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sunlitroom · 7 years

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Gotham s3e19 - The Gentle Art of Making Enemies

As I watched it, and some random observations here and there.

Previously on Gotham.

Warehouse. It's really you, Jerome! Isabella dies. Ed wants to destroy Oswald. The cultists were promised Jerome! They don't work for Oswald no more, and Nygma is going to die. Jerome and Lee have a chit-chat. Oswald receives a fake kidnapping phone call. Jerome sends the city a message. The power plant explodes.

As always, long post will be long - reaaally long. There are likely to be rambling digressions. Gobblepot may appear (although I welcome all shippers and non-shippers alike :)). There will be naked favouritism and naked not-favouritism. Broader comments at the end on plotlines and parallels and general direction.

Jerome's followers create havoc at GCPD, brawling with cops. Jim grabs one by the throat and starts starts to punch him – demanding to know where Jerome is.

Look around - he's everywhere

Amidst all the mayhem, a fire breaks out. The cultist laughs and yells.

Tonight Gotham is awakened.

God - I hate these guys

Oswald is walking into a trap with two henchmen, telling them ensuring Ed's safety is all that matters

(Oswald - darling - where are your brains?)

Ed walks out from the shadows. Oswald is overcome with relief, and hugs him, asking if he’s alright. Ed tells him he’s fine. Oswald gushes that of course he is and asks where they are, the people who dared to think they could lay their hands on him. Ed watches him calmly, and tells him that he’s alone.

Ha! Oswald exclaims. He thinks Ed escaped, and calls him a scamp. Ed coolly asks if he brought anyone else. Oswald replies that he didn’t, and Ed promptly shoots his henchmen, before pointing the gun at Oswald. Oswald blinks in confusion.

I don't understand

Ed smirks.

I know. That’s half the fun

Oswald is still confused as Ed hauls him forward, towards the wreckage of Isabella’s car.

Oswald stares, open-mouthed and starts to lie

Whatever you've heard...

Ed hits him in a fit of temper, knocking him to the floor.

Isabella was my everything, and you took her. And now I’ve taken everything from you. Well, almost everything. Not your life. That ends tonight.

Revenge Ed also seems to be trying out a Batman voice.

Gotham is burning while the Court of Owls (Katherine and Jim’s shadowy uncle) watch. If it worsens, they’ll be forced to step in. There’s an explosion. How much worse do these guys need it to be? Shadowy uncle says the city will bend before it breaks, and that they should give GCPD a chance. Katherine tells him his faith in him (presumably Jim) is touching, and possibly dangerous.

Back at GCPD, Jim is hearing reports about rioting, and issues orders. There’s still no sign of Jerome, and Harvey says there’ll be no lights until tomorrow. Jim says that this is ordinary citizens rioting, not just the cult. Harvey says that no-one is in charge at City Hall, and that Oswald is MIA. He’s been missing in action virtually all season, Harvey – this isn’t news. Jim wonders aloud what it is Jerome wants – and then remembers that Lee was the last to talk to him.

Oswald is tied to Isabella’s car. He’s still – seemingly – reeling with confusion.

My father appeared to me - I saw him

Ed tells him that was Clayface, and then snarls at him that ghosts aren’t real. (I wonder if a resurrected Oswald will get revenge for that one later)

Oswald is aghast when he realises what happened:

You stole my father’s remains from his grave?

Ed tells him not to worry – Elijah’s at rest now: Ed left his body in a dumpster.

(An aside – this is one of the points that makes what happens later simply implausible to me. I think Oswald could forgive a lot – but his love for his parents has been repeatedly emphasised as absolutely defining for his character. I would argue that this would be unforgiveable in his eyes)

Oswald sobs. He says he understands that Ed is angry – but he forgives him

Ed loses his temper and tells him to just admit. Oswald does.

Fine - I had her killed. You should thank me

Oswald tells Ed that they both know what would have happened. Ed protests. He knows what could have happened. Could have lived a happy, normal life. Oswald shakes his head, face twisted, insisting that Ed would have killed her like he killed Kristin and then hated himself.

(An aside – and again, what? If we’ve seen anything it’s that Oswald doesn’t really understand Ed’s pathology. He didn’t get why he’d kept Kristin’s glasses, he blithely signed him out of Arkham, he’s never seen Ed in one of his overtly ‘split’ moments, and he sure as hell wasn’t listening when Ed was spilling his guts about his fear of hurting Isabella. But he suddenly has a fine grasp of his psychology? Nope.)

Ed interrupts. They’ll never know now.

