I never thought I’d give Gotham a four and a half star review, but then again, I never expected the show to bust out an episode like “Red Hood.” Don’t give me wrong, it wasn’t perfect, but it was the best episode of the series so far. The only disappointing thing about “Red Hood” is Gotham‘s inevitable failure to live up to the promise and competency shown on screen, but that’s a subject for another review.
Outside of a connection to the Red Hood from the comics, the A-story didn’t interest me that much. There’s a gang of bank robbers, the leader of whom always wears a red hood. Get it? The first Hood is a guy named Floyd with a ridiculous pompadour, but he gets killed by the next Hood, a guy named QUINT FUCKING DESTRO, cause screenwriter Danny Cannon apparently reads too much Jaws/G.I. Joe fan fiction.
But the Red Hood Gang doesn’t matter as much in the face of the rest of “Red Hood,” because the material involving Bruce Wayne and Fish Mooney is so fucking good.
At Wayne Manor, Bruce and Alfred are surprised by a visit from Alfred’s old army buddy Reggie (the always welcome David O’Hara, from The Departed). Apart from telling Bruce some Alfred stories that the man would really rather him not here, Reggie also helps Bruce train to fight, in one of the best scenes of this entire season.
Reggie riles Bruce up; he taunts him; he allows himself to be hit until he’s bloody. The whole scene is dark and frankly riveting, the kind of power that I didn’t know Gotham was capable of wielding. Huge credit is due to David Mazous, dependable as always, and O’Hara, who’s gravelly brogue adds a sinister edge to everything he says. The direction, from Nathan Hope (CSI:NY) is intense and focused, and it’s more or less impossible to take your eyes off of the screen.
Then there’s Fish. Hoo boy. This is the best material Jada Pinkett Smith has gotten all season, but that’s obvious because everything about “Red Hood” is the best anything of all season. Fish finally gets to meet the manager of the prison, only to find out that he’s not the owner, and someone called “the doctor” is. The doctor’s name is Dahlmacher, so I think it’s pretty obvious that it’s the Dollmaker. The hospital above the prison is somehow even creepier than the prison; Fish walks past room after room of amputated or maimed men and women, all dressed in garish hospital whites.
Then comes the mic-drop scene of “Red Hood.” The manager gives Fish a choice: we take your eyes or we take your life. Fish has her own proposal: she digs out her own fucking eye with a spoon and crushes it with her foot. This is the kind of moment that there’s no going back from, and I didn’t think Gotham had the balls to pull a stunt like this.
Guys, this was far and away the best episode of Gotham. Jesus, imagine if the show started like this! This shit would be appointment television. But after “Red Hood,” I think it just became that anyway.
A Few Thoughts
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Jesus, enough with the milk, Selina
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Alfred gets stabbed by Reggie. I hope they don’t kill him off, because Gotham would be 100% less interesting without Sean Pertwee
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What’s up with Fish’s Erykah Badu head wrap?
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I don’t buy Barbara as this cynical maneater that she became seemingly overnight. Luckily Selina called her on her bullshit. Seriously, Gotham has no idea what to do with Barbara
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