The best joke inGothamis that Gotham keeps getting worse.
New lunatics kept finding new reasons to smear makeup on their face and paint the town red with brainblood.
Then the bridges exploded the city into a feudal madman island.
Credit: Jeff Neumann/FOX
Now the waters turned nasty green from toxic chemicals.
Thursdays episode, The Trial of Jim Gordon, focuses squarely on the good captain.
Hes dreaming of reunification with the mainland.
But the citys running low on clean water, and gang activity is skyrocketing.
Its like you wont be satisfied until you sacrifice yourself!
says Lee (Morena Baccarin), Gordons renewed flame.
Its directed by Erin Richards, the actress who plays Barbara, and written by McKenzie himself.
Instead, McKenzie wrote himself a wild trip to purgatory.
Also in that courtroom: another Jim Gordon, saying every nasty thing Gordons ever thought about himself.
(Hes failed Gotham at every turn!)
In a clever bit of symmetry, Bruce (David Mazouz) is having similar feelings.
Should he leave town after reunification?
Both characters have struggled the most, I think, withGothams status as a very long origin story.
It wont always be like this, Gordon tells Lee.
Except it probablywillalways be like this maybe worse!
Meanwhile: What fun gets crammed into this episode!
Ivy (Peyton List) is back, love-slaving every action man in town.
That includes Zsasz, played with increasing good cheer by Anthony Carrigan.
Carrigans star has risen after his wondrous turn onBarry.
Lucius:Its not glamorous work, but we are helping to save the lives of thousands of people.
Bruce:People, ugh.
Lucius:Im sorry, did you just say, People, ugh?
Lucius:I would tell you thats an abrupt change of topic.
Can we go back to the part where you said People, ugh?
Richards herself gets a standout scene with the gang leaders, hosting an underworld get-together full of poisoned chalices.
Barbaras still struggling with complicated feelings about Gordon and Gotham itself.
Should she stay, and take a stab at build a new life adjacent to her baby daddy?
Should she flee by submarine, taking her child far from this metropolis of criminal id?
(ASIDE: I realized, probably later than everyone, something intriguing about Barbaras pregnancy.
IsGothamsecretly aBatgirlorigin story???
END OF ASIDE.)
Intriguingly, Ivys motivations in this episode run right alongside what Gordon and Bruce are feeling.
In her flora-first perspective, Gotham is a place thats been going downhill since before the Industrial Revolution.
Shes a furious local Lorax, speaking bloody murder for the trees.
The episode almost ends on a sweet, symphonic note.
A bit of autobiography here McKenzie and Baccaringot real-world marrieda couple years ago!
Bruce also kissed Selina, a bit of joy piled atop joy.
You wonder if this is as close to a happy ending asGothamwill ever allow.
Maybe Barbara and Ivy have the right idea.
Leave Gotham to the trees.
