“Gotham” Recap “The Mask”: The Last Boy Scout

In the latest “Gotham” recap, Gordon and Bullock try to track down an office fight club where financial advisors are killing each other while Fish and Oswald try to find out secrets….

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Editor

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!

“Gotham” started to gain steam over the last two weeks to the point where I was gushing like a schoolgirl with a crush about how much progression this Batman without Batman series was making. My biggest issues the show had been the procedural “crime of the week” set up with too many characters getting tossed around like balloons, inevitably falling back to Earth when the plots went nowhere.

The past two weeks reaffirmed my faith in the show because the “Gotham” writers figured it out and ended up giving us back-to-back barnburners including the last episode, which was a nearly flawless effort from start to finish including the acting, writing and story.

Then the new episode debuted on Monday night titled “The Mask” and it was almost as if the last two weeks never happened. Here we are back to a criminal of the week plot with a few nods to the past couple of episodes, but generally not carrying on with the story. To make matters even worse, Barbara — a character played by an actress with real potential — went back to the dreadful, no personality hanger on that she was the first few weeks we encountered her on the show.

It was disappointing to see “Gotham” revert back to what it once was instead of embracing what it had become. That said, this could have just been a cool down episode before things ramp back up in another week. One of the biggest problems I think “Gotham” is going to encounter are the sheer number of episodes to fill this season. The total order is up to 22 episodes now where most shows of this ilk are done after 12 or 13. Stretching a series thin may give you more hours to fit into a TV scheduled, but if it spreads the stories too thin, it makes certain episodes nearly unwatchable.

“The Mask” is an example of this very strategy. That said, let’s get into the recap

Office Space

The episode opens this week with two random masked men in shirts, ties and suspenders battling it out in a Fight Club office setting. Like Edward Norton beating the shit out of himself except there were actually two guys in this fight. When the one nameless suit kills the other nameless suit, he takes off his mask and fist pumps towards a camera, signifying that somebody is watching in approval. Is this “The Running Man” with corporate stiffs? If only we could be so lucky.

The next day the dead man turns up near Gotham harbor with Gordon and Bullock on the case. Edward Nygma is acting as forensics agent on the case and he discovers a “Silence of the Lambs” type clue when he finds a gnarled piece of a thumb lodged in the victim’s mouth.

It’s clear back at the station that Gordon’s most recent stunts have landed him on the do-not-talk list for every cop in Gotham. Never mind the fact that he was abandoned by the lot of them when Victor Zsasz came calling a week ago and not a single person gave him backup until Bullock finally swallowed his pride and came to the aid of his partner. Now Gordon is the one getting the cold shoulder from everyone on the force as he tries to investigate this new murder.

A chat with the victim’s mother reveals that his day job was being a barista, but he was looking for work in the financial district. This leads Gordon and Bullock to a back alley surgeon who operates with no questions asked. They lean on him, but the only information the doctor is willing to give is a business card left behind by the mystery patient he had earlier in the day, presumably to sew up the stub left where his thumb once resided.

The business card leads Gordon and Bullock to a financial office run by Richard Sionis, a creepy Patrick Bateman/Gordon Gekko mix. He gives them the run around about warriors and masks and a bunch of other mumbo jumbo that basically announces that he’s the brains behind the whole operation. Outside, Gordon and Bullock notice the not so subtle fact that just about everyone in the office is covered in bruises, black eyes and cuts. But the one that catches their eye is the guy walking around with only nine fingers.

They chase him down and finally get him to give up the fact that Sionis runs a fight and your in, lose and your out style of job application. The people who want to work for him fight until one winner is left and that’s the person who gets the job. Brains and brawn, I suppose.

Why In the Hell Are You Still Here?

Poor Barbara’s storyline goes back to zilch this week because she’s one step away from just grabbing onto Jim’s ankle as he goes to work in the morning because he’s apparently the only thing important in her entire life. Doesn’t Barbara have a job? Couldn’t we give her a job?

This week she pops up drunk and paranoid when Jim comes home late and she’s got the gun out. Apparently spending 10 minutes with Victor Zsasz was more than enough to give her the creepies for a lifetime. The next day she apologizes for going overboard and promises to give the gun business a rest.

So Barbara decides to pursue a new career while Jim is working….oh no she decides to go back to college….oh wait, no she decides to stay at home and obsess over Jim by calling him multiple times because that’s all this character ever does! The second time when Jim more or less hangs up on her because he’s busy, she’s had enough. She leaves him a “Dear John” letter, packs a suitcase and leaves. Her own fucking apartment.

Whoever is in charge of writing for Barbara on the Gotham staff, please stop. Just stop. God forbid this series have more than one strong female character. Two would just send it into estrogen overload and the next thing you know this show goes from Batman to Charlie’s Angels! The point being, stop making Barbara’s entire point of being on “Gotham” to act as Jim’s pain in the ass girlfriend with no actual thoughts of her own. This is the second time in seven episodes that she’s left him and here’s a big secret I can reveal — she’s going to come back!

