Gotham 1.08 “The Mask”

The first good thing about this episode is seeing that the game-changer that took place in the previous one, where Detective Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) confronted his situation in Gotham and decided to go against Carmine Falcone (John Doman) with only one policeman backing his crazy play — none other than Detective Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) — was indeed the end of this show’s first arc and the prelude of the new way things are going to play out in Gotham.

This means that, not only did this episode follow up on that thread, but it showed us how the new status quo might work. One where, due to his actions and not playing by Falcone’s rules, Gordon has made himself the lonesome cowboy, with almost all the GCPD cops not wanting to move a finger to help him, even if he could die because of their inaction.

I say almost all, because Gordon is now allied with someone who proved again that he’s going to be by his side: Harvey Bullock — a character that’s growing with each week and gaining more strength and depth in the series, becoming one of my favorites. It’s enjoyable to see how he reacts to the new status quo, where he’s chosen to side with the only good, honest man on the police force; the man who couldn’t care less about the supposed back and forth the cops have to deal with in order to get something done in Gotham. We had been watching Bullock act that way since the pilot, but it’s true that he has been slowly leaning towards the light, whether he liked it or not. He may very well be the only one who is not afraid of siding with Gordon, and at the same time the one who’ll risk his neck in order to save Gordon’s, as he does in front of the whole GCPD on one of his best scenes.

And though not the focus this week, we still get more on the weird and pissed off Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith), who can’t believe that her mole is not getting anything out of Falcone, or softening him so she can strike her blow at his reign; or on Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor), who each time he faces Mooney gets a new scar to remember her by – man, how those two hate each other, it’s almost painful — and they both make their moves towards tearing the other’s organization down. The focus this time around is new villain Richard Sionis, a.k.a. The Mask (Todd Stashwick), who we suppose is the father of Roman Sionis, the Batman villain known as Black Mask — who, at this point in the chronology should be the same age as young “Master Bruce”.

So, though it was not the introduction of a classic Batman villain, we got an eccentric, dark and twisted, wealthy man who loves masks and ninja weaponry; all of these nods to the 1985 character of the Black Mask, fit how Roman Sionis’ father must’ve been to perfection.

Remember Fight Club? Well, imagine something like that but with a Wall Street kind of twist. As secret, as sick, as violent… but all of it just to get a great job at Sionis’ company.

The ambience of it all in this show, as always, is perfect, as evidenced by the scenes where Bullock and Gordon stumble upon all the injured and bruised guys at the Sionis offices, and get no answer out of any of them, in spite of the obvious pattern.

However, there is one but here, and it’s that Gordon’s fighting didn’t look as good as other times. I don’t know if it was a conscious effort to make him look angrier and more desperate after all the recent events, but the way the man moves has certainly changed. And if we are going to get more of these action sequences in each episode, which I always welcome, Gotham could use a fight choreographer, or better stunts… whatever works best to give the show that added value that it lacks at times.

And, as always, I’m saving the best for last, as this time it was Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) and a hilarious Alfred (Sean Pertwee) who stole the show every time they were on-screen. Bruce is moving on, and that means going to school, and of course, getting bullied by warped kids who make fun of his parents’ death. The way this subplot evolved through the episode was wonderful, as Alfred sided with Bruce all the way, when the little guy thought he was going to get scolded.

Alfred taught Bruce to fight back, and defend his parents’ honor; which is a cute way to say that Bruce handed it over to his former bully, on his own doorstep.

Oh, but the best of it all? Bruce Wayne is going to learn how to fight. Now this is getting interesting.