S01.E22: All Happy Families Are Alike

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SEASON FINALE!

 

As Gotham City’s gang war reaches its boiling point, Fish Mooney goes head-to-head with Maroni and Penguin in an attempt to re-stake her claim on the city. Meanwhile, Barbara and Leslie Thompkins are brought together after recent events, and Bruce searches Wayne Manor for any hints that his father might have left behind.

 

Promo:

[Danielg342]

Sounds explosive. It also sounds to me like they have enough material for a two-parter, but they'll cram everything into one...like many of the episodes this year.

[Dobian]

The ads say the last five minutes will change everything.  Will Bruce make his first little bat suit?  Nah, that would be too good to be true.

[Primetimer]

Climactic battles are taking place all over Gotham, and one fearless policeman is aware of them.

Read the story

[mtlchick]

For a moment I thought Nygma would be revealed to be Two Face.

 

Overall Gotham had an ok season.  Great start, but started going off the rails about 1/2 through and I don't think really recovered 100%.  I think introducing way too many characteristics too soon was a big factor and that needs to be tightened up. 

[Spartan Girl]

They found the Bat Cave!!!

I can't tell you how satisfying it was to see Lee bang Barbara's head against the floor over and over. Guess that bitch won't be Batgirl's mom after all, thank God.

RIP Fish and hellooooo Riddler.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

To the BAT CAVE!

Aside from that, the finale was a shit sandwich.

[foreverevolving]

well that was an anticlimactic finale.

I know it's been said JPS won't return next year... but am I the only one who noticed that she fall into water and not hard stone? I think we can anticipate her return, Maybe as a different character. FYI her outfit was freakin awesome. Her shooting Maroni was top notch in my opinion, guy had it coming.

 

poor Botch :-(

 

the Bab's & Laslie(?) was boring as shit.

but I like that Bab's isn't quite all that sane. I was half expecting her to poison Laslie.

 

I also almost expecting to discover that Nygma was actually Two-face. but I liked this exposition moment they had of him. The actor is really giving it his all.

 

Was waiting for the bats to fly across my screen when bruce and Al found the cave.

 

 

Everything else was okay.

Edited May 5, 2015 by foreverevolving

[Chaos Theory]

it took almost an entire season but Barbara became quite a fun and fascinating character. I loved her during the finale. First her playing Leslie. Did he hit you? Then admitting that she was the one who murdered her parents. Now if THIS was the Barbara from the start there would have been far less complaints.

Loved the gang war stuff.

Bat cave!!!

Edited May 5, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[benteen]

What a messy, hilarious, over-the-top trainwreck that was.  Good lord, what the hell was that?  Robin Lord Taylor, Jada Pinkett, and the actor playing Butch had to be embarrassed by that hilarious bad fight scene.  We're talking Ed Wood-level there.  It was hilarious in its own way but nearly career-endingly bad for everyone involved.

 

Seemed like most of the story involved characters taking so much time to avoid killing other characters.

 

Yeah, Leslie, agree to counsel Barbara is like yelling out for somebody to kill you.  Glad they didn't do the fatal attraction thing but I guess Barbara is Gotham's newest crazy?

 

Then you have Selena who just decides to hook up with Fish...yeah, what the hell?  Just go with the flow of the story!

 

Nygma popped up so late in the episode that I forgot that was supposed to be a plotline tonight.

 

The actor playing Falcone was the only one to make lemonade out of lemons tonight.

 

Nothing about that finale made me excited for Season 2.  Nothing.

Edited May 5, 2015 by benteen

[Pyralis]

Was that Prokofiev playing when the fireplace moved?

 

[Guest]

Around the time Penguin got ahold of the machine gun and the show broke into one big brawl spanning every plotline  I decided it had been invaded by the Looney Tunes and everyone was either Road Runner or Wile E. Coyote and they were lobbing anvils at each other.  I was convulsed with hilarity.

 

Butch shooting both Fish and Penguin because he couldn't decide whose orders to follow.  I was so sure that Penguin, in his triumph, was going to get hit by lighting.  Barbara tries to kill the girlfriend and did kill her parents and Jim's next scene is about how he's the lawman for Gotham.  Huh? 

.

[Philbert]

OMG. What the hell was that?