Oswald pipes up, his voice small, saying that he did it for love

Ed rounds on him angrily, telling him to shut up - love is about sacrifice, about putting someone else first – but Oswald would sacrifice anyone to save his own neck, even Ed. He then outlines a stupidly elaborate acid/rope/ice trick.

Oswald pleads that he can change – the fact he loves Ed proves it. Ed has no time for this, saying that a man facing death will say anything to save his own skin. He claims Oswald won’t change, because he can’t.

Leaving, he essentially tells Oswald to go to hell, as Oswald yells after him. If I hear Oswald plaintively yell ‘Ed’ one more time this season, I’m joining the rioting cultists.

GCPD, where Lee is treating the wounded while being sullenly sarcastic with Jim. She’s multi-tasking! When he refuses to respond to this treatment, she has a moment of realisation, and begins to act professionally again. She remembers that Jerome talked about killing Bruce. She calls Wayne Manor as Jim leaves.

Wayne Manor, where Bruce and Alfred light candles. The phone rings, but they wait too long to pick up. In the meantime, Jerome and his followers silently appear in the room. Alfred is hit in the face and drops to the ground. Bruce kneels to see that he’s OK, and as he does, Jerome leans in:

My my. Look how big you've gotten.

Jerome struts around, cracking jokes

Nice place you got here. You rent?

Bruce has no time for him. Jerome bemoans his attitude

Teenagers - am I right? I remember those days – all those exciting new ideas about killing everyone you see.

He spots the glass owl. Bruce spins a tale to save it – but Jerome smashes it anyway.

Bruce asks what he wants to do. Jerome says killing him is the last thing he remembers wanting to do. He wants to slit Bruce’s pretty pink throat. Bruce plays for time, buttering up Jerome’s ego about his showmanship that night. He then says it makes killing him here pretty disappointing. All that build-up – the lights, the resurrection – all his flair, style, panache – for this?

He tells Jerome that he’s Bruce Wayne….

I am the ruling elite. My company keeps Gotham running. Killing me should mean something.

Jerome catches on.

You're saying I need an audience. I know you’re just buying time to make an escape – but the point’s still valid

Jerome says it’s time to get the show on the road – but Alfred can stay here and be killed. Bruce remonstrates, but Alfred tells him to go. Bruce tells him fiercely that he’ll see him again. Alfred tells him

Carry on, son, carry on

Jerome pulls a face at this exchange.

Strangely intimate

As he leaves, he tells his skivvies to try not to get blood on couch, he might come back for that.

Oswald screams for help. A less than bright security guard frees him while Oswald loses his temper. It’s not the most engaging scene. Anyway, Oswald gets away due to Ed’s weakness for Pinterest murder scenes.

Wayne Manor, where the cultists are destroying things before killing Alfred. Alfred spots Jim in the background, and starts insulting the thugs as a way of giving away their positions to Jim. He taunts the last one in such a wonderfully British way I had to quote it:

Come on then sunshine - don't be shy - your mother wasn’t.

Jim and Alfred take them all out and head off to find Bruce.

We see a distorted and hazy circus before Jerome pulls a hood from Bruce’s head. He watches as Bruce looks around, his face twisted in disgust at the citizens being tortured as sideshows. Jerome says that they’ll have some fun before the main event.

GCPD – Jim tells Alfred Harvey is trying to track Bruce. Alfred tells him how Bruce bought himself time, and remarks that Gotham has given way to bedlam again. Harvey lists places they could be – and Jim decides on the circus.

The circus, where Bruce is being made-up as a clown. Jerome doesn’t find him funny enough, but rectifies that by stabbing the clown painting Bruce’s face, digging his finger in the wound, and painting Bruce’s mouth with blood.

Oswald is back home, looking for Gabe to kill Ed.

Butch and Tabitha appear, and Tabitha wraps her whip around Oswald’s throat. He demands to know what they’re doing there.

(An aside - I thought it was made pretty clear that Oswald knew Ed was going after Butch as revenge for Isabella. Butch shows up hale and hearty and Oswald still doesn’t catch on?)

Tabitha says that they’re doing whatever they want at Oswald’s house – that he’s finished. Butch wants to know where Ed is. Tabitha reminds him that Babs doesn’t want Ed dead, at which Butch snaps that he doesn’t work for Barbara Kean.

Oswald’s personality emerges for a moment as he snickers at this. He taunts Butch, telling him to stop pretending that he’s anything but muscle. He used to be something, but those days are past.

