Gotham double bill
Gotham 5.9 The Trial of Jim Gordon
Jim had the fine (i.e. not) idea of ‘brokering’ a truce between the gangs so that the outside world might stop seeing Gotham as a war zone, and give them water supplies. This came after Lee pointed out that he was reckless and posited the idea of her and Babs being left to bring up the child alone. (That would be hilarious.)
Jim went to Oswald’s for this truce business, because they only have so many sets, and because he didn’t wear a bulletproof vest and he was begging Gotham’s gangs to turn peaceful, he got shot. A watching Babs was mildly concerned about her babydaddy.
Meanwhile, Bruce had taken Selina on a date in disguise. Aw, boy just wants to feed and nurture her. I noticed that McKenzie had written this and Erin Richards directed it. Good on them.
Jim was brought back to the GCPD for Lee to treat - not taken to the hospital set. The trial, which I’d been all sniffy about since seeing the title, was apparently in his head and would determine whether he lived or died, as opposed to Lee’s treatment.
Prefiguring Jim’s self-obsessed self-lacerating ‘trial’, Bruce started confiding in Selina about how Gotham would be better without him. Sadly, before she could prick his ego and tell him that the baddies were responsible for their own wrong-doing, as I’m sure she would have, enter Ivy. She was back to hating Selina and wanting Bruce to be enslaved to her (ugh, show, I’ve told you how skeevy those optics look). I was left having faith in Selina’s fighting skills as she faced an old opponent.
Harvey was such a terrible police officer, as ever - even if he was enraged by Jim getting shot - that he needed Oswald to point out the trajectory of the bullet to him, basic investigative stuff that might help him find Jim’s shooter. Meanwhile, I really didn’t like the fluffy pink skirt of Barbara’s outfit, but her musings about her future and that of her child’s are interesting.
Well, if you’re writing an episode, sure, make Jim Gordon his own prosecution. I caught the inflection used in Jeremiah’s delivery in Prosecutor!Jim.
Enter Zsasz with brio. His searching for Jim Gordon suggested to me that he’d been set up (admittedly, I have a soft spot for Zsasz and am not minded to think that shooting Jim Gordon is the worst thing ever). Alfred might be more interested in the fact that Ivy had brainwashed and abducted Bruce, TBH, however much fun he was having stamping on Zsasz,
A really strong sequence followed once we realised that Ivy had done a number on Zsasz - I laughed at his adoration, and then, although my hackles were rising at a potential return to Alfred fancying Lee, instead we had a lovely sharing of what it’s like to parent a child that’s not your own flesh and blood. No wonder she cried. (Okay, Alfred can always have a soft spot for Lee.) Meanwhile Barbara found a stone-cold way of enforcing a truce, with ‘Pengie’ gazing on in awe - I love their interactions - and her in a morally ambiguous position instead of being sidelined.
Zsasz and Ivy have better optics as a couple, and the ickiness of her still being actually Bruce and Selina’s age is countered by her potion putting her in charge. So, what I’m saying is they make an entertaining destructive couple. (Given that Joker/Harley only guest star and are usually in opposition to Bruce/Selina so I am less minded to appreciate them.)
I’d been wondering if Ivy’s plan for Bruce made sense, and oh well, let’s pretend that he was the only guy who could access the filtration plant. High!Bruce and Lucius were amusing, until Bruce decided he’d fight his true love for his fake one.
Jim wallowed - although the wake was enjoyably odd until the doleful kid came and blamed Jim for not being omniscient. Lee was going to face down Ivy with a scalpel.
So, the more interesting fight was between Bruce and Selina. The physical stuff did not go long enough for it to be uncomfortable, and Selina seemed to have the better of it, while she worked out her issues with him saying he might be leaving Gotham (her) and knocked the Ivyfume out of her boy. Back to battle couple mode, and I loved the Indiana Jonesesque kick to the head to sort out Lucius.
Harvey, tired of getting shot at in his own precinct (now you get tired of that? Now??) copied Ed from a few episodes ago and satisfyingly took down Zsasz.
