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sunlitroom · 6 years

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Gotham s4e14 - The Sinking Ship, The Grand Applause

As I watched it, and some random observations here and there.

Previously on Gotham:

Oswald faked Martin’s death to keep him safe. Jim arrested Oswald for his murder. Victor is a lying traitor. Sofia played Jim for a dupe. I screwed up, Harve. Oh – Jesus – no, not the bit with Lee’s hand again. Ivy’s brief reign of terror. Oswald uses Riddler to plan an escape

As always, long post will be long. There are likely to be rambling digressions. Gobblepot might appear (although I welcome all shippers and non-shippers alike :)). There will be naked favouritism and naked not-favouritism. Broader comments at the end on plotlines and parallels and general direction.

An abandoned-looking house in the city. Martin sits with his back against the fireplace, guarded by hulking men, at whom he stares balefully while sketching them hanged in his little pad. As he turns the page to start a fresh sketch, he finds the next page has a message.

Do you want to escape?

He looks round quickly before reading and following the rest of the instructions. Going into an equally abandoned looking kitchen on the pretence of using the bathroom, he turns the gas on, and returns to the living room.

The men quickly smell gas. Martin smiles. They pull their guns before going to check more. The next message in Martin’s pad tells him to plug his ears. As he does, we see a missile glide through the kitchen window. There’s a huge explosion in the kitchen. Martin sees a figure emerging from the smoke in the hall who turns out to be Ed. ‘Uncle Penguin’ sent him, and now they’re going to get ice cream.

Cherry’s is under new management. In the ring in the centre of the club, we see Samson brutally beating a man. There’s not much in the way of cheering. Lee approaches cautiously, a hood covering her face.

Samson is boasting about how he’s in charge and he collects protection. We see the man’s terrified family watching from the crowd. He begs Samson,

Please, my family…..

Samson replies

Do I look like an animal?

He tells the man he won’t hurt his family, and promptly shoots him in the head. His family scream and surge towards the ring, horrified.

In the crowd – Lee is aghast. She leaves quietly.

GCPD. Harvey and Jim are in what is now Jim’s office. I wonder if Jim considers how much it might gall Harvey to sit in that office on the other side of the desk, given the circumstances?

Jim tells Harvey that before Don Falcone died, he warned him that he had no idea what he had brought to the city. Jim says he knows now that he was talking about Pyg. Jim says someone must have told him about Pyg, and that person also has evidence linking Sofia to Pyg.

Harvey asks Jim why he doesn’t just come forward with what he has. Jim wriggles, and says that it would just be his word against Sofia’s. Harvey’s visibly impatient with him, and says he’s just afraid that it will bring him down too. Jim says Harvey can be pissed at him, but that this is bigger than both of them.

He puts Harvey’s badge on the table and says he needs to know he can count on him. I dunno, Jim, I think you were still wearing your badge when you screwed Harvey over, so I don’t really think it’s a magical talisman, or anything.

Harvey takes the badge and says he hopes they take down Sofia – but he still wants Jim to pay. He adds that he knows a former Falcone assassin, the Scandinavian Skinner, and he wants to go find them. Jim makes to rise from his chair to join him, but Harvey brushes him off.

(An aside. This is the set-up for the later revelation that Mr Penn was apparently a crucial mole that the narrative never for a moment hinted at back in the first half of the season. It’s several kinds of lazy. It also ruins that lovely line of Carmine’s

You have no idea what you’ve brought to this city

At the time, that line sounded like it was about Sofia (I suspect it was, tbh, and this is a retcon to fill a plot hole). Carmine was finally acknowledging how dangerous his daughter was – out of her earshot, and right before she killed him. It carried a lot of weight. Now – it’s some stupid reference to Pyg, who Carmine apparently knew about all along. There, too, goes Jim and Harvey’s (and the show’s) weird notion that Carmine Falcone had some better code of honour than the other criminals. If he knew about Pyg and did nothing, then he was complicit.)

At Wayne Manor, there is a ruckus in the kitchen. Cans of food are rolling across the floor. Bruce approaches warily to find Selina rifling through cupboards, looking for something to eat. She said she needs help. Bruce clarifies that she needs money. She wants to get back something she fenced. Bruce asks why she doesn��t ask Barbara Kean, but Selina says she doesn’t want Barbara involved.

