Gotham is gearing up for a big season finale, which…Gotham hasn’t exactly been good at doing. But with “One Bad Day”, they decided to potentially get out all the slow material to gear up for a big bang of an ending, and when those slow parts weren’t around, the episode did do good.
One of the slow parts was definitely Penguin continuing to try and work his way back to the top and failing every time. It’s getting old, and I don’t want him to be a punchline when I know he can be menacing.
Then…there’s Jim and Leslie. Yes, I want them to be together, but to do it like this tonight? It just felt like a slug, and now Riddler is going to turn on Leslie before their storyline I feel is fully finished. And I don’t want that.
Thankfully, just about every other storyline hit. Seeing Jeremiah’s version of Joker was terrifying, as he was calm, methodical, didn’t get angry very often, and when he did, he calmed down almost instantly. The “purge” of his followers was horrifying. As was the calm way he talked about driving Bruce mad. I do wish we had a little more time with him, he deserved it, and he stole every scene he was in.
Meanwhile, the twist on “The Killing Joke” was well done. The iconic Joker story tried to try Commissioner Gordon mad in the comics, and to turn it on Bruce here was well played. As was the use of the Fear Toxin to make Bruce think that Alfred was being tortured and wanted to kill him was great. Also though, it got to cement Bruce’s relationship with Selina, and they got to kiss! FINALLY! And then Selina got shot. NOOOO!!!!!!
Finally, Harvey had a breakout episode here as he tried to keep the GCPD going and have faith that Jim was alive, and then risked it all to save the city and diffuse the bomb. Him getting the ovation at the end was really great.
Oh, and Ra’s has teamed up with Joker. If that doesn’t fill you with dread, nothing will.
In the end, “One Bad Day” delivered some great setup, now we have to hope that they deliver on the ending.
4 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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