 

I'm speechless...uhh, err, ummm, gack...WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST WATCH?

 

Gonna take me a bit to process all that. Needless to say, that is NOT what I was expecting to see tonight.

 

Btw, can we all agree to stop calling Barbara boring now? Cause...that ship just sailed.

 

 

 

[HalcyonDays]

What. The Fuck. Did I just watch??

 

From Jimmy the Kid and his Wild West Shootout, to no one having any ability to aim a gun (save Jim), to Punk!Fish, to Crazy!Barbara to Annoying!Penguin...

 

No seriously. What the hell was this episode?

 

I don't know...

[thuganomics85]

I don't know: Fish gets shoved off a roof but lands in water?  Sure, in real life, that's a death sentence.  But in TV land, that strikes me as a way to possibly bring her back.  I know Jada Pinkett Smith said she's done, but I can easily see her returning in a guest spot or recurring.  After all, Fish can swim.

 

Unlike Maroni. Dude is a goner!  He really picked the wrong time and wrong person, to be all condescending, sexist, and a straight-up asshole.  He really was an idiot.  I can totally understand why Gordon was terrified of him winning to the point that he was backing Falcone as a lesser of evils.  But now it sounds like Falcone is bailing too.  I guess Oswald really is going to run things.  Good luck, Jim.

 

Totally knew something bad was going to happen with Barbara/Leslie.  I'm just glad it didn't end in Leslie's death. But basically: Barbara's insane.  It was actually she who murdered her parents.  Yep, that just happen.  Have no idea what they are going to do with her now.  Have to think any recollection with Jim is thankfully off the table, but something has to happen if Jim is going to call his future daughter Barbara.  In the end though, I don't think anything can top Bullock's final line.  The man really does know things.

 

I'm guessing being Fish's sidekick for a brief moment is going to effect Selina.  That whole thing was weird.  Did like the brief Oswald/Selina bit.  The Rouges together are fun!  Those two need to hook-up with Nygma; I don't care how convoluted it would be.

 

So the big finale moment is Bruce/Alfred finding the batcave.  You know, the thing that all the damn previews were showing.  Nice going, Fox.

 

Weird finale.  Way too rushed and way to many questions left unanswered.  Overall, kind of a weak ending.  It has it's good qualities, but IMO, this show really is far behind a lot of the other comic based shows.  They are going to need to step their game up. 

Edited May 5, 2015 by thuganomics85

[SoSueMe]

I liked it. A lot.

 

Now I'm embarrassed.

[Ubiquitous]

I had a very exhaustive workout this evening with my trainer, so I think I nodded off on my couch and drempt the whole thing because it made no sense

Edited May 5, 2015 by Ubiquitous

[Philbert]

 

 

I liked it. A lot.

Now I'm embarrassed.

 

Don't be. I have no idea whether I liked it or not but damn, I wasn't bored.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Me and my sister kept looking at each other like, Da Fuq is this shit?

Then she wondered aloud, are we being trolled by the writers?

[HoodlumSheep]

Loved the ep! It was crazy!

Penguin finally got his Fish dinner!

Poor Butch's Hufflepuff heart. At least he lives to see another day.

Nygma Has lost all his marbles. I bet Ms. Kringle will be one of the first casualties of season 2.

Not a fan of Selina's new hairdo.

Maroni's dead. :'(

So Falcone knew Jim's dad? That seemed a little shoe-horned in.

I finally liked Babs. Erin is very good at playing psycho. A job well done, Erin! Is babs dead though, or is she just knocked out? What happened to her? One moment she was on the floor and the next Jim and Falcone were chillin' on the balcony.

Glad Lee's alive too.

Will Falcone really retire, or will a family member take over?

Sad that there wasn't much Bullock; what ever happened to his and Fish's storyline? They had hinted at something and it seems like they just dropped it.

Overall, it was a very solid episode. I enjoyed it.

[HalcyonDays]

I liked it. A lot.

 

Now I'm embarrassed.

 

You forgot to add.....So sue me *wink*

[Actionmage]

Ooooooo, Selina's gonna be pissed that Penguin seemed to take out her newest mentor!  It was fun seeing Catween "playing" with Oswald and the other men. I may not agree entirely wither choices, but hell yeah; if Fish really likes you, she'll ride with yeah, so I got Cat's joining up. I also enjoyed her discussion over Gordon's mime technique and why it wasn't going to work.