She promises him she’ll pay him back, and tells him that it’s the stuff she took from Roland Charles. Bruce realises she feels bad and tells her he’ll get the money. He also tells her there’s oatmeal cookies in the blue tin. He leaves, and Selina smiles – but still seems troubled.

At Arkham, a yelling Oswald is being dragged to some kind of guard’s station, where he’s told he has a message. We can see what looks like lots of Victorian maids in the background. Maybe that will be relevant later in Jerome and Jervis’ breakout.

The guard delivers a riddle, the answer to which is ‘knuckle sandwich’. Oswald receives a whopping punch in the face.

Harvey enters a delicatessen. We hear children laughing and playing, looking at sweets

Hello Agnes

The Skinner, it turns out, is an old lady – who tells Bullock she’s now retired. She looks away from him briefly to tell the children not to ruin their dinner. They promise her – apparently their grandma – that they won’t

Harvey says they’re looking for someone who might have acted as Falcone's eyes and ears when he was down south. She asks why she should tell him. He says they have a history, but she remarks that ‘history’ got her four years in a gulag.

Harvey threatens to tell her grandchildren about her past, and goes so far as to call to the children. She caves fast. She says Falcone only ever trusted the book-keeper who smelled of fish – but she heard he vanished. Harvey leaves.

(An aside. It’s debatable whether he would have gone through with it, but having Harvey use the woman’s grandchildren as a threat seemed ooc unsympathetic for him.

Was ‘Agnes Skinner’ a Simpsons reference?)

At the Falcone mansion, Sofia is throwing a tantrum about Martin’s disappearance. She sends Victor to Arkham to kill Oswald – knowing that this is the only leverage she has over him. Victor asks if he can take HeadHunter. Sofia doesn’t care, as long as Oswald dies choking on his own blood.

Harvey is also at Arkham, asking for Oswald. He finds him in the infirmary. Oswald sits up when he approaches – not clear whether this is somehow part of the escape plan. Harvey tells him (sarcastically? Not sure. Sometimes there’s an odd amiability in cop/criminal encounters in this show – but Harvey is generally angry in this episode) that it’s good to see him.

There’s a scream outside. Harvey runs out to investigate. It’s Victor and HH, looking for Oswald. Victor remarks that he though Bullock stopped being a cop, but it clearly didn’t take. He reintroduces HH to Harvey as Wendell.

Harvey tells them to walk away – but Victor says they can't. They draw their guns. I’m still generally cross at Victor – but good god those shoulder holsters do things to me.

Victor tells Harvey to step aside and he can live to get drunk another day. (this is the weird kind of amiability and sense of an actual relationship I was referring to earlier).

Suddenly, alarms start to go off. Harvey looks back. Victor and Wendell decide to try again later. An announcement comes over the tannoy system that Oswald has escaped. Harvey runs back into the infirmary. Patients there are yelling and hitting their own heads at the sound of the alarm, because this show’s depiction of Arkham just continues to plumb new depths every damn time.

Harvey looks out the window. He sees Oswald heading for a van, and Ed, leaping about like a giant grasshopper, shooting his gun into the air

Nygma

(An aside – we never actually hear how Ed broke Oswald out, because it doesn’t really make any sense that Oswald couldn’t manage it alone. He survived on his wits alone in season one – Oswald managed to negotiate his way out of a car that was seconds away from being crushed. He bested Ed last season. He managed to wrangle success from the Tetch virus mess. But to shove the plot along, he’s handed the idiot ball here.)

My wrists hurt and this bit was not wildly interesting. Bruce and Selina go back to the shop where she fenced the stolen goods, get into a big fight, make up, flirt a little, and then leave.

A street on the Narrows. Ed says he knew that Sofia would send hitmen when she learned Martin was gone. Oswald anxiously asks how he is. Ed says he’s snug as a bug in a rug. Oswald’s face lights up to hear that Martin is safe.

Ed hands Oswald his hat, and wants to boast about how he found Martin, which somehow involved Victor loving disco and Ed dressing up as an old Polish woman. Oswald, however, is not interested – and says they need a powerbase to fight Sofia. Ed smiles and says he knows – loosening his tie.

A makeshift office somewhere in the Narrows, where Lee is sitting at a desk. The door opens, and she pulls a gun – understandably wary. It’s Ed – posing as whatever iteration of himself he was before, I’ve virtually given up at this point. Lee smiles – genuinely happy to see him.

