“Burn The Witch,” the second episode of the Sophomore season of Gotham, is slowly leading the show to some potentially interesting place; although, I’m not really sure in what direction.
Burn The Witch has given us two of the better “sentimental†scenes in the spot on dark and gritty Gotham Universe. At one point, Oswald Cobblepot is confronted with a huge decision. A decision which would have take him only seconds to decide previously, but things are different now. Cobblepot thinks he really only has himself, that is after his mother was murdered by Tabitha and his father’s side of the family tried to kill him, and he subsequently turned them into dinner. But, there is one person in this Gotham universe that played a huge role in him becoming who he is today, and that’s none other than Fish Mooney.
Fish is such an interesting character NOW, mainly because I couldn’t stand her last season. But somehow, she seems to really fit into this season thus far. The moment where she explains that she always had a soft spot for Oswald and that he was her umbrella boy, was surprisingly tender. The fact that Oswald didn’t kill her right on the spot, shows that he is much smarter and more deliberate than one may have first thought.
The other scene which was one of the best in this episode was the ending scene between Bruce and Alfred. After Bruce faced the Court and a masked woman named Katherine made him as proposition to stop looking into his parent’s death, Bruce and Alfred talk about what he is going to do with all the free time he all of a sudden has. Alfred doesn’t believe that he will actually stop looking into his parent’s untimely demise, but Bruce seems to be deadset on getting passed it, at this exact moment anyway. When discussing what he will do now, Alfred suggestions dancing and gives us his best twirl. It was such a light-hearted moment in a pretty dark episode, and certainly a nice change of pace… that is until emo Bruce breaks in. Aside from Wayne Manor being such an easy target for literally anyone to break into, I’m interested where they are going with this emo-Bruce because he just seems to pop up randomly in episodes.
Gordon did pretty much what he had done in the previous episodes. He is pretty much only out for some cash, but Valerie Vale is there to make things interesting. Her bubbly personality compliments his standoffish attitude perfectly, and the two even share an intimate kiss. Cue an absolutely spectacular shot of Lee Thompkins walking beside a train. This show does a tremendous job conveying the dark, grittiness of Gotham, but that short 15 second scene was on another level. It will be interesting to see the dynamic between Jim and his various ladies (Valerie, Barbara and Lee).
As it pertains to Barbara, I can see where some may not like her, but she is turning into one of my favorite characters. She is absolutely nuts, or my theory is that she is playing everyone beautifully. They assume she is just some crazed psychopath, but I certainly think there’s more to her than that. Let’s hope we learn more of that later.
This also appeared to be the big reveal for the new Ivy, and it was sadly underwhelming. Her storyline this week was essentially her washing ashore, getting some scantily-clad clothes from a random guy and killing him because he threw away a plant. There wasn’t much explanation as to anything else, and I’m not sold on how the interaction will be between her and such a young Bruce.
