Episode four of Gotham, “New Day Rising,†is an early turning point for the various villains across Gotham City. It appears that Mad Hatter is going to be getting Madder, and Oswald Cobblepot is adding a new job to his resume. Oh how far Cobblepot has come from being the umbrella man.
Jervis Tetch has been an interesting character thus far, and things only get crazier for him. In this episode, he recruits some muscle from the local luchadore club (or whatever it would be considered) aptly named Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Their ridiculousness aside for the moment, when they begin their assault on GCPD, the rag-tag group begins jumping around, and GCPD thinks that it’s… funny? Gotham is a place full of all kinds of terrors and oddities, and the fellow GCPD officers don’t for a second think that something might be up? First it was Victor Zsasz waltzing into the precinct in season one and now Jervis and his minions; the GCPD is completely inadequate in any semblance of security.
As for Jervis, his creepy overbearing nature finally came to a head as he (figuratively) pushed Alice off a ledge where she was impaled. Jervis, at first, played the role of worried brother to Alice, but we get to know how twisted his reality actually is. We learn that the way he “teaches†her not to run away from him, is by stealing her blood and creating a franken army of sorts. While we didn’t see Jervis after the death of Alice, it will surely leave a lasting impact on this season of Gotham going forward.
Since Alice’s blood affects everyone differently, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with Captain Barnes after some of her blood dripped into his eye. We do see a brief second when he appears to hulk out, but he reverts back to his normal form.
This episode just so happens to be one of the best episodes for Jim Gordon as well. There are certain episodes where he feels little more than a bookend, but we finally get to see a more dynamic Jim Gordon. Lee’s arrival sent him into a tailspin, but he finally recovers. He allowed himself to be vulnerable, for once, and he has finally come to terms with Lee’s decision to leave him. The only sequence I didn’t like with Jim was the questionable slowmo when he broke free from Jervis’ mind control. It looked a tad cheesy, especially for a show that usually has some solid camera work.
Cobblepot’s scenes were vintage Cobblepot. He played the role and somehow has come out on top as the candidate for the people. It is interesting though, that him getting Nygma out of Arkham could come as a detriment to himself. Nygma was already able to become Cobblepot’s right-hand man after he took back all the money that Butch used to coerce people to support Cobblepot. Nygma certainly is still as cunning as ever, and it’ll be interesting to see if this is what eventually leads to the downfall of his mayorship.
Finally, Bruce actually had some pretty telling scenes in this episode. At one point, emo Bruce explains that the entire reason that he went out as actual Bruce was because he finally felt something as a “person†would and that was the feelings he felt for Selina. When he mentions that he kissed Selina and then proceeds to jump out the window, actual Bruce is legitimately shook. He finally sees that his reluctance to allow himself to become closer to Selina could be a detriment to them actually having a physical relationship going forward.