Lee remembered enough of being Queen of the Narrows to shoot at Ivy. Jim had to depend on a vision of Lee holding his baby to get him to want to live again…so that he could get (unlawfully?) married to Lee (if Harvey had no vested authority to carry out the ceremony.) Selina was cute as a sassy button throughout, which worked for Bruce. Meanwhile, Oswald thought that winding up Babs, his so-called ally, about her tortured feelings for Jim was a good idea. I’m just fuming that they sidestepped most of what Lee was up to last season. But McKenzie gave the actors some fun business and Jim’s woe at everything he touched dying tied into Ivy’s anti-human stance.
5.10 I Am Bane
Long making-of-Bane sequence, where Strange wasn’t sorry at all that it would be a lengthy and painful process.
With The Baby due in a week and potential reunification day today, Jim took the opportunity to give one of his lamer speeches to the GCPD. Bruce is one of them by now.
Alfred and Selina shared a moment as they looked up the original architect’s plans for Wayne Manor (with or without the Batcave?) He seems to like her at the moment, but maybe he’s just accepted her as inevitable after the snog at the wedding.
Barbara’s escape plans on the sub were scuppered by labour pains. Jim’s plans to be there and for reunification were scuppered by Bane, whose diction was noticeably clearer than in The Dark Knight Rises (probably the first thing discussed when they said ‘Let’s do Baen!’), but that whole sequence was hard to follow thanks to the dramatic smoke and possibly the editing.
Harvey was in charge again, striking because I watched this the same day as the previous ep, as Jim and the Bane formally known as Eduardo reunited. Enter ‘Walker’ and things with her got more interesting than I’d expected. As I’d been making TDKR comparisons and had heard Bane rhapsodising about She, I was a step ahead of Bruce, only wondering if it would be Nyssa or Talia.
Alfred and Selina are looking for you, Bruce, it’s all right. Because, unlike the show’s villains, I think of Alfred as Bruce’s no. 1 father figure. NOT JIM. (Although I admit that Eduardo pounding him wouldn’t have had any emotional resoncance.)
Kudos to Barbara for ensuring the sub couldn’t leave without her, and giving us Oswald yelling her name in rage: it’s usually the other way around. Kudos taken off Babs for being so obviously in a hurry in front of Lee, who isn’t that stupid.
I hope Bruce doesn’t buy what Nyssa’s selling about it all being his fault. It seems to be mainly hers for wanting such revenge, but as I was expecting Barbara to die to save her baby, I was heartened by Nyssa and the show remembering she helped kill Ra’s (and continued to have the allegiance of some of the League of Shadows).
Moreover, the show remembered there was some Stuff between Lee and Ed. We only got a few lines of dialogue about it before we had another scene of comedy gold involving Oswald, Babs-in-labour and Ed and Lee as the voices of reason. That’s before Bane came to crash the party.
Nyssa dangled the destruction of Gotham (by the army) above Bruce on top of everything else.
Ed and Oswald’s glee about things going boom was stopped by Bane…just walking through the flames in a great visual
Best woman in labour in a wheelchair with guns sequence!
And then, I did raise my eyebrows at Nyssa tying Bruce up with rope near a candle, but put Strange’s lack of restraints as he jacked up Jim’s strength down to hubris. The show’s heroes escaped, anyhow.
Oswald and Ed agreed not to discuss Ed’s remaining feelings for Lee (I’ll take what I can get), and Lee and Babs came to some sort of ‘baby’s coming now’ entente. Alfred and Selina saved the day, but gave the car to the others to escape. This was a shame, because it looks to me like a car is the best way of bringing Bane down. The fight scene was badly edited, but ended up with a loyal Selina calling for help for a bloodied Alfred, status unknown!!!
Just as Jim was celebrating the birth of his daughter, Gotham’s newest innocent citizen, the General gave the order to destroy the city. His soldiers were rubbish, as Jim outsmarted them (and who knew what when did not track at this point, BTW, script editor). Babs and Lee entered Sirens, which was now littered with bodies (of assassins Nyssa would see as traitors, I guess), and the army started dropping bombs on the city. Eek.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/392600.html.
