Even when the story practically forces Detective Gordon into the job of a security guard at notorious Arkham Asylum, he remains the steadfast detective. I'm really at a loss as to why the show has to make him like this. In the security guard position, he wouldn't really be responsible for a case that involves the inmates. Yet, he goes and solves it anyway.

This is who Jim Gordon is. He can't stay out of the way. He has to fight the authority figure above him. So Gotham, in effect, is staying true to what happened in the previous half season, just changing the setting from the city and police station to the confines of an infamous mental asylum. It's another odd decision for a show that has been full of odd decisions from the very beginning.



When I think of Arkham Asylum these days, it's in an entirely modern context. Batman has to battle a slew of his most famous villains from the Rogues' Gallery (once again, Gotham misuses its episode titles), all or most of whom are inmates at Arkham. So I had no expectation of what was to be found in this Batman prequel version of the institution. It's hardly impressive from what is seen here. The place is introduced by some inmates staging a terrible version of a Shakespeare play, which is not going to give off a great first impression, and thus, the episode stumbles from there on out.

We're asked to care about the outcome of whoever is doing these horrific electroshock experiments, but again, the show hasn't been able to sustain any plotlines for a long period of time so the procedural aspect lets it down. The plot does perk up at moments, like when Gordon calls on Detective Bullock to assist and Bullock gets the opportunity to be as condescending as possible to Dr. Lang and basically own the scene. Or whenever Dr. Leslie Thompkins shows up to get in a bit of chemistry with Gordon. Thompkins is apparently a big part of the Batman canon, though I'm not aware of her character history and was more focused on the fact that the show cast the gorgeous Morena Baccarin in the role.


The procedural aspect of the plotline means that everything plays out as it should. Even the twist regarding the nurse failed to really push the needle anywhere. This is how Gotham operates. It can give off the slightest notion that the larger picture is being addressed (in this case, Dr. Lang makes a good point about the city's crumbling infrastructure problems and how that affects what he does at a place like Arkham), but it's undermined by the morass surrounding it. There is no sure indication that we will see Gruber again. More troubling is how Gruber even fits into the larger puzzle of the show's world.





So with the Arkham Asylum main plot flailing, it's up to the mob storyline to pick up the slack. It doesn't really go anywhere, unfortunately. There's some kind of power play being done on the Maroni family, and I'm not quite sure what it will eventually add up to. Butch is tasked by an unusually calm and serene Fish Mooney to make like he's coming over to join the Maroni family with his childhood friend, thus betraying his mistress. It's a power play that keeps happening over and over again. There is already one successful example of a double cross in the Penguin's long game that's being played out against Maroni and Fish. So there is no way the show is going to double down on this plot to have Butch switch sides. Once he told Fish that he was still "working (him)," the childhood friend was a goner.



And speaking of the Penguin, he doesn't get much to do here. He threatens a few local fishermen, getting drunk with power, only to be brought down to size by a couple of corrupt cops who work for Maroni as well as Maroni himself. I liked Maroni's speech to Penguin (who seems to be embracing that nickname now where once, he hated it?) about hubris and knowing who really holds the power here. It's right on the money, addressing the key issue about the Penguin character: That he has no real power over anyone because he's an underling. So I enjoy the few moments when Penguin has to cower to the real power players in Gotham City.



This plotline at least still has some teeth, even as the absence of Falcone is keenly noted and very much missed. That is yet another problem with this series. It is filled with so many characters that an episode cannot properly give service to the ones that are the most interesting. Somehow, trying to service everyone is giving service to no one at all. That's not how a good series is supposed to work.