You're back. How are you doing?

Worlds better

He spots her hand, and asks what happened to it. There’s an interesting little break here. His voice when he asks the question is feigned – because he’s still pretending to be old Ed, but that only serves to underline the contrast with him quickly noticing that something had happened to her hand, and the look of concern, which seem genuine in comparison.

Lee said that Sofia smashed her hand with a hammer.

Together we can get that bitch back. She can't take everything we built.

Ed straightens his tie and calls to Oswald, saying that Lee can’t help them. A confused Lee asks what’s happening. Oswald tells her about their deal.

I let him out of his cage, he let me out of mine

Lee stares at Ed.

You're him. The Riddler

Ed stares back at her as he puts his hat on. Lee looks him up and down.

He says was hoping she was still running The Narrows and could help – but he guesses not. He’s still staring at her saying this and straightening his tie, even as Oswald tugs on his sleeve, and impatiently asks what they’re going to do now.

Walking away from the desk, Ed says he has a backup plan. He wants Victor Fries to put Oswald in a block of ice, and to offer him as a gift to Sofia – like a trojan horse. Oswald laughs incredulously and tells him to try again.

Lee walks over to them, and tells them to let her help. They continue to bicker and ignore her. She looks indignantly at Ed. Lee was infuriated to be overlooked during the Tetch debacle, too – so her annoyance here is consistent with her character.

You think I can't handle it

I know you can't

Lee holds up her hand. Ed’s eyes are again conflicted when confronted with her injury.

Look what she did to me. I will pull the trigger on that bitch myself

Ed says that’s tough talk, but only talk.

An impatient Oswald stops their squabbling, and says that they need muscle. Lee smiles and agrees with him

I can tell you where to look.

They both start paying attention to her. Ed and Lee decide to lock eyes again.

Don't you think he misses you?

As she says this, she smiles at Ed, who catches on and smiles back. Oswald asks who she’s talking about. Neither acknowledges his question.

(An aside. There’s quite a lot in that scene. Ed superficially discounts Lee’s usefulness in the scheme to oust Sofia, since she’s lost The Narrows – but there was an awful lot of conflicted glancing at her hand. In fact, there was an awful lot of staring at each other in general. The smiles they shared at the end were also private – reminding us that they now have a close relationship and shared history.)

Ed is in the sewer, yelling for Grundy – saying he’s his best friend and pal, and smart again, and generally prancing about, enjoying the fact that there’s an echo. Ed is such an ass.

Butch approaches him. Ed condescendingly tells him he’s corralling allies to kill Sofia, and they need

A galoot like you for cannon fodder

He frowns, realising Butch looks different, and asks why he’s looking at him like that. Butch growls

Oh dear.

Butch says he’s not the only one who got smart. Ed fumbles saying that he helped him

Ed put out fire. Ed help Grundy

Butch says he’s not Ed anymore, and he’s not Grundy.

Back at Lee's. She’s relaxed, feet on the desk, waiting for Ed to come back to move on to the next stage of the plan. Oswald, meantime, is pacing, convinced that Ed has betrayed him already.

Lee tells him to calm down. Oswald snaps not to tell him to calm down, she has no idea what he’s been through. Lee calmly tells him that Ed will be here, and they will make Sofia pay. Interestingly, Lee doesn’t seem wary of the Riddler persona at all. The trust she has for Ed carries over – which raises the question of whether Lee now simply sees him as an integrated persona.

An agitated Oswald says he can't wait, and storms out. Lee rolls her eyes.

Jim and Harvey walking down a street in the Narrows. Harvey is wondering aloud how Ed got in touch with Oswald anyway. It’s called a plot contrivance, Harvey.

Jim looks annoyingly crisp and smart in his suit when I'm still mad at him. He’s told Harvey that the best way to find Oswald and Ed is to find Lee. As they head down the street, Oswald approaches. Jim and Harvey draws their guns

Or we could talk to Oswald right now

Oswald smashes a bottle and points it at them in warning. He asks what they’re doing there.

Harvey says they’re looking for an Arkham escapee, about so tall, limp, and a mommy complex.

