Reunion Plot Summary:
Ivy (Peyton List) plans to unleash hell on Gotham, with Bullock (Donal Logue) right in the middle of it. Bruce (David Mazouz) tries to reconcile with Alfred (Sean Pertwee), while Sofia (Crystal Reed) threatens Lee (Morena Baccarin). Fearing for Lee’s life, Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) continues to wrestle with his alter ego.
This week’s episode of Gotham was appropriately titled “Reunion.” We had a lot of “let’s get real” moments between the most emotional relationships in the history of the show, dating back to season one. Bruce and Alfred. Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and Bullock. Selina (Camren Bicondova) and Ivy. Nygma and…Nygma. While the first part was solid Gotham fare, it picked up big time in the second half. Let’s start with the quintessential Batman bond: Bruce and Alfred.
After last week, we knew Bruce was ready to reconcile with Alfred, but he wasn’t having it. You would think Alfred would run back to the mansion ready to be the good butler that he is, but he’s going to make Bruce prove himself. I love this. This is some tough love for Bruce, who was acting like a little brat. Bruce is obviously going through stuff, and this was like a jolt of shock therapy from Alfred: Accept who you are, Bruce. Darkness and all. Classic Batman.
This gave us some vintage Bruce/Alfred dialogue. This was some of the better writing all season. It would have been so easy for Bruce and Alfred to shake hands and call it a day, but the show really makes them earn it. It also leads to a cool Batman moment.
While Gotham’s had a few bumps this season, this week reminded us how well they get these characters. Gordon and Bullock are complete messes without each other. Ivy’s history with Bullock was a great way to get him back into the fold. Bullock’s insecurities about Gordon being the better man were complimented beautifully with Gordon’s flaws on full display. Again, they need each other. This wasn’t the best Gordon/Bullock stuff we’ve gotten, but it was pretty hard hitting.
This is the third week of Ivy being the main villain. Once again, we saw moderate improvements. They didn’t do anything special here. Standard Ivy. While it was fine, the great part about the Gotham villains is how they usually flesh out character depth with the gimmicks. They haven’t done that yet with Ivy. We do get a chilling recorded video broadcast where she threatens Gotham, which is always a great go to Batman villain trope. The best part about Ivy’s story though was an excuse to use more of Camren Bicondova.
Selina’s friendship with Ivy certainly makes her more motivated than anybody to stop here. It leads to a great final confrontation between the two. Peyton List was perfectly fine here, but the problem is Bicondova acts circles around her. She commanded the screen. Hopefully we are leaning back towards more Selina and Bruce centric plots, which has been one of the best elements to this entire series.
That leads us to the never-ending battle of Nygma Vs. Nygma. While I’ve never liked the Riddler split personality dynamic, it was at least compelling here. It wasn’t just Riddler laughing in a mirror. They finally gave it some good material. Where this all ends up was pretty damn brilliant, so I’m not going to complain.
There were definitely some lulls early on, but this was easily one of the stronger recent episodes. While I’ve been souring on Sofia’s character, we at least saw her enact something horrifically menacing at the end. She’s a true Falcone.
You can feel Gotham hitting its stride again.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10 (Very Good)
