Gotham 1×22 Review: All Happy Families Are Alike

Gotham aired the season finale this week, and though I didn’t enjoy the whole thing, there were exciting tidbits that have indeed made me curious to see how the story will progress in season two. The mafia war came to an abrupt end, and I do feel the face of Gotham will indeed change in future episodes.

I’m going to talk about the main plot first and get that out of the way. Nothing really happened. I’ve been waiting for a mafia war ever since the debut of Gotham and though the writers showed the gang war, it wasn’t really exciting.

For me, Falcone felt out of character the whole time. He was shown as the man who had been ruling the city for years. He even murdered the girl he loved with his bare hands in front of Fish. Seeing him talking about retiring with both Fish and Maroni out of the picture didn’t feel right to me. I guess the show just wanted to have Penguin become the king of Gotham. Now the question is how long Mr. Cobblepot can remain king. Things are bound to change for him next season.

While I liked seeing Kat being part of the finale, her joining Fish’s team came out of nowhere. Kat has never been the kind of character to get mixed with the mafia. Maybe the writers wanted to show some kind of character growth by having the teenager interact with dangerous grownups, but I think the whole thing missed its mark. Did anyone else see Kat ‘purr’ against Fish when she praised her? That was a nice touch to her Catwoman personality.

Now, let’s come to the best thing of the episode – Barbara! Ever since the show started it’s been obvious the writers have been struggling to find what to do with her. She started out as Jim Gordon’s girlfriend, then she rekindled her relationship with a female character that went nowhere. She then went to find herself, got abducted, and turned into a murdering psychopath! Talk about surprising character changes!

The revelation that she killed her parents after The Ogre abducted her was surprising and very welcome. I’m not saying that she’ll definitely be Jim’s ‘Joker’ but I wouldn’t mind if the show went in that direction. Having her murder people left and right is a far better role than being a girlfriend who doesn’t get to do anything except kiss the hero a few times.

For those of you who might not know, Jim’s and Barbara’s son, James Gordon Jr., is actually crazy in the comic books. I think the writers of Gotham might be playing with that connection.

In other developments, Baby Bruce found a secret entrance to an underground cave which every fan knows will turn into the Batcave. The finale also showed Nygma’s inevitable journey to becoming The Riddler.

What did you think of Gotham’s finale? Did you enjoy the mafia war? Are you excited to see more Barbara? Because as far as I’m concerned, I wouldn’t mind watching her stabbing various characters to death! Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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