Gotham “Strike Force” Review

With the unexpected death of Jerome still weighing heavy on our hearts, the skeptical speculation of a stagnant plot in his absence looms over our minds. This season has accomplished much plot development in the last three episodes than the entirety of every episode of last season combined. Would all the groundwork be laid for nothing post-death of Jerome? I know that I was not alone in placing a hold on my investment in Gotham leading into this week.

Here’s what we learned this week. Theo Galavan is slowly, but surely, unravelling his master plan to reclaim what his ancestors built. In case you are behind, I mean this quite literally, his ancestors built Gotham. This evil plan is coming into fruition as Galavan weasels his way into the public’s hearts by staging events in which he becomes the hero. Being a hero to the city obviously means you should run for mayor, and that he does. However, his campaign cannot be an honest one. Of course he needs to murder the other candidates. For his plot, he enlists the help of Penguin. After pitching his plan to Cobblepot, then being promptly shut down, Galavan unleashes his secret weapon. He has Penguin’s mother in an undisclosed location with a camera on her. So now he has Penguin, the crime boss of Gotham, eating out of the palm of his hand and thus he doesn’t have to worry about his opponents. The plot seriously thickens when Galavan attends dinner with Bruce Wayne. Young master Bruce just wanted to thank Theo for saving his life. Theo takes this opportunity to introduce his ward, Silver St. Cloud (Natalie Alyn). It becomes clear that Bruce and Silver will be attending school together at Gotham Prep. Dominos are going to start falling very quickly.

In other news, there is a new Commissioner, Captain Nathaniel Barnes (Michael Chiklis) and he means business. After instantly firing half of the Gotham PD staff for their misconducts, Barnes makes Gordon second in command. It becomes clear that they need more manpower so they go to the police academy and recruit some cadets. There’s a whole bit on Barnes and Gordon both being military men of different branches and the respect for the brethren of militia is endearing. The two find four suitable cadets and code name them 'Strike Force.'

This Strike Force is quickly put into use when Victor Zsasz starts shooting up one of the mayoral candidate’s campaign posts. Victor Zsasz ends up getting away. This seems a little arbitrary until we make the correlation that Zsasz works for Penguin, thus Penguin is now public enemy number one.
Meanwhile at prep school, Selina Kyle is waiting for Bruce when Alfred pulls up and promptly slaps her in the face, telling her to leave him alone and that Bruce’s life is better without her. She then sulks away and finds a street corner to sulk some more. Selina is a very sad kitty. Bruce had made a side comment last episode that he wants to train to be stronger and that he’ll do whatever it takes. Alfred makes him run six miles home.

Edward Nygma finally gets the girl! After a short fight with himself, he goes fifty shades of Rico Suave and asks Ms. Kringle over for dinner. He creates a gourmet meal out of test tubes and science. He quickly confesses that he has a voice in his head that keeps him from being clumsy, and they end the night with a kiss.

Penguin starts falling apart at the seams and confides in his body guard his insecurities and how it’s an absolute necessity that they get his mother back. The last scene is heartbreaking as Penguin is crying and screaming in front of a fireplace.

Okay, here’s what we know. The introduction of Silver St. Cloud is a pretty monumental key to the plot because Silver is an ongoing love interest for Bruce Wayne in the comics for decades. The introduction of her as Theo Galavan’s ward is an interesting plot arch, I wonder how Theo is going to use her to sway his stance. She seems blissfully unaware of her Uncle’s evil doings thus far but, it’s still entirely too early to tell. Also, how is Selina Kyle going to react when she sees the two of them together? Selina pretty much has every element attached to be Catwoman, however this love interest might just push her over the edge completely. 

Nygma is getting taken over more and more by his stronger personality, which is making him fun to watch. As a dynamic character it’s incredible to witness the descent from shy/awkward nerd to ballsy bad boy. Cory Michael Smith is doing an incredible job at portraying the jump in to insanity, and I for one am thoroughly enjoying being along for the ride.

Penguin is an absolute wreck and is unable to run the underground of crime in this state. Though I am happy to see his character being featured again after our brief love stint with Jerome, this is not how I want to see him. How is this going to resolve? My bet is that Cobblepot uses his manpower to overthrow Theo Galavan. It’s really the matchup of billions of dollars vs. reputation with the crime lords, and I think that this is the only case where the underdog would win.

I feel like every episode thus far has been an attempt to clean up Gotham from within. I’m a little bit tired of seeing Jim Gordon get his hopes up just to be shot down again and again. However, with the introduction of Captain Barnes and his “take no bullshit” attitude, I think we might be on to something, for once.

Things are getting interesting and I’m happy because we were definitely all a bit scared that things were going to go stale after the show-stopping performance that Cameron Monaghan gave us. If Gotham keeps at the pace they’re going, it’s possible that they can dig themselves out of the hole they’ve been living in. I’m not saying that Gotham is going to be able to sit with Arrow and Flash at lunch, but maybe they’ll wave at Gotham occasionally. Right now, that’s all we can ask for.