Good Morning, Gotham

Jim and Harvey start their day, and this week’s episode, engaging in some good old fashioned police brutality. Using tactics eerily similar to those practiced by our favorite Maniax, Jim and Harvey decide the best way to send a message about how far they’ll go to avenge the deaths of Commissioner Sarah Essen and 9 other GCPD colleagues is to toss interviewees out a window after questioning them.

Across town, Theo interrupts an enthusiastic morning make-out session between Barbara and Tabitha to urge Tabitha to begin her daily torture-related tasks with Jerome, leaving Theo alone with Barbara for a villain-to-villain, heart-to-heart about how far Theo is willing to go to avenge wrongs against his ancestors. Theo claims his family literally built Gotham, but that their legacy has been erased. His mission is “to punish those who wronged us, reclaim what is ours.” And, when he’s done, he vows to help Barbara achieve her dreams – to destroy Jim Gordon, body and soul.

Is Theo referring to his specific family? Is he claiming to be a descendant of the Lenape Native Americans who originally occupied New York City or the descendants of African slaves brought to New York in the 1600’s to provide free labor after European immigrants displaced the Lenape Native Americans? Either scenario would make for an intriguing storyline.  (TV Juriste is intrigued by this storyline  . . . are you?)

“Every Evil Bastard Was Just a Kid Once”

After cracking a proverbial whip to get the rest of his colleagues fired up to find Jerome, Jim and Harvey head out to interview Jerome’s father, the blind psychic, whom we met in Season 1.

They’re too late.

Jerome and Tabitha got there first. Although Jerome reveals a childhood filled with regular beatings from his mother and her various boyfriends, he’s not there primarily to avenge his inner child; it’s part of Theo’s plot. Jerome plants fake letters to make it appear as if Jerome’s dad was responsible for helping Jerome break out of Arkham, distracting the police from Theo. That’s not all they planted. They left behind more of the toxic gas Theo used to break Jerome and the gang out of Arkham, enough to leave Jim and Harvey feeling woozy.

There’ll Be Magicians

After a busy day of interviewee tossing, proverbial whip cracking, and toxic fume sniffing, Jim ends the day in no mood to attend a benefit gala Dr. Pretty is hosting for a children’s hospital. You should have gone, Jim, not just because of the magician. Well, actually, the magician is exactly why Jim should have attended the gala. More on that in minute.

First, a few tidbits about the gala, which is attended by Gotham’s 1%, including Lil Bruce Wayne and Deputy Mayor Harrison Crane who’s filling in since Mayor’s James’s mysterious disappearance (remember he’s the Mayor in a Box, Theo and Tabitha tortured in last week’s episode).

• Unrequited love is in the air. Alfred takes an instant liking to Dr. Pretty, even inquiring if she’d be interested in joining him some night soon to watch Netflix and chill. (That may not be exactly what he said, but his intentions couldn’t have been clearer if Marvin Gaye’sSexual Healing had been playing in the background.).
• Alfred’s not the only one working the room. Lil Bruce Wayne spots Selina heads for her to get his lil mack on, but he’s rebuffed. Selina’s busy picking pockets.
• We briefly meet the Deputy Mayor as he experiences that awkward moment when intrigue turns to revulsion. Tabitha interrupts the Deputy Mayor’s playful attempts to get Theo to divulge information about himself, so the Deputy Mayor asks Tabitha to offer up a tidbit about her brother. Her response – “he’s a monster in bed.”

Now back to the magician. The original one is a no show (he’s tied up, literally, by Tabitha), and the replacement is none other than our favorite Ginger, Jerome, with his lovely, assistant, Barbara, looking more and more like she could be Harley Quinn from the Batman universe. Both wear masks.

For his first trick, Jerome calls Lil Bruce Wayne to the stage, by name.

Foreboding music swells…

– Page 2 at TVJuriste.com –

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