Well, that title’s an understatement
Aug. 30th, 2018 08:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessI’d have posted this last night, but there was fic writing, which did not help the headache that was brewing. I’m back to rewatching OUAT (thinking it would be a nice watch, but they were a relatively gory couple of episodes).
Gotham 4.21 One Bad Day
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
How very dare you, show?
That’s my first, personal, reaction, a day and a half later I’ve processed and intellectualised it a bit. But this had better not be the time they renege on the usual inability to kill off characters and turn into Spooks.
Back to the beginning, I was supremely unconcerned about Jim – and he didn’t even turn out to be lightly crisped. (I liked that Ed’s order to one of his kids in the previous ep was paid off.) I was increasingly worried about Alfred.
Jeremiah, now with his own cronies chanting his name/boosting his ego, made his debut – bombs to bring down most of Gotham and a deadline for evac. Bullock was in charge. Oh dear.
Penguin attempted to get out of the lull he’s been in for so long by teaming up with the adult Sirens. It turned out to be an Alliance of Stupid. Serve them right, I thought, as Jeremiah aimed the big old gun at them.
I also thought that the question of whether Ed/the Riddler is smarter than Jeremiah/the Joker was a fascinating one, but the show was determined to make it about whether he was smarter than Jim. (As part of a triangle I wouldn’t have seen coming in seasons past.) So, Ed is on the stupid step with Oswald, Babs et al. Seriously, does Lee have to do everything? Well, she can’t because Jim is still the hero.
I took issue with some of Jim and Ed’s fighting over Lee, as it’s a fight over her identity, which she can sort out for herself, and who or what she loves. At least Ed acknowledges that she does love and has taken responsibility for the Narrows. Obviously, Lee/Ed is about as healthy as a deadly disease, but the symptoms are entertaining and Jim is so self-righteous. Still, some of what he said was true, playing on the Eddler’s fears that Lee is using him (she is, but it’s complicated) and that she was more who Jim says she was than who he thought she was.
Got to mention the lighting in Jim’s encounter with Lee was brilliant, he was flushed with warm golden light – the side of good, she was in a dimmer light. And her reactions to what he said were hard to read.
Her line that it wasn’t always up to Jim to save the day was somewhat supported – I wouldn’t have minded if he’d been left lying there all episode – but he had to play a part. It was also Lucius and Harvey – HE EENY MEENY MYNY MOE’D! Beautiful. It was Bruce’s help and Lee, Ed and Jim. All of Gotham came together – even the other villains didn’t like Jeremiah’s whole destroy-Gotham-to-rebuild-it ideas. Babs’s love for Gotham made another appearance, while Tabby and Butch…snore. Wake me up on that when Strange returns.
But this threat and episode made good use of all the characters.
Bruce’s adventures were a subplot, but gripping as the further extension of Jeremiah’s relationship with him – trying to do what Jerome had tried to do with him? Everyone else seems to believe that it was Jerome who turned Jeremiah ‘insane’ (I’m not unpicking what the show does with ‘insanity’, which is uses as shorthand for comic book psychopathy), except Jeremiah himself, and his plans were in train before Jerome gassed him.
Anyway, I was already worried about how tortured Bruce was in his first scene, when he got an extra load of guilt for unknowingly helping Jeremiah build the bombs, after waking up next to a corpse in an open grave, still not hearing from Alfred and knowing Jeremiah tricked him good and proper. But it was only going to get worse.
How I cheered that he’d called Selina to help him come find Alfred – Jeremiah didn’t know about her. This was after a lot of the adults had been stupid, as listed above, so I was glad Bruce had someone sensible onside. And then she basically said she loved him always and forever indirectly!!!!! That is where my brain went. In hindsight, the foreshadowing of her being in danger seems clearer.
