S01.E16: The Blind Fortune Teller

[APSimpson]

I'm not sure why this is an issue though? Why does saying her name mean anything other than checking to see if she's home/letting her know who has entered her apartment? How is it asking her to fill a role?

 

Also, first thing that Barbara said after entering her apartment for the first time in the last episode, "Jim?"

 

It's not an issue, just a subtlety that caught my attention. He always said it when he walked into the apartment. He never said "honey" or "sweetheart" always Barbara. Not "Barb" or any nickname or anything like that that some might consider a weakness but can be an indicator of closeness and affection. I don't think Gordon loved her. When I say fulfill a role, I think he thought of Barbara as the woman in his life that he had sex with and she was there for him when he came home, but I don't think he had any passion for her. I could be totally wrong, wouldn't be the first time, but I notice subtleties like that, and even though this is a written television show, it's hard not to analyze it like these are real people.

 

I think the above posters make good points about Gordon, and I don't hate the guy, but there are things I don't like about his character. Yeah, he has a calling to clean up the city and the department of corruption, and that's what I like about him, but the romance stuff he's losing me. 

[MisterGlass]

I can see that, being unconvinced by Gordon as a romantic.  He's not suave, or particularly subtle.  Unless you start comparing him to Harvey.

[Sandman]

Really good episode. Cameron Monaghan is having a hell of a week, between this spot and his last few episodes over on Shameless. Kudos to him, that last scene was chilling as hell. He seemed to be channeling every major Joker performance out there in one scene. I`m sure we wont be seeing the last of him. He was awesome.

 

Somewhere the ghost of Cesar Romero is all "Daaaaaaaamn, kid!"

[Sandman]

But the part that still haunts me is Prisoner #53A or whatever the hell it was. Giving the nod to tell big guy to start beating him to death for tthe good of the prison? Now *that* was a goddamn hero, the biggest I've seen yet on this show.

These guys had GUNS, yet they just bought Fish's bluff. Two ver annoying details there: Fish's naill polish is perfect and their captors seemed schocked when the prisoners started beating inmate 57A. Come on, those folks are pirates/kidnappers who take people's eye out. They wouldn't bat an eye.

 

I confess I don't understand Fish's plan; the economic value of an undamaged prisoner means she has some leverage. But wouldn't there be as much in, say, all of the prisoners taking on the guards together and overwhelming them by sheer numbers? Why did one of their own have to die just to add +1 to Fish's badass rolls?

 

Bruce and Alfred's relationship is becoming more whacked out and untenable by the week. The guy's his GUARDIAN. That means he should not be Bruce's employee, for fuck's sake. He knows damn good and well what a shitheap Bruce is walking into and just purses his lips and offers some straw resistance before caving in completely. If he was really going to commit to this absurd notion of overindulging Bruce's masochistic/revenge/THIS CHILD NEEDS THERAPY methods of coping he should fucking lay it on the line: "You are a helpless child. You had it shoved into your face by your parents' murders and your attempts to dodge it are totally inadequate to the threat you're facing. These people will not hesitate to kill you, idiot child, and I am not going to let that happen. Put away the revenge string art before I get really angry."

 

An excellent point.

 

Which leads to the other problem I had- why wasn't Schmidt's response to take Fish, kill her, and take 10 random prisoners (or seemingly random prisoners) and shoot them right there? That would send a message about any further “funny business.”

 

This is what I was thinking, too. Still, an enjoyable episode. Lee's dating history must be even grimmer than Jim's if a night at Creepy Bros. Circus qualifies as Best. Date. Ever. I love Ben McKenzie's and Miss Morena B's chemistry, though.

Edited February 24, 2015 by Sandman

[Ubiquitous]

The future Joker kid's mouth seemed to grow impossibly wider when he smiled. Was that for real, or was some CGI involved?

I wondered that as well! I had goosebumps after watching that scene. Wow!

[Sakura12]

The future Joker kid's mouth seemed to grow impossibly wider when he smiled. Was that for real, or was some CGI involved?

 

That's why I want that actor to be the Joker, I don't think anyone can top that. His smile was the creepiest I've ever seen. He doesn't even need the make up. 

