Posted in: Movies | Tagged: bruce wayne, entertainment, fox, gotham, Jim Gordon, Oswald Cobblepot, television

The Six Important Moments In This Week's Gotham – The Blind Fortune Teller

Published Tue, 17 Feb 2015 11:15:20 -0600

This of course is a column about the most recent episode of Gotham, so if you haven't watched there will definitely be spoilers so turn away now.

As an episode, I felt like The Blind Fortune Teller was a little off and too full. Trying to introduce the Graysons while moving all the other storylines forward and tease the Joker made it seem like there was very little time for the crime of the week. But as rushed as it was, there were some very important moments and i'm going to go over the top six.

1) Jim Gordon's relationship with Dr. Leslie Thompkins can't last. We know this because of the comics and that Jim ends up with Barbara… if that doesn't happen then there is no Batgirl. But the relationship between the two is very strange and different than his previous one. Thompkins is much more aggressive and we see that when she insist to go check the park… a super thin lead… while in the middle of dinner. I have a feeling that this aggressive and curious nature will be their undoing as Jim's home life is supposed to be his escape from the crime and corruption where Leslie is fascinated by it. You can see how she ends up being an ally to Batman in the future.

2) Fish Mooney's speech to the other prisoners was good, but her moment standing up to the guards was the best moment of the night. She has gotten the others convinced that the good of the many out weigh the good of the one and that standing together, even if it means death is better in the end. Tough thing to convince people of, but she does so and uses that to gain an advantage over their captors knowing that their lives are the only thing of value they can control anymore. Its a gritty, violent scene that shows how Fish rose to power in the first place.

3) Barbara Keen's return may seem like a simple plot point to mess with Gordon's love life, but I get the feeling there is more to it. She doesn't give a second thought to the two strangers living in her apartment and is just focused on getting Jim back. But where has she been? Seems like its been a while since she left Renee Montoya. Enough time for Jim to start a new relationship and go on a few dates. I know she was staying with her parents, but doing what? It doesn't seem like she came back with her personal affairs in order. And what will seeing Jim kissing another woman do to her?

4) The night at the club was a bit painful, watching how uncomfortable everyone was while Penguin's mom sang. But the more important thing is we learn something interesting about Oswald Cobblepot. He can see the chess board and the moves being made, but he can't deal with everyday life. He might be able to manipulate mob bosses with ease, but he has no idea how to run a club on an every day basis. Its like his plan was how to get everything he wanted but never included what to do with it once he got it. It will be interesting to see what his relationship with Butch Gilzean will be like… and also find out exactly what Victor Zsasz did to Butch.

5) Bruce Wayne meets with the board and basically threatens them. When we first see Alfred protesting that going was a bad idea, it seemed a little over the top, but once we saw that Bruce was basically telling them to find the corruption and deal with it or he'd go public.. Alfred's protest seemed more than justified. Bruce is knowingly putting himself in danger to stand up for what he… and his father… believed in. Little Batmans grow up so fast these days.

6) Jerome's laugh. The shows producers have been teasing us with little moments of people that might be the Joker… this one was too overtly blatant. I can't see them rolling out the character in such an obvious way. Especially with the Red Hood Gang coming up which also ties into the Joker's past. I think this might be a symptom of the producers/writers trying to tease too much when they should just be focusing on telling a good story. We get it, this is a Batman prequel… you don't have to hit us over the head with it.

Important moments aside, this was one of the weaker episodes of the series as it had Bullock on the sidelines and the banter between Gordon and Bullock is one of the highlights of the show. But the big problem here is a logic jump Gordon makes, his assumption that Paul Ciscero (the blind fortune teller) is Jerome's father is so far out of left field and had nothing in the show to support the assumption. They should have paired back some of the subplots and let the main story have time to breath.

But next week we get introduced to the Red Hood Gang. Here is a preview clip with a very odd cover of Tears For Fears Shout:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/BL7Ak3SSGEc[/youtube]

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