Piece of the Puzzle: Gotham S1 E4 - Arkham

In which I review the latest episode of Gotham.

After thwarting the vigilantism of the diabolically-named Balloonman, Gordan is confronted by the prodigal son of Gotham: Oswald Cobblepot - a man whose continued existence threatens the life of himself and his fiance.  But when Cobblepot offers to feed Gordan information on the inner workings of Gotham's underworld, the potential rewards are simply too good to pass up.  Meanwhile, an assassin who's been targeting city officials threatens to cause a mob war as the the city decides what to make of the decrepit Arkham Asylum.

At the rate that Gotham's corrupt officials are being taken out, there won't be any need for a Batman by the time its first season comes to a close.  Not only did the last two episodes kill off a police chief, two city councilmen and an aid, but also featured a nearly-successful attempt on the mayor's life.  This escalation in high-profile assassinations parallels the seeries' hastening pace after its post-pilot lull.  Penguin's exile from Gotham and rise within the Maroni crime family were so superficially brief that he should have started his career as the Maroni's equivalent of Fish Mooney: a mid-level crime boss and mob enforcer that functions as the on-the-ground representative of his organization.

After realizing last week that Gotham's female characters inexcusably pale against its competition, I find myself conflicted about Arkham's handling of the same.  On the one hand, Fish continues to be by far the worst written character on the series, seemingly incapable of being anything other than a ravenous nymphomaniac.  While her plan is more cognizant than usual - hiring a singer who can seduce and kill Carmine Falcone - it's how the writers choose to portray that plan that's ultimately troublesome: coyly asking her would-be assassins if they liked men or women, then instructing them to seduce her as if she were a man.  Her obvious, shuddering pleasure when a white trash singer in fishnet stockings jerkily makes out with her calls into question if it's Falcone's lust or her own that ultimately informs her plan.

On the other hand, Barbara Kean actually had a few moments this week that actually resembled genuine character development.  When Montoya's previous suggestion that Gordan may not be the good cop that he appears to be on the surface - specifically telling her to ask him about Oswald Cobblepot - she brazenly defended him and refused to bring the subject up to him.  But when the Penguin mysteriously shows up on their doorstep and his rudely thrown out by an obviously rattled Gordan, she broaches the subject with him, forcing him to choose between a life with her or a life with his secrets.  When he chooses the latter, she walks out on him.  Although this sequence of events seems incredibly rushed in the forty-five minutes that it was allowed, we see her as more than a romantic object that's a simple given in Gordan's life for the first time in the series.  She makes a decision based on her own self-interest, forces a conflict by pursuing it, then acts on that in a realistic manner.  We even see her outside of her apartment for the first time!

While this hardly makes up for the show's portrayal of lesbianism as a moral failing and a breach of trust (considering that her relationship with Montoya preceded her relationship with Gordan) - let alone for the quality of writing set aside for Fish and Montoya - it is a step in the right direction for the women of Gotham.  I have my concerns about where Barbara's character arc will lead - probably to a relapse into drug use and a rebound relationship with Montoya - but it does afford her a narrative that's not submissive to her fiance's.

While my opinion on Gotham continues to be conflicted, Arkham is a step in the right direction.  I am eager to see what Barbara Kean is going to do in her post-Gordan life, which is not something that I would have ever said about her life with him.  I give the episode a 7 out of 10.

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