What The Little Bird Told Him Plot:
Gordon (Ben McKenzie) puts his and Bullock’s (Donal Logue) jobs on the line when they have 24 hours to catch Jack Gruber (Christopher Heyerdahl), the escaped Arkham convict who holds a vendetta against a powerful Gotham criminal. Meanwhile, Fish (Jada Pinkett Smith) makes her final play on Falcone (John Doman).
I knew it would only take one week for Gotham to rebound from a lackluster episode. This week was all about great payoffs. Not only did it payoff self-contained storylines, but larger ones as well. The climax to both major plotlines were perfect, but it was Don Falcone who had the ultimate character arc in this one. It was truly the John Doman show this week.
One of the biggest storylines of the entire season has been Fish’s play against Falcone, and it all came to a head this week. It was game on. Falcone’s start point to end point was written beautifully. Everything from the flashback of his mother’s funeral to the shocking climax was perfect. It was payoff left and right. There was a lot of deep reflection and self-wallowing from Falcone, including a great back and forth between him and Victor Zsasz (Anthony Carrigan), which made what happened at the end of the episode absolutely glorious. There was also another fantastic exchange between Oswald (Robin Lord Taylor) and Fish. I love the tension and contempt of that relationship. The only lazy part of the episode was a disagreement between Oswald and Maroni (David Zayas) that was wrapped up a little too quickly.
Gordon’s story was also very solid. Even though I didn’t love last week’s episode, I can at least appreciate it a little better, as Jack Gruber (who escaped from Arkham) made a big return. I wasn’t to into his character at the beginning, but as the episode progressed, he became a lot more fascinating and bad ass. The payoff between him and Gordon at the end was also great. It wasn’t a big brawl, but a good conflict between the two. I like how the show has started to settle into recurring villains like Zsasz and Gruber, and have seemed to abandon the “freak of the week” concept. As per usual, Gordon and Bullock together were just a delight.
Aside from the two big arcs, we saw another great outing for Edward Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) who was very funny, and his Riddler-isms and overall mannerisms are now more subtle. Smith and the writers officially have the perfect grip on this character. They also did a good job of character building for Nygma, as I felt this was the most we’ve seen him act like a human being. There was also one random scene with Barbara (Erin Richards) that actually showed potential, but it felt out of place this week. This could have been saved for next episode.
This episode in particular was also very well directed with some nice camera work, so kudos to Eagle Egilsson in the directing chair. This was a great return to form, especially the climax, which left huge repercussions for one character in particular. Next week should be a doozie.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10 (Really 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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