For an episode with such a shitty title, “Everyone Has a Cobblepot” was a remarkably focused installment of Gotham, and I found myself hoping that last week’s stellar “Red Hood” had more hope to offer than the false kind. “Cobblepot” wisely chose not to cast its net too wide, and focused on only two main stories – and thankfully didn’t introduce any new villains from Batman’s Rogues Gallery. FOR ONCE.
The main through-line of “Cobblepot” is about the hilariously corrupt GCPD. Literally everyone besides Gordon and Essen is dirty. The charges against Arnold Flass have been dropped, at the insistence of Commissioner Loeb (Peter Scolari of Bosom Buddies fame). It doesn’t help that Bullock recanted his testimony against Flass. It turns out that Loeb has files on every dirty member of the GCPD, which, like I said before, is fucking all of them. It’s here that Gotham narrows its focus and turns on Loeb as the villain. It’s a smart move, and one that pays off, because “Cobblepot” is alternately structured like a crime thriller and a horror film.
The horror aspect of the episode comes into play when Gordon and Bullock are looking for Loeb’s stash of files. Cobblepot knows where they are, and will show the detectives in return for some unspecified favor from Gordon. Robin Lord Taylor’s performance, which along with Camren Bicondova’s as Selina Kyle has long been one of Gotham‘s weak points, is improving as his position is solidified. The more power the Penguin, the more confident Taylor’s performance.
Anyway, Cobblepot leads Gordon and Bullock to a house in rural Gotham (?) tended by two kindly old folks. Obviously this is gonna go to shit, but the way it gets there is nicely creepy and surreal. I liked the reveal of Loeb’s daughter being held prisoner in the attack, and I liked even more that Gordon used her as leverage against Loeb, securing the Commissioner’s endorsement for president of the policemans’ union. It’s rare for Gordon to go so dark, and I’m sure it will come back to haunt him, but it was a nice change of pace for Gotham to show its lead character as less than perfect.
The rest of “Cobblepot” concerned Fish Mooney’s adventures at Organ Mill Memorial. First of all, Dahlmacher gave her a new eye, which, boo. It’s bright blue, which makes for a cool visual, but I can’t help but feel that Gotham is just more or less retconning one of the most badass things Fish has ever done, probably because contacts are cheaper than CG’ing out Jada Pinkett Smith’s eye.
Fish is officially put in charge of the basement, after learning the fate of the “manager” from last episode. Long story short, Dahlmacher has replaced most of his limbs and it looks like he’s turning the guy into a woman? I don’t know, it was less creepy than silly. The guy had a huge rack, I can only take it so seriously. Then there’s the big reveal: the hospital is on an island in the middle of nowhere. Again, cool visual, but I liked this better when it was called Shutter Island. Still, the hospital scenes are suitably creepy, for the most part, and well-handled by director Bill Eagles (Falling Skies, The Mentalist).
“Everyone Has a Cobblepot” wasn’t perfect, but Gotham is definitely on the right track. That title, though. Yeesh.
A Few Thoughts
- Alfred won’t rat out Reggie, cause he’s an OG
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Very cool and menacing watching all those Chinese accountants silently pick up knives at the same time
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