 

Can we get a summer and/or winter break series called Bruce and Alfie: The Early Years? Never have I been so excited about a scene in a mansion's library before, and I enjoy original recipe TV Batman.

 

Barbara needs to seriously take some me time in Arkham , or if she is flush with cash now, one of the better, uh, retreats. She is so broken. I hope we see her get better next season. Hey, writers? Get Lee and Rene, or Dr. Thompkins and Det. Montoya, to interact. Rene had to have heard about Barbara and probably doesn't wish her that much ill. Lee and Rene can start off interacting over Barbara and develop an nice work friendship. Please, do so. As for Barbara, I just want her to work to getting to a steadier place. She can be unbalanced, just let it be like Nygma, Fish, Zsasz, and all the other not-quite-fully-sane folks. If she's to come back, let us see her art world. Please.

 

Lee? Take some more trauma courses and also hire a bodyguard when you decide to make house calls. Bodyguard can sit outside on the terrace/patio, in the hallway outside the apartment/condo, in the lobby. Just somewhere not too far away incase you need help.

 

Bye, Don Falcone. I will miss you. You were a civilized murderer, but you also knew when to be graceful in triumph; something Sal never figured out. I was sad that Victor Zsasz was absent. Fish's anger over Butch was more at Victor and Carmine's feet than Oswald's. (Speaking of, poor Butch! I don't even want to know what he was feeling, but the non-killing shots had to be the best he could figure out. Penguin had better remember that.)

 

Ed? Are they implying that Nygma has Dissociative Identity Disorder? Then, yeah, killing Doughtery was totally the incident that started him into worse behavior. He had a side that seemed to be very angry at Ms. Kringle.  Maybe his riddle-appreciative side was/will be a kind of peacemaker identity between his nicer identity and his angrier one?

 

Harvey? Never change, except into an "accidental" Italian suit.

Edited May 5, 2015 by Actionmage

[opus]

 

Btw, can we all agree to stop calling Barbara boring now? Cause...that ship just sailed.

She can become Harley Quinn.

[Philbert]

 

So Falcone knew Jim's dad? That seemed a little shoe-horned in.

 

No, I believe they mentioned this in the pilot, albeit briefly.

[Malbec]

Full-on psycho Barbara is an awesome Barbara, and this is coming from someone who was 100% down on her characterization last week.

 

The whole Falcone-Gordon-Fish-Maroni-Penguin storyline was just a game of idiot ball basketball.  Gordon's thing with Falcone was not only a stupid plan, it was a poorly executed stupid plan.  And why oh why, after being manipulated for a whole season, does everyone involved not just tape Penguin's mouth shut with extreme prejudice?  Let alone just kill him and be done with it.  

 

I'm bummed we lost Fish -- I know not everyone liked Jada's performance, but I personally appreciated that she always looked like she found the scenery utterly delicious.  She was fun.

 

Was that Prokofiev playing when the fireplace moved?

That was so random!

[Philbert]

 

She can become Harley Quinn.

 

SOLD! Erin Richards brought the cra-cra tonight. She scared the hell out me.

[Philbert]

 

No seriously. What the hell was this episode?

 

 

Either it was the most brilliant piece of avant garde film noir crime thriller meets a really bad acid trip I've ever seen....or it was an utter bag of shyte.

 

I'll let you all know when I decide.

Edited May 5, 2015 by Philbert

[Nidratime]

No seriously. What the hell was this episode?

 

 

I think they just wanted to get everyone a paycheck and a notch on their resume.... How kind of them. ;-)

[Lantern7]

Well, you can't say that the writers don't know how to go for broke, even if their treatment of females is a little suspect.

 

Damn . . . Barbara is a nutter. I hope Erin Richards can act well in a straitjacket, because Barbara is more than likely off to Arkham. Her psycho turn can't erase a plodding character arc, but damn, it's interesting to watch.

 

Since when is Selina on any team aside from her own? It took two weeks for her to get a Team Fish makeover? WTF?!? I guess I'm attached to her regular outfit, goggles and all.

