"Arkham" Heroic Analysis (4 of 100) of Gordon & Young Bruce Wayne from "Gotham"

Spoilers Ahead:

Richard Gladwell (Hakeem Kae-Kazim)

Episode four in Gotham moves the plot of the series along rather nicely for a television show, however it does not really do anything to develop any of the characters. By the end of the episode, Gordon is still the same guy he was at the start of the episode, Harvey has no character development, young Bruce Wayne is still a Batman wannabe, and the characters who I really want to see developed, Montoya and Allen, did not even make an appearance in the episode. Overall, this wasn't a bad episode, but it didn't feel like anything refreshing. If I feel like I know all of the characters and what they are going to do by the fourth episode, then the show needs to do a better job at tightening the tension and showing reasonable change in the characters. If it doesn't, I feel that Gotham can easily be a great show that just gets boring too quickly.

Plot wise, the episode follows the same structure of all three of the former – Detectives Gordon and Bullock have a new case, somehow link it to the Wayne Murders, find some possible leads, and inevitably get the bad guy. Nothing new at all there. Harvey even ends up at the right place at the right time to save, YET AGAIN, a struggling Gordon. Fish Mooney is not really doing anything interesting in terms of a heroic analysis of Gordon either, and in this episode Mooney, Falcone, and the third crime boss Sal Maroni (David Zayas) don’t even interact with Gordon at all in the episode in a major way. Instead they spend the screen time they are given working on their own motives, which, for what it's worth, are intriguing (I also think I know why they pronounce Falcone the way the do. My theory is that they couldn't have a "Fahl-Cohne-ee" and a "Mah-Rohne-ee" so they pronounce it differently to distinguished).

So, Gordon is still the clear hero of the series, and for now Harvey is an ally. Even though Oswald is a shadow character, in this episode he is somewhat of a herald and an ally. He is a herald because his information helps Gordon discover the killer and inevitably allows him to save the mayor, and for this reason he is also an ally to Gordon. Montoya and Allen are absent in this episode, thus are still a unique mix between ally and threshold guardian. Bruce Wayne, only briefly in the episode, continues to show that he is becoming a competent detective, even as a kid. It is clear that one day, if he stays on this track, he will be the best detective & vigilante Gotham will have. I think I would class him as a shapeshifter character, in terms of Gordon's heroic analysis. Shapeshifters are characters that change form, either literally or figuratively, during the heroes journey. For Bruce, he may go from a sulking, investigative child to a, well, a batman. 

The largest problem I have with this episode is that it had a great premise to build on from last week’s episode, but then it didn't do a clean enough job with the character interactions. Gordon now knows that Oswald is back in town, but he doesn't react outside of the initial meetings. He just lets him stay in the town without even sweating in later scenes about what Falcone would do were he to find out. Gordon doesn't really try anything at all to find Selina, nor does he mention her escape. There are also just a lot of flaws in general which lead to some plot breaking moments, all of which basically show that Harvey and Gordon are both really bad at investigative work and have just been getting lucky. For example, neither of them fully investigates the back room where the assassin was working, nor do they question anyone else at that place, especially after finding evidence at the assassin’s desk. Wouldn't they have questioned his manager or co-workers while investigating? While I can buy this happening off screen, Gordon, in previous episodes, has chased criminals before. Why did he not attempt to search more thoroughly for this impaling killer? And one more thing, why does Harvey still trust Mooney? Bruh, she tried to have you killed.

Plot wise, the episode does move along, albeit slightly. Gordon learns about Barbara’s past, Fish Mooney gets a new “weapon,” and the gang war between Falcone and Maroni escalates. However, Oswald’s story continues to save the show. The reveal that he is the mastermind behind escalating the gang war was really nicely done and left a good ending on an otherwise weak fourth episode of the show. Fish Mooney’s “weapon,” although a tad bit clichéd, does set up the show for an interesting reveal later. I am interested in seeing who this lounge singing, sexy, ass-kicking “weapon” becomes.