Cue some more Jeremiah TV – he really does like broadcasting himself, doesn’t he? So, Bruce got to see Alfred getting tortured and Mazouz conveyed his increasing distress beautifully. I realised that the subject of the torture was actually Bruce about when I should, but I was distracted by Selina dealing with two goons and a Scarecrow (<3 Selina) and freeing the Real Alfred. Between them, they just about brought Bruce back from the fear gas – I suppose Bruce was too far gone to be reasoned with, but I’d have liked a callback to the birthday story, or something proving to him that Alfred was Alfred.
Anyway, of all the scenes tying up the loose ends, entertaining though Penguin and Bullock are, I wanted to get back to the Manor. Of course, one of those scenes was Jeremiah starting to regroup and being tapped by Ra’s al Ghul and his visions and equal obsession with Bruce.
So, I wallowed happily in the Bruce-Alfred-Selina dynamic (Selina helped rescue him and showed her loyalty to Bruce, so she’s got to be in Alfred’s good books), and her putting her booted legs on his lap and finally a kiss. Then there was some more uneasiness over what this show’s characters mean by ‘insane’, because Bruce Wayne is disturbed even by Gothamite standards, and you can’t deny it, Cat. And then WAAAAAH, in tore Jeremiah (srsly, Bruce, your security is so bad), now armed with the knowledge that Bruce doesn’t just care about Alfred, but about his girl. Jeremiah was also armed with a gun. Bang.
I was verklempt. Bruce was verklempt. Alfred, bless him, was last seen wrestling with Jeremiah.
I mean, she’s only down three or four lives, and barely anybody really dies on Gotham – we saw a fake!Alfred die this episode, and if Sofia survived a shot to the head etc etc, Selina will recover, RIGHT!? (Or I am done with the show. Ship Selina/Bruce as I do, she’s more than Bruce Wayne’s Love Interest. We’ll see if I can spend the next few days not looking up casting spoilers.)
After the emotional reaction, I then thought about how I could work this into a fic I’m writing.
Finally, Cameron Monaghan continues to impress. The new iteration of Jeremiah is a very creepy one – I found myself staring at the redness of lip against the pale skin, and I’m curious about what they’ve done to his eyes – and in some ways as entertaining (and nasty) as the more established Jerome. It feels ridiculous that he’s not a regular.
Gotham 4.21 One Bad Day
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
How very dare you, show?
That’s my first, personal, reaction, a day and a half later I’ve processed and intellectualised it a bit. But this had better not be the time they renege on the usual inability to kill off characters and turn into Spooks.
Back to the beginning, I was supremely unconcerned about Jim – and he didn’t even turn out to be lightly crisped. (I liked that Ed’s order to one of his kids in the previous ep was paid off.) I was increasingly worried about Alfred.
Jeremiah, now with his own cronies chanting his name/boosting his ego, made his debut – bombs to bring down most of Gotham and a deadline for evac. Bullock was in charge. Oh dear.
Penguin attempted to get out of the lull he’s been in for so long by teaming up with the adult Sirens. It turned out to be an Alliance of Stupid. Serve them right, I thought, as Jeremiah aimed the big old gun at them.
I also thought that the question of whether Ed/the Riddler is smarter than Jeremiah/the Joker was a fascinating one, but the show was determined to make it about whether he was smarter than Jim. (As part of a triangle I wouldn’t have seen coming in seasons past.) So, Ed is on the stupid step with Oswald, Babs et al. Seriously, does Lee have to do everything? Well, she can’t because Jim is still the hero.
I took issue with some of Jim and Ed’s fighting over Lee, as it’s a fight over her identity, which she can sort out for herself, and who or what she loves. At least Ed acknowledges that she does love and has taken responsibility for the Narrows. Obviously, Lee/Ed is about as healthy as a deadly disease, but the symptoms are entertaining and Jim is so self-righteous. Still, some of what he said was true, playing on the Eddler’s fears that Lee is using him (she is, but it’s complicated) and that she was more who Jim says she was than who he thought she was.
Got to mention the lighting in Jim’s encounter with Lee was brilliant, he was flushed with warm golden light – the side of good, she was in a dimmer light. And her reactions to what he said were hard to read.