Oswald manages to look so livid that he’s tearful

(An aside - Go take a fuck to yourself, Harvey. What on earth was that nastiness about? Aside from being mean and unnecessary – it’s not really in-character for Harvey. His first comment on encountering Oswald at the big showdown with Theo – in the midst of all the mayhem – was to tell Oswald he was ‘sorry about his mom’. So what’s this?)

Oswald tells Jim that the trumped up charges he used to put him away have lost their teeth – Martin is safe and well. Jim says if that’s the case, then produce him.

(An aside – Wow, Jim is capable of some mental contortions. So, he probably didn’t think Oswald actually killed Martin, but decided that the accusation was enough to justify arresting him, and even though he likely didn’t really believe the accusation himself, fell back on needing evidence to exonerate him)

Oswald quickly retorts no – Martin’s not safe until Sofia has been dealt with

Jim looks wide-eyed at Oswald’s statement. Why would he be surprised that Oswald wants revenge on Sofia? Anyway.

I think you and I both want the same thing, Oswald. We both want Sofia to go away.

(An aside – he’s falling back on the same line he used with Harvey: ‘yes I fucked up, but hey, we both have bigger fish to fry, so please forgive me and let’s not dwell on my fuck up’

Oswald says if that’s the case

Then turn around and walk away - let me do what I do

Jim can’t have that, though – he wants her in jail

Harvey and Jim mention Penn, and Oswald's eyes bulge with rage. He screams incoherently

That little weasel was working for her

Harvey tells him Penn worked for Carmine for years, and tells Oswald he needs to address his management style. Oswald isn’t listening, on another level of rage now, chanting to himself.

I’m gonna kill him

Jim approaches him, lowering his gun.

Oswald, Oswald - calm down.

Bizarrely, after everything that’s gone on between them– and there is a lot of everything – Jim’s voice manages to break through Oswald’s rage, and Oswald makes eye contact. Jim says they can make a deal. If Oswald tells them where to find Penn, then he’ll let him walk away.

There’s a long pained look, before Oswald says.

I don't believe you

(I ship this - so you can take it or leave it - but imo, part of Oswald looking pained in that moment was because he wants so much to trust Jim, and hates that he now can’t immediately do that)

Harvey interrupts and says that Sofia sent Victor to Arkham to kill him. She runs the Narrows now, and she’ll find him.

Jim and Oswald look at each other. Oswald drops his bottle and they face each other without weapons. Apparently there’s a specialist spa that Penn visits, and he’s probably hiding there.

Oswald walks past them. As he does, Jim says his name. He turns to face him. Oswald’s face looks raw and vulnerable. Jim actually manages a sincere thank-you, and extends his hand.

Oswald’s face softens, and he looks down at Jim’s hand, and - taking it – smiles.

Unfortunately Harvey Interruptus chooses this time to start going by the book, and cuffs him

Oswald yells they had a deal. Jim asks Harvey what he's doing, and Harvey says he didn’t agree to anything. Oswald yells as they walk away.

Lee watches from the shadows

As they get to the car, Oswald is still furious, but Jim tells him to relax, and that if the Penn info is good then he’ll still be rid of Sofia.

Victor and Wendell appear across the street. Jim quickly shoves Oswald into the car, which was technically protective, and so I’m taking it as a shippy moment and you can’t stop me.

Victor apparently has the sharpest hearing in the world, since he heard them mention Penn’s name from across the road. There’s a bit of back and forth, where they realise Penn is important.

A big shoot out happens, during which Lee swoops in and steals Oswald and the car. Victor and Wendell shoot after her before giving up. Jim tells Harvey they need to find Penn, and also need to find a car.

(An aside - Oh, Oswald. Your easy forgiveness here makes my fic writing life much much easier, but…sweetie, really. You have a very big Jim Gordon shaped blind spot. Between this, and calming down when Jim spoke to him, and making a beeline for him when he was infected with the fear serum, it seems that Oswald still sees Jim as a ‘safe’ person.)

At Sirens, Barbara has a terrible, terrible headache. She throws back a pill as Tabitha approaches, asking if it’s another migraine. Barbara nods, before asking what that stink is.

It’s Butch approaching, dragging Ed. There’s some back and forth nastiness, where Barbara realises that Butch is himself again. Which, interestingly, means that Tabitha didn’t share that information. Out of a sense of shame at her response to him? Wanting to protect him? Not having as close a relationship with Barbara anymore?