Inside Man

Both Falcone and Maroni disappear this week while handing the bad guy duties off to Fish Mooney and Oswald Cobblepot. The two former acquaintances meet to settle the grudge as ordered by their employers. Oswald presents Fish with a lovely broach (he stole) and in return she stabs him in the hand with it. She promises not to cause anymore bloodshed, and he agrees and we’re off and running.

Fish is working the angle with her girl Liza this week. She wants her plant to slip Falcone a mickey so he’ll get knocked out for a couple of hours so she can sneak into his private study, copy the last two pages of his ledger and hand the information over to her boss. This information is supposed to be so valuable, Fish could use it as blackmail if Falcone ever tries to retaliate against her.

Liza hesitates at first after revealing her role in Falcone’s life is that of a cook, a lover and a mother. In other words she cares for him. It might be easier to place that caring if we ever actually saw the two characters interact with each other, but that might be asking too much. She eventually assures Fish that there’s no hesitation and she’ll carry out the crime.

Later after stealing the ledger pages, Liza shows back up at Fish’s club to hand the information over to her boss. Liza is uneasy about this whole thing, but Fish eases her mind with a little story about Falcone’s ruthlessness. Once upon a time when Fish was just a guppy, her mother was a call girl and when she had one of Falcone’s men as a customer and he didn’t like the service, she was murdered. No retaliation, no recourse. Just a girl left as an orphan after her mother didn’t put out the right way to one of Falcone’s goons.

So Fish promises to never let anything bad happen to Liza because she knows what it’s like to lose someone she cares about. Fish makes Liza call her mommy before she leaves. Moments later we meet Fish’s mother, who is alive and well, and her entire story was bullshit.

Meanwhile, Oswald has kidnapped Fish’s new No. 2 man, the same role he once occupied. He has his men give him a beat down before hanging him upside down to get some answers. Eventually the stooge rolls over and gives up the only piece of information he has that’s valuable — Fish has somebody close to Falcone. He doesn’t know who and he doesn’t know for how long, but somebody is there. Oswald thanks him for the information and then has him killed. Oh and make sure to hide the body because we promised no more bloodshed!

No Laughing Matter

This week’s eye-rolling Bruce Wayne segment puts the little lord back at school on Alfred’s orders. Of course minutes into his day, Bruce is already being tormented by his classmates about his dead parents and if he saw the whole thing unfold. He eventually snaps and smacks a kid with his lunchbox. The kid fights back and beats the shit out of Bruce.

When he leaves school, Alfred notices the bloody nose and promises not to tell anyone what happened. So what’s Alfred’s solution? Why give Bruce his father’s watch to use as brass knuckles, drive him to the bully’s house and then stand there while he beats the shit out of him in return! Yes, this all actually happened.

In the end, Alfred even threatens the kid not to tell anyone. Seriously!

Bruce smirks and walks away while asking Alfred to teach him to fight because that’s what he needs right now after going sociopath for a few minutes while the kid he beat up lays on the ground with blood smeared across his face. As a matter of fact, little Tommy (I think that was his name) has the red stuff strewn in such a way that it almost looks like a clown’s makeup. Like maybe something The Joker would one day wear….

Just saying.

Lone Ranger

Fed up with the lack of support from his fellow officers, Gordon races off to find Sionis himself and tracks him to an abandoned office building. The only problem is Sionis is ready for him and ends up pitting Gordon in an anything goes (including staplers) death match against three of his prospective employees. Gordon fights them off and wins the day but then Siones shows up as well and the real fight is on.

Back at the station, Bullock is trying to rally the troops to help him find Gordon, but no one is biting. Bullock finally snaps and reads them the riot act for being a bunch of selfish assholes.

“Now listen up you sons of bitches — some of you don’t like Gordon. Fine, he can be a total ass hat, but he is still a cop and not one of you, not one, stood up when he needed it. That ain’t happening twice!”
~ Bullock

The Captain is the first to volunteer followed by the rest of the force as they go on the search to find Gordon. When the Captain ends up being the first person on the scene, she finds Gordon finally getting the upper hand on Sionis before helping to save his life when the masked psycho almost stabs him with a sword.

The day is saved, criminal foiled. Rinse, wash, repeat from like four other episodes this season.

Back at the station, Gordon is still grand standing even though Bullock managed to get the other cops to help him out. Earlier in the episode Bullock accused Gordon of still living during war times in his head. He’s always looking for the next target. He’s always looking for someone to fight. Gordon disagrees.

“You know you were wrong, what you said earlier. It’s not that I love fighting, but I’m not afraid to either. If we don’t fight for this city, who will? I’m not going to stop, Harvey. Falcone, the Mayor, every cop I know that’s dirty, I’m going to get em. You should know that.”
~ Gordon

I’m pretty sure judging by his final diatribe that Gordon loves Gotham more than he loves Barbara. I could be wrong, but that’s what I took away from it. Oh and one final thing — Selina Kyle pops back up this episode after getting busted stealing from a local store. As soon as she’s arrested, she name drops Gordon again and he comes running. Because it worked out so well for him the last time.

How about you? How did you feel about this latest episode of “Gotham”. Leave your thoughts in the comments below and come back for the next episode of “Gotham” next Monday night at 8pm ET on FOX.