Gotham Review – S01E06 – Spirit Of The Goat

Tonight’s episode of Gotham, Spirit of the Goat, was a vast improvement from past episodes.  Concentrating on character motivations and development, Spirit of the Goat gave a glimpse of Gotham‘s potential in retelling the myth of a pre-Batman city.

Spoilerific Recap

We open ten years in the past.  A creepy, bald man keeps repeating, “I am the spirit of the goat.”  When he finally puts on a crude goat mask, his tone changes and becomes menacing.  He then declaratively states, “I AM THE SPIRIT OF THE GOAT!”, and punches the mirror.  On the balcony of a penthouse, the masked man, the Goat, attacks and abducts a young woman named Shelley Lawson.

At a compound of abandoned buildings, Harvey Bullock and his then partner Dix, pull up to a van registered to Randall Milkie — the Goat.  Bullock steps out to investigate while Dix calls for backup.  Bullock doesn’t wait and heads towards the building.  A protesting Dix tells Bullock, “Gotham’s golden rule, Harvey … no heroes.”  Harvey ignores Dix and runs in anyways; Dix begrudgingly follows.  Inside, they find Shelley, already dead, but Milkie is still present.  As Milkie takes out Dix with a trap door, Bullock fires his gun multiple times at Milkie, killing him.  Bullock goes and tends to an unconscious Dix.

In present day Gotham City, Bullock is at a crime scene of the latest murder — a young woman murdered and posed in the same fashion as the Goat’s killings.  An irritating Edward Nygma then points out that the killer left the victim’s identification, revealing her to be Amanda Hastings.  Bullock, familiar with this crime, quickly lists Amanda’s profile: comes from money and the oldest in her family.  The Goat has the same M.O. in every killing.  Everything points to a copycat.

In Barbara Kean’s apartment, she presses James Gordon for whatever secrets he’s hiding.  Because of the dangers associated, he’s reluctant to tell her.  She doesn’t care about the risks and pleads to him to let her carry “half of what he’s carrying.”  Before leaving, Gordon promises to tell Barbara everything he can.

Detectives Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen arrive at the docks to talk to a homeless man about a shooting.  Showing a picture of Gordon, the homeless man confirms to Montoya that he saw Gordon shoot someone.

Gordon arrives at the murder scene and Bullock quickly unloads his concerns to him: the press will sensationalize the murders of the children of Gotham City’s elite class; and everything will result in insurmountable pressure on GCPD.  Gordon and Bullock move on to question the Hasting family.

At the Hastings’ home, Amanda’s distraught father, Robert, talks about a recurring nightmare he’s had.  Bullock then notices Robert clenching his fist in a repetitive manner.  His therapist, Dr. Marks, quickly intervenes and suggests a break is needed for the couple.  Because of time constraints with the investigation, a frustrated Bullock unloads his anger onto Marks.

Nygma arrives at GCPD’s records annex to access information about the Goat murders from ten years ago.  In an extremely awkward interaction with the file clerk, Kristen Kringle, Nygma tries his best to flirt with her — which includes sniffing her as she walks by and sidetracking on odd topics.  Before leaving, an annoyed Kringle warns Nygma to not make a mess of her files.  But, of course, Nygma has other ideas.

In the Hastings’ lobby, Bullock gives Gordon a rundown of past Goat cases and stated that, like the incident here, there were no break-ins because Milkie worked maintenance.  Gordon deduces that whoever took Amanda, must’ve had the keys and also works in maintenance.

Oswald Cobblepot arrives at the home of his mother, Gertrud Kapelput.  Right after nonchalantly announcing that he’s alive, Gertrud goes into berating Oswald about his supposed interactions with untrustworthy women.  Oswald quickly regains his mother’s doting sympathy when he spins a tale of betrayal and abuse by his peers.  He vows to his mother that he will accomplish great things in Gotham City.

Reviewing Amanda’s autopsy, Bullock requests that the coroner look at a specific detail — an incision at the base of the neck that has been sewn shut.  Opening the sutures, they find a penny — a detail that no one else knows, which points to the killer not being a copycat.  Ten years ago, all of Milkie’s victims had an 1813 Liberty Penny sewn into their heads.  Bullock intentionally left this detail out of his reports, afraid that the Goat would draw admirers.  The only other two people to know of this is a now deceased medical examiner and Dix.

At Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth watch reports on the widespread fear caused by the Goat’s murders.  In order to keep their children safe, most of Gotham’s wealthiest have sent their children abroad.  Alfred suggests that Bruce should do the same.  Bruce rejects this idea because he has too much work to do.  In an especially poignant moment, Bruce states, “Besides, why would the Goat take me?  There’s no one to take me from.”

