[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers.]
Director: Eagle Egilsson
Writer: Robert Hull
Stars: Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue & David Mazouz
Summary
The Mad Hatter continues to hunt his sister Alice while Gordon tries to break free of the Mad Hatter’s spell.
Positives
A big segment of the episode is centered on Penguin running for mayor and his relationship with Nygma. And weirdly, their bromance is really charming. I am way more invested in their relationship than I am in the relationship between Gordon and Lee. It’s bizarrely heart warming how much these two care for each other.
The Mad Hatter is terrifying in this one. He was creepy last week but they hold nothing back now. Every scene with him will either cause you to laugh from madness or soil yourself from terror. Benedict Samuel continues to be absolutely wonderful as one of Gotham’s best villains so far. He is so effective.
There is some seriously creepy imagery and subject matters broached here. They don’t do a lot with it but the idea still sticks in your head during every scene.
Negatives
I thought some of Gordon’s guilt and regret would have to do with his execution of Galavan but nope. That would be too interesting. All of Gordon’s conflict as a character comes from the fact that Lee has a new boyfriend. I just don’t care. I don’t understand how his current outlook results from what happened with Lee. It could be the miscarriage but it is never brought up. The writers just keep making Gordon more and more unlikable every week. Harvey, Gordon and Lee are directly responsible for the death of an innocent because they just had to do things themselves. And no one feels bad about it. Harvey acts like he made the right call. I guess I just need to give up on the idea of redemption for these characters. There are no heroes on this show; there are just people who aren’t as crazy as the others. I feel like I need a straight man to navigate this. Bruce and Alfred aren’t involved enough in the main story to help with that in any way and everyone else is nuts now.
The Bruce subplot with his clone is still incredibly boring. Again, I just don’t care. It’s not fun to watch a clone of Bruce try to hit on Selina and then watch a typically smarter character like Selina act like a complete idiot. She has to see the weird scars before she realizes it even though it’s so obvious. And the kiss between the clone and Selina is super creepy and weird. And then the clone brags about his forceful kiss to Bruce. It’s just gross.
Verdict
This episode is okay. Everything with Mad Hatter is absolutely wonderful especially during this time of year. It’s surreal and messed up in all the right ways. And I love the bromance between Nygma and Penguin. But all of the melodrama with the other characters is very dull.
Easter Eggs
The Court of Owls make another appearance. Or at least, that one lady from the Court and her Phantom-Talon make an appearance.
The music cues during scenes with the Bruce clone sound very reminiscent of Danny Elfman’s cues for Catwoman in Batman Returns. It may be a coincidence but considering how much this show is influenced by the Tim Burton films, it may have been intentional.