 

Penguin as Mob King of Gotham is a little too easy. He went from being an umbrella boy to big shot inside of a season, all because his rivals are dead, presumed dead, retired. I'm betting the first part of the next season will be full of mobsters who didn't get the memo about his new position. I hope his reign is as much fun to watch as his journey to get there.

 

RIP Fish? Yeah, right. We've established a doctor exists that can do crazy shit with bodies. Just because Fish had the prisoners put the boots to Dr. Dollmaker doesn't mean he could "regenerate" her in a pinch. Attention, actresses! If you can sneer and chew a ton of scenery, Gotham might have a part for you! In other news: poor Butch. He needs a hug.

[Sakura12]

I don't even know what that was, it was like I watching a bunch of different shows in one where we barely got to see the end of each of show. What happened to Crazy Barbara? Is she dead? In the hospital? In a straight jacket? That was such a weird cut to Falcone telling Jim what an awesome lawman he is. Which I have still yet to see. He seems to just be a bull in china shop, hoping he wins. 

 

Also instead of sending Fish over to that pointless Dollmaker plot, they should've had her start to mentor Catween. Rushing it like that made no sense. It took Catween two weeks to decide she wanted to join a gang, changer her hair, her style and run around with a gun. 

[Chaos Theory]

What can I say I have a soft spot for female nutters.    I also have a soft spot for shows that just go for broke and this show just kinda did.  I really enjoyed the balls to the grind stone shoot um up this one had.  Ok fine realism has never been Gotham's strong suit but who cares I'm not watching for realism.     I really really enjoyed watching Nygma go bonkers alone in his cold little room and have each major mob players yell "I am the king of Gotham"  That's why I watch.  

 

Hey plus chick fight that Jim didn't have to get in the middle of.  

 

And Barbara has finally gotten interesting.   I want to see her get nuttier.  And yes Harley Quinn is a possibility that I want to see happen.  

Edited May 5, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[paigow]

Jim Gordon's Rules For Hiding

 

Shipping container doors lock from the outside...

Even the dumbest bad guy would search unlocked containers first.

 

Assuming you and your friends decide to hide in an unlocked container anyway...STFU!

[Danielg342]

I still haven't seen this yet, but it seems to confirm some of my worst fears- too many things happening, no real focus and nothing really explained. Kind of like this season, really.

 

Sad about Maroni, but at least Bullock made it, right guys?

[mustbekarma]

I liked it. A lot.

 

Now I'm embarrassed.

I loved it, and I'm not one bit embarrassed. It was an insane ride, and the hour just flew by. I love it when shows put the pedal to the metal. I'm only slightly embarrassed that I shouted at every bit of violence in the show, cheering on who I wanted to win.

[foreverevolving]

 

And Barbara has finally gotten interesting.   I want to see her get nuttier.  And yes Harley Quinn is a possibility that I want to see happen.  

 

I am highly doubtful she'll turn out to be Harley. simply because Harley is featured in the new Suicide Squad movie, DC didn't even let Arrow fully use her for their Team X so I won't be surprised Gotham will be denied too. but they can always make a new character, or borrow someone else. there's a shit load of crazy females in comics. I would like to once again point out how at awe I am with the show ep's for having the creative guts and brains to realize that Bab's as she was wasn't working so they went and did a 180 and began writing for the actress strength- even if it means saying "screw comic canon", something which sadly the Arrow ep's have the guts to do *coughBucklescough*

[HoodlumSheep]

Hmmm... I didn't think the episode was that messy. Yeah, it had some flaws (the cut from Babs to Jim and Falcone, Selina suddenly joining Fish, etc), but I guess I must have a different "messy" threshold than most of you.

I'm firmly in camp: This Episode Was Awesome.

[Commando Cody]

Wow.  That was one of the worst season finals I have ever watched.  It really jumped around all over the place.  God-awful.  

 

At the end all I could think was "Push him in! Push him in!.  Awe  Butch... you missed your big chance. 

[Jlina]

I loved it.  Unabashedly.  And yeah, I was yelling at the TV the whole time, too. GOOOOO Penguin.  OMG, that crazy kid knew exactly how to get to Jim with the "I'm in your custody," line.  It cracked me up.  Harvey's visual when Jim told him was better than even speaking. 

