Posted in: Movies, TV | Tagged: bruce wayne, entertainment, fox, gotham, Hugo Strange, Jim Gordon, matches malone, television

Six Important Moments From Gotham – The Ball Of Mud And Meanness

This article contains spoilers for the Gotham episode – This Ball of Mud and Meanness.

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In a way I think this is a turning point episode for a few characters. Bruce gets to confront his parents killer, Gordon sees what is happening to him by looking at another, Nygma gets a nudge down the tracks of the crazy train and Cobblepot's time in Arkham winds down. Let's get to the important moments from This Ball of Mud And Meanness.

1 – Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth head out to find Matches Malone, the killer of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Their first stop is a ex-associate of Malone's named Cupcake, who is a very large man and thanks to Bruce talking when he shouldn't, Alfred has to fight they guy to get any information out of him. Alfred uses the fight to teach Bruce a lesson and taking on a larger opponent. Though it looks bad for Alfred at one point, he outlasts the larger man and gets the win. Even though Alfred passes out shortly after, Cupcake is a man of his word. He gives them a lead, allows them to leave and even takes a check for $50,000. This is a criminal being honorable and also a good lesson for Bruce.

2 – Leslie Thompkins is concerned about how Mrs Kringle left so suddenly and hasn't bothered to get her pay checks or leave a forwarding address. She asks Jim Godon to look into it. This leads him to talk to Edward Nygma about it. Gordon most likely doesn't suspect Nygma of anything, but the CSI is now in full paranoid mode and is on the bleeding edge of becoming the Riddler… and this may just be the push he needed.

3 – There is a subplot going on with Hugo Strange testing Oswald Cobblepot to see if the therapy has been working. The Penguin passes all of the tests including being nice to someone who early had beaten him. The once King of Gotham now seems docile and serene, almost scared when Strange tells him that he is now sane and free to go. I'm sure this isn't going to be a problem later on. When asked about releasing Penguin, Strange referred to it as an experiment.

4 – With Alfred in the hospital, Bruce decides to follow the lead Cupcake gave them on his own. He heads to a bar called Celestial Gardens and meets a woman named Jerry who is done up similiar to the Joker. The name Jerry is likely a nod to Joker co-creator Jerry Robinson. Bruce has a very interesting conversation with Jerry who ends up giving him Malone's address. As Bruce is trying to leave he is confronted by Godon who knows what he plans to do. Jerry incites the crowd to have "fun" with Gordon while Bruce makes his escape. Another person of questionable lifestyle willing to help Bruce out.

5 – The actual confrontation with Malone is very odd. Bruce first acts as if he wants to hire the killer and gets him talking. But later he tells him who he really is and that he is there to kill him. Malone is not afraid, if anything he welcomes death. Bruce wants to know who hired him, but Malone won't give that up. Bruce wants to pull the trigger, but in the end he can't. He puts the gun down and walks away. As he meets Gordon once again in the hallway, Malone kills himself in the apartment. I dont' think we got a really good reason why Malone wanted to die. He didn't come across as remorseful, so I'm hoping there is more to it that we'll learn later on.

6 – We end with Alfred returning to the mansion to find a letter from Bruce. He has gone off to live on the streets with Selina Kyle for a while. Maybe it was dealing with Cupcake, Jerry and Matches… but he realizes he needs to learn more about people and can only do that out with them, not behind the walls around the manor. What this will means for the series remains to be seen. We'll we follow Bruce and Selina on adventures or will they take place off camera and we'll learn about them later when he comes back. This is the point where his focuse stopped being about his parents killers and the first steps to becoming Batman.

Looks like there will be plenty to fill up the time though as the preview for next week show us that Ed starts getting his riddles on and he's using them to mess with Gordon. Plus it turns out the Penguin is alone after all as we'll soon get to meet his father.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/2hQiQs48h30[/youtube]

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