TV Recap: Gotham, ‘Viper’

Plot: A deadly new drug has hit the streets of Gotham, giving its citizens a quick window of strength and adrenaline.  As Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and Bullock (Donal Logue) race to find the source, the mob war between Falcone (John Doman) and Maroni (David Zayas) continues to escalate, as Oswald (Robin Lord Taylor) takes a big risk in order to gain Maroni’s trust.

I keep saying it, but Gotham becomes more and more the world of Batman every week.  This show has already come a long way from that hokey second episode.  I had a real fear that Gotham was going to head in a more goofy comic book direction, but after “Viper,” I can officially put that fear to rest.  It’s as deranged as you’d want a Batman related show to be.  While tonight’s episode was very comic bookey in regards to the villain’s ultimate goal, it was the good kind of comic bookey – serious and dark in tone.  Not only do we get a solid drug caper that brings into play a huge piece of Batman lore, but tensions continue to rise in the battle between Falcone and Maroni.

Tonight’s episode carries the momentum beautifully from last week.  After the results of the Arkham vote, it’s unclear whether or not Falcone lost his grip on Gotham.  Maroni wants to strike while his enemy is weak, and he might just get a little help from Oswald. This was another great outing for Oswald, because he shows a lot of guts here, while also putting himself at great risk with Maroni.  This conflict leads to a great scene between him, Maroni, and Gordon.  This was the most we’ve seen from David Zayas’ Maroni, but we can add yet another awesome actor/character to the show.  Him and Oswald are going to have a real interesting dynamic together.

The Falcone scenes were also stellar, as he brings all his major players to an undisclosed location so he can weather the storm after the Arkham deal.  This leads to a vicious exchange between Fish (Jada Pinkett Smith) and a Russian mobster (Jeremy Davidson), another criminal in Falcone’s employ. This is how you portray the mob in Gotham – everyone has their own agenda, and they are all trying to screw each other. It’s great. Fish continues to be a revelation of a character. She’s so weird and deranged, but also a diabolical genius as you see in the final scene of the episode. Everything she does has a purpose.

Aside from all the mob shenanigans, this episode also delivered a great self-contained story.  It’s the classic “we got to stop this super drug” case, but there’s a lot of good twists and turns to keep you engaged, and the chemistry continues to excel between Gordon and Bullock.  Donal Logue is knocking this character out of the park, and had some real hilarious lines this week.

I mentioned last week I was getting weary of Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) playing “Super Detective.”  It’s on display here once again, although I forgave it more this week because it led to a great last scene between Bruce and Alfred (Sean Pertwee), where Alfred does something completely unexpected.  This is one of the elements that Gotham is truly excelling at.  It’s giving us the characters we’re all familiar with, but still adding their own twist to them.  I have to commend the writers a great deal for that.

For a show that people feared would be too over stuffed with characters, I’m very impressed with how tight the storytelling has been, especially with this episode.  It told an engaging one off story, but still progressed bigger plotlines. I don’t feel like anything has been filler or throw away material at all, but granted that’s easy to do in your first season. I love the morbid atmosphere Gotham continues to build on, and it looks like next week will go even further.

Rating: 8 out of 10 (Great)

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Daniel Cohen is the Film Editor for Pop-Break. Aside from reviews, Daniel does a weekly box office predictions column, and also contributes monthly Top Tens and Op-Ed’s on all things film. Daniel is a graduate of Bates College with a degree in English, and also studied Screenwriting at UCLA. He can also be read on www.movieshenanigans.com. His movie crush is Jessica Rabbit. Follow him on Twitter @dcohenwriter.
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