 

Leslie ummm....might be about as crazy as Barbara, and boy that took all day and into the night as it got dark outside.  Lots of people yelling rarrrrrrh tonite before bashing someone else. 

 

I thought Barbara was dead? and hope like hell Fish is.  Sad for Catgirl, how easily she looks up to the wrong people but at least it got her to show her actual face.  Her screwing Gordon makes her a crap criminal though, along the lines of Maroni not a loyal boss like Falcone.

 

If Nygma is schizo that's messed up since he can't be really evil then, bad play show.  And it sure looked like it.  But his laughing is sufficiently creepy at all times.

 

I just....LOVED it.  Everything a finale should be.

[Philbert]

 

Wow.  That was one of the worst season finals I have ever watched.  It really jumped around all over the place.  God-awful.

 

Apparently you never saw the series ender of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" That one is still the reigning champion of suck....12 years later.

[TwistedandBored]

Anticlimactic is the only thing coming to me right now! Like WTF! 

[Gregg247]

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode!  So many loose ends got tied up, lots of action, and 2 major character deaths!

 

The only part I didn't like was Catwoman changing sides like that.  I guess that according to this show, once you get a taste of human blood (whether accidental, on purpose, or under duress), you're EVIL!!!! (Riddler, Catwoman, and Barbara).

 

The Barbara/Lee showdown was great.  I was very nervous that Lee was going to get poisoned.  I hadn't figured on Barbara having killed her parents herself--I find that creepier than anything else on this show.  I'm sure she won't still be on the show next season, right?  I don't know where else they can go with the character from here.

 

The Bruce/Alfred storyline is, as always, my favorite part of the show.  I wish they had more time to move that story along a little more quickly and in-depth.

[bobbyjoe]

Since when is Selina on any team aside from her own? It took two weeks for her to get a Team Fish makeover? WTF?!? I guess I'm attached to her regular outfit, goggles and all.

 

Yeah, I'm not buying Selena suddenly being a joiner.  It doesn't fit with either the Selena from the comics or-- so far-- what we've seen of her on the show.  Gotham's showrunners went so far as to say, over on TVLine, that Selena saw Fish as some sort of surrogate mother figure, because Serena's never had a mother, blah, blah, blah....  yeah, shut up, showrunners.

 

It felt more to me like they didn't know what to do with Selena on the finale, so they quickly cooked this up.  It might have worked if they'd had her constantly changing sides, depending on what served her own interest from moment to moment.  But having her genuinely smitten with Fish, as the showrunners seem to suggest?  Yeah, out-of-character, if you ask me.

 

I can't tell you how satisfying it was to see Lee bang Barbara's head against the floor over and over. Guess that bitch won't be Batgirl's mom after all, thank God.

 

I'm thinking she's not so dead.  And let's remember that Batgirl's not an only child, which makes the psychotic side of dear old mom actually fit with the foreshadowing of future residents of Gotham City.

[beedub]

Was that Prokofiev playing when the fireplace moved?

I believe it was Grieg's "The Hall of the Mountain King". Which, for a cavern, would be perfect!

[Philbert]

 

Penguin as Mob King of Gotham is a little too easy. He went from being an umbrella boy to big shot inside of a season, all because his rivals are dead, presumed dead, retired. I'm betting the first part of the next season will be full of mobsters who didn't get the memo about his new position. I hope his reign is as much fun to watch as his journey to get there.

 

There is a reason why Falcone didn't fear Oswald. He's got no crew of his own really, just Butch and that one other guy...maybe a couple of small time hoods. None of the remaining Falcone capos are going to be interested in working for him and one assumes all of Maroni's guys are going to shoot him on sight. No, all he's done here is engineer the beginnings of an all out mob war (like the one that went on in Philadelphia in the early 80s). His best bet is to play all the factions off against each other until he's the last man standing. Could make for an interesting season or two. Oswald is VERY good at playing people off against one another.

[Richness]

Yeah, I'm gonna jump on the WTF bandwagon for this episode.

 

What was the point of Selina and Fish's makeover's? Batkid's lack of acting skills was especially noticeable in the final library scenes. Stunt double disparity yanked me right out of Barbara and Leslie's fight scene. The hospital shootout seemed to have Stormtrooper levels of accuracy ineptitude by the mobsters. How appropriate for Star Wars Day. May the 4th be with you, Jim!

