Gotham season 4, episode 4 review: The Demon’s Head
Reviewing Thursday night’s episode of Gotham.
In episode 4 of Gotham, “The Demon’s Head,” Bruce wastes no time in seeking a professional to decode his two-million-dollar knife from Penguin’s auction as he and Alfred visit Dr. Winthrop of the Museum of Natural History. We meet Dr. Winthrop’s grandson, Alex, who is a student at Bruce’s former school. Requiring more research over Ra’s al Ghul’s knife, Dr. Winthrop asks to keep the knife overnight. We all know what happens to curious doctors on Gotham. Ra’s al Ghul pays Dr. Winthrop a visit that night and kills the doctor, but not before Winthrop gives the knife to his grandson and warns him to stay hidden. The cunning Ra’s al Ghul notices Alex’s hat on the desk and takes it with him.
Gordon investigates the crime scene the next day with Harper, who informs us of Bullock’s sabbatical. Bruce shows up to find, to his surprise and guilt, a dead doctor and no knife. Gordon wastes no time in questioning Bruce, who feeds him breadcrumbs of information as he reveals Barbara’s interest in the knife and realizes that Alex could be keeping it. Ra’s al Ghul is aware of this as he uses Anubis, a vicious man-hound, to sniff out Alex. Meanwhile, Ed is frustrated with “riddler’s block” as he plans Penguin’s murder in an abandoned building.
Gordon pays Barbara a visit to question her interest in this mysterious knife. He finds her playing solitaire while White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane plays low in the background, which is humorously fitting for this scene. While Barbara nonchalantly gives nothing away to Gordon, she lets a peeved sneer escape when Bruce surprises both of them asking about Ra’s al Ghul. When they leave Barbara’s place, Gordon stops Bruce. Ok, Bruce, time for the truth.
Meanwhile, Penguin, too, is visited by some curious characters. The first was Sophia dressed in green exhibiting crocodile tears as she feeds Penguin a story about her visit to Gotham City over her charities. Penguin, of course, is skeptical and paranoid. The second visit was sillier, but I enjoyed it. Ed sends a “riddle-gram” with two men who freestyle a message to Penguin to solve. Zsasz nodding his head to the beat was the highlight of the scene.
Bruce and Gordon find Alex at Gotham Library hiding in the historical records office. It isn’t long, however, until Anubis and his handler find them. Anubis tackling Gordon was a jump-scare that I wholeheartedly enjoyed. Bruce and Alex manage to escape as Gordon topples over bookshelves, in domino fashion, to distract Anubis. Gordon picks up Alex’s backpack and heads to the GCPD where a dapper Ra’s al Ghul pays a visit.
As Bruce and Alex take a breather in an empty stairwell, they share a moment acknowledging the changes that Bruce has undergone. Gotham does an amazing job displaying the juxtaposition of these two characters. Remember, these two boys are the same age and from the same school. Alex reveals to Bruce the rumors going around in school about his weirdness but adds “weirdly cool” displaying his admiration for Bruce.
Somewhere else in Gotham City, a couple of Falcon’s loyal followers, that went into hiding, visit Sophia to pledge their allegiance to her. Knowing Penguin and Zsasz are spying on her, she repeats the same speech she gave Penguin to her father’s followers. Zsasz executes them outside of Sophia’s home while Penguin sees that she can be trustworthy.
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Back at the GCPD, Gordon invites Ra’s al Ghul into Bullock’s office carrying Alex’s backpack for a mental poker game. As Gordon believes that he’s distracting Ra’s al Ghul enough to convince him that he has the knife in the boy’s bag, Alfred appears enraged and lands a fist full of “this is for master Bruce” on Ra’s al Ghul’s face. Ra’s al Ghul escapes to find the boys while Gordon still has no idea what’s going on, but he knows where to find the ancient knife.
It just isn’t Ed week as the riddles fail, again. Penguin loses his patience with Ed at the nightclub, and the “other Victor” aims his freeze gun at Ed. Seeing that this would not be considered a victory, Penguin releases Ed as he is clearly broken and not the Riddler he claims to be. I guess there is honor in villains.
The episode ends with a thrilling showdown at the museum. Anubis is tricked into jumping out the window after a bone, and his handler goes down after a seat-gripping struggle against Gordon, Bruce, and Alex. Believing that the fight is over, Bruce and Gordon peel themselves off the floor and find Ra’s al Ghul holding a knife to Alex’s throat with an ultimatum for Bruce: hand over the ancient knife or Alex dies. A tearful Bruce, unable to hand over the knife, watches as Alex dies and Ra’s al Ghul complies to being arrested.
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This was an intense episode, in a very good way, and a positive departure from last week’s episode. The action and direction were on point, even if Ed’s riddles still aren’t. Hang in there, Ed. The biggest takeaway from “The Demon’s Head” was Alexander Siddig’s portrayal of Ra’s al Ghul. He was cunning, despicable, and evil beyond his years, as we would expect from a villain who’s centuries old.
The highlight to me was Gordon giving into his dark side, getting hot and steamy in the last scene with Sophia. All we need at this point is for Lee to return to Gotham City. I knew Gotham would not disappoint and it deserves a 4.5/5 in my book. The sneak-peek of next week’s episode has me beyond excited.