Tabitha approaches, and helpfully reminds everyone how repugnant she is by reminiscing about how she murdered Oswald’s elderly mother, and at how all Oswald could do was hold her as she cried and bled out – and that Oswald didn’t do anything to Tabitha in retaliation.

Yet – snarls Oswald

Tabitha sneers – telling him that he had his chance. Butch smirks in the background

(An aside – has Butch forgotten that Oswald refrained from killing Tabitha solely out of deference to his feelings? And is he seriously OK with Tabitha’s complete unconcern for killing Gertrud – even though her death weighed on his own conscience at the time?)

Tabitha tells Oswald to stop turning them against each other. Oswald says he won’t go anywhere with them. Butch knocks him out, and Tabitha complains that they’ll have to carry him now.

Circus with Bruce and Jerome. Bruce asks what the plan is behind this. Jerome says there is none. People just want an excuse. The mother who wants to strangle her child. The husband who wants to stab his wife. They can do it.

It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t.

(An aside - I really liked this moment. Jerome’s voice is very quiet and calm here, and it’s more chilling than a lot of the noisier stuff. It’s also a neat way of showing the essential divide between Bruce and Jerome - idealism vs moral nihilism)

Bruce tells him he won't get away with it. A few dozen brainwashed idiots can’t hold the city forever. Jerome says he knows that. Bruce asks again what the point is. Jerome says the normal people he sees everyday – who clean his car, make his coffee, take away the trash - they show their true colours when the lights go out. They all want to open his rich boy veins and bathe in his blue blood.

(An aside – I do like the theme of Gotham’s fairly maligned citizens rising up. It was played with with the Indian Hill escapees – the notion that the way the City treated its outsiders and dispossessed would come back to haunt it, but they abandoned it early on)

Bruce says there arre good people in Gotham. But Jerome mocks him – they’re sheep and cowards.

Face it- Gotham has no heroes

Bruce makes a meaningful face.

As Jerome takes a turn on another torture sideshow, Bruce shoves him and tells him to get on with killing him. Jerome is outraged at his cheating, and calls him a bore. He takes a moment to staple his face on. Bruce asks mockingly if it hurts. Jerome staples his wrist in response. Bruce manages not to flinch for two – which rattles Jerome – but breaks on the third.

Jerome laughs and moves on to the main event

Jim and co pull up at the circus. They’re going to go in before back-up arrives.

Jerome plays ringmaster. Bruce is wheeled out – tied to a pole. Jerome is going to fire a cannon at him, tousling his hair before getting started.

Bruce glances at his handcuffs, and pulls a staple from his wrist to pick the lock

Jim and Alfred are inside. Jim fires his gun.

Detective Gordon! Just in time for the big finish!

The strike force arrives. Brawls break out. Jerome still lights the fuse and runs.

Bruce picks one lock, drops the staple, and has to pull another. He manages to pick the lock, and escapes.

Oswald is at Sirens with Babs, who is gloating. He says he underestimated her, which she attributes to her great beauty. He says that she used Isabella’s death to turn Ed against him. Babs tells him it wasn’t too hard. Oswald says the plan was to destroy everything and kill him. Babs confirms this. Oswald says that he hopes she’ll be happy in charge. Babs comments that most of the families are dead., and says that they don’t need Ed anymore. Oswald says it didn’t take them long to turn on each other. Babs said it was a limited partnership. If Oswald helps them find Ed, then things will be better for him. If not, they’ll simply kill him. He seems tired and resigned.

(An aside – I don’t really know why Oswald even humours this – he knows how the underworld works. There’s no honour here – and especially not with the likes of Tabitha, who seems to live for cruelty. He would simply be dead either way)

Jerome hunts Bruce in a hall of mirrors- saying he won't hurt him. It is a very striking scene, and works particularly well.

You ruined my show Bruce. Hiding’s just gonna make things worse.

But Bruce didn't come here to hide. He wanted Jerome to follow him. He’s going to pay for what he’s done.

Sirens, where there’s a phone in front of Oswald. Babs wants him to call Ed and lure him here. It’s Babs, Tabitha’s and Butch’s time to shine. Although who’s left to see it is anyone’s guess.

Oswald replies that he feels impelled to refuse. Butch threatens to beat up the small man with the bad leg like it would be some big achievement. He’d get the information in five minutes. Tabitha claims she could do it in three. Butch whines at her interjections, and Barbara tells them to shut up.

She tells Oswald to reconsider. He can live to love another day.

