All Will Be Judged Plot Summary:
As Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and Bullock (Donal Logue) attempt to track down the location of the bomb, the Court unleashes Barnes (Michael Chiklis) on Gordon as a penalty for deceiving them. Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) and Oswald (Robin Lord Taylor) find themselves trapped together, while Bruce (David Mazouz) finally learns the truth so he can serve his greater purpose.
It seemed like this week’s Gotham was all about narrow escapes. There was a lot of stabbing, capturing and punching. Some characters didn’t fare as well as others. We’ll get to them. While this was a generally high octane episode, due mostly to crazy old Captain Barnes, it definitely hit a few lulls. As we already alluded to, let’s begin with the insane former police Captain.
Barnes was definitely the big tease from the end of last week. When you look at this character’s costume, he could have easily been hokey as hell. He looks like a third rate stalker from The Running Man. Thankfully, Michael Chiklis sells it. He successfully comes off as intimidating, despite the goofy get up and Edward Scissorshands blade. The deep rooted hatred for Gordon worked well, ending with one hell of a confrontation, and the best line of the episode from Jim Gordon.
Speaking of Gordon, him and Bullock were another highlight. There wasn’t anything special here, just vintage Gordon/Bullock banter. Bullock had a great episode. This poor guy just looks exhausted at having to deal with this crazy city. Bullock should get a vacation to Hawaii in the season finale. While Donal Logue came close to being the MVP, I’ve got to give it to everyone’s favorite butler.
Alfred kicks ass. Sean Pertwee is so damn good in this role. Not only do we see Alfred head butt people, but he makes quick, decisive decisions, as we see when he interrogates a character later on. Not only is Alfred bad ass, they never forget the root of this character, which is his undying care for Bruce Wayne. As soon as he finds out Bruce is missing, he goes Rambo Butler. Good luck if you get in his way.
Now we get to the Nygma/Oswald reunion. This is where the episode hit a few lulls. Their dynamic was still riveting, don’t get me wrong, but it didn’t hold my interest like in past episodes. This is probably a product of expecting too much when these two are on screen together. They definitely had a great back and forth, but nothing was super memorable. This is also another example of the Court being a mediocre shadowy organization. It seems real damn easy to escape from this place. Maybe that’s why they’re recruiting.
Speaking of the Court, Bruce learns more about their past deeds in his third meeting with “Ra’s Al Ghul” (Raymond J. Barry). This was a nice bounce back from last week. This idea of Bruce letting go of his parents’ murder is still happening way too fast, but at least it was more compelling this week. “Ra’s Al Ghul” also provided a neat plot twist I didn’t see coming.
Nothing blew me away about this episode, although we did get a significant death, which seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. I literally looked down at the floor and missed the entire thing. Whoa. We also get a great scene between Morena Baccarin and Benedict Samuel, who’s becoming more like the Mad Hatter every week. Speaking of Lee, you could argue what she does at the end is way too dark for her character, but we’ve been steadily building towards something like this for a few weeks now. I was fine with it.
With three hours left of season three, Bruce is definitely left in the most interesting place right now, and that’s the way it should be.
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Good)
