Television shows always have that difficult balance to adhere to. Many don’t want to go the “villain-of-the-week†route, but they also don’t want to have a single strong villain hanging around for the show’s entirety. The latest episode of Gotham, “Unleashed,†provides the ending of a storyline I assumed the show would have milked going forward.
Theo Galvan’s transformation into Azrael has been swift and exciting. The character is far more than just another experiment of Strange and has really become a villain that a was joy to watch. “Unleashed†provides many more wow moments than we’ve received in the last couple episodes. Chief among them when Tabitha tries to get through to Theo and make him remember that they are related.
GCPD, with Tabitha’s help go to the Duma crypt to get back the sword before Azrael is able to steal it and unleash vengeance on Jim Gordon. Of course, things don’t go as planned since Azrael has metahuman-like abilities. There is a moment where it appears that Tabitha is able to get through to him. He starts to have a flashback, but as they usually are, they are accompanied with a demonic looking Strange staring at him. But, Strange being prevalent isn’t the worst of things. He also remembers a scheme him and Tabitha had to kill the son of Gotham. So, not only does he have his heart set on killing Gordon, he now is set to go after Bruce. But, since Tabitha won’t let him go, he stabs her with his newly acquired sword.
It’s amazing that there are still characters that attempt to “cure†people of their craziness in Gotham. It is nice that it does still show that there is hope in Gotham, but by now, it appears that hope is nearly non existent. Of all characters, Bruce still has that sliver of hope pushing him through, and he has a nice part to play in this episode.
Bruce episodes are kind of hit or miss. This week, he decides to go tell Selina about what he believes is going on below Arkham. She isn’t up for it at first, but he reminds her that her friend Firefly is there. She only agrees to sneak in if she can go alone. Meanwhile, Bruce makes his way back to the manor and comes face to face with Azrael. The fight is quite intense. The fight only intensifies when Alfred steps in. It is always fun seeing Alfred go back to his military training, and he certainly holds his own with Azrael for the most part. Bruce pulls through after hitting him with one of the cars from the garage, but an unlikely hero saves the day.
Jim and Harvey arrive at the manor and they all watch as Galavan lays there, and then they do what everyone always does in shows like this. They don’t ensure that he is dead, and of course he isn’t, what a scene it allows to happen though. Of all people that loathe Galavan/Azrael, chief among them is Cobblepot. After he had a visit with Butch where they agreed that Cobblepot wouldn’t kill Tabitha if Butch would help, they brought some serious firepower to take care of Azrael once and for all. They brought a Bazooka and literally blew him to bits. It was so over the top and awesome.
As for Selina breaking into Arkham… It’s quite hilarious because when she is breaking in, Nygma is attempting to break out. They meet up and help one another with what they are trying to do; although, I feel that Strange knew something like this was happening all along. She does eventually get down to Indian Hill, and indeed finds Firefly. It is clearly a trap as Mrs. Peabody and Strange are on the other side of the glass just waiting to see what Firefly does. It’s interesting because it seems like Selina is in a no win scenario, but one has to assume that she eventually finds an escape. Nygma, on the other hand gets caught the second he makes his way onto the roof.
