Martin Carr reviews the eighth episode of Gotham season 5…
Chameleons with an identity crisis, fumbled police cases and precincts in lock down feature quite heavily this week as Gotham gains momentum. For the moment interchangeable alliances and comedic asides take an all important back seat, as Gordon digs into Bullock’s seedy past.Ventriloquism also features heavily as a repressed former employee of Cobblepot comes forward to settle up. For the first time in a long time Gotham is getting interesting and story threads feel less haphazard, which can only be good news for everyone.
Experimentation on innocent subjects is something most programmes like to skirt around while abusive character arcs are rarely brought into the open. Gotham is that rare example of mainstream entertainment which does none of those things. As the investigation behind another random attack continues a suspect is brought in for questioning. She is meek, mild and unassuming yet carries the mental scars which come from years of human testing, poor parenting and circumstantial timing. Over the years this girl has grown into a woman and scrubbed her identity clean in order to protect what is left.
For the first time in a while we get to see how individual decisions can do longstanding damage. It proves beyond a doubt that Gordon and Bullock are well matched, doing things of which neither is proud and yet doing them anyway. Donal Logue and Ben McKenzie play this dynamic well teetering between distrust, resignation and duty. Everything else including the bizarre foray down into sewer systems with Alfred and Bruce losses impact. Jane Doe is the heart and soul behind this episode and the emotional punch which accompanies our realisation comes late. Her crime which seems grotesque at first sight is merely the last in a long line of defence mechanisms that allow this woman to forget.
Episode eight is devoid of Valeska but his absence for once ceases to matter. There exists on screen an equally stark depiction of physical and emotional abuse which ties back into underlying themes. Our projection of trauma in this case through identity theft either by altering personalities or actually becoming someone else shows dramatic life beyond The Joker. Perpetually sprawling yet more affecting than normal Gotham regains our attention, engages our emotions and has something pertinent worthy of comment.
Martin Carr
