Gotham "Red Hood" & "Everyone Has A Cobblepot" (REVIEW)
written by Omar Castillon (@omar_castillon)
So the Red Hood gets a sort of mythos in this episode. Every single Batman fan’s thoughts are as follows: “oh that must be the Joker. No wait, that guy is the Joker…what about that guy?” Of course we are definitely sure that by the end of the episode that NONE of these guys are the Joker because we already saw him as some crazy kid named Jerome. Confused yet? Don’t worry it won’t be for long. The legendary Red Hood begins in the form of a chop shop worker and his team of bank robbers. It was in a mix up of having to escape the police that the young thief thought on his feet and threw a bunch of money at pedestrians helping his crew get away with the rest of the money they stole. This in turn leads to an investigation from Gordon and Bullock on the mysterious masked man. The Red Hood persona takes form in the weirdest way possible since the press calls the group of bank robbers “The Red Hood Gang.” Whoever has the Red Hood has the respect of the gang. Then a series of deaths occur among the gang as the legend gets to their heads. This is quite possibly the quirkiest yet badass back story so far in the series. I’m a big fan of a group of bank robbers eventually turning on each other (Reservoir Dogs anyone?).
the rise of costumed criminals perhaps?
That’s not the only thing that has been of some importance in the episode as Bruce finally has a moment with the Wayne Enterprises board and his ruling of certain agendas that go against the company’s policies. Keep this in mind for the end of the episode. Enter one of Alfred’s former SAS comrades Reggie Payne. Payne is an interesting addition to the series since he gives a brief look into Alfred’s past and how ruthless he used to be in our minds since the story telling was at its peak whenever Payne spoke to Bruce about Alfred. You can tell from their relationship that it is somewhat strained and yet you can still see some rays of friendship as well. By the end of the episode, you will want to know even more about why Payne specifically visited Wayne Manor. That’s a spoiler I will leave out and let you the audience witness for yourselves.
As for Fish Mooney in this episode, she finally gained a little bit more respect from me since she has been somewhat of a mystery since she was taken from the ship sailing away from Gotham. Wherever Mooney is, it reminds me of a twisted mental hospital similar to Arkham except with more people with missing limbs. The only thing to suggest here is that one of the lesser known villains, Dollmaker, might be behind the kidnappings and mutilations. One scene in particular involving Mooney goes for a level of violence that you only see on cable TV. I have to say, that was pretty ballsy on their end to include such a graphic scene.
Reggie Payne, Alfred's friend from his military past
I’m sure later on in the series we will get to see more of Red Hood somehow. Maybe even a little bit of Reggie Payne and his involvement with Alfred and Bruce. This is a great transition to the next episode dealing with more Serpico style investigation from Gordon. The overall theme of the episode on the other hand is everyone having a Cobblepot. The meaning behind the phrase will be explained…right now!
The reason for the comment is based off of a series of events that occurred at the beginning where Gordon sees Flass out and about in the station going for a leader position. Gordon confronts Essen wondering why Flass was free since there was enough evidence to convict him. Bullock then comes out as the culprit behind Flass’s freedom. Gordon then digs deeper into why and discovers that Commissioner Loeb had dirt on him and everyone else at GCPD. Bullock then says the phrase “everyone has a Cobblepot” referring to the beginning of the series where Gordon is forced to kill Cobblepot which of course doesn’t go according to plan.
drama never ends in Gotham Central
The digging continues and it turns out that Falcone has Loeb in his pocket so one thing leads to another and it is up to Gordon to use his resource (Cobblepot) in order to find Loeb’s “Cobblepot” so to speak. Once they reach the house in the middle of nowhere, Gordon, Cobblepot and Bullock meet a cheery older couple. It’s confusing at first but then hell breaks loose and a shootout involving everyone makes up the climax of the episode. When we finally sees what was Loeb’s “Cobblepot,” Gordon uses that to his advantage and bargains some shady looking deals with Loeb.
least she got her eye back
As for Fish Mooney’s post eye gouging sequence from the previous episode, she finally meets the man behind the medical experiments and limb collecting. It turns out that a doctor that goes by the name Dr. Francis Dulmacher is in charge of the limb collecting ring. Fish bargains with the guy so that she could be his right hand person. She already has control of the underground dungeon people (again still not too convinced) so she keeps that in mind for Dr. Dulmacher. The Batman fans can also take in the fact that this Dr. Dulmacher is naturally the Dollmaker. They weren’t kidding on the Dollmaker name since there is a scene involving Fish (now with a new eye) looking at one of Dr. Dulmacher’s men put together by different body parts and freaking the hell out of Fish. I was a little freaked out too even though the special effects looked a bit underwhelming. I am glad that the whole Fish and body parts storyline has some more depth in this episode. Although I’m still not a fan of her after she left Gotham on that ship a few episodes back. It seems as if she was more worthy while she was in Gotham City rather than being away from that gangland chaos. If it were up to me, Fish would have died in a violent gunfight with Falcone’s men or a mixture of both Falcone and Maroni crownies going after Fish for all of her shady business tactics. I guess we can only wait and see if she survives the rest of the season or just ends up getting killed by the underground dungeon people.
chuckle Penguin... chuckle and be your murderous self
For what it’s worth, I’m still intrigued by what can happen in the season finale. I predict Fish dying (finally), Barbara disappearing until she grows up or whatever, Bruce finding out (or at least the audience finding out) who really killed his parents and maybe Gordon earning his keep as he and Bullock continue their adventures in Gotham City. Who knows though because it is definitely looking as if anything can happen to keep us fans hyped for season two. Now if only they could team up Cobblepot and Nigma for some elaborate scheme (just a random thought) that would be great.