Her line that it wasn’t always up to Jim to save the day was somewhat supported – I wouldn’t have minded if he’d been left lying there all episode – but he had to play a part. It was also Lucius and Harvey – HE EENY MEENY MYNY MOE’D! Beautiful. It was Bruce’s help and Lee, Ed and Jim. All of Gotham came together – even the other villains didn’t like Jeremiah’s whole destroy-Gotham-to-rebuild-it ideas. Babs’s love for Gotham made another appearance, while Tabby and Butch…snore. Wake me up on that when Strange returns.
But this threat and episode made good use of all the characters.
Bruce’s adventures were a subplot, but gripping as the further extension of Jeremiah’s relationship with him – trying to do what Jerome had tried to do with him? Everyone else seems to believe that it was Jerome who turned Jeremiah ‘insane’ (I’m not unpicking what the show does with ‘insanity’, which is uses as shorthand for comic book psychopathy), except Jeremiah himself, and his plans were in train before Jerome gassed him.
Anyway, I was already worried about how tortured Bruce was in his first scene, when he got an extra load of guilt for unknowingly helping Jeremiah build the bombs, after waking up next to a corpse in an open grave, still not hearing from Alfred and knowing Jeremiah tricked him good and proper. But it was only going to get worse.
How I cheered that he’d called Selina to help him come find Alfred – Jeremiah didn’t know about her. This was after a lot of the adults had been stupid, as listed above, so I was glad Bruce had someone sensible onside. And then she basically said she loved him always and forever indirectly!!!!! That is where my brain went. In hindsight, the foreshadowing of her being in danger seems clearer.
Cue some more Jeremiah TV – he really does like broadcasting himself, doesn’t he? So, Bruce got to see Alfred getting tortured and Mazouz conveyed his increasing distress beautifully. I realised that the subject of the torture was actually Bruce about when I should, but I was distracted by Selina dealing with two goons and a Scarecrow (<3 Selina) and freeing the Real Alfred. Between them, they just about brought Bruce back from the fear gas – I suppose Bruce was too far gone to be reasoned with, but I’d have liked a callback to the birthday story, or something proving to him that Alfred was Alfred.
Anyway, of all the scenes tying up the loose ends, entertaining though Penguin and Bullock are, I wanted to get back to the Manor. Of course, one of those scenes was Jeremiah starting to regroup and being tapped by Ra’s al Ghul and his visions and equal obsession with Bruce.
So, I wallowed happily in the Bruce-Alfred-Selina dynamic (Selina helped rescue him and showed her loyalty to Bruce, so she’s got to be in Alfred’s good books), and her putting her booted legs on his lap and finally a kiss. Then there was some more uneasiness over what this show’s characters mean by ‘insane’, because Bruce Wayne is disturbed even by Gothamite standards, and you can’t deny it, Cat. And then WAAAAAH, in tore Jeremiah (srsly, Bruce, your security is so bad), now armed with the knowledge that Bruce doesn’t just care about Alfred, but about his girl. Jeremiah was also armed with a gun. Bang.
I was verklempt. Bruce was verklempt. Alfred, bless him, was last seen wrestling with Jeremiah.
I mean, she’s only down three or four lives, and barely anybody really dies on Gotham – we saw a fake!Alfred die this episode, and if Sofia survived a shot to the head etc etc, Selina will recover, RIGHT!? (Or I am done with the show. Ship Selina/Bruce as I do, she’s more than Bruce Wayne’s Love Interest. We’ll see if I can spend the next few days not looking up casting spoilers.)
After the emotional reaction, I then thought about how I could work this into a fic I’m writing.
Finally, Cameron Monaghan continues to impress. The new iteration of Jeremiah is a very creepy one – I found myself staring at the redness of lip against the pale skin, and I’m curious about what they’ve done to his eyes – and in some ways as entertaining (and nasty) as the more established Jerome. It feels ridiculous that he’s not a regular.
