With that, the first half of the first season of Gotham comes to a close. How did it end? Well, with a few twists, a few surprises, and a lot of promise going forward.
Of all the episodes, “Lovecraft” was the most straightforward. The epic debut of Copperhead forces Bruce and Selina to flee for their lives, and that results in Gordon, Bullock, and Alfred teaming up in various ways to find them before Copperhead did.
Easily the best part of the episode was the portrayal of Alfred, as he finally got to show off his skills in regards to fighting. Not many fans know that Alfred was a military man (depending on which continuity you are familiar with). In some instances he was actually British Intelligence, so to show him being a complete force to be reckoned with was awesome. More than that though, even with the fighting the focus to find Bruce was never lost in his eyes. I loved it when Bullock and Gordon started fighting and Alfred shut them up real quick. Classy.
Even more, Alfred showed the various ways to get information that Bullock and Gordon honestly can’t do to various degrees. From paying off people, to using subtle, flirty, language to get info, it was all very cool, and showed just how awesome Alfred is.
You’ll no doubt think the Selina/Bruce material was either hit-or-miss. And in some ways it was, but in others it truly wasn’t. I liked how Bruce angered Selina when he said that “she wasn’t nice”, meaning she didn’t care for others. Cause this revealed she actually cared for Bruce to some degree. Then she pulls a 180 and reveals she didn’t mind leading him on in some things just so they could hang out more. Classic Selina.
The standout for me though was when Bruce jumped the roof to catch up to Selina. Why? Because it was honestly a good first step in regards to him being a future man without fear. He knew the risks, but he knew he had to stick with Selina, so he jumped. A twist I didn’t expect was the reappearance of Ivy Pepper. We not only got to hear about what happened in the aftermath of the pilot in regards to her life, but we got to see her very cold side, something that might be played upon further on in the seasons.
No doubt the biggest impact from the episode was the reassignment of Gordon. After the titular Lovecraft gets killed by Copperhead, Gordon is forced to take the fall and is reassigned to Arkham Asylum. This twist could lead to some big payoffs both for the plot and for Jim. I’m not sure how long he’ll be in there, but no doubt it’ll cause an impact when the show returns in January.
The Falcone storyline was touched upon as well to varying effects. From Penguin biding his time to “reveal” Falcone’s mole, to Fish Mooney taking more and more steps to usurp Falcone’s power, it’s a big chess game. One I hope will have big moves soon.
In the end, “Lovecraft” was a good end to the first half of the season. Shakeups were made, relationships were forged, and the seeds of future stories were planted. I hope when Gotham returns it’ll keep up the momentum, as the show continues to get better every week.
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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