Gotham Recap ‘Arkham’: The Great Compromise

The hidden secrets behind Arkham are revealed in this latest Gotham recap as Gordon tries to stop an assassination triggered by two warring crime families

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

What is Arkham?

For Batman comic book fans or even casual fans of the Batman movies, Arkham has always been an asylum housing the criminally insane from Jonathan Crane’s Scarecrow to the clown prince of crime, The Joker. It’s an iconic piece of Batman lore that as of a week ago on ‘Gotham’ was nothing more than a run down, dilapidated building referenced briefly by the Captain at the police station.

This week’s episode was titled ‘Arkham’ so we got right into the thick of the real meaning behind what this exactly meant and what resulted was probably the best hour of Gotham thus far in the show’s infancy.

Oswald Cobblepot came home to roost while offering to be Jim Gordon’s eyes and ears on the street and a hitman started seeking out city councilmen who could have an influence on an important vote coming up that will change Gotham forever.

The Crime of the Week

So far the Gotham plots of essentially been the same with a crime being committed that eventually falls into the laps of Detectives Gordon and Bullock, who then have to spring into action to save the day. It’s a cop show trope as old as the ‘good cop-bad cop’ trick, but in the early going of this show gaining momentum it works and so far hasn’t gotten tiring. Hopefully as the series expands and finds out what the loyal fan base will be, stories will get a bit more intricate and drawn out.

That said — this week’s show focuses around a professional assassin named Gladwell, who is killing city councilmen. Why is he killing them you ask? Well, it seems it all revolves around the two major crime families in town — the Falcones and the Maronis — and the proposed Arkham project.

Arkham, as it turns out, was at one time an asylum for the criminally insane, but it was also expected to be the site of a multi-million dollar renovation plotted by the Wayne family to provide low-income housing for less fortunate families, a thriving new business district as well as a hospital to offer top notch care for the mentally ill. This was the same plan Carmine Falcone bought into because he was going to receive all the housing contracts for his construction companies to do the work. Salvatore Maroni isn’t on board, however, because his plan involves a huge waste removal station being built in place of the housing projects so his family can reap the rewards.

The assassin — unbeknownst to both families — is being paid to knock off councilmen who were going to vote one way or the other. They both hired the same mercenary so he’s just doing his job when he knocks of one of each side’s paid politicians in an effort to sway the vote to the winning side. When the Mayor becomes the final target of the assassin due to his original support of the Wayne vision, things get messy in a hurry. This entire story surrounding the development of Arkham City could be the very catalyst that led to the Wayne family’s murder.

To compound matters, young Bruce Wayne is distraught to no end thinking about his father’s vision going to waste as the city battles it out for the highest bid. He just wants the world as his father saw it, but unfortunately those rose colored glasses got him shot and his son will soon have to learn that in the real world, your hands have to get dirty every now and again. Or as the Joker said once upon a time — if you’re going to make an omelet, you’ve got to break a few eggs.

The Bird Flies Home

The tail end (no pun intended) of last week’s Gotham saw Oswald Cobblepot show up at Jim Gordon’s door to announce that he was back in town to say hello to his ‘old friend’. As things pick up this week, Oswald is very busy at work not only endearing himself to Gordon as a new source inside the mob, but also finding a way to ingratiate himself to the Maroni crime family as well. He begrudgingly gets Gordon on board with his confidential informant plan before springing into action at his dishwashing job at Maroni’s restaurant.

When three thieves break in and kill the manager in an effort to make off with two duffel bags full of Maroni’s money, Oswald sacrifices himself by grabbing one of the bags and locking himself inside the restaurant freezer. When Maroni and his No. 2 discover the loyalty that Oswald showed, they bump him to restaurant manager because it’s clear they’ll need one now. They they don’t know, however, is that the men who robbed the place were hired by Oswald to pull off the job. There’s only one more loose string to tie up and as the old saying goes three can keep a secret if two of them are dead.

Oswald laces some cannolis with poison and soon enough his paid help is dead, he’s walking off with a bag full of Maroni’s money and he’s now one step closer to making himself completely invaluable to the mob boss.

