Gotham Review – S01E11 – Rogues’ Gallery

Gotham‘s first post-hiatus episode, titled Rogues’ Gallery, got off to a slow start with a slightly unfocused story.  With Jim Gordon now working as a security guard at Arkham Asylum, his detective talents are now severely tempered by a demeaning boss, who refuses help from GCPD.

Spoilerific Recap

We open in Arkham Asylum where the inmates are performing Shakespeare’s The Tempest with Nurse Dorothy Duncan guiding them.  As James Gordon, now a uniformed security guard, watches, one of the inmates, Robert “Frogman” Jones, attacks a performer, Royston.  When Gordon brings Roystan to the infirmary, Arkham’s director, Dr. Gerry Lang, admonishes Gordon for not guarding the inmates more closely.  Soon, the only doctor on-staff is called in and we meet Dr. Leslie Thompkins, who admires Gordon for not folding and quitting.

In a rainy alleyway, Selina Kyle finds Ivy Pepper ill and sleeping under rubbish.  After some convincing, Ivy agrees to go with Selina to a better location — Barbara Kean’s abandoned apartment.

At the docks, Oswald Cobblepot tries to raise Sal Maroni’s protection payments on a group of fishermen.  When the police show up, Oswald, thinking that law enforcement is in his pocket, is beaten and arrested.

Making his rounds, Gordon discovers a catatonic Frogman in his cell.  As Gordon tries to rouse him, Frogman slumps over and falls to the ground.  At the infirmary, Thompkins explains that Frogman went through a form of crude electroshock therapy that left him brain dead.  Lang continues to admonish Gordon for doing a poor job and not properly watching over the inmates.  Gordon suggests calling GCPD, as this has become a criminal matter, but Lang refuses and tasks Gordon with investigating which inmate is responsible.

The investigation starts off with Gordon questioning one of the guards, Stephen, because Thompkins thinks that whoever assaulted Frogman must’ve had the door keys.  Pressing Stephen, Gordon finds out that Stephen lost his keys during the night of the fight.

In a meeting with Jimmy Saviano about Carmine Falcone’s tariff raising, Fish Mooney is interested in knowing who would take over in the event of Falcone’s demise.  Saviano states that he’s next in line.  Mooney, though, isn’t shy about suggesting her own candidacy.

Conducting interviews with inmates, Gordon’s first conversation is with Jack Gruber — a sociopath who speaks with arrogant eloquence.  Continuing, Gordon meets with a motley crew of potential suspects, whose behaviors increasingly annoy Gordon.  He finally meets a lucid inmate, Aaron, who’s at Arkham for murdering his family.  Before that, Aaron strangely never had any bouts of violence.

Speaking out her thoughts, Mooney is concerned about Saviano’s power grab.  Because they were childhood friends, Butch Gilzean offers to speak to Saviano.  Before Gilzean leaves, Mooney questions his loyalty.  Offended and hurt, Gilzean reassures to Mooney that his allegiance is with her.

At an unknown location inside of Arkham, Royston is restrained and subjected to the same torturous electroshock therapy as Frogman.  Awakened by the sound of someone banging on a gate, Gordon finds Royston impaired to the point of only reciting Shakespeare.  After treating Royson, Thompkins thinks that another inmate is experimenting with the therapy.  Gordon, concerned for her safety, requests Thompkins remain in the female wing of the asylum, as he suspects that a staff member is responsible for the assaults.  Informing Lang of his hypothesis, Gordon is accused of trying to manipulate the situation so that Lang would be forced to call GCPD.  Gordon reassures Lang that this isn’t the case, as he’s already called GCPD.

In their hotel room, Renee Montoya and Barbara get into an argument when Montoya claims that their affair has been a mistake.  As the argument becomes more heated and Barbara becomes more agitated, Montoya tries to calm her by leaving.

Harvey Bullock arrives at Arkham and warmly greets Gordon.  As Lang accuses Gordon of insubordination, Bullock uses his talents and declares Arkham to be a police matter.  Threatening to arrest Lang if he doesn’t cooperate, Bullock makes Lang agree to go with him to GCPD, thereby allowing Gordon to sift through staff records.

Meeting at the docs, both Saviano and Gilzean reminisce about their childhood.  As the conversation switches to the business at hand, Saviano offers Gilzean a generous proposition and a chance to switch over to his side.  Gilzean asks for time to think about it.

Entering GCPD with Lang, Bullock is greeted by a jailed Oswald.  Begging for Bullock’s help, Oswald is taunted and refused.

Interrogating Lang, Bullock finds out that electroshock therapy can be used as a form of mind-control.  When Lang starts to show fear, Bullock admits that he knew Lang was never a suspect — Lang respects authority and is too much of a rule-follower.

Still investigating, an old map of the asylum attracts Gordon’s attention.  As Nurse Duncan enters, he asks if more staff records are kept in the basement.  Nurse Duncan is apprehensive and tells Gordon that the basement has been closed for years.  When Gordon asks nicely if she knew a way to the location, Nurse Duncan happily obliges.

