Queens of Gotham and of the con.
Jun. 21st, 2018 07:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessGotham 4.11 Queen Takes Knight
Way less cohesive than usual – Ed turning up for Riddler to tell himself he’d fallen for Lee (a typically daft twist) threw me. I suppose their excuse was for him to have a last scene with Grundy before Butch resurfaced. But the last twenty minutes sometimes felt like ‘and then this happened to some other people’. That was my sense at the time, although as I wrote up these reactions, I realised that was somewhat unfair.
I suppose the main throughline was Jim having to face up to what he’d started by turning to the Falcones. Being contrary, despite having wanted him to face up to this, I started retorting that it was in response to Penguin’s morally dubious actions, even if they produced results. Basically, it’s not all just his fault.
Anyway, enter Pa Falcone to try to be the one to pick up naughty little Sofia over his shoulder and carry her away from Gotham (note that the father figure struck the child). It all went wrong in operatic slo-mo. I didn’t think it was Penguin who’d done it, I did half-think it could be Sofia, but I wasn’t sure where the show was going to let her go, all bare shouldered at a really, really big church for her father’s funeral. In my defence, I only found out what the episode title was when I looked it up for this post. I’ve been ignoring the fact that they’ve subtitled the show ‘The Dark Knight’ at the moment.
Anyway, there was enough doubt in Zsasz’s mind (do not underestimate how much I heart Victor) that his eventual double-cross of Penguin made sense. A frenzied Penguin didn’t treat him well or help his own cause at all. (I’m also wondering mildly what happened to the other Victor, and indeed Firefly – did she not get a telling off for the fight club debacle?)
For a while I didn’t realise what the neck brace was – I thought it was ornamental. With the wheelchair, it provided an useful visual short-cut. Anyway, Sofia the plotter was revealed. As I missed season 3, the whole revenge for her brother/having her brother’s killer as her lover aspect had passed me by.
I refuse to believe Professor Pyg is dead. Carmine Falcone, yes. He was dying and the show’s rules seem to be that parental figures are dead dead. Pyg (more so than the Lazlo Valentine persona) was very entertaining.
Not that bothered about the soul of the GCPD and Jim having to swallow what he’d do for Gotham and the law. I’m not sure that Sofia or Harvey (or Jim’s own sense of righteousness) are particularly reliable on the morality front. Anyway, lots of team GCPD montages and tortured, bitter scenes between Jim and Harvey. The latter were quite good, although I was also distracted by Harvey keeping his hat on in church.
I would have exchanged them for more of the sirens. I was deeply perturbed at Victor having a blade to Selina’s throat! A little snarky teamwork, and then no storyline for Selina as Penguin’s downfall, for now, led to Babs getting her club back – cue redecoration! - and Tabby getting to act on her promise to Butch. I giggled at the fact that Selina’s current role model, in an expression of love, bashed her beloved in the head repeatedly (not shown too much) to jostle back the Butch inside Grundy. Well, this ain’t Disney, so true love’s kiss wasn’t gong to do the business. Of course, it worked after she left. I presume she thought he’d be able to get himself out of the restraints as easily as she did.
That violence as an act of love aspect definitely echoed the Alfred and Bruce strand – oh, Gotham and your twisted, twisted ways. Bruce continued to be a brat, drinking and partying to be numb, so Alfred tried a new tack, and of course things devolved into a fight. Due to the forementioned drinking, it was always going to be Alfred’s victory, but Bruce kind of won the moral victory when the fight shifted from locks to the man decking the boy. Cue the threat of going public over the physical abuse for Bruce to get his ‘emancipation’ and sack Alfred, which was painful. I mean, I doubt Alfred will go far, but it’ll be interesting to see what breaks through with Bruce (Selina? An innocent? I’ll care less if it’s Jim).
And then, finally, and let us praise Robin Lord Taylor’s histrionics as Oswald, JEROME!!! I love me some Jerome. His team-up with a very angry Penguin is promising.
As for Ocean’s 8: tick on the entertaining movie front and three ticks on the enjoying watching women getting on and doing stuff competently front. It was never going to have the freshness of O11, to wit, when ‘These Boots Are Made for Walking’ cued up, I grinned, because it’s a great song, but there’s also the Sinatra connection. This is the third sequel to a remake. But it gave me what I wanted: Cate Blanchett’s Lou was cool, Hathaway’s Daphne was An Actress, Darling with echoes of Selina Kyle (maybe that crossover will be more convoluted than I expected, so I hope someone finds a way to write it) and Kaling and HBC got to bounce off each other, which I was what I’d really hoped for. Debbie and Lou were the cool partnership at the middle of it all.
I can see why the subway shot was the big promo, but that did undercut the ‘mystery’ about who the eighth person was, and the reveal that Daphne wasn’t stupid (though go film for not making her stupid). Still, I enjoyed that the film was mainly about the distraction, not the whole crime. The cameos from O11 were not the ones I expected or rather had read about – I don’t believe Danny is dead. The trailer overemphasised James Corden’s role, so his cameo as an English Colombo, as they put it, was fine, and Richard Armitage was a very fine surprise.