Back at the records annex, Kringle enters to find her files reorganized into new stacks on the floor.  Nygma has gone ahead and created a “better” system — something akin to the way “peat moss grows” — “laterally.”  Furious, Kringle asks if Nygma is trying to make her quit.  In a blunder, he says he “wants” her, but quickly amends the statement awkwardly.  Finally understanding that his actions were inappropriate, Nygma leaves.

At a retirement home, Gordon and Bullock meet with Dix, now in a wheelchair.  After a bit of friendly banter, Bullock goes right into asking Dix about his recollection of the Goat case.  Dix reconfirms his silence on the penny detail and proposes a theory: it’s not a copycat killer or a lone killer; it’s a conspiracy.  Frustrated with Dix’s crazy idea, Bullock leaves.  As Gordon also starts to exit, Dix asks Gordon to look after Harvey.  To Gordon’s surprise, Dix remembers Bullock as a “white knight” always ready to jump in and save the day.  In the hallway, Gordon sees an act of kindness from Bullock — he pays for Dix’s care and everyday needs.

Inside a Gotham City mansion, the Goat abducts his latest victim, Ember Copley.  Bullock, at the scene with investigators, calls Gordon and reports that there were no signs of breaking and entering.  To reiterate an urgency in time, Bullock states that Milkie followed a ritual of dressing and killing his victims, which took approximately eight hours.  Gordon pulls the files of all maintenance workers who had serviced the homes of both Ember and Amanda.  Because of the vast amounts of data, Bullock suggests using Nygma as a resource because he’s “freaky good with puzzles.”

On the courthouse steps, Barbara confronts Montoya and wants her to understand Gordon’s predicament.  But Montoya has already obtained a warrant and will soon arrest Gordon.  Montoya implores Barbara to leave Gotham City.

At GCPD, Gordon, Bullock, and Nygma, through a process of elimination, figure out that the Goat is a man named Raymond Earle.  Revealing the address of Earle to be the same place where Bullock and Dix had their confrontation with Milkie ten years ago, Bullock is positive that they have their suspect.  Arriving at Earle’s address, Gordon and Bullock enter and find Ember tied and disoriented.  As Gordon frees Ember, Bullock goes after Earle.  Armed with a hammer, Earle ambushes Bullock.  A brutal fight breaks out with Bullock and Earle rolling down a flight of stairs.  With Earle about to bludgeon Bullock, Gordon tackles Earle and subdues him.

At Wayne Manor, Selina Kyle breaks into the study through an open window.  Caught off guard by a sleeping Bruce, Selina sneaks to his desk and steals a small silver box.  Hearing Alfred making his way down the hall, Selina quickly exits through the window.

In what is probably, so far, one of the most cringe-worthy, Hamlet-like scenes in the show, Gertrude slightly bathes Oswald as she tells him that he can only trust her.  But Oswald quickly tells her that he has, in fact, found someone else that he can trust — a policeman.  Gertrude, not impressed, is skeptical of any law enforcement.

With Earle sitting in GCPD’s interrogation room, Bullock runs down a list of Earle’s past mental illnesses.  Sarah Essen congratulates Gordon and Bullock for capturing the murderer, but Bullock isn’t satisfied.  Things don’t add up for Bullock as both Milkie and Earle had no prior violent offenses before becoming the Goat.  To add to these inconsistencies, the two men committed their crimes ten years apart, on a whim, and knew about the coin.  Bullock’s gut feeling is that something acted as the catalyst for their violent turn.  And if there’s something that they’ve missed, then these murders will continue.  As Gordon leaves, Earle starts to have a mental breakdown.  Bullock notices that Earle is exhibiting the same motions as Robert — the repetitive clenching of his fist.

Arriving home, Gordon finds Barbara with their bags packed.  She goes on to tell him that Montoya has secured a witness.  Barbara knows something is wrong and wants Gordon to leave with her.  As doorknocks are heard, Gordon rejects the idea of running.  Answering the door, Gordon is arrested by Montoya and Allen for the murder of Oswald.

