be a bad idea to have to much of him. But the show includes just the right amount, with just the right scenes, which turn into this clear indication that this kid just gets darker and darker inside, and slowly turns himself into the man he eventually becomes. You start seeing the first elements of his philanthropy, his interest in the status of Gotham, his curiosity for this “vigilante”, and even his “training”. And Alfred… good casting on that one FOX… good casting indeed.
The Bad: The acting and dialogue are a constant crutch to the quality of the production. And I bet that half the bad acting is actually due to the bad writing, so you can;t even blame them too much. Obviously, it’s not the worst show on television, and still decent enough to keep me watching; just saying that it’s one of the flaws. I also am kinda of annoyed with the police department scenes… a little too cliche, no? Worse of everything in the show so far is Barbara… not sure why they’re giving her the backstory she has… Maybe I just never read anything about that in the comics, but I honestly don’t think this was part of it. They’re just trying to make the character more interesting, and it seems like they’re not doing a good job at it.
The Verdict: Seeing Bruce slowly change into the person he becomes is great. My curiosity for what the Penguin will do next definitely has me interested. More Alfred? Yes please. Gotham is holding on to decent production values, and its slowly getting into the rhythm of its characters; so as a fan of Batman, I’m still here. See you all next week!
~mozeus
