After weeks of teasing, we finally got to see Barnes go fully postal on anyone he deemed “guilty” in “Blood Rush”. This could’ve easily been played as an over-the-top thing. But instead, they stuck to the slow burn, gave bursts of his “illness” rearing its head, and then only at the end showing us the end product. It worked, and it brought Gotham back to the quality I expect from it.
It was truly great to see the inner struggle of Barnes as he fought the virus of Alice’s blood. I liked how it started out as a routine arrest, one that got violent very quickly. Which turned into a meeting with Tetch, and then Barnes trying to make the best of his situation. Only to realize what was happening, and coming very, very, close to turning himself in.
What also sold his “transformation” if you will was the very dark bad guys we met here. From the “cleaner” that would get rid of bodies in acid, and Dr. Symon, who would transplant faces taken from live victims, its no wonder he snapped. Especially when the latter got off because he was very connected. It’s always been known how corrupt Gotham was, that’s what drew Barnes and Gordon to the city, so that they could fix it. But seeing men like them, it’s enough to push any to the breaking point, especially Barnes.
Where do we go from here? Well, he’s got the strength to do what he wants, but now Gordon is on to him. No doubt this’ll end badly for Barnes, but how quickly will just depend on the writers.
Sadly, the other story was the love triangle, which took a very interesting turn. In fact, I’ll say this is the highlight of this arc so far. Not that that means much for the record. I admire Nygma’s desire to break it off with Isabella before she was potentially killed by him, and I admire that she didn’t want to break it off with him cause she truly loved him. Even dressing like Ms. Kringle to try and prove he wouldn’t hurt her. That was good stuff. Even her calling out that Penguin loved Nygma was good…but then…
He tried to have her killed! And we had to watch as she struggled to stop her car from an oncoming train…of course. Why not? Now, the way it was shown, it’s 50-50 if she’s alive or dead. We’ll just have to wait and see. Hopefully this ends soon, I can’t take much more of it.
Oh, and with Gordon back in the GCPD, it was interesting to see how he interacted with everyone, which included Leslie and Mario, whom he had some very interesting conversations with. We’ll see how this develops.
“Blood Rush” was another solid entry in Season 03. Barnes became something more this week, and I look forward to seeing what happens with him next.
Todd Black
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!
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