TV - Gotham Season 1, Episode 9

Gotham

More screen time for the characters yet to be as important as The Penguin as Steve Taylor-Bryant, watches Harvey Dent...

Yes, Two-Face himself debuted tonight as a young Assistant District Attorney hell bent on cleaning up Gotham. After Selina Kyle made a return last week, Gordon realises he must protect the young girl, not just because she lives on the streets but because she is the only eye witness to the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Gordon, after realising Barbara has gone, decides that Selina needs to stay somewhere safe and asks Bruce and Alfred to take her in at Wayne Manor. Bruce agrees, much to the annoyance of Alfred, and Selina is brought to the mansion whilst Gordon, Montoya and Allen meet with Harvey Dent. Dent is sure that local businessman Dick Lovecraft has something to do with the murders and plans to use the sketch of the suspect provided by Kyle to scare Lovecraft and his cronies into talking.

Elsewhere, a bomb maker is being transported from the prison to a psych meeting. During the transfer the vehicle is attacked by a Russian gang and Hargrove, the bomb maker, is freed. Bullock and Gordon question Hargrove's brother to no avail but Nygma finds a clue in the debris of the latest bomb that sends Gordon and Bullock to an old metalworks. There they find Hargrove is not a free man at all but has actually been kidnapped and forced into making explosives for the Russians, as they have threatened to kill his brother and his family. The Russians return and, during a shoot out with Bullock and Gordon, they manage to escape with Hargrove once again. Nygma in his lab works out that the Russians are planning to use their latest bomb on something Iron and there is only one Iron vault in Gotham, the old arsenal, now used by Falcone to store his cash.

Dent brings in Lovecraft and his lawyers and kicks his plan into action. Lovecraft is cocky and throws away the sketch of the murder suspect whilst laughing at Dent who snaps and screams in Lovecraft's face, visibly shaking the corrupt businessman. Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce and Selina are getting to know each other and Alfred, who originally wanted Selina removed from the mansion, softens when he sees young Master Bruce developing an actual friendship with someone and agrees that she can stay indefinitely. Oswald Cobblepot is stalking Liza and taunting Fish as usual but eventually confronts Liza and scares her into becoming a double agent of sorts as she must report back to him with the plans Fish has as well as reporting to Fish about Falcone's movements.

Gordon and the rest of the GCPD arrive at the old arsenal just in time to foil the robbery. Butch, Fish Mooney's henchman, is looking on from afar and detonates a bomb, taking out the Russians before they are arrested and tell the police that the attack on Falcone's riches was actually a move by Fish for superiority. Hargrove is safe and, along with many other criminally insane prisoners, gets transported to the newly refurbished Arkham Asylum on the orders of the Mayor who has brought forward his plans to open the Asylum. Barbara lies in bed listening to Gordon on the phone begging her to come home before rolling over and kissing Montoya!

I really liked this week. It introduced Dent who seems to have some hidden mental issues of his own, expands on Selina Kyle's story and makes Bruce Wayne seem less sappy than he has appeared so far this season and a lot more believable as the boy who will grow up to be Batman. Gordon is working under extreme personal pressures but still managing to get in the Mayor's face and upset the police colleagues around him. Nygma and Cobblepot get just enough screen time to keep their own developing characters building and the fact that a move by Fish on Falcone has now actually happened can only be important as we enter the second half of an impressive debut season. Plus Barbara having an affair with Montoya and Arkham finally being opened gives so much scope to mess Gordon about that the story can go anywhere now, leaving me guessing what will happen next.

I like that a lot.

Image - IMDb.

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