Butch tells them that Ed tried to recruit him to fight Sofia, so he brought him to Tabitha as a gift, after the whole hand amputation business. Why does this show hate hands so much? Oswald got a brooch pin through his, Butch got his cut off with a machete, Ed guillotined Tabitha’s, and Lee got hers mangled.

Anyway, Butch turns to leave. Tabitha calls after him

Don't just walk away again

What? Why wouldn’t he? Tabitha’s response to his reaffirming his feelings for her made pretty clear that she wasn’t interested anymore – and she didn’t complain when he left last time. Are we supposed to have forgotten that? I start to share Barbara’s headache.

Butch promises Tabitha that he’ll find a way to get back to what he was. Like – seriously, aside from the hair and skin, what’s the big problem here? Why is Butch living in the sewer, anyway? Some foundation and hair dye and he’s good to go. Butch, 99% of your trouble here is that your sleeves are too short and give you that weird ‘monster suit’ look. Just go see a tailor.

Butch leaves, kicking Ed as he does so. Tabitha watches him. Tabitha is wearing a seriously terrible satin shirt with weird, weird sleeves. If anyone should be living in the sewer, far from society’s gaze, it’s her in that shirt.

Barbara, meantime, grabs her head again – almost collapsing against the bar. Tabitha asks if she’s OK. Well – clearly not, Tabitha. Barbara says they should send him back to Sofia. She’ll torture him, Lee’s allies are gone, the rebellion is quelled. Once Sofia doesn’t need Ed, she’ll kill him. Same end result, less work.

(An aside – sorry, not remotely believable that Tabitha would pass up the chance to torture Ed herself. She’s generally sadistic, and enjoys torture – and she loathes Ed for what he did to her and Butch. But now she’ll hand him over? Nope.)

Back at the Falcone mansion, Sofia is pissed to hear that Oswald isn’t dead yet. She’s dialling the phone when Victor mentions Penn’s name, and goes very still. She says they have to find Penn before Gordon does. Victor asks which to prioritise, and she tells them to do both.

(An aside. Sofia’s temper and demands in this episode are another nice parallel with Oswald. It’s a reminder that the relationship was worth exploring and keeping a little more grey in terms of their similarities and understanding.)

Back at some location in The Narrows, Oswald thanks Lee for coming to his rescue. Lee tells him not to bother, she needs him to get to Sofia. Well, at least she's honest with him. Oswald sarcastically replies

Touching

Oswald can't believe they’re doing this without Ed and Butch – this plan will likely get him killed. Ah – so they’re at Victor Fries’ lair. Lee says she doesn't care, as long as it puts Sofia in the ground, and Oswald's jaw drops.

Victor F enters the room. Now my jaw drops, because good God, is Victor F in fine shape. He’s also cross at Oswald because he didn't follow through with funding him. We see him from another angle. I’m so happy.

Oswald smiles, and says that the failure to fund him was an omission he regrets and will rectify if given the chance

Victor opens a tap on a gas canister and sprays himself with something to cool himself down.

Oswald moves to investigate something in the makeshift lab. Victor grabs his arm to stop him

Don't touch that

Lee tells him he needs money for research, and Sofia wants Oswald. If he delivers her, then he can name his price. Victor hands him something. He says it’s short notice – but the best he can do. Oswald turns to Lee and starts to say if this affects his brain the way it did Nygma’s then it’ll be a disaster. He can’t afford….

We don’t know what he can’t afford, because Victor cuts in

Ready?

Oswald splutters. Victor doesn’t listen.

I don't care

Victor freezes him in a block, like he did Ed.

(An aside - I know, by this point, that I’m essentially on a hiding to nothing if I wonder about logic and reasoning – but why didn’t Oswald fund Victor? He knows what he’s capable of. He’s greedy for allies. Did he just not have the funds required? Did he never really intend to do it all (again, confusing, given how useful Victor could be to him). Did he forget? It’s not a big detail but – again – it fleshes things out to know.)

(Another aside – I think I need some of that cooling gas canister stuff. Wow.)

At Wayne Manor, Selina roots through the jewellery while Bruce ices his knuckles. She wants him to return it and he twigs that’s why she came. It wasn’t about the money. He clearly and carefully tells her that she didn’t kill Roland Charles, Ivy did. But Selina is guilty and ashamed. She asks what she’s supposed to say, ‘sorry’? Bruce says sometimes that’s enough, and they look at each other.

