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Gotham season 4 premiere review: ‘Pax Penguina’

By Sarabeth Pollock

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Gotham is back and season 4 is already action packed. There’s a lot to break down from the season premiere, “Pax Penguina,” so let’s get right to it.

Through the magic of television, Gotham returns for its fourth season and several months have passed since the events of the season 3 finale. Penguin has managed to wrangle [most of] the criminals of Gotham City, Jim Gordon is back with the GCPD, Bruce Wayne is dressing in black and Selina and Tabitha are a formidable team. It wouldn’t be Gotham without a ton of stuff going on, would it?

The Story

Gotham City is back to “normal” after the terrible events that transpired when Ra’s Al Ghul released the Alice Tetch virus into the air. One of the reasons that the city has been able to recover so quickly is that Penguin has implemented a criminal licensing system whereupon all of the criminals must register with him and pay a fee to operate. Penguin refers to this as the This has led to a controlled amount of crime, and even the new mayor and police commissioner are going along with the plan.

Unfortunately, not everyone in the Gotham City underworld is in line with Penguin’s plan. Criminals Grady and Merton kidnap Jonathan Crane and force him to manufacture his father’s fear toxin to use as leverage. Not only does this create problems for Penguin at the grand opening of his new club, The Iceberg Lounge, but it has also led Crane to transform into the Scarecrow.

Ben McKenzie in Gotham (2014). Photo: Fox

The Good Guys

Bruce Wayne is channeling his guilt over what happened during his time with Ra’s Al Ghul into something productive. He has been fighting crime in his black outfit, but when he finds one of Penguin’s licenses on a would-be mugger, his focus shifts to taking down this new program. When he enlists Gordon’s help, Bruce finds that Gordon’s hands are tied. What he doesn’t know is that Gordon has a plan of his own, and by the end of the episode both men have what they want.

Jim Gordon is back at work with the GCPD. Bullock is still the Chief but he is able to get out and work with his partner, which is refreshing because the show is so much better when Gordon and Bullock are working the same cases. Ben McKenzie and Donal Logue play off each other so well.

Bruce and Gordon are on their own paths to bring peace and safety to Gotham City but as we could see in the season premiere, their missions have lots of speed bumps that that in their way. Bruce’s development is being monitored by the mysterious and dangerous Ra’s Al Ghul while Gordon is already rocking the boat with the GCPD because he doesn’t want to go along with Penguin’s plan. It will be a difficult road for both men, but this is the point when we really start to see them transforming into the people they will become in the future.

Robin Lord Taylor and Maggie Geha in Gotham (2014). Photo: Fox

The Bad Guys

Selina continues her development into the Catwoman we know and love. Her whip wielding skills are par excellence, and seeing Camren Bicondova command the whip with such ease is a lot of fun to watch.

Penguin has control of the city’s criminals (for now) but that’s thanks in large part to Mr. Zsasz, who is working as his enforcer. Zsasz had some of the best moments in the season premiere, particularly when he crashed the wedding. But Zsasz is not a man to be trifled with. Ivy is also working with Penguin, but she seems to turn against him at the end of the episode. It looks like Ivy has always been Team Ivy from the start.

Tabitha is watching over Selina, and she begrudgingly accompanies Selina to the Iceberg Lounge to pledge fealty to Penguin because they won’t be able to work without a license. But will they play by the rules or is this part of a long-term plan on their part?

We were introduced to Grady and Merton, two bumbling criminals who turn to Jonathan Crane for help when they run afoul of the Penguin’s licensing program. However, the unintended side effect of working with Jonathan Crane is exposure to Daddy Crane’s fear toxin, which manages to turn Jonathan into the Scarecrow by the end of the episode. That’s not a good thing.

Though “Pax Penguina” introduced us to some new faces and showed us what some familiar friends have been doing over the past few months, we still haven’t seen Butch or Barbara, but they’re going to return eventually.

David Mazouz and Camren Bicondova in Gotham (2014). Photo: Fox

The Breakdown

“Pax Penguina” is a great start to season 4. We understand the time jump and the fact that we had to clean up the Alice Tetch virus mess from season 3 in a way that wouldn’t detract from the new season. With Jonathan Crane’s transformation into the Scarecrow in the first episode of the season, it’s clear that the Crane fear toxin will have some role to play in later episodes.

Despite the tension between Bruce and Selina, there is clearly something that is still there between them. Even Alfred notes that they should go see a movie like normal teenagers; while they definitely don’t hate each other, there is still a lot that remains unsaid. Hopefully we continue to see this play out through the season as Selina edges closer to the dark side while Bruce moves closer to becoming Batman.

No matter how hard Penguin tries, his plans to take control of Gotham City always fall short in the end. Now that we know without a doubt that Fish Mooney is not coming back, Penguin needs to button things up or risk losing everything as new villains come into town looking to set up shop.

Next: Gotham: Fish Mooney is officially dead this time

Overall, the season premiere of Gotham was strong and it sets the stage nicely for the rest of the season. There are still lots of stories happening all at once but that’s what makes Gotham so much fun to watch. It’s always changing.

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What did you think about the season premiere of Gotham? Are you watching? What did you like about it? What do you want to explore moving forward?

Don’t miss Gotham on Thursdays at 8pm on Fox.

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