Piece of the Puzzle: Gotham S1 E6 - Spirit of the Goat

In which I review the most recent episode of Gotham.

Things have only gotten weirder in Gotham since last week's outbreak of Viper.  After a decades old case from Bullock's past spawns a supposed copycat killer, he's forced to dredge up aspects of his past that he hadn't dealt with for a long time.  Meanwhile, Gordan and Barbara patch things up between them, and Montoya finally gets the evidence that she needs to pin Gordan for Penguin's presumed murder.

This is hands down the best episode of the series thus far: better than Pilot, better than Selina Kyle, better than Viper.    It's dark, atmospheric, has a great villain and, above all, is well-written.  It plumbs the depths of Bullock's past, exploring how GCPD's "White Knight" became the misanthropic "bad cop" that he is today, and this version of the character is both more nuanced and more interesting than what we have been lead to believe in the previous five episodes.

Most shocking of all, however, is that Spirit of the Goat actually treats its female characters as people, rather than plot devices: shoring up what has easily been the worst feature of the show since it debuted.  Although I'm sure that Fish Mooney is just as lackluster as ever, she thankfully didn't appear this week.  Cat finally intersected with Bruce (something that I've called since the second episode).  While it was admittedly just a tentative interaction (a prowling Cat nicking something valuable while Bruce sleeps on the couch), I can't help but think that they're setting up their more substantive future interactions which are bound to be entertaining to watch.

And although Montoya's vendetta against Gordan and Bullock was ultimately undermined by the Penguin's decision to dramatically come out to the police at the end of the episode, it doesn't carry with it the air of incompetence that her previous attempts were riddled with.  She found a witness that confirmed her theory (a dock-side homeless man who likely wouldn't hold up to excessive scrutiny) secured a warrant for Gordan and Bullock's arrest and secured them as prisoners.  She has proven to matter to the show, even if she is seemingly stuck as an easily dispatched obstacle: driving the plot forward in a meaningful way (there'll be no hiding from Falcone, or Fish, now for Cobblepot).

And, finally, the episode's puppeteering villain, Dr. Marks, drives home not only this episode's measured and nuanced treatment of women, but of the psychological need for a Batman that the series has been intimating since The Balloonman.  The good doctor hypnotises borderline psychopaths into believing that they have been possessed by an anthropomorphic deity and compels them to kill the firstborn children of Gotham as a form of social therapy for the city itself.  She reasons that "deep down, everybody wants to eat the rich."  She is intelligent, capable and gets results in a way that Mooney could never hope to: the female equivalent of last week's Viper peddler.

My only complaints for Spirit of the Goat are twofold.  The first is that for as well written as all of the previously disappointing characters are now, Penguin seems to be stumbling in that regard.  So much depends on his continued secrecy, which his rapid upward mobility in the Maroni crime family, culminating in his dramatic appearance at the end of the episode, completely unravels.  I understand that he feels like he owes and can trust Gordan, but he could hardly have known about his arrest that immediately preceded Penguin's arrival, nor could he have been so stupid as to think that coming out to the city was at all in his interest.

The second is that nothing substantive was done with Bruce this episode.  Yes, they're obviously teasing the potential friendship between him and Cat for later in the series.  I get that.  I'm with that program.  To have an episode where Gotham's ultra rich first borns are being ritualistically sacrificed and NOT include the most visible rich kid on the series among those lined up for the slaughter seems like a grievous misstep.  I know that I've generally called for less Bruce, but this was the perfect opportunity to feature him, and they settled on passing.

Despite my few grievances, this episode is exactly what Gotham should be.  I'm hoping that they finally found their way after meandering listlessly through their first five episodes, because this was the show that I wanted to see since day one.  This is the show that will keep me around past the first season.  Overall, I give the episode an 8.5 out of 10.

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