Thursday, 11 December 2014

Gotham Season One: Harvey Dent

"Want to know the nickname they have for me?"
The episode begins with Gordon arriving home with Selina and finding out Barbara has left him meanwhile an insane bomb maker Ian Hargrove (Leslie Odom, Jr.) is taken by the Russian mob while in transport. Later Gordon takes Selina to Wayne Manor and convinces Bruce to let her stay because she can identity his parent's killer, he then meets with young assistant district attorney Harvey Dent (Nicholas D'Agosto) who believes a corrupt tycoon Dick Lovecraft is behind the Wayne murders. Meanwhile at Wayne Manor Selina watches Bruce train with Alfred and elsewhere Cobblepot breaks in to Liza's apartment. Gordon and Bullock question Ian's brother who blames the Mayor and the system for not getting Ian any help however Ian is later forced to make a bomb that blows up a munitions factory and kills several guards. Bruce later tries to bond with Selina but ends up upsetting her which makes Alfred think this isn't going to work meanwhile Cobblepot visits Fish to confirm something in his own way.

"That rice boy won't last five seconds"
Nygma discovers where pieces of the bomb came from and Gordon and Bullock rush over there however in a shootout they are unable to free Ian from the Russians. Dent then later threatens Lovecraft but is unable to get a confession, even after scaring him slightly with an abrupt change in personality. It is then later revealed that the Russians are working for Fish who want to steal money from Falcone. Nygma then finds out the type of bomb the Russians stole earlier which leads the police to one of Falcone's safes however the money is then blown up by one of Fish's men who intended to kill them all. At the Wayne Manor despite a shaky start Selina and Bruce finally learn to laugh and have fun with each other which Alfred sees as a good thing for Bruce. Cobblepot then visits Liza who wants her to continue to work with Fish for now and the Mayor has decided to move all criminally insane to Arkham, which includes Ian, much to Gordon's annoyance because of it's poor conditions. The episode ends with Bruce calling Barbara however she doesn't answer because she is back to sleeping with Montoya.

All that poor money
Got the introduction to one of my favourite Batman characters; Harvey Dent AKA Twoface and I guess I will talk about him first. I think we got a really good portrayal of the young Dent here; he came off as a fast smooth - talker who as a passion for fixing Gotham just like Gordon but that part is no surprise since Dent was always the White Knight in contrast to the Dark Knight. I really liked his introduction scene where he uses his two headed coin and when he loses his temper with Lovecraft. That is slightly more in keeping with the comics because of Dent's obsession with duality and that shows with his split personality which emerges when he becomes Twoface. Him losing his temper with Lovecraft made me think that Dent's darker personality is just hidden beneath the surface so that was pretty cool. However if I am honest for a episode that is titled "Harvey Dent" we don't see as much of him as I thought, hope he becomes a more recurring cast member then.

"Okay, that was a little creepy"
What I also liked about this episode was that we finally got some interaction between Selina and Bruce and it really worked. The chemistry between the two characters was great to watch (a praise to the great acting of these young actors) and I liked how they where opposites but fitted well together. Bruce comes from the wealthy society while Selina lives in the streets so you can see how nervous Bruce is at talking to her while Selina doesn't know how to act around him. In the end they both are good for each other because Bruce ends up having a lot of fun with her, that food fight at the end was so funny, while Selina gets to care more about others since she was always alone before this. Also Alfred his as great as ever with his side comments to Selina and Bruce.

"Next time lets bring backup"
Now for everything else about this episode I did really like the bomber plot because it addresses another one of Gotham's failings and that is how it handles the mentally ill and because of that it looks like Arkham may play an important setting soon. However I didn't like that in the end Fish is behind everything against Falcone once again, honestly I just want Falcone and Cobblepot to reveal some big master plan and kill Fish already. However one thing that I really hated in this was the reveal that Barbara is sleeping with Montoya; I don't know where the writers are going with this stupid forced lesbian relationship. I can't see how Barbara (from what I read on the internet is a really hated character now after this) can redeem herself to Gordon now after this, this just makes her out to be a really weak character and I don't know how they are getting back together now. This really isn't Gordon's fault because all he done was protect her and let her in to what he is doing which is what she wanted. This also makes me hate Montoya more (who is basically a nobody in this) because even though she is a lesbian in the comics why did she have to be with Barbara in the show? What annoys me is that I bet she is going to "stand up for herself" against Gordon for their relationship and we will have some stupid love triangle. In the end is this important or good for the plot? No. Are we really supposed to care or have they made us try to care about it? No. Have the writers completely ruined Barbara's character? Yes.

When was the last time we've all had a nice food fight
Overall this was a good episode but we didn't see as much of Dent as I would have liked and I hated the ending.

SCORE: 7/10

Highlights: Harvey Dent
                   Selina and Bruce
                   The plot with the bomber was good

Let - Downs: Dent was underused and Cobblepot was in this episode as well
                      Fish behind everything.....again
                      The stupid Barbara and Montoya relationship

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;
 
 


 

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