Gotham "The Scarecrow" (REVIEW)
written by Omar Castillon (@omar_castillon)
So now it has come to this moment in the series where worlds begin to collide with one another. Scarecrow has his origin story and two future Batman villains meet in a casual manner. It’s not without its faults on the other hand. This episode went from interesting to mediocre unfortunately. You may be thinking, “How is that possible, it’s been fun these past couple of episodes.” You are right but some of the characters have officially lost my interest personally.
another day in the life of the GCPD
Let’s start with Fish Mooney. If you remember the last episode, Fish was on a ship that gets hijacked by unknown assailants. We get the aftermath in the form of some sort of purgatory-esque prison with people fighting randomly, people huddled in corners and overall a sense of mystery. But what really turns me off from this storyline is that there is no explanation (yet) as to who or what is behind this turn of events. Plus since Fish isn’t in Gotham or even in the mix with Maroni, Cobblepot or Falcone, it’s just sort of there. No sense of direction except for her becoming the leader of the prisoners (quite easily) and just taking charge. This whole plot line is just a whole lot of pointless right now. I’m sure there might soon be some context as to who or what is behind this but as of now, not really interested.
Fish faces a dire situation...
Bruce on the other hand had a better story arc in the episode as he partakes in the form of a nature hike to watch a sunrise that he used to do with his father. It’s a bittersweet moment for him but it was a necessary development for Bruce as he slowly matures into the badass he will become in the future. There’s a scene in the middle where he is seen piling up rocks and one of the rocks has his father’s initials. Bruce then casually throws one of the rocks in the middle of the forest. Then he gets a bit more heated until he is just full blown rage mode as he throws the rocks in frustration. This is the type of acting rarely seen done right with a child actor and honestly this was some pretty good work. What is also great about this connection with Bruce and Alfred in the woods (Alfred comes in close to the end) is that it wasn’t the sole focus of the episode nor was it hammered in like Fish’s plot point.
On to the madness at hand with Gerald Crane, we find out in this episode that he was a grade school teacher that was obsessed with adrenal glands and the correlation it has with fear. It turns out that the specific type Crane was looking for is a concentrated kind. The only concentrated kind he can get is from people with phobias. This connects with the last episode and his run-ins with the phobia folks. Gordon and Bullock end up investigating where and why he would do such things and it turns out that it was something to do with Crane’s wife and her sudden death. Overall, Crane’s goal is to rid the world of fear by injecting mass amounts in one intake until the fear cancels out. He uses himself but also his son Jonathan Crane... or as comic fans know as the man who becomes the Scarecrow.
The rest of the plot points involve Maroni and Falcone coming to a compromise with Cobblepot still being useful for some reason. At first Maroni is all vengeful and wanting to kill Cobblepot and then by the end he’s all forgiving and wanting to give him a second chance. It was just confusing overall in what Maroni wanted from Cobblepot. Speaking of Cobblepot, his brief interaction with Nygma was pretty damn awesome because of Nygma’s quirky need for attention and Cobblepot’s annoyed attitude towards Nygma. I can just see them becoming bickering buddies trying to take down Batman in the future…oh wait, I’m sure they already do that!
The season only has seven episodes left and it is down to the wire on who will be introduced into the Gotham universe. The preview during the post credits scene showed a man who laughed eerily like a particular villain that is essential to the Batman universe. It has been teased by the big wigs of the show and has also been speculated on whether HE will appear in the first season of Gotham. Tune in for the next episode! Same Gotham time, Same Gotham channel!
cue blatant symbolism...
(Side Note) There is also a reference of Gordon and Leslie (the new medical examiner at GCPD) going to a circus. It’s no surprise that this “circus” they are going to will involve the Graysons. As in Dick Grayson’s family of acrobats! Pretty excited! Okay…that was my nerd out moment. Go watch this episode but don’t expect it to be the best one. It’s average only because of Fish and Maroni being less than stellar.