At the Falcone mansion, we hear drill sounds. The dentist we met before is torturing Ed. He comments that his strength of mind is impressive. Sofia pats Ed’s shoulder, and tells him he will tell her what she wants to know, or this will look like a pleasant dream

Ed laughs, and says OK

I can be done with the teeth, the eyes or the mind - what am I?

I can be humorous, but I’m never funny - what am I?

Sofia stabs him in the thigh with a scalpel, and demands to know where Oswald is.

Ed laughs and tells her he already did – but she’s too stupid to figure it out

Sofia jiggles the scapel in his leg. Ow ow ow. Ed screams in earnest. They’re interrupted – they have a visitor.

It’s Victor F – with a frozen Oswald. Ed turns and laughs – amused that they’ve gone through with his plan after all, and no doubt somewhat tickled to see Oswald in a block of ice.

Sofia asks if Oswald is alive. Victor F responds that he might be, and asks for a hundred grand. She agrees quickly. Should have asked for more, Victor.

The other hot Victor enters as he leaves, eyeballs frozen Oswald, and says he’s not even going to ask – but tells her they found Penn. A delighted Sofia kisses his forehead. She tells the other thugs present to take Ed to the docks, shoot him, and throw him in the river. Why does anyone bother doing this in this town? It’s the least successful murder spot in the city.

She smiles brightly and bounces out of the room

Let’s go get Mr Penn

Victor follows, grinning like the cat who got the cream. Wendell knocks warily at Oswald’s ice cube.

Jim and Harvey arrive at the Sumka spa. They walk into a main hall. Harvey speaks

What fresh level of hell is this?

Oh dear. Not to judge – but this is a lot of no.

Jim says they’re looking for Arthur Penn. The nurse says they try to guarantee anonymity. They spot Penn trying to escape. I’d rather exit this scene quickly without the need for description – so Harvey and Jim escort him out. The end.

At the Falcone Mansion, Oswald defrosts. Once out, he screams incoherently at the dentist about he must have been working for Sofia too. He asks where she is, before walloping him hard on the head and screaming in rage.

Lee is in the car. She answers her phone and asks excitedly if it’s done. Oswald tells her that Sofia left the mansion and is on her way to stop Jim. He tells her to meet him at the spa and they’ll kill Sofia together. That’s a bonding experience right there.

Ending the call – he spots Ed’s bowler on the table. The dentist tells him Ed wouldn't turn on him (but did he actually reveal his location through his compulsive riddling? Did anyone solve the riddles? I’m terrible at it). Oswald asks where he is now. The dentist tells him they’re at the docks, and Oswald has a visible internal back and forth on whether to go immediately to kill Sofia, or go to the docks to prevent Ed from being murdered.

Back at the spa with Jim and Harvey. Apparently, Penn worked for Falcone. He asked him to keep eye on Sofia. She found out, and made a deal – he had to report on Oswald. Harvey expresses distaste at his triple-dealing, and Penn indignantly tells him it’s how you stay alive. Sofia would let him live as long as her kept her one step ahead. She also asked him to put her in touch with Pyg - so he did, and then told Falcone right away.

Jim tells him they need a statement, but they’re interrupted by the arrival of Victor and Sofia. There’s lots of shooting. Sofia is wearing a terrible outfit – that soft pink trench-coat again, and high waisted white trousers.

There’s general mayhem, and Jim gets shot. He tells Harvey to get Penn out of there – he can make it until backup arrives.

Sofia advances, calling for him

James Gordon. We could have had a good thing, you and I - but you had to go and ruin it

Jim reiterates that Harvey should go, and makes it an order. Sofia tells her men to find Penn and get Gordon.

Jim stumble/runs into the kitchen. He takes another shot, from Sofia this time. He turns to shoot her, but he’s out of bullets, and staggers away, as Sofia follows.

Outside, Harvey passes Lee as he’s taking Penn away. Lee calmly strides past him, asking where Sofia is. Harvey says she’s in there with Jim. Lee doesn’t deviate pace or fluster, just tells him to take the car as she walks on. Harvey calls after her that Jim’s hurt bad.