Oswald says he’s had a realisation. Barbara tells him that he loved Ed and he betrayed him. Oswald says he’s not sure now that he did. He thought he loved him because Ed had loved him like no-one had since his mother (Oswald apparently still can’t see how Ed used his mother’s memory). But Oswald killed Isabella nonetheless. He wasn’t capable of self-sacrifice. He says he is now, though, and refuses to call Ed. Barbara asks if he’d rather die. Oswald says he would, and isn’t that crazy?

It is crazy

Ed steps out from the shadows. Oswald realises that they’ve all been in it together all along. Somewhere, Fish is facepalming and planning several motherly lectures. Oswald asks Ed why? Ed says he didn’t want to just take everything. He wanted to take Oswald’s belief. He wanted Oswald to betray him at the last, so Oswald would die knowing he was incapable of loving another person.

(An aside - Which is…. really just irredeemably ugly. And given that Ed was still referring to Kristin as Miss Kringle even after being a romantic relationship with her, and got his jollies cutting up her corpse – I don’t really think he’s the authority on who’s capable of love.)

Oswald protests. He is capable of self-sacrifice. He showed he could change. He smiles desperately, frantically asking if this means he passed Ed’s test. Ed, never at his best when he’s cocked up one of his schemes and realised that he doesn’t know everything, says that he doesn’t know what this means.

(An aside – what is this nonsense? A fourteen episode arc to tell me that Oswald has magically learned to love after some sustained gaslighting from Ed? This is not a new facet of Oswald’s personality. He was willing to jeopardise his position as kingpin and dance to Theo’s tune to save Gertrud’s life. He was willing to take the fall for Theo’s murder to spare Jim Gordon’s reputation. He was willing to live as a servant out of love for his father, who wanted him to stay with his step-family. He was willing to be demeaned by them while still entertaining the hope that they could be a loving family. He spared Fish’s life when she affirmed their connection. He even spared Tabitha’s life because killing her would have hurt Butch. Oswald is plenty capable of love and self-sacrifice.

But I’m to forget the entirety of his storyline to this point and believe that Oswald is only magically capable of unselfish love now? Fourteen episodes that stranded two of the strongest characters in a frankly silly storyline for something that wasn’t even character development. What’s the next arc going to reveal? That Jim has a bit of a temper? That Victor’s quite keen on guns? Christ on a cracker.)

Back to the hall of mirrors. Jerome’s having more fun than he expected. He tells Bruce they make a good team. Bruce spits that Jerome killed Alfred. Jerome asks if all rich kids are this close with their butlers?

When Bruce doesn’t respond, Jerome tries another tack. He says that if Bruce wants to be a hero – then he’ll give him a fighting chance. Man on man. He slides a gun across the floor for Bruce, but we see a flick blade in his other hand. Jerome tries to taunt him out again – but Bruce tackles him from behind.

They box. Bruce wins. He pins Jerome on the floor, punching him repeatedly. Jerome laughs and tells him to let it out. He grabs a shard of glass from a broken mirror and is ready to plunge it into Jerome’s throat - when he catches sight of himself in the mirror. Jerome tells him to do it. Bruce screams in his face (just like Jim with Eduardo Flamingo) – but walks away, refusing to dance to Jerome’s tune.

Leaving the hall, he spots Alfred – still punching random cultists. They hug, and Bruce says brokenly that he thought Alfred was dead. Jim slowly approaches, clearly relieved and moved to see Bruce is safe.

Jerome also approaches. Jim literally punches his face off. Jerome collapses. Everyone loses their appetite for about the next month.

GCPD – Jim and Harvey say that word of Jerome's arrest is spreading. He’ll be sent to Arkham. Jim wonders if he should have shot him. At the door, Lee stares for a bit then leaves. Jim stares back. Harvey congratulates him for having punched a man's face off, and offers to buy him breakfast.

Wayne Manor – where Alfred is cleaning up a shell-shocked Bruce’s wounds. He talks to him gently, and doesn’t push for Bruce to tell him what happened. He tells Bruce he was very proud of how he behaved, and the man he’s become.

Bruce confesses that he wanted to kill Jerome for a moment, not out of rage alone, but because for a moment it felt like justice. Alfred acknowledges this without judging him, and points out that Bruce didn’t kill him. Bruce observes that there’s a fine line between justice and vengeance. Alfred says he knew where that was and didn’t cross it – and that’s the first rule. They talk about what the training is for – which they don’t know yet. but whatever happens – he’ll need rules. Bruce states absolutely that he will not kill. Alfred makes him repeat it. They go to work.

