Dame sans merci

And a Jim/Harvey scene.

It's bizarre, isn't it? I don't get the impression that they're trying to pave the way for Lee to become a villain (i'm more inclined to think our Harley might be Babs now), but they've written her in a way to make her so unsympathetic that i'm really not sure how they'll pull her round again. Are we supposed to see her as a tragic figure at this point?

It sounds stupid to complain about something in a Batman series being too 'cartoony', but the Barnes thing is certainly that for me. Whereas somebody like Jervis - despite theoretically being equally ridiculous - works better for me because there's more texture to the performance. As someone who owns a bowler hat, i'm now quite paranoid. But i'm laughing at the idea of Oswald being all 'that asshole tried to murder me AND raided my wardrobe?'

This week's advance review. I liked this a little better on re-watching, but still wasn't too impressed overall.

Ooh! Two separate villain showdowns (one at...Jim's? One at Wayne Manor). Ed might be hallucinating again, judging by the reappearance of the red light of homoerotic Amy Winehouse numbers. I am here for Action!Alfred. Did...did Oswald wear those massive platform shoes so he could stare down Ed more successfully without getting a crick in his neck?

I certainly don't think it's being straightforward there: we know (from the midseason promo) that Lee gets infected with the virus, and they're apparently still trying to cure it here, so she's presumably still infected. Not the optimum time for romantic gestures.

We have a finale synopsis:

Honestly, if Harvey died, I would not be posting on here. I would be holding a candlelit vigil. Yes, Heller seems to have completely dropped off the radar now - we only hear from Woodruff, Stephens and Cannon.

Huh, interesting. 19 feels very 'fevered fanboy wet dream' in how it's focused on massive amounts of comicbook-esque hyper-violence and how it strips the Ed/Oswald relationship of its emotion and nuance (That fantastic emotional stare-down? Potential entirely wasted here). Defending the gross Ivy thing rather fits in with that.

Agreed. Their pacing hasn't really been...quite right for the past two years, most notably in offing Theo with the bazooka two episodes early last year. I feel like they're building towards a suitably dramatic climax this season. I just don't know if it will be a good one. Episode 19 has a very 'monkeys on typewriters' feel about it. eta: It was written by Ken Woodruff, apparently. I have...questions, Ken. PS. One of you has guessed the right answer on the bad decision thing.

Not Jim, surprisingly enough!

Advance review for episode 19 to come later in the week, but just briefly: Absolutely. bloody. bonkers. Also possibly the most violent episode of Gotham i've ever seen and contains a decision at one point that may be the stupidest one ever made by any TV character ever. My jaw is still hanging open.

Oswald's expression going from shocked to emotional to 'i'm going to shred you into pulled pork with my bare hands' was amazing. I like that they had enough faith in their actors just to let that scene happen with practically no dialogue. I groaned a bit when I realised how Jim-centric this one was going to be, but actually ended up really liking what they did with him. The perfect mix of smart (using the mobile Oswald gave him to call for help) and idiotic (blowing his cover in the end, not by stopping the virus, but because he can't close a bloody drawer properly. Peak Jim.).

Advance review for 'Light the wick'. Not a patch on last week's episode, but i'm impressed that they're managing to make Jim engaging at long last.

That was such a fantastic moment: Gotham very rarely allows Jim the chance to reflect over anything, or express emotions that rely on a shared history. He just gets to look stoic/constipated. He's much more interesting when you get the opportunity to see the emotional baggage he's picked up. That may have been my episode highlight. I love that Ivy didn't even seem mildly perturbed by him getting cranky with her. It's like he's an aggressive pet she indulges.

Thank you, that's very kind of you! It's much, much easier to write these previews for an episode as good as this one...

Have my advance preview for episode 17, 'The primal riddle'. I want to marry this episode and have little evil, well-dressed babies with it.

I got the impression she just wanted him to genuinely be her friend, rather than resort to manipulation. Which is kinda...unexpected for Gotham. Oswald is used to people working with agendas, or for money, rather than because they want to hang out with him. I laughed out loud when he gave him that little bop on the nose. Happy for Maggie Geha she's finally getting some decent material.

We're getting 'almost evil' Jim? Whaaaa....? Also, I have now seen episode 16 and it's....a bit of a mixed bag. The Oswald/Ivy stuff is terrific though.

No kidding. A friend texted me 'this is the gayest thing i've ever seen and I work in musical theatre'. Particularly since we never saw actual Oswald behave in a flirtatious manner at all. Is Ed the first supervillain to have 'GAY PANIC' as his origin story? Oh, I love this spec - you could well be right. I think Alfred's already suspicious, but he's more likely to play the long game to try to use clone Bruce to track down the real one rather than confront him.

I've just watched the media screener release of 'How the Riddler got his name' and it seems they are going somewhere very, very interesting with Bruce AND giving David an increased presence based on things set in motion in 15. ETA: They've also released the title for episode 16 - 'these delicate and dark obsessions' (confirmation that those previously released titles were indeed fake).

Obviously it's a YMMV situation - i'm sure plenty of people might see him a bit differently - but yes, to me is chilled out to the point of being horizontal, rather too trusting and very...boyish, with an appealing sense of wonder. He's certainly not a brooder in the Matt vein, or somebody who feels the crushing weight of responsibility of his power. I think that does make him a little problematic as a central protagonist, because it means that you have to invent personal crisises and doubt for him that sit rather at odds with his core personality.

While the show has got things wrong, their interpretation of Danny 'human Golden Retriever' Rand seems pretty much spot on to me. Sweet, naive, optimistic. Dumb as a bag of hair. When I was trying to describe the character to a friend, I pitched him as 'the unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt of superheroes' and that seems to have translated to the screen well for me. They've added in a smidgeon more angst, which was probably inevitable with trying to make him a little more layered as a lead, but otherwise...yup, that's Danny. I can't wait to see just how disgusted Jessica is going to be with his sunny outlook.

That's a damn fine bit of casting. That being said...he's the power behind the Court of Owls? Hmmm. Think i'd have preferred to make them separate threats - escalate the threat from the city-wide conspiracy, to something international like the League of Assassins. There was a recent casting call for people to play 'angry/infected citizens' so i'm wondering if we might get a nod to comic Ra's al Ghul's penchant for biological weapons in terms of using the Tetch virus to 'cleanse' the city. He's...not big on humanity. ETA: Other casting calls include National Guard and Ninjas, so it's safe to say things are getting fairly crazy towards the end of the season. They also filmed a scene with a bomb blowing up a train station this week (the Riddler's handiwork maybe?).

Nice job Kathemy! I'd have been intrigued to see how it could play out with Lee, but Silver makes a certain amount of sense. I found the actress solid enough, if not riveting, first time around but i'm sure she could rise up to some decent material. Just a heads up: I believe that 'How the Penguin lost his power' turned out to be a fake title - somebody from the show posted on Reddit to say all those titles (apart from the one for 15) were wrong.