Gotham has been a wild ride thus far, and things just keep getting crazier in “Scarification.†The man of the season last year was The Penguin, but he hasn’t had much depth up until this episode. This episode definitely changed things for him.
Ever since The Penguin’s mom was kidnapped by The Galavan crew, he’s been quite on edge. It’s ironic that right when Penguin gets all the power in Gotham, it’s swiftly taken from him. But in this episode, he goes crazier than we’ve ever seen.
See, in the opening of “Scarification,†Theo Galavan makes certain that The Penguin knows that he is nothing more than a tool to be used by the soon-to-be Mayoral candidate. This episode, Galavan has him burning specific locations to the ground for a currently unknown purpose. The only thing we quickly find out is that the Galavans have Bunderslaw locked in a chest and plucked out his eye.
Of course while The Penguin has no arson expertise himself, we get to see another crew from the underbelly of Gotham: The Pike Brothers. While not a part of the DC comics universe, the two lead a group of pretty relentless, yet not entirely bright, group of criminals. Their first target was a safe that was owned by Bunderslaw.
Of all people, Bunderslaw must have the most lax security in all of Gotham. Not only was he robbed blind (haha) here, but he was also robbed in season one by Bruce and Selina. After Jim completely obliterates their infiltration guy as they were buying explosives from a place called The Merc, they needed someone small enough to get in the places where they can’t. It just so happens that Bridgit, who is essentially the little sister of the group, fits the bill. She breaks in and steals what we find to be a family heirloom that Galavan intends to use to bring Gotham to its knees.
This show has always done a decent job at the history of Gotham here, and I love the Galavan family backstory. With Cobblepot stuck between a rock and a hard place, he knows that this relic is much more important to Galavan than just simply being a neat piece of history. In a somewhat odd flashback, we get to see that this single knife changed the history of the Gotham Elite forever. At a gathering of Gotham’s elite families many years ago, Celestine Wayne, considered the jewel of the Gotham, presumably fell for Caleb Duma, even though she was promised to be wed to one of the other elite families. When caught in an embrace by Waynemen, Celestine said that Caleb forced himself on her. Her brother, Johnathan Wayne, took swift action and punished Caleb by cutting off his arm. What did he use? You guessed it: the antique knife in Bunderslaw’s safe.
So, The Penguin now knows that Galavan is strictly feeding a revenge story. The Penguin knows that when emotions are involved, there’s a way to control them. As crazy as The Penguin is, nothing matches up to what he’s about to do. He concocts a way to get Butch in with the Galavans to keep tabs on what they are doing to take them down from the inside. You may ask, how will he get in with Galavan so easily? As Cobblepot explains, Galavan already thinks that Penguin is irrational, so all he needs is for them to have Butch play a role. Unfortunately for Butch, The Penguin’s insane plan is to parade Butch in front of Galavan as a supposed traitor. Galavan may not believe that Butch is indeed a traitor, but he will sure believe that Penguin thinks Butch betrayed him. To really punch this home, Penguin decides to cut off Butch’s arm, just the way the family feud began.
All the scenes with Cobblepot were insanely well done. We slowly saw him devolve into a psychopath as the episode came to a close. I’m definitely excited to see how well Butch will fit in with The Galavans and if Penguin’s insane plan will pay off in the end. Â
Bridgit, as mentioned earlier, is the outsider of The Pike Brothers. She’s essentially “the whipping boy,†of the group, but this definitely changes. While Selina tries to convince her to leave the group, Bridgit retorts with, “What good is freedom if you are alone?â€
While Selina says, “What good is family if you’re a slave?†The dialogue between the two was interesting since they both are in poor situations. A team up is almost certain in their future. While we don’t get to see much of Firefly, we do get to see her first killing.
The scene was really just of her trying to evade the GCPD than anything. But, as she tries to get away, she burns an officer from the Strike Force, and later, he dies. Selina helps Bridgit escape from the GCPD just after she burns the officer.
Wow, with all those crazy scenes, there is an interesting on in between. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to take away from the rest of the episode; if anything, it was a nice comedic relief for a few minutes. In some crazy way, a double date forms between Thompson/Gordon and Nygma/Kringle. Nygma and Kringle are strangely flirty and, well… that’s about all that scene really has to offer. Nygma is seeming to find it easier to be normal and keep his alter ego at bay.