Court of Owls. Katherine is speaking. Tonight was close. They could have lost Gotham for good. They will act soon, and you will be called upon. The camera turns, and we see clone Bruce, who says he’s prepared. Katherine asks Shady Uncle if he’s sure, and that he knows that must happen if he (presumably Jim) refuses. He tells her that no-one refuses the court.

Jim's at his apartment, having a glass of whiskey, when Uncle Evil Guy shows up at his door. Long time, no see.

Oswald and Ed at docks (Yay – I called this! Oswald would wind up at the docks again. But while Jim showed him mercy, and offered him another chance – Ed will show none. I had thought initially that it might play as Ed putting him out of his misery, but it really didn’t come across like that. It was pure vengeance and punishment.)

Oswald is begging. He tells Ed he loves him, and he can believe that now. He warns him that killing like this will change him. This isn’t like any of his previous murders – passion or self-preservation.

(An aside – I don’t think Mr Leonard was either, Oswald. And neither passion or self-preservation quite cover what Ed does afterwards in keeping trophies, or demonstrating control over the corpses. It’s hard to tell whether I’m just supposed to believe what Oswald’s saying, or think that he is genuinely deluded in his view of how well he knows him)

Oswald says this would be the cold-blooded killing of someone he loves. Ed reiterates that he doesn’t love Oswald. Oswald claims that they need each other, but really – while Oswald was made very reliant on Ed, this was not the case on Ed’s part. Oswald gave him a powerful job and a fancy home – but Ed’s not emotionally dependent in the same way, although he does care to an extent.

Ed’s enraged. He snarls that Oswald killed Isabella. Oswald tries to interrupt – but Ed talks over him. He wants Oswald to suffer like he suffered. Oswald will now die for killing her.

Oswald then launches into a remix of the speech Fish gave him. I do love when we see her influence on him. He says that he created Ed Nygma. Ed was a nervous, jittery loser – but he sees him as he is. Who he can still become. He can’t do this. Ed is impassive. Oswald sobs and wails, asking him if he’s listening, and begging him to say something. Ed finally speaks. When he does, there’s hurt and exhaustion alongside rage.

I loved her Oswald. And you killed her

Ed shoots Oswald in the chest. Oswald stares, disbelieving. Ed pushes him into the water and watches him sink – eyes still staring, hand outstretched and pleading.

Ed looks down. There’s satisfaction at vengeance, and perhaps some horror at the fact that he has just killed his only friend.

General Observations

Oswald/Ed/Babs/Tabitha/Butch

I’ve commented throughout on this, but some additional thoughts.

Oswald’s Fish gambit falls flat because – well – Oswald didn’t make Ed. Ed was a work long in progress before Oswald’s appearance. His murder of Kristen, his subsequent breakdown, and other murders had nothing to do with Oswald. Even after their first prolonged time in each other’s company at Ed’s apartment, it’s Ed who tries – unsuccessfully – to change and mould Oswald with his ‘love makes you weak’ philosophy.

Ed rejects Oswald on his release from Arkham. It’s Ed who provides Oswald with moral support after Fish spares him. When he goes to work for Oswald - it’s Ed who pulls the strings, repeatedly playing on Oswald’s grief and loneliness to make him reliant, and it’s Ed who runs all his affairs.

So this idea that Ed looked up to Oswald has just never manifested in the script for me. They kept saying it – but I never saw evidence of how or why. They’ve really had very little influence on each other until 3, and then again – none of that was indicative of Oswald moulding Ed. In fact, it had become confusing that Ed still talked at all about learning from Oswald, since we never saw it, and what we did see of their behaviour didn’t reflect it.

Last I checked, Tabitha and Butch definitely wanted Ed dead. They just let him leave the Club with Oswald and drive to the docks?

I was expecting a lot more Machiavellian backstabbing in the Ed/Babs/Tabitha/Butch plan, which never really manifested. I was hoping Butch might turn completely, or that Babs might try to ditch him. Maybe we’ll get more on this when they return – but it fizzled a little here. I have residual interest in Babs – and want to see where she goes. I don’t give even the tiniest of fucks about Tabitha and Butch.

Jim/Jerome/Bruce

Probably the strongest part of the episode. Jerome is endlessly entertaining, and the back and forth between him and Bruce was excellent: Bruce is all principles, whereas Jerome has none.

Jim played second fiddle to Bruce tonight – but still came off well. He managed the deployment of officers calmly, didn’t rise to Lee’s bait, rescued Alfred, and then punched Jerome’s face off. I’m assuming the arrival of shady uncle will see him start to address the galloping father issues we saw in his hallucination.

Thoughts?

#Gotham Commentary #the gentle art of making enemies #gotham s3e19

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