Nearby, Victor and Wendell decide that the day’s more or less over at this point, and they should go get a milkshake.

Jim is stumbling, bleeding heavily. Sofia is ranting. She tells him he’s such a disappointment, and shoots again. She asks if it would have been so bad, being in the palm of her hand, letting her chip away at his soul little by little. Did he really have to rob her of her revenge?

Jim is on the floor. He tells her it wasn’t about him – he wasn’t going to give her GCPD. Jim – you’re bleeding pretty heavily and all, but she had GCPD. You were a puppet.

Sofia doesn’t buy this. She tells him of course it was about him – his pride and arrogance. What she wanted was no different than what her father had for thirty years. Jim states.

Your father - who you killed

Sofia doesn’t wobble for a moment.

Yes - he disappointed me, just like you

(An aside – Sofia’s murder of Carmine was probably her scariest moment in how he justified it to herself. A lot of her behaviour and beliefs are probably learned – her childhood sounds messed up. But we heard her use the old ‘he made me do it’ before with conviction, and hear it again here).

Sofia crouches by him. She tells Jim she still cares for him. If he begs for his life and asks forgiveness, then they can start over.

(An aside - ugh – Sofia has feelings for Jim, apparently. What did it for her? How easily he was duped by appealing to his ego? How judgily he looked at her before any of their sexual encounters? His eye-watering knack for hypocrisy? The way he immediately tried to drop her when she wasn’t useful anymore?)

Jim sits up slightly.

Sofia. Go to hell

Her face pinches, and she rises

James Gordon - this is where our story ends

Before she can shoot, though – she is shot in the back. She turns, face shocked.

You!

It’s a calm and smiling Lee

She pulls the trigger again – and puts a bullet through Sofia’s forehead

Yeah - me

Jim falls back to the floor, his head lolls to the side, and stares into Sofia’s open eyes. We get flashes of Lee trying to keep him conscious as he eventually blacks out.

(An aside – it’s notable here how purposeful and calm Lee was, and how little Jim factored into her actions. I’m sure saving him was likely pleasing – they have a history – but hearing he was in there didn’t produce a visible reaction, nor did her face change to see him on the floor. She was entirely focused on revenge.

There’s a narrative logic to Lee killing Sofia, in terms of Gotham’s rules. She was for a long time, and still is – in a sense – the closest thing the story has to a ‘good’ woman. She’s nurturing and protective. Her profession involves caring. Even before her current stint trying to revive the Narrows, she existed as a symbol in Jim’s story: the motivation for moral redemption, something to protect, something to long for - the ‘love of a good woman’ trope. For a long time, she hid her knowledge of Jim’s misdeeds – something she was only willing to use recently to protect people who had become more important to her.

In contrast, Sofia is set up as the wicked woman. She founds an orphanage as a front, and then uses one of the children to manipulate Oswald’s finer feelings. She uses the memory of his dead mother to do the same – serving up the goulash. She also preyed on his vulnerability about his physical disability. She uses sex to manipulate Jim, and uses his misdeeds to exert power over him. She endangers Martin. She murders her father. In just about any way a traditional narrative would function (and Gotham employs a lot of fairly traditional tropes) – she ‘fails’ at being a good woman. She’s cold where Lee is passionate, destructive where she’s nurturing, uncaring where she is protective.

In terms of narrative, then – Lee taking Sofia out is the kind of moral judgment you’d probably expect. That Lee does it herself, and later seems to enjoy using violence, I suppose raises questions of whether the story now sees Lee as ‘tainted’ by her actions.)

At the pier, Ed is being led, chuckling to the water’s edge. One of the thugs offers a bad riddle. Ed rolls his eyes, and tells them just to do it. Before they can they’re shot. Ed turns, and sees that it’s Oswald

He asks if he already killed Sofia, but he tells him no – she left the mansion to pursue Jim, and if he’d gone there he wouldn’t have made it to the pier in time. Ed is confused – Oswald gave up his revenge to save Ed?

Oswald looks out at the city. He tells Ed that trust is so very hard to find in Gotham, but he trusts Ed. Really? He thought he betrayed him, like, half an hour ago. Whatever, though. They both put their guns away and stare out over the water. Ed says he has a strong desire never to see this pier again. Oswald rolls his eyes, and heartily agrees.

