Red Hood Plot Summary:
Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and Bullock (Donal Logue) are tasked with tracking down a gang of bank robbers who throw money to the poor. Fish (Jada Pinkett Smith) learns the secrets of her underground prison, and Alfred (Sean Pertwee) gets a visit from an old friend (David O’Hara).
There were some nice moments, but this week’s Gotham was pretty much a snooze-fest. We’re getting into that period of set-up episodes for the final run, but I have no doubt the payoffs are coming. I could pontificate all day about the disappointments in this episode, but I want to zip right to the highlight, and if you’ve already seen the episode, you know exactly what I’m talking about – Fish Mooney.
This one scene basically saves the entire episode, and proves why Fish Mooney has the biology of a Batman villain. Holy pop tarts, that was intense. I guess this makes up for two ho-hum prison episodes, and is evidence of why I’m not worried about the show not paying off lengthy plot set-ups. These writers know what they’re doing. You might even say they have an eye for details.
While Fish was certainly the stand out, Oswald (Robin Lord Taylor) and Butch (Drew Powell) were forced to help each other, and had a nice couple moments. I have to say though, the last couple episodes have been slow with Oswald. Let’s get him back to scheming and plotting. He’s done nothing but run a night club the last couple weeks. It’s a waste of the character.
One moment for sure I thought was going to be dreadful was Barbara (Erin Richards) playing cool aunt to Selina (Camren Bicondova) and Ivy (Clare Foley). When Barbara starts to give Selina advice, I literally groaned the loudest of groans, but when Selina threw it right back in her face, it was actually a pretty damn good moment.
The main story going on was of course the formation of the Red Hood gang, which as we know from Batman lore has deep ties to the Joker’s origin. They did some playing around with the Joker, but this was really about the origins of the gang itself. I liked the idea of the mask being passed around constantly, but there wasn’t a whole lot for Gordon and Bullock to do here.
The one storyline that showed potential was an old war buddy of Alfred coming to visit, Reggie Payne. Despite a good scene of Reggie teaching Bruce some not so nice fight moves, this relationship barely had meat to it, and was nothing but a cheap plot device by the end of the episode. We’ll see where they take it, but I wasn’t to into this character.
Despite the decent character moments here and there, and Fish being Fish, there wasn’t a whole lot going on. I like where the episode ended up, but I’m hoping for something better next week.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10 (Slightly Better Than ‘Meh’)
http://youtu.be/2HEJqDlorIA
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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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