He also manages to hold down his other part of the bargain when he gives Gordon the tip he needs to track down who the assassin is going after next, which proves to be a valuable piece of information needed to capture him before he kills again.

One more thing — Robin Lord Taylor, who plays Oswald Cobblepot, has not only been the best part of Gotham thus far, but he’s proven to be outright amazing in not only his delivery, but his mannerisms. He’s got a creepy cool about him and a psychotic charm that will evolve over time into the megalomaniac umbrella wielding gangster that we all know and love. In terms of casting, this one deserves a rousing applause.

The Forgettables

As good as it was on this week’s Gotham, there were still a few ultra confusing and lackluster scenes.

First off was Fish Mooney’s strange encounters as she groomed a new protégé out of a Breathless Mahoney type at her nightclub. One girl sang well but failed when it came time to seduce her. The other girl sounded like she would have gotten shelled by Simon Cowell, but then had the lustful vibe that no one could resist. In the end, Fish had them fight for the position and the sultry sex god won out, but to what end? I’m sure this will play into a bigger plot next week because my guess would be she’s going to sic her sexy new plaything onto a male counterpart who is thinking with the wrong head.

And once again, Barbara’s scenes are wasted and pointless as she continues to be the least effective character in the show (not the fault of actress Erin Richards, who is doing a fine job). The problem with Barbara is her undying obsession as Jim’s fiancée with no other discernable personality of her own. She swoons in the brief moments Jim pays attention to her and then apparently fades into the mist until he returns. In ‘Arkham’, she confronts Jim about all the secrets he’s keeping and how he’s not letting her in on his life. This is before she confesses to him about her past relationship with Montoya, who just happened to be a woman, and by the end of the scene she was apologizing to him! When she finally confronts Jim about Oswald Cobblepot’s murder and his role in the crime, he dummies up and says nothing as she storms out of the police station in a huff after ending their relationship.

Based on the first few weeks of this show, we won’t see Barbara again until she’s reattached to Jim’s hip. To the producers of Gotham — stop wasting what could be a vibrant and vital character to this show. Barbara doesn’t have quite the roadmap that characters like Bruce Wayne or Jim Gordon are supposed to follow so use her to create new inroads and please, please, please, give her something to do other than sit around an apartment, one step away from officially becoming stereotypical 1950’s housewife.

The Great Compromise

With help from Fish Mooney to track down the assassin to his actual place of business, Gordon and Bullock come up short capturing him, but they do manage to prove he was the one stalking and killing the councilmen. The also find a clue that reads CLM, but no other markings or explanation what the message meant.

Thanks to the tip provided by Oswald, Gordon is able to decipher the code as the last names of the three cops who were working overtime that night providing protection to the remaining councilmen and the mayor of Gotham. Gordon rushes to the mayor’s house because it appears he will be the final target to sway the vote on Arkham.

Gordon makes it just in the nick of time and after an effective fight and chase sequence through the mayor’s house, it appears that Gladwell is going to get the drop on the newly minted detective. Thankfully, Bullock shows up and fires a few bullets into the assailant, followed up by a few more from Gordon and he falls dead to the ground. Before he passes away, Gladwell has one more token of information to pass along — mobsters and crime families hire professionals because they get the job done.

As it turns out, he was correct.

The mayor doesn’t die, but what the attempted assassination does is scare him straight so he doesn’t stray too far away from either gangster’s plan for Arkham. The new city landscape will include low-income housing, a rebuilt asylum and a new state of the art waste management station. Falcone and Maroni both give up a little to get a lot. Bruce Wayne isn’t happy with the compromise, neither is Jim Gordon, but this was the only way to settle the peace and try to make Arkham into something rather than a smoldering pile of rubbish.

Despite a couple of weak points, Gotham was better than ever this week with a focused storyline and plot development instead of branches going in three different directions like last week’s episode. The show is still finding out how to crawl, but all signs are pointing towards an eventual evolution to walking by the end of season one. The good news is Gotham got picked up for a full season order on Monday with six additional episodes being filmed bringing the episode count to 22 in total.

Tune in next Monday night at 8pm ET when ‘Gotham’ returns!