Gotham is back with its fourth episode of the season.  After the reveal that he used a Lazarus Pit on Barbara, what does Ra’s have in store this episode?  Will he and Bruce encounter one another?  What does this mean for Penguin’s grip on the city?  Read on to find out:

 

(Photo Courtesy of Fox.)

Enter The Demon’s Head — Ra’s continues the search for the knife connected to his past. He is portrayed well as he displays his calm, cool demeanor as he snaps the neck of the historian he went to question concerning the knife. What in the world was with the weird man-dog he and Barbara had?  That came out of nowhere.  It reminded me, yet again, of the similar characters in the original Arkham Asylum game. I do enjoy how calculated Ra’s is in this interpretation.  Alexander Sidding does an excellent job bringing the methodical nature and charisma from the comics to the small screen. His interactions with Gordan at the GCPD showed his deceptive nature and ended with his mysterious disappearance. I am curious as to what his overall goal for being in Gotham is.  Does he want to destroy the city? (Hopefully not as I feel we have seen this already in the Nolan trilogy). Is it to find his heir? (This makes more sense), or could it be something totally different? I do have to say that I was completely stunned when Ra’s slit Alex’s throat near the end of the episode.  That didn’t seem like a move I would have expected from him.  The Joker?  Absolutely, but Ra’s killing a kid?  It did bring the shock value after a fairly straight-forward episode.  It was probably put in showing that Ra’s isn’t afraid to kill Bruce, or someone his age, but was still surprising.  This action brings Ra’s to Blackgate Prison where viewers can clearly tell he had planned/wanted to go.

 

(Photo Courtesy of Fox.)

Neutral Sofia Falcone? — Sofia visits Penguin upon his request in order to clear the air regarding a Falcone returning to Gotham.  Sofia claims that she just wanted to come home, and is a neutral individual…yeah right.  She is obviously going to play a key role this season, but what could it be?  Will she try to establish the Falcone name in the Gotham Underworld again, or is she somehow connected to someone else?  There is definitely more than meets the eye with her, and I think she will eventually be another contender to challenge Penguin for control of Gotham, much like her comic book counterpart in the Jeph Loeb and Time Sale Long Halloween and Dark Victory  graphic novels. Even as she pleads with some of her father’s former foot soldiers, Penguin arrives as he clearly doesn’t trust Sofia, let alone any Falcone. Sofia does let on that she knows her father’s old ways of running the Gotham Underworld, which could have been a subtle hint at what is to possibly come.

 

(Photo Courtesy of Fox.)

Penguin and Zasaz — This is a good pairing.  They work well together.  Most of the focus is obviously on Penguin, but as I’ve stated before, Zasaz is one of my favorite characters on the show. The two have extremely good chemistry together, and it’s good to see Zasaz have more screen time.  He works better than Butch did at being Penguin’s main general, and the writers have done a good job incorporating a secondary villain who usually doesn’t get much love.

Riddler’s Revenge…Sort Of — Nygma returns, yet he seemingly has some dust to knock off before he can completely enter the game of taking down the Penguin again, but none-the-less he tries to come up with a plan. After some bad riddles, he and Penguin finally meet at the Iceberg Lounge.  Nygma is clearly not the same as he was before he was frozen.  He lacks any type of threat even to the extent that Penguin chose not to have Victor Fries freeze him again because it wouldn’t be worth it.  What will it take for him to find his way back to being the Riddler?  Will it come naturally over time, or will he need to seek out the assistance of someone?

 

Tonight’s episode was a good deal of plot advancement, which is obviously necessary, but sometimes leads to at lack in overall action.  Next week looks to bring Bruce to Blackgate in order to “kill” Ra’s, and the incorporation of Butch as Solomon Grundy.

What’d you think of tonight’s episode? What is Ra’s plan?  Can we trust Sofia, or is she trying to follow in her father’s footsteps?  Leave your comments in the usual place, and thanks for reading!

Gotham returns next Thursday at 8 p.m. on Fox.

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