Gotham Season 5 Episode 11 Review: ‘They Did What’ Felt Like a Series Finale

The second to last episode of Gotham, “They Did What” felt more like a season finale than a penultimate episode. The season-long Gotham versus the military arc finally came full circle. The GCPD, refugees, and villains alike banded together to fight against Bane’s army. This unification lead the army to stand down after their guns are raised against refugees, women, and children.This was a fitting way to end one of the darkest era’s in Gotham’s history (thus far).

There’s lots of takeaways from this episode. These include: Jim being named Commissioner and his daughter being named, “Barbara Lee Gordon.” In the words of Barbara Kean, “In this city, it’s important she know who she can rely on.” This was a nice moment, and maybe one day we’ll even get a FOX series for Batgirl. Additionally, Penguin’s eye is injured during a shoot out, and will surely somehow lead to his signature monocle.

There’s also a fun little Easter egg in this one with a bat momentarily freezing in front of the moon, ala the batwing in the old Batman movies. Keep an eye out for it when Selina and Bruce battle Bane. I love all of these nods to the Batman legacy.

Before even seeing the preview for next week’s episode, you can already tell it’s going to be a flash forward. I feel that this device has been way overused in television as of late, but I honestly don’t see any other way of doing it with one more episode of Gotham remaining.

Concerning the preview for next week’s episode we are shown a number of things. First and foremost, we see the cape and cowl! I have a very strong feeling that we will not see David Mazouz in the suit straight up, but rather lots of shadowy, angled camera work. This will probably be something similar to the way they handled Tom Welling “wearing” the signature Superman suit in the Smallville finale. I am, however, hoping to hear the classic Batman movie score as the series ends.

Other things we are shown during the preview include Barbara Kean with long red hair, Penguin with the monocle and hat, and Riddler with the question marks on his suit.Jim is also holding a young girl, so I’m going to assume at least 5 years have passed. I am VERY interested to see how they utilize Mazouz and Camren Bicondova as the costumed Batman and Catwoman respectively.

‘They Did What’ was a setup episode at best, but had some real substance at the very end. I’m hoping that the grand finale can deliver on everything this phenomenal series has worked towards. I’m more than excited to tune in next week … same bat time … same bat channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7bZeQvkFD4