 

Sorry to see Fish take a dive, but they certainly left it possible for her to return. As far as I was concerned, she was often times the best part of the series for me, scenery chewing and all. Too bad she got shipped off to the island of misfit toys. If it wasn't for being such a disservice to the character, I'd almost prefer that she had died over there instead of trying to shove her back into the mob war. As it is, I'm not sure her death was any more glorious here than there, though I loved her finally taking out Maroni and all of his sexist BS. However, that felt way over the top and out of character. You don't get to be that big a mob boss by being that stupid. Sure, poke the barracuda with your dick and see what happens.

[Trini]

I'm disappointed that at the end of the season we still barely know anything about who murdered the Waynes, and why. (Even though I dropped the show, it was the one storyline I kinda cared about.)

 

So it took them the whole season to figure out what to do with Barb. Ridiculous. (We should take a poll to see which comic book show is writing its female characters the worst!) I like the Harley Quinn suggestion, though. Except I'd make her Harleen's mother.

 

So sending Fish off to Dollmaker Island really was pointless?

[ottoDbusdriver]

So sending Fish off to Dollmaker Island really was pointless?

 

It certainly seems so.

[Dobian]

So that's the future Mrs. Gordon and mother of Batgirl.  eeeeeokayyyyy.

[APSimpson]

What a messy, hilarious, over-the-top trainwreck that was.  Good lord, what the hell was that?  Robin Lord Taylor, Jada Pinkett, and the actor playing Butch had to be embarrassed by that hilarious bad fight scene.  We're talking Ed Wood-level there.  It was hilarious in its own way but nearly career-endingly bad for everyone involved.

 

Then you have Selena who just decides to hook up with Fish...yeah, what the hell?  Just go with the flow of the story!

 

Nygma popped up so late in the episode that I forgot that was supposed to be a plotline tonight.

 

I know, I was chuckling quite a bit throughout this episode tonight. I'm chuckling even now just thinking about the ridiculousness of what I just saw, but I did enjoy it. The finale fight scene between Fish and Penguin. Uhuh. Yeah, like Penguin is just going to hoist Fish over the wall like that? I know she was wounded and such (but so was he) and then he gets on top of the wall and yells that he's the king of Gotham? I was almost expecting Butch to push him off too. LOL

 

Yeah, I had the same reaction to Selina working with Fish. I know Catwoman is kind of a neutral character at times, but I thought they were trying a bit too hard with that surprise.

 

I love that Nygma left the riddle/clue in the letter he typed. He just can't help himself and there's always plausible deniability on his part. 

 

The most exciting part of the show for me was when Bruce figured out the "stoic" clue. And the fireplace opening up and the bat sounds. That was fun :)

Edited May 5, 2015 by APSimpson

[Slovenly Muse]

Yep, that was terrible. Really, really terrible. Not only did it lack cohesion, but even in the fragments of each individual storyline, it's like the writers just didn't know how to make the most of the drama/tension they were creating. Having Falcone, for example, tell Jim that even if he survived, he was out of the game, was so incredibly stupid because it immediately lowered the stakes of this battle RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT. That would have been a great conversation to have on the balcony afterward, for Jim to learn that it was all for naught, but receive his father's knife as a gesture of appreciation. Barbara's storyline was so glossed over and inscrutable last week so that they could go for the quick reveal this week that she had killed her parents... but really, if they hadn't held back, if they'd let us see how twisted and disturbed she became with the Ogre, then let us watch this "counselling" session IN FULL KNOWLEDGE of what she had done to her own parents and just waiting for the shoe to drop on the clueless and innocent Leslie, they could have wrung so much more tension and excitement from the plot. Same with, as has been mentioned, Catween being mentored by Fish. It makes perfect sense, actually, now that Catween has committed murder and is struggling to find her identity in the wake of it, Fish would be a very attractive mentor for her. But instead of exploring the interesting stories, they just skip all that good stuff and jump right to the meaningless violence. It's like they have great ideas, but no clue how to use them effectively.

 

I tell you, the first villain that learns not to monologue and just DO the thing? Is going to own the freaking city.