Gotham S01E14 "The Fearsome Dr. Crane" Review

So this episode started off with a bang and a hiccup. The opening featured probably one of the most elaborate murders on television carried out by the title's namesake "The Fearsome Dr. Crane". However, the hiccup came when the screen draining Fish Mooney placed a call to SalvaTORE (not Salvadore) Maroni (honestly...) and put him on to our man Oswald in regards to his working for Falcone. For those of us who bother to remember such things, a few episodes ago, after suffering from a massive jolt of electricity, Penguin let it slip that he had "important business with Falcone." when previously telling Maroni he had to tend to his sick mother. Of course, this could be explained away with Penguin having previously worked for Falcone and after suffering from being electrocuted you can't fault the man for being a little jumbled (although, that'd have been my excuse). But Oswald managed to explain it away. Anyways, with Gordon & Bullock having to watch their backs because they just sent Flass to prison, and Maroni now onto Penguin, we'll see just what happens, so let's get to the review.

Right off the bat (no pun intended), Gordon was absolutely correct in assuming Selina Kyle was lying, but Bruce (for whatever reason) has decided to believe her and in his words "pursue the matter on his own". Again, it's WAY too early for him to be showing signs of Batman before he's even hit puberty. He should at least be 16 and dealing with teenage angst before he goes off all half-cocked looking for his parent's killer. Moments like this is essentially where the show fails. We shouldn't be concerning ourselves with Bruce Wayne just yet, we should be focused on Gordon and for the most part we are but at the same time...we have moments like this to contend with.

I have to admit, I had some concerns with Julian Sands as Scarecrow, but when his son showed up and his father called him "Johnathan" I was VERY relieved! Because this goes along with the whole age issue of Batman's foes. by the time Bruce Wayne is old enough to take on The Scarecrow, he'd be well into his 60s...and that doesn't make for compelling television. But with Scarecrow being his son and not Julian Sands this gives us a bit of an origin story for The Scarecrow. This also ties into the secondary function Gotham can serve and that's providing an origin for some villains as well. after all some of them should be Bruce's age at the moment. Despite dropping the ball with Black Mask, "Gotham" can salvage it's self with The Riddler, and Scarecrow (hopefully, this remains to be seen the next episode).

I was Superman's dad for f*ck's sake!

At this point in time The GCPD is a little less corrupt after the Captain took down Flass but I don't count on it being exactly peace time for Gordon. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Meanwhile, I suppose we're starting Edward Nygma's descent into becoming The Riddler with him getting suspended and all, what exactly does an OCD, forensic investigator who loves riddles do without a job and ooddles of times on his hands? I doubt it's solving The Gotham Times crossword puzzle. With his framing of the doctor, it was a small practical (psychotically, practical) joke that had serious ramifications...but a decent enough start to The Riddler becoming something of a criminal.

What's an OCD, Forensic investigator do in his spare time? Frame the medical examiner.

Now let's move on to the meat and potatoes of this episode. For starters, the game of Truth played between Maroni & Oswald was intense, but I think me and anyone else watching with half a brain figured out that Maroni's gun wasn't loaded. Had I been Penguin, after being confronted with the accusation from Fish, I'd have handed Maroni the gun and tell him that I'd been straight up with him (and for the most part, Penguin has). He revealed that he was playing a double agent. Maroni knows Penguin used to work for Falcone, and he knows Fish tried to kill him. All of Penguin's cloak and dagger can be easily explained away if he'd just let Maroni in on the broad strokes. Also, wouldn't have behooved Penguin to work with Falcone for the sole purpose of killing Fish out of revenge? I don't think Maroni would fault him for that and it'd be better for Fish to be taken out by Falcone than one of Maroni's people. Long story short, Penguin got greedy and his hubris got in the way.

Hello, I'd like to report some Fuckery.

The end result of this left a very bad taste in my mouth, Frankly, I'm getting tired of seeing The Penguin constantly groveling. I understand Salvatore Maroni is a piece of Batman mythos but at the same time no one's really gonna give two craps if he dies (I know no one would've given a crap if Fish Mooney died...and for some reason why kept her around too). I just want to see The Penguin at his most vicious and bloodthirsty. His well mannered form of sociopathy makes his the perfect criminal for this series and yet he's constantly playing second fiddle  to someone else, weaseling his way out of situation or just barely escaping by the skin off his ass like in last week's episode. I'm just waiting for the moment when he has the upperhand and the well mannered mask comes off and we're all left looking at the screen going "Holy crap, this guy's crazy.". I have a feeling I won't be holding my breath for that moment.

He had to serve me oatmeal...

It's finally good to see a romance where both actors are competent in their roles and with what they're doing. Ben McKenzie's Jim Gordon needed someone much better than Erin Richards' Barbra Keen to play off of and Morena Baccarin's Dr. Thompkins is that actress. Dare I say it, I'm actually interested in their relationship and how it exactly develops. Granted, if "Gotham" is going by the book, then ultimately Gordon is going to end up with The Captain...but at the end of the day, I really don't care who Gordon ends up with so long as Barbra Gordon a.k.a Oracle (yes, I understand she was Batgirl, I she's the fuzzuckin' Oracle to me) is the end result. Anyway, their byplay is actually good and she's actually useful to him, this is romance when it's done effectively, more of this.

Leaving out the last 2 minutes of this episode that left me saying "...the hell?". This episode was more or less solid. Obviously, it was a launching pad, because Dr. Crane is still at large and The Penguin is once again on his way back to Gotham on a bus of Holy Rollers, not much ground was covered in this episode aside from the fact that Maroni knows Penguin's a double agent. The next episode will be interesting to see where they go with The Dr. Crane character and his son Johnathan a.k.a Scarecrow and what Penguin will do next. And speaking of next, it's been announced that before the Season is over a Joker storyline will be introduced...no,No, NO, NO!! Am I the ONLY person who thinks that's a very bad idea?! Apparently so since most people are pumped about it. Listen, The Joker is not Lex Luthor, you can't bring The Joker in at any point in time like you can with Lex. The Joker needs to be introduced when Batman is at his prime and I'm sorry but Jim Gordon facing down The Joker won't be compelling television because Jim Gordon is not who The Joker seeks to play with.

Also, for a character as big as The Joker you need the right actor (good luck there), and you also need to have the whole Falcone & Maroni stuff dealt with or at least dwindling down because for someone as big as The Joker, he can't just be some mob guy knocking off banks, he has to be as big and as bad ass as his character has been portrayed...and I'm sorry but with Bruce Wayne still in grade school, this is not gonna be pretty. I'm not holding my breath for a good execution of this, this will either make or break how "Gotham" is handled for awhile, considering we're about to get a new Joker (Jared Leto) in the upcoming (for some reason) "Suicide Squad" movie...it'd probably be in "Gotham's" best interest to hold off on The Joker, at least until Bruce is in college. Those are my thoughts, let me know what you think and I'll see you guys later.