The fifth chapter in Gotham was perhaps the strongest one so far in the show’s debut season. All the plans seem to be revealing themselves and we reach new levels of corruption in the form of Wayne Enterprises. Bruce’s direct interactions with Wayne officials  were crucial and it marked the best outing by actor David Mazouz. His newfound obsession with weeding out the bad eggs in Wayne Enterprises is actually interesting and something I look forward to watching play out, especially with Alfred apparently joining in on the investigation. It validates Bruce and Alfred being in every episode without it feeling like a cop out. Other aspects of the show were very entertaining as well from the introduction of Viper, soon to become Venom, and the scenes featuring Sal Maroni, played by David Zayas.
Viper/Venom was a nice little tidbit to the future of the Batverse that wasn’t totally unbelievable and lends credit to the eventual Batman who is driven to clean the streets from the drug that was seemingly created in his own company. The company that might in fact be the worst villain of the show so far. Think about this, the official Bruce spoke with at the charity ball was a corrupt woman named Mathis. Mathis is the name for one of DC Dollmakers, in the second episode, villains Doug and Patti claimed to be working for a Dollmaker. Is this woman indeed the Dollmaker? Connections like this are the necessary steps the show writers need to take so the show can continue to evolve.
POSITIVES
The developments made by Sal Maroni and Bruce Wayne were crucial to the success of this week’s episode. Bruce undergoes his first “unofficial” detective case with a little help by Alfred and Sal Maroni shows he’s as determined to stake his claim as the Kingpin of Gotham than anyone. It was pretty damn dumb for Oswald to outright tell Maroni the whole truth but it resulted in having Jim Gordon tied to yet another mob boss, how long has this guy been working here so far?
The ending of the episode was very pleasing as we witness Fish’s “weapon” in her newest addition Liza springing into action as she seduces Carmine Falcone. This will be very interesting to watch play out as now Fish has made steps to acquire the ammunition she needs to take Falcone down.
With these developments plus Wayne Enterprises possibly setting itself up as the “big bad” of this season, it definitely makes for a fun watch.
NEGATIVES
Suddenly Gordon and Bullock have become the most boring pair in the show. Sure watching Harvey get thrown through a door was fun enough, but their adventures don’t mesh well with the overall tone of the show.
VERDICT
“Viper” is a great episode that  shows off plans coming to fruition that will all hopefully lead up to this “war” Oswald was going on about. Wayne Enterprises being set up as the bad guy of the show is a brilliant idea and hopefully one that will not go quietly into the night. Gotham is a hit for this week.
RATING
