Is it ironic that one of the best episodes of the season barely featured Jim Gordon? I think so, as “To our deaths and beyond” pulled out some surprising twists that could lend to not just a great season finale, but a potential 5th season should the show get renewed.
At its core, this episode was about Barbara Kean and her desire to become the true Demon’s Head, but, not everyone was having it, and so, in the first twist (that was sadly televised via the preview), the male faction of the League of Shadows brought Ra’s back, but in a very skeletal form. Which led to the second twist, Ra’s WANTED the Civil War between the League of Shadows, as he felt it was rotten from within.
But, he convinced himself that Barbara couldn’t do what needed to be done, so he plotted a path to get his power, and his life, back. This led to some very interesting interactions between Barbara, Tabitha, Selina, Bruce, and even Alfred. All leading towards an epic showdown where the true power of the Demon’s Head was revealed. Time travel! Or…future visions…it wasn’t fully clear, but it worked.
Which led to arguably the best twist of the night, after seeing Tabitha die, Barbara activated her power again to rewind things, and she willingly gave up her power to Ra’s, which made him reborn in full. The reason this was a great twist was because Barbara by nature is selfish, yet here she gave up the power of a god (more or less) to save her friend, that was big of her. And now…she’s got league of female assassins at her beck and call…what could possibly go wrong?
The sideplot was also good, as Leslie and Riddler teamed up to rob banks that were hurting the Narrows. It was criminal, but in a way that made sense to who Leslie was in this season. She’s trying to save everyone she can, and Riddler can help with that. I’ll admit the subplot with Penguin/Grundy felt a little forced, but it worked in the end, and now Riddler has a thing for Leslie and not just Ed. And with Leslie now behind bars for the time being, there’s potential for some big twists to come.
There were some odd beats here, including Penguin thinking he could pull one over on both Riddler and Leslie and his reaction to his betrayal at the end. And Ra’s…come on…let Bruce and Selina kiss!!! I’ve been waiting four seasons for a meaningful one!
In the end though, “To Our Deaths And Beyond” did some surprising character work on some characters, and potentially set up the end of the season. We’ll find out in two weeks if it works out.
4.5 out of 5 nerds
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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