Gotham 2.04 - "The Strike Force" - Six Degrees of Geek

It seems our dearly departed “Joker” (Cameron Monaghan) had more of a lasting effect on our “old favorite” Gotham villain, Mr. Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor), than we might’ve thought. Seems like he was mad about his lack of screentime in the last three episodes! Poor Penguin! Anyways, we are back from the insane chaos of the first three Gotham episodes. The Joker is gone, Theo Gavalan’s (James Frain) plans were revealed, and Jim (Ben McKenzie) seemed to be doing OK. This week, the pace slows and falters a bit. I want Gotham to keep up the momentum, but it seems they are losing steam. Now that Cameron Monaghan’s Jerome is gone, the electricity and fun he brought to the show are sorely missing. But, let’s get to it.

*** SPOILERS BELOW ***

As I said before, the Penguin is not happy about all of Jerome’s shenanigans in the past three episodes, after all he, himself, is the “King of Gotham.” Sure, okay, Oswald. To further prove that Oswald is not in charge, Theo reveals his master plan to him and forces Oswald to carry out various assassination attempts on the new mayoral candidates. Surprise, y’all, but Theo wants to be mayor of Gotham and he has some dastardly plans… involving real estate. Um…what? Really? Major letdown/disappointment falls. How predictable and boring! BOO. Penguin and his lackey, Butch (Drew Powell), follow through though because Theo has Penguin’s mother (Carol Kane) held captive.

A staged assassination attempt is what causes Theo to announce his intention to run for mayor and anyone with a brain could obviously see through all his “evil plans.” But, alas, no one in Gotham seems to have a clue, not even Jim. They track the assassins to Penguin, but Jim can’t turn him in because Penguin has stuff on Jim. Hasn’t this happened already? Conflicted Jim does nothing. Penguin seems more mad than ever. Hopefully he’ll explode with unpredictability and chaos soon. PLEASE.

Oh, and to make matters worse for everyone in general, enter Captain Nathaniel Barnes (Michael Chiklis), an annoying, smarmy police captain, who shows up out of the blue, shouting instructions, giving history lessons, and firing people. It’s good he is getting the GCPD in shape, but who the heck are you and where have you been? He takes Jim under his wing and assembles a “strike force” of “good recruits” to take down the baddies. But that goes no where really. Is it wrong if I immediately hated Captain Barnes? Cause I do.

In another subplot, Ed Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) finally convinces himself to ask Kristen Kringle (Chelsea Spack) out. She accepts, for some odd reason, and even goes to his house, where Ed argues with himself, Gollum style, and blurts out that her ex-boyfriend is dead. Classic. Somehow she kisses him, though. Ooh, maybe she’s a bit crazy? That’d be an interesting turn that I hope the show explores…

And in yet another subplot, Young Brucey (David Mazouz) has lunch with Theo to thank him for “saving” his life. Brucey meets Silver St. Cloud (Natalie Alyn Lind), Theo’s ward. Brucey is immediately into her and she seems cool, but there is probably more to her if she is Theo’s ward. BTW, where has she been this whole time, Theo? Hanging out with your Arkham breakouts, like Barbara (Erin Richards)? Oh, and speaking of Barbara, she has once again been relagated to the background and has nothing to do but make out with both Theo and his sister, Tabitha. Really, guys? I was starting to have hope we might get some good Barbara stuff and it is sad to see.

In another turn, Alfred (Sean Pertwee) slaps young Selina (Camren Bicondova) for killing his friend and tells her to stay away from Brucey. It was all amazing and I think Alfred is my new favorite character. Selina is all teary and lonely and homeless and I don’t feel bad for her at all. Wasn’t she working with Fish and Penguin? What happened there? She’s just back to her old nonsensical tricks. The whole Brucey/Silver storyline is obviously a set-up for something since nothing actually happens this episode.

And that’s it…Nothing really happens this episode. Just a lot of set-up and reorganization. Harvey (Donal Logue) and Lee (Morena Baccarin) had nothing to do. And I want to like Theo Gavalan, but he is too easily falling into the predictable and over-the-top villain. At least the Penguin has the ability to spice it up and add some excitement and unpredictability to the show. Hope he does something about it all soon or else this season is going to follow a very bland path.