Jim had the fine (i.e. not) idea of ‘brokering’ a truce between the gangs so that the outside world might stop seeing Gotham as a war zone, and give them water supplies. This came after Lee pointed out that he was reckless and posited the idea of her and Babs being left to bring up the child alone. (That would be hilarious.)
Jim went to Oswald’s for this truce business, because they only have so many sets, and because he didn’t wear a bulletproof vest and he was begging Gotham’s gangs to turn peaceful, he got shot. A watching Babs was mildly concerned about her babydaddy.
Meanwhile, Bruce had taken Selina on a date in disguise. Aw, boy just wants to feed and nurture her. I noticed that McKenzie had written this and Erin Richards directed it. Good on them.
Jim was brought back to the GCPD for Lee to treat - not taken to the hospital set. The trial, which I’d been all sniffy about since seeing the title, was apparently in his head and would determine whether he lived or died, as opposed to Lee’s treatment.
Prefiguring Jim’s self-obsessed self-lacerating ‘trial’, Bruce started confiding in Selina about how Gotham would be better without him. Sadly, before she could prick his ego and tell him that the baddies were responsible for their own wrong-doing, as I’m sure she would have, enter Ivy. She was back to hating Selina and wanting Bruce to be enslaved to her (ugh, show, I’ve told you how skeevy those optics look). I was left having faith in Selina’s fighting skills as she faced an old opponent.
Harvey was such a terrible police officer, as ever - even if he was enraged by Jim getting shot - that he needed Oswald to point out the trajectory of the bullet to him, basic investigative stuff that might help him find Jim’s shooter. Meanwhile, I really didn’t like the fluffy pink skirt of Barbara’s outfit, but her musings about her future and that of her child’s are interesting.
Well, if you’re writing an episode, sure, make Jim Gordon his own prosecution. I caught the inflection used in Jeremiah’s delivery in Prosecutor!Jim.
Enter Zsasz with brio. His searching for Jim Gordon suggested to me that he’d been set up (admittedly, I have a soft spot for Zsasz and am not minded to think that shooting Jim Gordon is the worst thing ever). Alfred might be more interested in the fact that Ivy had brainwashed and abducted Bruce, TBH, however much fun he was having stamping on Zsasz,
A really strong sequence followed once we realised that Ivy had done a number on Zsasz - I laughed at his adoration, and then, although my hackles were rising at a potential return to Alfred fancying Lee, instead we had a lovely sharing of what it’s like to parent a child that’s not your own flesh and blood. No wonder she cried. (Okay, Alfred can always have a soft spot for Lee.) Meanwhile Barbara found a stone-cold way of enforcing a truce, with ‘Pengie’ gazing on in awe - I love their interactions - and her in a morally ambiguous position instead of being sidelined.
Zsasz and Ivy have better optics as a couple, and the ickiness of her still being actually Bruce and Selina’s age is countered by her potion putting her in charge. So, what I’m saying is they make an entertaining destructive couple. (Given that Joker/Harley only guest star and are usually in opposition to Bruce/Selina so I am less minded to appreciate them.)
I’d been wondering if Ivy’s plan for Bruce made sense, and oh well, let’s pretend that he was the only guy who could access the filtration plant. High!Bruce and Lucius were amusing, until Bruce decided he’d fight his true love for his fake one.
Jim wallowed - although the wake was enjoyably odd until the doleful kid came and blamed Jim for not being omniscient. Lee was going to face down Ivy with a scalpel.
So, the more interesting fight was between Bruce and Selina. The physical stuff did not go long enough for it to be uncomfortable, and Selina seemed to have the better of it, while she worked out her issues with him saying he might be leaving Gotham (her) and knocked the Ivyfume out of her boy. Back to battle couple mode, and I loved the Indiana Jonesesque kick to the head to sort out Lucius.
Harvey, tired of getting shot at in his own precinct (now you get tired of that? Now??) copied Ed from a few episodes ago and satisfyingly took down Zsasz.
