Mother to us all
May. 2nd, 2018 06:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessGotham 4.4 The Demon’s Head
I had been spoiled that this was good and Ben McKenzie had written it, because I started reading the wrong review by accident. And it turned out to be the case (hmm, actors whose name starts with Ben…) This was a legitimately good episode. I was enjoying it for the right reasons. The A-plot was engaging, the Penguin/Ed subplot did what it needed to do, bringing them together and moving things on, while Sofia started to make her presence known in Gotham.
I don’t want to kvetch, but it was a bit rubbish on the female front – I found the Sofia/Jim eye-rolling, especially as she kept talking about Carmine, while her positioning herself in front of a paranoid Penguin was more interesting. Babs was still in over her head. The new cop Hunter seemed decent – the most irregular thing she did was at Jim’s behest. And I’m going to blame Jim for not even trying to bring back up along when a child’s life was in danger – technically, two – in something that had nowt to do with Penguin.
But BRUCE! His anguish as Ra’s slit Alex’s throat with no hesitation after Bruce could not make himself hand over the knife. Oh, I felt for him there.
An actor writing for actors knows to give them good stuff and Alexander Siddig was having a ball, and so were we, as the dangerous thief, killer, new villain for the season. I loved the chatter about liars he had known and the whole persona for the encounter with Jim.
It looked spectacular in the museum and library as new sets. The henchvillains were very effective – what was the name of the one who joined Anubis the dog-man?
The tension between Jim and Bruce & Alfred stood up. The latter two had to be careful with the truth, because even for Gotham, it’s crazy, but the dangerous kind – Ras al Ghul has upped the stakes for the show. Jim trusted Bruce an awful lot, an awful unprofessional lot (and I was amused the he didn’t notice Bruce had followed him, also did he throw his keys at him to drive? I know Bruce seemed an ae older than Alex. Oh well, not the time to ponder Gotham traffic rules.) Contrast that with Alfred trusting Bruce implicitly on this, and the glimpses of self-reliant Bruce trying to fight the baddies.
The scenes between Bruce and Alex were lovely. It was nice to hear another kid’s perspective of Bruce’s life. His distance from what should be his peers was made abundantly clear, and Alex seeing some of the vigilante in him and calling him weirdly cool was a nice boost. Then we had the pay off of their convo in the fight where Alex overcame his fear for a little.
I enjoyed Jim and Babs’ exchange because of their baggage. It was quite a funny episode while also being tense and dark. The confusion between the two Victors! The snark about Ed’s terrible riddles! Well done, Ryan Attwood.
Live up to that, the rest of the season (only with more for the ladies to do…)
I had been spoiled that this was good and Ben McKenzie had written it, because I started reading the wrong review by accident. And it turned out to be the case (hmm, actors whose name starts with Ben…) This was a legitimately good episode. I was enjoying it for the right reasons. The A-plot was engaging, the Penguin/Ed subplot did what it needed to do, bringing them together and moving things on, while Sofia started to make her presence known in Gotham.
I don’t want to kvetch, but it was a bit rubbish on the female front – I found the Sofia/Jim eye-rolling, especially as she kept talking about Carmine, while her positioning herself in front of a paranoid Penguin was more interesting. Babs was still in over her head. The new cop Hunter seemed decent – the most irregular thing she did was at Jim’s behest. And I’m going to blame Jim for not even trying to bring back up along when a child’s life was in danger – technically, two – in something that had nowt to do with Penguin.
But BRUCE! His anguish as Ra’s slit Alex’s throat with no hesitation after Bruce could not make himself hand over the knife. Oh, I felt for him there.
An actor writing for actors knows to give them good stuff and Alexander Siddig was having a ball, and so were we, as the dangerous thief, killer, new villain for the season. I loved the chatter about liars he had known and the whole persona for the encounter with Jim.
It looked spectacular in the museum and library as new sets. The henchvillains were very effective – what was the name of the one who joined Anubis the dog-man?
The tension between Jim and Bruce & Alfred stood up. The latter two had to be careful with the truth, because even for Gotham, it’s crazy, but the dangerous kind – Ras al Ghul has upped the stakes for the show. Jim trusted Bruce an awful lot, an awful unprofessional lot (and I was amused the he didn’t notice Bruce had followed him, also did he throw his keys at him to drive? I know Bruce seemed an ae older than Alex. Oh well, not the time to ponder Gotham traffic rules.) Contrast that with Alfred trusting Bruce implicitly on this, and the glimpses of self-reliant Bruce trying to fight the baddies.
The scenes between Bruce and Alex were lovely. It was nice to hear another kid’s perspective of Bruce’s life. His distance from what should be his peers was made abundantly clear, and Alex seeing some of the vigilante in him and calling him weirdly cool was a nice boost. Then we had the pay off of their convo in the fight where Alex overcame his fear for a little.
I enjoyed Jim and Babs’ exchange because of their baggage. It was quite a funny episode while also being tense and dark. The confusion between the two Victors! The snark about Ed’s terrible riddles! Well done, Ryan Attwood.
Live up to that, the rest of the season (only with more for the ladies to do…)
