Added on November 19, 2014  Stefani Sloma  Blackgate Penitentiary , bruce wayne , Carmine Falcone , comics , Gotham

Gotham Season 1, Episode 9 “Harvey Dent” – Even Cobblepot can’t save this episode

Gotham’s latest episode titled “Harvey Dent” was really just a filler episode that set up some major events for next week.

Barbara left Gordon at the end of the last episode because she is unable to handle his life. I won’t go into how I feel about her because I know it would get too rant-y, but let’s just say that her character is really week, whiny, and gets on my last nerve. I hate what they did to her character. At the beginning of this week’s episode, Gordon shows up at the apartment to see she’s left. A sketch artist shows up to get Selina’s description of the man who murdered the Wayne’s, and Gordon says she’ll be staying at the Wayne Manor.

Bruce and Selina meet for the first time in this episode and it is both cute and weird – weird because Selina is super judgy about Bruce learning to fight with gloves. Alfred clearly doesn’t like her, but Bruce begins to develop a little crush on her and we get a play fight scene between him and Selina. I enjoyed this because viewers need to remember that Bruce is a child. His character needed this scene.

A prisoner is being moved from Blackgate when a team of criminals manages to crash the van and kidnap him. Later, we see the prisoner making a bomb that he puts in the bottom of a basket that is filled with food. It’s brought to the guards at Gotham Munitions Factory, which blows up. Gordon and Bullock are on the case, and Nygma tells them about a nameplate found that the prisoner put in the basket. Turns out, he didn’t want to make bombs and wanted the police to find him. The people who kidnapped him are planning something against Falcone. Mooney ended up being the one who hired the Russians to take care of Falcone. Gordon and Bullock interrupt her next plan: to steal some of Falcone’s money, but a bomb blows up all the money – Mooney’s bomb, used to scare Falcone.

We also meet Harvey Dent this week, who, when we meet him, is letting a kid go off a coin bet. Montoya, Allen, and Gordon want his help to solve the Wayne case. He wants to use their witness (Selina) to go after Dick LoveCraft, a man who had a deal with all the major players but disagreed with the Waynes about the future of Gotham. If they tell LoveCraft they have a witness, he’ll, or whoever is actually involved, will get nervous and start talking, but they won’t use the witness’ name. LoveCraft doesn’t believe Dent but Dent brings out his other, angrier side and LoveCraft gets scared.

Cobblepot gets pretty creepy this episode. He breaks into Liza’s apartment to look for clues and sniffs her clothes, which he then steals. He goes to say hello to Mooney, but is really there to sniff her and her perfume is the same as Liza’s. He goes back to Liza’s to talk and tells her he knows she’s working for Mooney. He threatens to tell Falcone, but they come to a deal: he won’t tell, but if she tells anyone they’ve met, she’ll die.

It feels like a lot went on during this episode now that I see it all typed out, but it didn’t. I was bored. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but even Cobblepot bored me this episode – and the clothes-sniffing thing? Gross. Dent seemed like he could be a cool character but he was almost on Mooney-over-the-top level, which you know was annoying. I will say that went he brought out the angry side, I was impressed.

This show still feels like it’s struggling to figure out its identity nine episodes into the season. I don’t know if it’s going to survive, and that makes me sad, because I had such high hopes for Gotham. Next week’s episode is the finally. I hope that if it does get picked up again, it gets the focus it needs for the second season.

Check out the preview for next week’s episode “LoveCraft” and tune in to Fox Monday at 8/7c to watch.