(An aside - Oswald trusts Ed? This makes no sense either. Unless Oswald has essentially decided that Ed is ‘lawful evil’, and that digging up his father’s remains, humiliating in front of the public whose affection and respect he craved, and then attempting to murder him was a fair response to Isabella’s murder – and that therefore Ed can be trusted because he’ll only ever strike in retaliation. Play by the rules, and you’re fine.

To be honest, I’d find it more believable if he did it to fulfil a sense of duty to the Ed whom he essentially buried alive when he enabled the Riddler personality to come to the fore, and who is – in a sense – an unwilling passenger in all this. But hey – why bother grounding actions in personality and motivation?)

Jim wakes up in a hospital room, with quite a good colour about him for someone who was shot so much. Harvey is there. He tells him Lee saved him – even one-handed, she’s a damn good doctor. Sofia is apparently in a coma. Wow – really? Right through the forehead? OK

Jim frowns. He tells Harvey when he gets out he’ll confess everything. He has to come clean. Harvey tells him no. That would only benefit Jim’s martyr complex and make him feel better. He tells him if he wants to pay his debt he has to live with it, like he does. Oh Harvey. That would only work if Jim had a properly developed sense of guilt. You’ve made the same mistake as Sofia.

Jim says that Sofia wins after all. Harvey says it’s what the city needs.

Jim asks after Lee. Harvey says she went back to the Narrow – unfinished business.

Cherry's – where Samson is being beaten. Lee walks down the stairs, making an entrance, a hammer hanging at her belt. Samson yells that he’ll go. Lee smiles

Oh, I know - just not yet

She tells the men to hold his hand out. Samson yells no – but to no avail. Lee’s eyes light up, and she seriously goes to town on his hand – enjoying it quite a lot.

At Sirens, Barbara is in pain. Tabitha is going on about how they need to grab power, but Barbara snaps at her – in too much pain to listen. Tabitha strops off sulkily.

Barbara looks down at her hand -which is glowing white, like the thing Ra’s gave her. As she looks up, she sees him walk through the crowd. She stares in shock, the air around her blurring and jolting.

General Observations

Forgiveness is the name of the game today. It’s offered and accepted just about everywhere. Jim and Harvey seem to have worked towards a tentative truce, even though things are still delicate. Jim and Oswald have a meaningful handshake – forgiveness requested and granted hidden beneath the surface. Ed and Oswald eventually seem to have reached a truce that will enable them to cooperate when necessary and maybe even sustain friendship. Lee’s keeping Jim alive after he’s shot is mostly down to her personality and their history – but there’s also some tacit forgiveness in there, maybe, for his actions around Mario. There’s a lot of pain and history to go round – but as Bruce tells Selina, sometimes sorry is enough.

Except for Sofia. Forgiveness has to be offered, but she demands Jim beg her for it. In turn, she’s punished by Lee – who has no intention of offering forgiveness.

The practical result of all that is resetting the chessboard before the next big plot.

Harvey is back at GCPD, and Jim is still Captain. I’m not sure to what extent they’re completely OK with each other – but they’re working together now.

Oswald is out of Arkham. He’s established a truce with Ed which will enable them to cooperate. He seems to have forgiven Jim. Sofia is temporarily gone, and Martin is temporarily safe. He was willing to joint-kill Sofia with Lee.

Lee has embraced the darker side of herself. She’s back to running the Narrows, and is now a formidable power as well as on the side of her people. Her focus on getting revenge on Sofia was impressive, as was her calmness throughout.

Ed is currently in his Riddler persona. He’s mended fences with Oswald, but regained an enemy in Butch.

Ed and Lee warrant their own paragraph, I think. I’d be surprised if we don’t see things develop further there. We’ve already got the foundation of the Ed/Lee friendship, then we were shown Ed falling for her, then we got the little flickers of romantic expectation we saw from Lee in the previous episode. In this episode, they couldn’t keep their eyes off each other, and there was tension crackling all over the place.

Barbara’s having creepy headaches, Selina is pretty much awol, and Tabitha is trying to figure out how to grab power after they fundamentally backed the wrong horse. Sirens is pretty much in disarray.

Victor Fries has funding now. I think we definitely need to see more of him for important narrative reasons. Much more

Thoughts?

#gotham commentary #gotham s4e14 #the sinking ship the grand applause

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