Gotham - Recap: Fight Club

I don't necessarily mind that the show feels it needs to be a procedural to make its weekly format work. And not every Case of the Week is a bad one either. Some of them are campy fun ("The Balloonman") and others provide insight into the characters themselves ("Spirit of the Goat"). But "The Mask" doesn't really do either. It tries to illustrate that Jim (Ben McKenzie) isn't someone who loves fighting, he's simply a man who's willing to fight (literally) for his principles, to restore the hope that Gotham lost through the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. And that's a good character story to tell. But I can't shake the feeling that there were better ways of telling it that didn't involve a case that felt so ancillary to what the show was trying to accomplish. I suppose you could argue that the show is looking to introduce more Batman lore by bringing in Richard Sionis (Todd Stashwick), whose son, Roman, will one day become the Black Mask. And the case at the center of his introduction is a pretty interesting one, as we learn that Sionis is holding an illegal fight club in which prospective applicants to Sionis Industries must fight in an abandoned office building for the right to a contract and its lucrative signing bonus. This is all well and good, and it could have been a stronger story in an episode with a lot less going on. But this case felt like an afterthought, a bit of business tacked onto the back end of a story centered on the battle between Oswald (Robin Lord Taylor) and Fish (Jada Pinkett Smith). As a result, it wasn't as gripping as it probably should have been.

Credit: FOX

And that's kind of a shame, because there are some really cool moments here. When Jim is shunned by the rest of the GCPD, Harvey (Donal Logue) makes a rousing speech about how they all failed him, noting that none of them was there for Jim in his moment of need against Falcone. Harvey declares he's not going to let that kind of B.S. happen again, and it's impassioned enough that he actually gets some of the stubborn cops on the force to change their minds. And it's a wonderful moment for Harvey's character, and for his partnership with Jim, as theirs is the best relationship on the show right now. I also enjoyed the increased role for Captain Sarah Essen (Zabryna Guevara), who does her best to rectify her mistake in not standing up for Jim when he was in trouble. It's an encouraging portrayal that ultimately doesn't have nearly the significance it probably should to this episode: once Jim is captured by Sionis and forced to fight to the death against the would-be employees, Essen helps Harvey check addresses to find Jim's location. Yet, by the time she gets there, Jim doesn't exactly need the help anymore. There could have been a rousing story here about how Jim's brothers in blue come to his rescue, taking the opportunity for a do-over, and actually helping him in his moment of need this time. It would have been a vindication of Jim's "hard choice for the right reason" style of policing, and a sign that he was actually affecting change within the department. But instead, Jim just defeats Sionis and his men all by himself. In portraying Jim as someone who can get the job done on his own, he becomes an exponentially less interesting character, because it takes the drama out of every situation he's in. If Jim is this startlingly capable on his own, what does he even need Harvey for? Even Batman needed Robin (well, from a moral perspective, anyway).

Credit: FOX

But luckily, the Case of the Week wasn't the entire episode. There were some genuinely fascinating bits with Fish, as Jada Pinkett Smith turned in her most delectably hammy performance yet. In convincing Liza (Makenzie Leigh) to obtain documents from a ledger in Falcone's office, Fish turns up the guilt trip by claiming that her entire vendetta against Falcone isn't about power but about revenge. She tells the girl that one of Falcone's men killed her mother, a prostitute from Gotham's slums, and that she was forced to witness this act. It's a convincing tale because Fish sells it with all the conviction that Smith can muster. But the implication is that her mother is very much alive, as evidenced by Fish's conversation with the elderly singer from the night club, who asks Fish why she felt the need to tell Liza all those lies. It's a twist that probably should have been obvious, but Smith is so wonderful in this role that I found myself all too willing to believe everything that comes out of Fish's mouth. Ditto Oswald, who makes it his mission to get back at Fish for stabbing him in the hand with a brooch he stole for her as a peace offering. Maybe he goes a bit overboard by slaughtering Fish's new right-hand man, but the raw nerve intensity of Taylor's performance goes a long way in making Oswald someone you might actually find yourself rooting for, in spite of his creepiness.

Credit: FOX

Penguin wasn't the only one who managed to make an impression this week, as Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) finally gets the chance to do more than just sit around in the one room Wayne Manor is depicted as having. Alfred (Sean Pertwee) sends Bruce back to school, feeling he needs to mingle with kids his own age. But once there, he gets picked on by a bully who teases him over having dead parents (because some kids are just psychopaths). It's a surprisingly affecting storyline, as Alfred helps Bruce get back at the bully, and we get hints of the darkness inside Bruce. It might have been a bit too on-the-nose, considering what Bruce ends up becoming, but Mazouz is finally able to show some range as Bruce Wayne, imbuing him with a cold logic that makes you see just how this little boy could grow up to become Batman. Not only that, you can see how this little boy might grow up thinking that this kind of vigilante justice is right. And given how off-kilter and corrupt Gotham is? Well...maybe he's right on the money.

Credit: FOX

While I wasn't crazy about the weekly case, "The Mask" turned out to be a pretty good episode overall. I'm not sure where the story is headed with the woman in Jim's life -- as Barbara (Erin Richards) leaves him, and Selina (Camren Bicondova) turns up at the station after being caught shoplifting -- but these are ancillary stories that can add to Jim's dilemma. And a dilemma Jim can't tackle on his own? That's compelling. I can only hope Gotham tells more and more compelling stories as the season rolls on, since we now have another fourteen episodes instead of just another eight.