Gotham Episodes 5-6 review - Viper/Spirit of the Goat

Episode 5 – Viper

We have the precursor to venom, which converts your bones to powder if you use it too long, yeah, this show isn’t meant to be realistic

But having said that; this is the best episode of the show to date. It’s still suffering from teething problems, but I'm willing to give this episode a pass for that.

Bruce Wayne's work suddenly becomes important as we see him uncovering possible corruption within his family business, (you know, suddenly reactivating a project right after the death of major figureheads in the company is likely to raise some eyebrows) I would like Bruce to do something this season, right now he always seems to be investigating the same case as the cops, but rarely does anything useful. (And seriously, does this kid ever go to school, or act like a child, really?)

Selina Kyle appears in this episode, her cameo is entirely pointless and I really don't understand the ending, I know it's setting up groundwork for the coming weeks, but… What was I watching, they shared headphones, and he flirted a bit with someone a lot younger than him. Yeah

Edit: (I know this review hasn't been published yet, but it's still an edit from my original review) so it's Fish's lady friend that's turning on the charm to Carmine, I swear she had black hair, or is this someone else?

I have got to admit my enjoyment of the ending for Bruce, where Alfred, rather than complaining about what Bruce is doing, which he'd been doing for most of the episode, instead endeavours to help him, adding to the Bruce/Alfred dynamic we'll see in later life

Oh yeah, this is a cop show, I haven't mentioned the cops yet, I have now

Anyway, the gang war begins to escalate this week as Fish Mooney turns on the charm, getting people on her side to overthrow Falcone, whilst Marone finds out the truth about Oswald Cobblepot, which he vows to use to his advantage (after getting Gordon to verify his story)

Rating 7.5/10

Episode 6 - Spirit of the Goat

This episode is both interesting and frustrating at the same time. I've also said for a show revolving around cops, the cops are the least interesting characters in the show, and this episode focuses specifically on the cops, and Oswald Cobblepot

Honest most of the side stories really don't go anywhere, we have Cobblepot and his mother reconciling and ok, that's creepy, CUT TO ANOTHER SCENE, QUICK

We also have Bruce and Alfred, and Cat in a scene, but it’s a pointless scene. Cat steals something but that could easily have been in an episode where it turns out to be important. Meanwhile Bruce is behaving more like Batman every second, and I still feel like I want him to use his detective skills at some point. Multiple times he's been shown to be working the same case as Gordon, but he contributes nothing, so it’s ultimately pointless

But to meat of the episode, the spirit of the goat, and Harvey Bullock's half-fleshed out origin story. We see him confront the original goat spirit (is this an analogy to the assassin Goat Man from the comics? – See Batman Incorporated #1 (The New 52)) 10 years ago and ultimately catch him, but losing 3 girls and leaving his partner in a home with considerable medical expenses by the look of it. It’s nice to see that Harvey was looking after his old partner, paying his expenses and providing him with dirty magazines (because that's perfectly in character with Harvey) the issue is we really don't see exactly how it changed him. Clearly there’s a lot more of Bullock to flesh out, and I hope Gotham will not fail on this.

Then comes Gordon's role in the story, as well as playing part in the mystery of the new spirit of the goat, he also comes under fire from Montoya. The only character less interesting than her is her partner. Anyway, she discovers a witness to the "murder" of Oswald Cobblepot and issues a warrant for his arrest, based on the evidence of a single guy. Anyway, of course she's out to defend her girlfriend from bad influences. My problem is she's singled out Gordon, not because of the murder, but because she's determined to prove that he's a bad influence. I wonder what tune she'll change to upon the revelation (to her and the police department) at the end that Oswald is in fact still alive.

Yeah, I've gone off topic a bit here. Gordon struggles to cope under the weight of the information given to him by his wife, and decides whether it's right to share what he knows about the corruption in the police force to her. This actually isn't resolved by the end of the episode.

No Fish Mooney or Falcone in this episode, which is weird considering last week's cliff-hanger but I’ll let that slide, they're not the best characters in the show, and given the revelation at the end, we'll see at least one of them next week.

We also have Edward Nigma's part to the story, and his love interest; who he charms in a way only he could, which has the effect of putting most people off. It's nice to see him fleshed out a tad, although we already know what the end result is.

The mystery of the spirit of the goat was actually a nice one. I have to admit though I kind of had a bad feeling about the hypnotist the moment I saw her, so it wasn't that big a shock to discover she was behind everything. But the cleverness of how everything played out was appreciated, although her motivations left a lot to be desired (she’s insane, right?)

Rating 8/10

For more reviews click here

Images used in this review are from Gotham and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use.