And those scientists work for corrupt politicians avenging immortal terrorist fathers.
Gothamcombines the whole multimedia canon of its fictional universe with the trending-est topics in our real world’s canon.
Then, it smashes those unlikely ingredients into snortable chunks of madcap narrative.
Credit: Barbara Nitke/FOX
Is anyone experiencing Batman for the first time withGotham?
Is that theoretical someone the luckiest Batman fan alive?
Conversely, it helps to watchGothamand overthinkeverythingabout its depiction of the Caped Crusader.
“They Did What?”
As inRises, thebig-muscle baddie is Bane, played here byShane West.
And once again, the baddiebehindthe baddie is a secret daughter of Ra’s Al-Ghul.
Gotham’s daughter-seeks-city-destroying-vengeance-for-her-dead-father plotline rhymes directly withRises' twist-reveal.
The fun is in the details, though.
And this rollercoaster episode directed by Carol Banker and written by Tze Chun is stuffed with details.
InDark Knight Rises, the U.S. army lingered on the outskirts of Gotham.
Here, the U.S. armyisthe invading force led by Bane, who takes command by killing the previous commander.
(That full-blown Visigoth behavior earns nary a blink from the other, nominally-not-insane soldiers.)
Old enemies set their differences aside to protect their crazy town.
See Robin Lord Taylor’s Penguin, who gets a showcase moment to end all showcase moments.
Stand on the shores of the mainland and watch the army burn it to the ground?
Then watch tasteless industrialists and vapid politicians rebuild it?
My life is etched on the walls of every alley and dirty warehouse here.
My blood lives in its broken concrete.
I’m staying to fight for my legacy.
He was a residual cartoon weirdo in gritty-grimdark days.
“Our accomplishments have been erased!”
“Our brilliant minds underrated!”
What I’ll always cherish aboutGothamis how it never underratedanythingabout Batman.
It was bloodier than the recent serious movies, and also sillier than the Adam West TV show.
It dedicated itself to telling a serialized story while whiplashing ally-enemies through romantic relationships and resurrections.
I think “They Did What?”
It’s that last Penguin-Riddler sequence, when the two criminals hug each other close.
Simultaneously, they hold up knives to each other’s back.
Simultaneously, they lower those knives.
They love each other!
They want to kill each other!
Part of the magic of this episode comes from West’s goofy-grand performance.
Whereas Gordon winds up triumphant by aligning himself with every morally ambiguous element he knows.
“They Did What?”
is the show at its soapiest, too.
Nyssa threatens to steal her away and raise her as an Al-Ghul.
So there’s a vibrant maternal showdown, when Barbara and Jim battle for their daughter’s life.
Meanwhile, Barbara singlehandedly takes down three minions on her own (this lady just gave birth!
), and it’s only her late assistance that vanquishes Nyssa.
Barbara isGotham’s best creation.
“They Did What?”
We’ll see how that plays out in next week’s finale.
It feels, in this episode, like a return to a familiar version of a story.
Gordon and Batman are capital-H Heroes, but “They Did What?”
playfully undercuts their heroism.
“I told you togo,” Gordon tells her.
“And I didn’t listen,” she snaps right back.
Then she stands at the execution line, alongside a baby-toting Barbara.
Fortunately for Jim Gordon, the womenneverlisten to him.EPISODE GRADE: A-
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