[Old House Nut]

I like a lot of things about this show, but the one that continues to bother me is the obligatory marriage of "detective procedural" and "mobster soap opera." I'm intrigued by most of the mobster soap opera stuff because it has been playing out over the entire run. The reason I have not enjoyed the detective procedural is the apparent sense that each episode must start and finish an entire investigation in one bite. With half of each episode going to the mobster stuff, there is just not enough time to actually have a meaningful detective show in the balance.

 

Take this week as an example. I was actually interested in the parts of the show that have been given several episodes to play out: Fish in the spooky prison, the battling crime families, even (and don't hate me) the romantic dynamic with Barbara. But then look at the "investigation." Gordon finds a dead body and learns that she was involved in a love triangle of sorts. Then, assuming that there was no real message from the grave, Gordon concludes that the psychic was misdirecting him. At that point, what on earth led him to suspect that the son had murdered the mother and then cleaned up in the old man's place? Did I miss something?

 

At that point, a rational person might have suspected that the old man was trying to misdirect the investigation. But what would possibly have led Gordon to thinking about any of the rest of that stuff? Why wouldn't his suspicions have turned to one of the lovers? After all, they were both more apt age-wise to have had some relationship to the old man. It's like the writers just skipped over thirty minutes of investigation in the show and leaped to the a-HA moment where the murderer is revealed. That made no sense at all.

 

I wish that the show would stop forcing a "Law and Order: Gotham" show into every episode. It's just not working. Have Gordon spend two or three weeks on a case or just can those and let the soap opera part take center stage.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Old House Nut

[John Potts]

Kind of a mixed bag - no one plot really grabbed the attention, but nothing really sucked either.

 

I have no idea who is running the prison, but they're real amateurs. Fish is leading a prisoner rebellion? Execute her (ideally in an extremely nasty way - at least as far as they can do that on TV). Sure, the prisoners have some value, but it's probably not very high - a few prisoners can probably be written off as "acceptable losses". Gotta love a leader who actually tells it like it is (we're in the middle of an election campaign in the UK, so the contrast was pretty telling) but I'm not entirely sure why they'd go along with her plan ("So when they choose one of us we kill them and hope that their reaction is to make concessions?").

 

Oscirus Having a whore mother Is a cliché  that should be way below someone of the Joker's stature.

 

 

Well I'm sure Frank Miller has written a story where he was. But I really hope he isn't The Joker - to quote the man himself "If I have to have a history, I want it to be multiple choice!"

 

benteen Seriously, he didn't even remotely suspect that Jerome murdered his mother?  A cadet in the police academy would have at least suspected as much.

 

Or anyone who'd watched CSI!

 

sacrebleu Later she insists that they go traipsing around a park under a bridge at night to look for clues (not even waiting until after dinner apparently) and again, Jim is swayed.

 

 

I think I can speak for most heterosexual males when I say... if Morena Baccarin wants to go traipsing around in the dark with the possibility of me getting to see her naked... I'm traipsing around in the dark! Though he could have suggested that they finish the dinner (that she'd cooked!) first and she could have worn more sensible shoes.

 

Florinaldo  What is sad for Oswald is that even though he is a master survivor, getting out of scrapes by squirming or begging his way out, everytime he climbs out of a ditch he manages to put himself right back in trouble by not thinking enough and then making stupid choices.

 

One thing I liked about Falcone's appearance last week - he was only prepared to protect Penguin if he was turning a profit

[Ubiquitous]

The other plot hole is- why did those patients need to be alive? Organ transplants can still work if they're dead. You don't want them damaged, but "alive" is not necessary.

Great episode overall.

It's already been explained why they need to be freshly-dead instead of sitting ion a fridge somewhere, but wouldn't it be easier to put all the donors in a coma and harvest as needed? I recall there was a movie about that, in fact.

[wayne67]

If Fish rebelled and caused the prisoners to be unmanageable it would have been far easier to just separate the prisoners into smaller groups where they'd be easier to handle. Honestly it made no sense for 100 prisoners to be all locked in the one cell together. It makes it way too easy for them to overpower the 3 or so guards that seem to run this prison. Also it means that the prisoners are prone to all sorts of communicable diseases. WORST RUN PRISON EVER. Even worse than the Arkham asylum that has a switch that opens all cells in the place.