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TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Gotham Season 02 Episode 08: Tonight’s The Night

November 11th, 2015 by Todd Black Comments

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Well…some of that was unexpected!

“Tonight’s The Night” may not have been the most epic Gotham episode of Season 02, however, it did prove once again that the show isn’t afraid to throw in some surprising twists, and shake up the storylines. The lack of this in Season 01 was what made it stale at times, and Season 02 has been anything but stale.

This episode was truly about relationships, and not all of them good. The opening with Jim and Barbara getting married was very telling of Barbara’s mindset. Despite everything that has happened, she still wants to be with Jim forever, and the fear of not having that is clearly a part of her madness. Which of course was what Theo Galavan was hoping, as he used Barbara as a lure to get Jim Gordon’s attention, all the while he made steps of his own for his dreams.

It was very compelling to see Jim and Barbara interact with one another. True, we had a small bit of that in episode 02 of this season, but this was much more personal. Jim all but begging Barbara to let him help her get better. Truly believing that she was “just sick” and not demented like she believed. It was great stuff. As was seeing how Barnes, Bullock, and Leslie (who I’ll get to soon) react to Jim’s tactics.

A fun sidenote here was Barnes, who didn’t appear much in the last episode, but was a key force here. His “by the books, by the law” approach was once again at the forefront as Gordon revealed the truth about Galavan…without evidence. And when Bullock offered to rough him up, Barnes shot him down. Him and Bullock had some particularly fun moments here in this episode, from Bullock’s lack of respect for authority, to his brilliant piece of detective work that led to Jim’s rescue, it was top notch stuff.

Yes, we all knew that Barbara was a trap, and that Jim would fall for it. What wasn’t clear was what would happen next. Leslie getting pulled into this was unexpected, as Barbara tried to “show” her that she didn’t know Jim as well as she did. Also, Barbara NOT dying was also very interesting, as it was even broadcast that she would die several times.

The fallout from this encounter was felt both immediately, and should be felt in the future. As Barbara (accidentally?) let slip about where the true Mayor of Gotham was being kept. Which of course led to Galavan’s arrest. Speaking of which…

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Galavan (because of Gordon’s proclamation last week) had to expedite his plans to get Wayne Enterprises from Bruce. And he did so in a very interesting and believable way, by offering the name of the man who killed Thomas and Martha. AKA the one thing that Bruce wanted more than anything.

What was fun here was that Bruce could’ve easily denied his offer had that tidbit not been brought up, but the moment it was you knew that he deeply consider it. And that he did. However, one thing I believe Galavan underestimated was not Bruce, but Alfred. Alfred, as Bruce’s confidaunt, shed light that it wasn’t right that Galavan was trying to extort Bruce’s company through his emotions, which Bruce agreed to in a sense. The scene where Bruce just “wanted this to be over” was a very true indication of the character we often to get to see. Of course, this led to him turning down Galavan’s offer, and Galavan burning the documents. I wonder if they were real or not, and if he did truly know that Joe Chill killed the Wayne’s. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Nygma had a fun twist of an adventure, as the “disposing” of Ms. Kringle’s body led to another murder, and a chance encounter that’s sure to switch things up. As the Riddler…is now with the Penguin! Oh what fun.

“Tonight’s The Night” may have been simple, but expert like moves in the story continue to keep it fresh. Galavan is arrested, Barbara is contained, and Wayne Enterprises is safe for now. Where do we go from here? Let’s find out!

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Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!