Gotham 01×04 – Arkham (SPOILERS)
SPOILERS
So, Oswald is dumb and goes to visit Gordon, but he has a plan. He wants to help Gordon with the upcoming gang wars, and about the political issue of Arkham. Using the police to help you rise to the top of Gotham’s underworld through truth and justice is kind of perfect.
Meanwhile, since Gotham is such a shitty city, someone is killing someone. This time, it’s a mysterious man who goes up to a councilman and his aide to ‘show them something’. It looks like a kaleidoscope after it’s put together, and the aide is TOTALLY FUCKING STUPID and puts the thing to his eye. A knife comes out and kills him. What, are you new in Gotham?? Never put your eye against something that someone pulled out of a briefcase! He stabs the councilman and admits that he did vote the dude.
Fish is auditioning talent, and a pretty singer is up on stage. Fish asks to be seduced, but isn’t impressed. She doesn’t want a cute girl. She wants a weapon. Things are brewing.
The mayor is having a talk to the press about how to develop Arkham City (just don’t listen to Hugo Strange and make it a supermax city prison like in… well, Arkham City). The Waynes had an initial plan to raze the shantytown that’s there now, and build affordable housing, and a new mental health facility (they don’t call them asylums anymore). But, the Marone clan has a different plan. The councilman that was killed supported the Wayne project, but then another councilman has been abducted who is one of Marone’s men. This spark (LITERALLY! The dude is burned alive in a barrel just outside the Asylum’s doors!) will start a gang war between the Marone and Falcone families.
And Arkham looks properly creepy! Just sayin’. It’s just as iconic to the city of Gotham as the Batcave is, so it kind of has to be right. It won’t be the same as in the Batman era with The Joker in there (a new level of crazy for the city), but it has lore all its own. Factoid for the maybe two people who don’t know – it was named after fictitious town Arkham, Mass. which is featured in the works of HP Lovecraft.
Riddler sighting!! <3 He points out that there were puncture wounds in both bodies. Gordon points out that the same dude working for both crime families is crazy, and Harvey takes the words out of all our mouths and says pretty much “hey, get used to Gotham!” They decide to hit up one of Harvey’s ‘friends’. He’s got a lot of scumbag friends. It’s like he’s the Kevin Bacon of Gotham. They find out from a prisoner that the guy’s name is Richard Gladwell. So, they go to his work, and he’s got the kaleidoscope of death at the ready when Gordon tails him into the back, alone. He’s been almost killed enough times going in without backup that you think he’d stop doing that by now.
After the commerical, Gordon gets called away from Gladwell by Bullock. They find articles about the councilmen in his desk. They hear a noise in the back, and scare the piss out of a woman who thinks it’s because she’s stealing a box of staples. They find a piece of paper with the letters C, L, and M on it.
Gordon and Barbara also have a conversation about Oswald Cobblepot. Gordon wants to know how she found out about him, but then connects the dots to Montoya. They have a fight because Barbara only now just tells him that they were in a relationship, and he goes TOTAL hypocrite mode and gets mad because she lied. She JUST brought up something that he was lying about! If Barbara can’t keep a secret about you fake-killing someone for the good of the city, maybe she’s not the girl you should be marrying, Jim.
Meanwhile, Marone’s fave stereotypical Italian mob restaurant is hit by Falcone’s men. They have a money laundering biz in the back, and all the money is stolen, and most of the people shot up, including the manager. They find Oswald in a freezer, stammering and pleading about how he got some of the money, but wishing that he got more. Marone is furious about the hit to his restaurant, but appreciates what Oswald did, and stops him from stammering about not getting all the money again by promoting him to manager. From dishwasher to manager in about a week or two. Nice. Everything’s coming up Oswald!
Turns out everything about Richard Gladwell was fake, and the real one was a 5-year old corpse in his apartment, so now they have no leads, except for CLM, and the Arkham vote is the next day. Harvey decides to work the case ‘his own way’, which means visiting Fish, who’s auditioning another girl. The seducing goes much better, and Fish looks plenty satisfied after the kiss. I think Liza has the job. Harvey is asking about the councilmen, and Fish says that if Falcone loses the vote, it will prove he’s old and weak. She doesn’t hide that she wants him to go down, and points out that she has a Plan B. Like her little singer friend.
Gordon gets a call from Oswald about a hit going down tonight. Gordon looks up the police protection, and figures out that the Mayor’s the next target. The Mayor takes his sweet-ass time getting stuff from his safe, and Gordon’s alone with a murderous villain without backup AGAIN. They get into a big tussle, and Gladwell has the best of Gordon until Harvey comes in and saves his butt. Again. Harvey always comes in for the glory moments, and avoids all the work. He’s the best and being a lazy cop.
Barbara and Jim have another talk, and she apologizes for not telling him the truth (even though she leaves out the junkie part). Jim still refuses to talk about Oswald, so Barbara gives him an ultimatum – let her in, or let her go. He doesn’t answer, so she walks off.
Oswald goes to visit an apartment with a nice pretty box. Turns out it’s the robbers from the restaurant – that he hired! He offers them canole, which you know is TOTALLY poisoned. Again, are these guys new to Gotham?! With every passing second, I’m falling more and more in love with Oswald.
The vote for Arkham is a split decision, and the whole thing was orchestrated by Oswald. After all his dudes are dead, he picks up the rest of the money and saunters out. Bruce is disappointed because his parents had a vision for Arkham that would have given Gotham hope. Bruce also wonders if Gordon can really save Gotham. Cleaning up the police station is possible, but all of Gotham? Leave that up to an emotionally scarred vigilante who dresses like a giant bat.
