This review contains spoilers.
In this episode, Penguin attempts to kill Galavan.
As usual, this episode deals with several different plot lines. In the main story, Penguin starts to target Galavan after Tabatha kills Penguin’s mother. Meanwhile, Gordon starts to put together that Galavan may not be who he claims to be. While that was going on, Cat meets Silver St. Cloud who reveals that she is in on Galavan’s plan. However, Bruce is a moron and doesn’t believe Cat. Meanwhile, Nygma tries to find Ms. Kringle’s body after his second personality hid the body in the G.C.P.D.
Positives
My favorite thing in this episode is that Gordon figures out that Galavan isn’t on the level. While it is ridiculous that it took him this long, it is a relief that Gordon knows that Galavan is a bad guy. It was no fun to watch Gordon be clueless while Galavan was obviously up to something. I also feel that through the Firefly story, Gordon has grown. He seems to be slightly calmer after what happened to Firefly and is trying to think about things. Before, he relied on instinct and rage but he is starting to finally use his brain. It’s fun to watch believable character growth on this show.
Bullock gets more to do this episode than he has in the first six and that’s fantastic. Bullock has a couple of great moments. One of my favorite lines from the episode is, “That’s above my pay grade and below my sense of wonder.” He just gets great dialogue.
Negatives
I am incredibly bummed that Silver is evil. I was enjoying watching her with Bruce; I thought they were cute. And the actress isn’t really convincing as evil. She can play a cute kid well but master manipulator seems beyond the skills of someone her age. Additionally, Cat and Bruce act like complete idiots. I do like that the trope of chicks being Bruce’s kryptonite is carried over but it is questionable here. And then, Silver straight up tells Cat that she’s evil and instead of telling Bruce what Silver said, Cat is just mean to Silver in front of Bruce. She doesn’t even try to explain what happened. The problem could easily be resolved if they just talked but they don’t. And if Bruce won’t listen, she can go to Alfred. Galavan’s plan is entirely dependent on the stupidity of others which is frustrating. It just feels lazy.
Edward Nygma is in an entirely different show. While Cory Michael Smith is fantastic, his story has nothing to do with anything. The only plot connection Nygma has is occasionally talking to Lee. The scenes are typically fun but they’re pointless.
Verdict
This is the weakest episode of the season. While I love Gordon in this and Bullock gets some funny moments, there is just too much going on. Galavan, Tabatha and Silver are not convincing villains and everyone is just made dumber to make them seem smart. And then, we have to waste time on a Nygma subplot and it takes out a lot of enjoyment. Overall, the episode is decent but this story needs to get much tighter.
