Gotham: Season 1, Episode 22: All Happy Families Are Alike
This season was all about resolving conflict. Carmine Falcone versus Salvatore Maroni; Fish Mooney versus Oswald Cobblepot; Barbara Kean versus Lesley Thompkins; Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth versus Thomas Wayne’s secrets; Butch Gilzean versus himself; Edward Nygma versus the Riddler; Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock versus Commissioner Loeb and the city itself. That’s a lot of fights they had to bring to an end and there was no shortchanging on any of it.
Everything here felt earned and was built up to throughout the entirety of the season. The only things that came out of nowhere were Fish’s new hairdo and Selena’s sudden and extreme allegiance to her. Fish didn’t look anything like that when we we last saw her, so I suppose that was supposed to illustrate how much she has gone through in order to get back to Gotham. Seeing has how she took the less threatening inmates away from the island, I imagine all of her new henchmen were also part of that offscreen transition.
Selena Kyle is a different case though. We’ve seen small glimpses of her dark side coming up, but her changes here were VERY sudden. I mean, I know Fish practically has a superpower when it comes to her influence, but this seemed a bit forced. Selena was a thief who was keeping her head down at all times in the interest of survival, so why is she walking around with a new, less interesting look and a shotgun.
Why would anyone give someone so small a shotgun in the first place. I’m actually trying to recall whether she actually used it or not. Gordon did a lot for her so why would she suddenly dismiss him for “the coolest gig ever.” Did she even meet Fish before this? How can she not be on the GCPD wanted list after this? It just doesn’t fit her character to put herself on the radar this way.
I can’t say I didn’t see Barbara’s explosion coming at least to some degree. Her whole ordeal with the Ogre was something that I could see traumatizing anyone. If I was Jim, there would’ve been no way I would’ve allowed her and Lesley to be alone. That was pretty much asking for things to go poorly. I felt a little confused by her description of the events with her parents, I don’t remember that stuff being what happened in the last episode.
I have nothing to say against the Falcone/Maroni conflict. It was pretty awesome. You have to respect Falcone’s brilliance and wisdom in the situation. Gordon wants him to remain in charge, but he just wants to get away and live in peace. How can he continue when so much has happened to challenge his authority? I don’t even want to spoil what happened with Maroni, I’ll just say that between him and Barbara, it’s pretty clear that we’re not following the comics here. I’m only really wondering why Victor Zsasz wasn’t involved. He’s definitely a big enough player for Falcone to have called in here. Maybe he just didn’t get the chance.
Fish and Oswald had a pretty great conflict as well, it was pretty much the climax of the episode. They fought a battle for both Gotham and Butch’s soul. If you’ve read anything about Jada Pinkett-Smith’s contract, then you know what happened here. There was a complete collapse of the Gotham underworld and I hope we see the restructuring of it throughout next season. I expect a city in chaos that forces the GCPD to come together and become real law enforcement to instill control. There’s a lot of potential here.
The much lesser arcs here involved Nygma and Bruce. Nygma’s season-long crush, Ms. Kringle, noticed the clue he left in the letter he sent to her from her dead boyfriend. He tried to write it off as coincidence, but she’s not a stupid woman so I’m pretty sure that’s going to bite him in the a**… unless of course he kills her too. That would be a very large nail in the coffin of his descent into villainy. He’s already got the talking to himself and crazy laugh down to a tee. His taste for murder and mystery is clearly growing. If he leaves his riddles at his crimes, the police who have ignored him this whole time won’t have a choice but to solve them.
Bruce’s situation is becoming both stranger and more interesting. His search for his father’s secrets bore some fruit, but what does this mean? Is Thomas Wayne some kind of precursor to Batman? There was a weird cliffhanger here, so one can only speculate as to what’s going on with that fireplace. One question for all of you though: How freaking awesome would it be if Thomas Wayne ends up being Owlman or, even more awesomely, the Gray Ghost?
Jonathan Thomas Jones is a speculative fiction author and founder of geekhavenreviews.com. He has been passionate about all things geek for his entire life. See more about him at jonathanthomasjones.com and follow him on twitter @jtgloryjones.