Way less cohesive than usual – Ed turning up for Riddler to tell himself he’d fallen for Lee (a typically daft twist) threw me. I suppose their excuse was for him to have a last scene with Grundy before Butch resurfaced. But the last twenty minutes sometimes felt like ‘and then this happened to some other people’. That was my sense at the time, although as I wrote up these reactions, I realised that was somewhat unfair.
I suppose the main throughline was Jim having to face up to what he’d started by turning to the Falcones. Being contrary, despite having wanted him to face up to this, I started retorting that it was in response to Penguin’s morally dubious actions, even if they produced results. Basically, it’s not all just his fault.
Anyway, enter Pa Falcone to try to be the one to pick up naughty little Sofia over his shoulder and carry her away from Gotham (note that the father figure struck the child). It all went wrong in operatic slo-mo. I didn’t think it was Penguin who’d done it, I did half-think it could be Sofia, but I wasn’t sure where the show was going to let her go, all bare shouldered at a really, really big church for her father’s funeral. In my defence, I only found out what the episode title was when I looked it up for this post. I’ve been ignoring the fact that they’ve subtitled the show ‘The Dark Knight’ at the moment.
Anyway, there was enough doubt in Zsasz’s mind (do not underestimate how much I heart Victor) that his eventual double-cross of Penguin made sense. A frenzied Penguin didn’t treat him well or help his own cause at all. (I’m also wondering mildly what happened to the other Victor, and indeed Firefly – did she not get a telling off for the fight club debacle?)
For a while I didn’t realise what the neck brace was – I thought it was ornamental. With the wheelchair, it provided an useful visual short-cut. Anyway, Sofia the plotter was revealed. As I missed season 3, the whole revenge for her brother/having her brother’s killer as her lover aspect had passed me by.
I refuse to believe Professor Pyg is dead. Carmine Falcone, yes. He was dying and the show’s rules seem to be that parental figures are dead dead. Pyg (more so than the Lazlo Valentine persona) was very entertaining.
Not that bothered about the soul of the GCPD and Jim having to swallow what he’d do for Gotham and the law. I’m not sure that Sofia or Harvey (or Jim’s own sense of righteousness) are particularly reliable on the morality front. Anyway, lots of team GCPD montages and tortured, bitter scenes between Jim and Harvey. The latter were quite good, although I was also distracted by Harvey keeping his hat on in church.
I would have exchanged them for more of the sirens. I was deeply perturbed at Victor having a blade to Selina’s throat! A little snarky teamwork, and then no storyline for Selina as Penguin’s downfall, for now, led to Babs getting her club back – cue redecoration! - and Tabby getting to act on her promise to Butch. I giggled at the fact that Selina’s current role model, in an expression of love, bashed her beloved in the head repeatedly (not shown too much) to jostle back the Butch inside Grundy. Well, this ain’t Disney, so true love’s kiss wasn’t gong to do the business. Of course, it worked after she left. I presume she thought he’d be able to get himself out of the restraints as easily as she did.
That violence as an act of love aspect definitely echoed the Alfred and Bruce strand – oh, Gotham and your twisted, twisted ways. Bruce continued to be a brat, drinking and partying to be numb, so Alfred tried a new tack, and of course things devolved into a fight. Due to the forementioned drinking, it was always going to be Alfred’s victory, but Bruce kind of won the moral victory when the fight shifted from locks to the man decking the boy. Cue the threat of going public over the physical abuse for Bruce to get his ‘emancipation’ and sack Alfred, which was painful. I mean, I doubt Alfred will go far, but it’ll be interesting to see what breaks through with Bruce (Selina? An innocent? I’ll care less if it’s Jim).
And then, finally, and let us praise Robin Lord Taylor’s histrionics as Oswald, JEROME!!! I love me some Jerome. His team-up with a very angry Penguin is promising.
As for Ocean’s 8: tick on the entertaining movie front and three ticks on the enjoying watching women getting on and doing stuff competently front. It was never going to have the freshness of O11, to wit, when ‘These Boots Are Made for Walking’ cued up, I grinned, because it’s a great song, but there’s also the Sinatra connection. This is the third sequel to a remake. But it gave me what I wanted: Cate Blanchett’s Lou was cool, Hathaway’s Daphne was An Actress, Darling with echoes of Selina Kyle (maybe that crossover will be more convoluted than I expected, so I hope someone finds a way to write it) and Kaling and HBC got to bounce off each other, which I was what I’d really hoped for. Debbie and Lou were the cool partnership at the middle of it all.
I can see why the subway shot was the big promo, but that did undercut the ‘mystery’ about who the eighth person was, and the reveal that Daphne wasn’t stupid (though go film for not making her stupid). Still, I enjoyed that the film was mainly about the distraction, not the whole crime. The cameos from O11 were not the ones I expected or rather had read about – I don’t believe Danny is dead. The trailer overemphasised James Corden’s role, so his cameo as an English Colombo, as they put it, was fine, and Richard Armitage was a very fine surprise.