As Bullock tries to get Lang to narrow down potential staff who may be suspects, Lang discovers that there is one person he’s actually not familiar with.

Arriving at the basement, Gordon and Nurse Duncan run into Thompkins.  Noticing Nurse Duncan’s odd behavior, Gordon tries to get Thompkins to leave.  Knowing that Gordon suspects her to be the assailant, Nurse Duncan pushes Thompkins into Gordon and makes a run for it.  As Gordon gives chase, he receives a call from Bullock warning him what he already knows — Nurse Duncan is actually an inmate.  To help in her escape, Nurse Duncan frees all of the asylum’s inmates, but the plan backfires when she’s killed in a stampede.  At one of the security gates, Gordon and Thompkins narrowly escape the horde of inmates.

Back at Barbara’s apartment, Ivy receives a call from a landline and finds Barbara on the other end.  Having some fun, Ivy tells Barbara that Gordon isn’t available and that she’s a friend of his.  Barbara, thinking that Gordon has moved on with another woman, angrily throws her phone across the room.

In Captain Sarah Essen’s office, Bullock reveals Dorothy Duncan’s past — when she was a sixteen-year old nursing student, she killed five kids with poisoned candy.  Committed to the asylum, she hid in the basement after it closed.  Later, when Arkham reopened, Duncan re-emerged and blended in with the new staff.  Essen happy to see Gordon, celebrates the occasion with the three of them sharing a drink.

Maroni arrives to post bail for Oswald and reveals that he was the one who had Oswald beaten and arrested.  The reason was “hubris.”  Maroni felt that Oswald overstepped his boundaries when he went over his head and raised the fishermen’s dues.  As Oswald promises to never misbehave again, Maroni reminds him of his place in his organization — as a “monkey.”

Back in Essen’s office, Gordon, Bullock, and Essen’s celebration is shortened when a forensic pathologist reveals that Dorothy Duncan had hidden scars from electroshock therapy.  Discovering that she was also a victim and that the real assailant is still out there, Gordon and Bullock head back to the asylum.

At Arkham, Aaron, with a set of stolen keys, enters Stephen’s guard cage and snaps Stephen’s neck.  Aaron is congratulated by the actual mastermind — Jack Gruber.  When Lang accidentally walks in on the two, he’s attacked and left for dead.

Gordon and Bullock arrive at the scene too late and find a bleeding Lang on the brink of death.  With his final dying breath, Lang tells Gordon that it was Gruber all along.  In Lang’s hands, Gordon finds a letter addressing him from Gruber, which taunts Gordon and explains some of the experiments he had been performing.

As Saviano and Gilzean meet again at the docks, Glizean again reminisces back to when they were fourteen years old and stole meat from a butcher.  All these years, Gilzean felt guilty in giving Saviano the cheaper cuts of meat when they were doling out their loot.  Saviano forgives him and laughs it off as just harmless childhood mischief.  With his conscience now clean, Gilzean coldly and quickly executes Saviano.

Good Moments

• All the “bat”-crazy people Gordon had to deal with.
• Harvey Bullock’s slick ways in turning the tables on an initially uncooperative Dr. Gerry Lang.

Bat Signals (References and Giveaways)

• The Tempest, the play seen at the beginning of the episode, is about a character who uses misdirection and trickery to complete his plan — much like what Jack Gruber did.
• The character of Jack Gruber seems to be an original creation of the series, but because of his affinity for electricity (electroshock therapy), he may be a precursor to the Batman villains Volt and the Electrocutioner.

Riddle Me This … (Predicting the Past)

• Now that we’ve seen the death of Dr. Gerry Lang, who could the next administrator of Arkham Asylum be?  Jeremiah Arkham?  Dr. Roger Huntoon?  Hugo Strange?
• Obviously, not all of the inmates freed by Dorothy Duncan were captured.  Could one of the escaped ones be a future supervillain we’ve all come to know?

Final Thoughts

Rogues’ Gallery did one thing right — it cut down on the number of characters seen in one episode.  The plot, at times, was still a bit unfocused as it bounced back and forth to things that were not essential to the story or overall arc.  For example, the drama between Barbara Kean and Renee Montoya.

Another plot point that I found to be strange and forced was Ivy Pepper pretending be Gordon’s lover.  Wouldn’t Barbara know that the voice on the phone was a little girl?  Also, if you’re illegally squatting in someone’s home, why would you answer the phone with the risk of being caught?  These were all strange writing decisions.

To tell you the truth, the revelation of Jack Gruber being the main villain was probably seen the second they introduced the character.  Christopher Heyerdahl, who plays Jack Gruber, is famous in the sci-fi television realm for playing baddies.  So it was no surprise that he was the main man — especially with an introduction where he was given the chance to spew such colorful dialogue.

Giving Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth a break in this episode, I’m sure they’ll be back in full force next week.  Here’s to hoping that Gotham continues on its path of using less characters and digging deeper into their motivations and portrayals.