We peruse Gotham and its plights in the latest episode, “Everyone Has A Cobbelpot,†and it was one of the better episodes of the Freshman series. The show seems to have made the choice to avoid the villain-of-the-week mechanic and seems to be better for that choice.
Early in the episode, it appeared that all Gordon’s work of cleaning up the GCPD was quickly undone. Flass was set free by a secret witness, soon to be revealed as Bullock, and was not only set free, but also will become the president of GCPD Policemen Union. You know, because that’s how Gotham works. But finally, after Gordon and Dent couldn’t get Commissioner Loeb to budge on his decision to free Flass, he gets to work with an old “partner.†Out of necessity, Gordon needed someone that worked with Falcone and might know what Loeb is hiding. None other than Cobblepot is the answer.
It’s interesting how early in the season Gordon refused to work with Cobblepot after his method proved to be a bit drastic, but now, he seemingly has no choice. The only way Cobblepot agrees to be a part of the duo is that he gets five minutes alone with Loeb’s secret files and a “no questions asked favor,†and Gordon agrees, albeit with much consternation by Bullock. For once, Bullock is the level-headed one after explaining to Gordon that everyone has a Cobblepot. It’s something you will have to deal with forever and is similar to making a deal with the devil. The trio is the first we’ve seen on Gotham, and it provided some pretty funny banter.
Of course they do indeed find what Loeb was hiding, a pretty deranged girl Miriam, his daughter, who makes necklaces out of bird bones. She does a great job of making Cobblepot seem pretty normal. While Cobblepot is in charge of keeping the elderly couple in-check, Gordon and Bullock talk with Miriam and discover that she was the one that killed her mom, and it wasn’t an accident. Bingo! They have their dirt on Loeb and all is done. Except, Cobblepot somehow couldn’t keep the two people in line. After dealing with Cobblepot so often, they trusted him to actually do his job? GCPD’s finest indeed. We later learn that he let them go and said he could get them to Arizona, but there’s only one ticket and they would have to choose who gets to go. The Mrs. quickly strangles the man and thinks she wins, but the cold-blooded Penguin remarks that she was just helping him because he only had one shell left. And boom, he blows her away. It’s great seeing Cobbelpot get back to his ruthless roots and move on from the pretty lackluster appearances in the previous few episodes.
With the newly found intel, Gordon pressures Loeb into handing over the dirt on Bullock, try Flass fairly and make himself the President of the Policeman Union. Such a boon on all accounts. Hopefully his new position will allow him to actually clean up GCPD. Having said that, it’s strange that Loeb thought having his daughter locked up in a cellar was better than being at Arkham. Yes, Arkham doesn’t seem that much better per se, but it can’t be much worse than being locked from just about any human contact. Such is Gotham I suppose.
On the other side of the coin we have Fish Moony’s plotline. After having scooped her eye out last episode, she was given a blue one since that’s what they had on hand. She does indeed meet The Dollmaker, and the awkward dialogue ensues. I am not sure if it’s her delivery or the dialogue she was given, but it just comes off as flat. While she always seems to have all the trump cards, The Dollmaker shows the kinds of experiments he’s conducting. One of them was partially turning his previous right hand assistant into a women. Some nice CGI going on there for sure. She is then shown that it’s not like she is going anywhere because as The Dollmaker pulls back the curtain, the compound sits on an island. So, they might as well work together. I feel it should have had more impact than it did, but for some reason I just wasn’t feeling it.
Interestingly enough, there was only a single scene with Bruce and Alfred. Their relationship is exceptional in this episode, and we get to see a new emotion from Bruce. Up until now, Alfred has been the more outspoken of the two, but after Alfred tries to leave the hospital, Bruce orders him to stay in bed. It’s great seeing that Bruce spoke up to him, as he usually just goes with what Alfred says and doesn’t seem to speak his thoughts.