At the Hastings’ residence, Bullock interrupts a therapy session between Marks and Robert.  Pretending to be interested in Marks’s perspective on the Goat case, Bullock starts to question her about Earle.  Bullock then delves into the fist-clenching motion that he saw — a physical movement that a hypnotherapist introduces to prevent the subject from acting out on compulsions.  With Marks growing irritated at the questioning, Bullock quickly presents the connection between Earle and Milkie, both former patients of Marks.  Seeing no way out, Marks admits that she sought out mentally unstable patients so that she could turn them into the Goat.  Her reasoning: the Goat was “therapy” for Gotham; the rich and elite destroyed all hope for the city; and so she created a murderer to kill the children of the wealthy as a form of negative reinforcement.  About to be arrested, Marks recites a trigger phrase to Robert, and commands him to kill Bullock.  Quickly going into a rage, Robert attacks Bullock.  After a brief fight, Bullock is able to knock out Robert, and shoot an escaping Marks in the leg.

At the station, Montoya and Allen bring in a handcuffed Gordon.  They present the charges to Essen, who believes it to be a lie.  James, trying to communicate a real truth, states to Bullock that he didn’t shoot Oswald.  But Bullock takes it as them still continuing their ruse.  Allen then quickly arrests Bullock because a witness also placed him at the scene of the shooting.    As Essen and Bullock become more and more infuriated with Montoya and Allen, the station’s doors swing open — showing Oswald amused, introducing himself, and greeting them.  An angered Bullock is held back as he lunges at Gordon.

Good Moments

• Seeing Bullock as someone who runs into dangerous situations so that he can save the day (“white knight”).
• When Gordon says, “Write me up if you want.”  And Bullock responds with, “Screw you, boy scout.”
• Hilarious, yet creepy at the same time, Nygma’s sniffing of Kringle as she walks by him.
• Bruce’s reason for not leaving Gotham during the Goat’s wrath: “Why would the Goat take me?  There’s no one to take me from.”
• When we see Bullock’s softer side in the form of paying for his former partner’s care.
• When Bullock states, right to Marks’s face, how the word “therapist” can be misconstrued as “the rapist.”
• When Bullock shoots Marks in the leg.  It’s a testament to Bullock’s blunt way of doing things.

Bat Signals (References and Giveaways)

• Nygma’s mug is adorned with a question mark (?).
• After seeing the skin-crawling bathtub scene with Oswald and his mother, I now know why her name is Gertrud.  It’s a direct reference to Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude spelled with an extra “e”, who was also known to show just a little too much affection towards her son.
• Marks’s excuse for creating the Goat as a way to re-instill hope into Gotham City is basically a twisted, mirror version of why Bruce Wayne created Batman.  Both characters are masked, but with very different missions.

Riddle Me This … (Predicting the Past)

•  Who is Dr. Marks?  I have a sneaking suspicion that she just might be the mother or older sister of another off-kilter psychiatrist — Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel — or better known as — Harley Quinn.

Final Thoughts

Let’s admit it: tonight’s episode was all about Harvey Bullock — and he truly did shine.  On top of that, we got a glimmer of hope of what Gotham could be — a great crime-drama that has compelling characters without the need for a plethora of references to Batman’s established myth.

Donal Logue’s performance coupled with how the writers characterized Bullock in this episode gets an “A” from me.  We see who Bullock use to be ten years ago, and there’s still some of that left in him in the present.  Don’t tell me none of you didn’t tear up just a little bit when they showed Bullock paying for Dix’s care.  The dude may be many things (corrupt, blunt, sloppy, unmotivated), but he doesn’t leave behind a friend.  You can also see that Gordon knows everything will eventually be alright because he’s paired with Bullock.  After that scene, there’s no question that Bullock is a good guy and that his corruption is necessary.  All that mob money, if he’s also being paid off, is probably being used for other good deeds that Bullock is keeping secret.

Also on display were Bullock’s investigative and deductive skills.  All episodes, sans the pilot, have basically played Bullock like a fool — someone who doesn’t even know good police work if it punched him in the face with brass knuckles.  But not tonight.  Tonight we had a hard-hitting Bullock, never letting up.  Even at the end, when they caught their man, his detective instincts kicked in.  His vocal revelation and piecing together of clues to Marks almost sounded like a Frank Columbo monologue (if you kids even know who Columbo is; if you don’t, I highly recommend you watch a few episodes).  To add to this, Bullock’s sarcasm and facetiousness added dimension to his veteran persona.

And let’s not forget the story arc that started from the pilot — Gordon hiding the fact that he did not execute Oswald.  Everything came to a boiling point —  Gordon’s arrest; Bullock finding out Gordon lied; and Oswald smugly introducing himself and showing that he’s been alive all this time.

The creatives behind Gotham made a great decision to take a break from all the Batman references, the Mooney/Falcone/Maroni rivalries, and flat narrative.  The deeper exploration of Bullock and what makes him tick has now given Gotham a heartbeat — making it a living breathing organism that can evolve into its own myth.