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TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Gotham Season 04 Episode 22: No Man’s Land

May 18th, 2018 by Todd Black Comments

On a personal note, I really love Gotham. Yes, the first season had to “feel itself out”, but starting with Season 02, it really became something special. That being said, the show really doesn’t have a good track record with season finales. Some of them have been just plain bad, and others have flirted with greatness but ended up bad. As for “No Man’s Land”, it had some odd spots, but the ending was well worth it.

After Jeremiah’s attack on Selina, she was rushed to the hospital, and he was taken to the GCPD. But we all knew that wouldn’t last. Sure enough, Ra’s and Jeremiah used one bomb they didn’t plant before to blow up a building and trick Bruce into coming into their hands. This set up a doomsday scenario of sorts, and even had the National Guard brought in to try and “remedy” the situation. Yeah, that didn’t work.

Long story short, Jeremiah and Ra’s used the bombs to blow up all the bridges, just like Dark Knight Rises, and blocked the city from getting help, letting those “hiding in the shadows” to come to light, and setting up Bruce to become what he needs to be.

Before I get to those last epic 10-15 minutes, let’s talk about the bad stuff first. Though destroying the bridges was pretty epic, it doesn’t fit the “fire and destruction” that Ra’s described as his vision. I felt there should be more to it than that. Oh well, visions are tricky.

Second, just as I feared, we got more of the Riddler/Leslie/Gordon love triangle storyline. And it came at the worst time when everything was being set up plot wise. Yes, they did subvert things, as Riddler and Leslie actually stabbed each other, which was cool in a way, but I hate the point to which we got there.

Some surprises that I appreciated though was Barbara helping kill Ra’s, including reforging the dagger to kill him, and putting it in Bruce’s hands to ensure it worked. Also, Penguin got to re-emerge as the top villain we know him to be, as he conned both Butch and Tabitha into thinking he would help them, only to kill Butch once he was back to his normal self. Why? Because Tabitha killed his mother, and he never forgot.

Moving onto the ending, we get the city evacuated by the National Guard, and only the brave or the criminal remain. Gordon, Lucius, Bullock and a handful of cops are all that’s left of the GCPD. Alfred has been sent away to take care of Selina for a bit before coming back (and he will come back). And Bruce has joined Gordon to help out and to find Jeremiah. The scene with the spotlight was both on the nose and epic. It’s blank currently as there is no Batman, but it still means the same thing, hope. Now where have I heard a symbol meaning that before?

Ok, aside from that scene, the final ten minutes or so were some of my favorite moments in all of superhero television, and that’s saying something. We got to see the villains truly take hold of the city. Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Firefly, Scarecrow, The Sirens, Huge Strange (to a lesser extent, but still), Mother and Orphan and…Man-Bat!!!!! And as the EP of the show has confirmed, more are coming. Season 05 of Gotham may only be 13 episodes long, but this setup makes me excited for each and every one of them.

In the end, “No Man’s Land” was more of a setup for Season 05 than a capper on Season 04.And while some will be annoyed by that, I’m actually ok with it.

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!