Lee remembered enough of being Queen of the Narrows to shoot at Ivy. Jim had to depend on a vision of Lee holding his baby to get him to want to live again…so that he could get (unlawfully?) married to Lee (if Harvey had no vested authority to carry out the ceremony.) Selina was cute as a sassy button throughout, which worked for Bruce. Meanwhile, Oswald thought that winding up Babs, his so-called ally, about her tortured feelings for Jim was a good idea. I’m just fuming that they sidestepped most of what Lee was up to last season. But McKenzie gave the actors some fun business and Jim’s woe at everything he touched dying tied into Ivy’s anti-human stance.
5.10 I Am Bane
Long making-of-Bane sequence, where Strange wasn’t sorry at all that it would be a lengthy and painful process.
With The Baby due in a week and potential reunification day today, Jim took the opportunity to give one of his lamer speeches to the GCPD. Bruce is one of them by now.
Alfred and Selina shared a moment as they looked up the original architect’s plans for Wayne Manor (with or without the Batcave?) He seems to like her at the moment, but maybe he’s just accepted her as inevitable after the snog at the wedding.
Barbara’s escape plans on the sub were scuppered by labour pains. Jim’s plans to be there and for reunification were scuppered by Bane, whose diction was noticeably clearer than in The Dark Knight Rises (probably the first thing discussed when they said ‘Let’s do Baen!’), but that whole sequence was hard to follow thanks to the dramatic smoke and possibly the editing.
Harvey was in charge again, striking because I watched this the same day as the previous ep, as Jim and the Bane formally known as Eduardo reunited. Enter ‘Walker’ and things with her got more interesting than I’d expected. As I’d been making TDKR comparisons and had heard Bane rhapsodising about She, I was a step ahead of Bruce, only wondering if it would be Nyssa or Talia.
Alfred and Selina are looking for you, Bruce, it’s all right. Because, unlike the show’s villains, I think of Alfred as Bruce’s no. 1 father figure. NOT JIM. (Although I admit that Eduardo pounding him wouldn’t have had any emotional resoncance.)
Kudos to Barbara for ensuring the sub couldn’t leave without her, and giving us Oswald yelling her name in rage: it’s usually the other way around. Kudos taken off Babs for being so obviously in a hurry in front of Lee, who isn’t that stupid.
I hope Bruce doesn’t buy what Nyssa’s selling about it all being his fault. It seems to be mainly hers for wanting such revenge, but as I was expecting Barbara to die to save her baby, I was heartened by Nyssa and the show remembering she helped kill Ra’s (and continued to have the allegiance of some of the League of Shadows).
Moreover, the show remembered there was some Stuff between Lee and Ed. We only got a few lines of dialogue about it before we had another scene of comedy gold involving Oswald, Babs-in-labour and Ed and Lee as the voices of reason. That’s before Bane came to crash the party.
Nyssa dangled the destruction of Gotham (by the army) above Bruce on top of everything else.
Ed and Oswald’s glee about things going boom was stopped by Bane…just walking through the flames in a great visual
Best woman in labour in a wheelchair with guns sequence!
And then, I did raise my eyebrows at Nyssa tying Bruce up with rope near a candle, but put Strange’s lack of restraints as he jacked up Jim’s strength down to hubris. The show’s heroes escaped, anyhow.
Oswald and Ed agreed not to discuss Ed’s remaining feelings for Lee (I’ll take what I can get), and Lee and Babs came to some sort of ‘baby’s coming now’ entente. Alfred and Selina saved the day, but gave the car to the others to escape. This was a shame, because it looks to me like a car is the best way of bringing Bane down. The fight scene was badly edited, but ended up with a loyal Selina calling for help for a bloodied Alfred, status unknown!!!
Just as Jim was celebrating the birth of his daughter, Gotham’s newest innocent citizen, the General gave the order to destroy the city. His soldiers were rubbish, as Jim outsmarted them (and who knew what when did not track at this point, BTW, script editor). Babs and Lee entered Sirens, which was now littered with bodies (of assassins Nyssa would see as traitors, I guess), and the army started dropping bombs on the city. Eek.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/392600.html.