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TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Gotham Season 04 Episode 02: The Fear Reaper

September 29th, 2017 by Todd Black Comments

I consider proof of growth when a TV does something against its natural fiber in order to better the story. For example, in Season 01, or even Season 02, they would’ve had Scarecrow terrorize the city, Jim be put into a position where he has to catch him, he does, and then Jim gets the glory and the moral victory. But instead, “The Fear Reaper” only did the first two. Scarecrow terrorized part of the city, Jim had to catch him…but he didn’t.

And this actually was very important to the story, as Jim was dealt a blow in front of Penguin, the GCPD is slowly turning to Penguin’s point of view, and now Jim has to get creative to save Gotham. Which apparently involves Carmine Falcone…this will be good.

What was truly important with this storyline was that once again, Jim’s viewpoint wasn’t the only one shared, the other GCPD cops got to voice their opinions, and once again, Penguin called out how the GCPD is a bit of a joke at times, including how many times their own base got shot up. Even Harvey wouldn’t go with Jim this time because that would mean losing the rest of the GCPD, and he could lose a war to win one battle. It’s refreshing to see them go this route.

I also like their interpretation of Scarecrow, who’s now using his fathers toxin to help people “face their fear” and even “become their own demon”. It’s a nice twist, and one that helped flesh out Jim’s character even more. That cameo by Leslie Thompkins was nicely done. And he wasn’t caught! So he can return.

Speaking of returns, welcome back to life Barbra Keaton! I will note that this was spoiled in the preview that was played for the season, so some of the punch was lost, but it was still well handled. This isn’t the same Barbra we saw last season finale, she’s calmer, saner arguably, and wanting to make amends. Even if that meant losing a hand to prove it to Tabitha, who was legitimately still angry over what happened to Butch (who will be making a return himself soon…)

It was interesting to see not only the main ladies of the series rise up, but also for Penguin to call out the obvious question of, “Who’s funding Barbra?” If you’ve been reading the news, and seeing the clues, it’s a bit obvious, but that doesn’t make it less fun.

Which brings me to Ivy, who’s tired of being controlled and looked down upon, and seems to have taken the drugs she needed to become fully Ivy, we’ll see how this transforms her…

Speaking of transforms!!!…yeah, I’ll stop. Anyway, Bruce and Alfred are still in the learning process of things, and that’s ok, cause if it came too quick, what would be the point? Seeing Bruce fail is great, because he get to learn from it. And seeing Lucius come to save the day with the…let’s call it “Version 1” of the Batsuit is awesome, and he even threw in the communicator! That’s cool.

All in all, “The Fear Reaper” was very solid, not all of it worked, but for the most part it did, and I’m very intrigued to see where this all goes.

4 out of 5 nerds

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!