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ncfan-1 · 7 years

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Gotham 04X02, ‘The Fear Reaper’

Things I am looking forward to this episode: Jonathan’s antics, and finding out how the hell Barbara’s still alive. Oh, and Alexander Siddig’s face. Things I do not care about: just about everything else. This is Gotham.

[TW: Torture, abuse, patient abuse, suicide ideation, all the nasty shit implied about Warden Reed turning out to be one hundred percent true]

- First off, last week, I picked up on there being something messed up about Jonathan’s relationship with Warden Reed that went beyond the man being willing to literally sell him to a couple of goons. I had at the time assumed that this wasn’t the first time Reed had done something like this to him, but some other bloggers, when they posted their commentary of ‘Pax Penguina’, raised a likelihood that, while worse, unfortunately also happens to make a lot more sense. I’ll be interested to see if the worries they raised play out in ‘The Fear Reaper.’

- We open at the old Crane house. Sure took you long enough to get there, Gordon (Though since he’s talked to Merton, I’m assuming—hoping—that they know now that Jonathan didn’t go with those guys willingly).

- Okay, when I saw Grady up on that scarecrow frame, I laughed. I cackled like the inappropriate blogger I am. He’s an asshole and he had it coming, but it’s also just a funny image. Like, how did Jonathan even get him up there? He’s a skinny teenager who, given what a shitshow Arkham is, probably hasn’t gotten too much exercise over the past couple of years, so he’s probably quite weak. Also, Grady’s bigger than him, and probably thrashed around a lot. So… how does this work?

I do have to note that Jonathan did not kill him in favor of doing this to him, though. I note this because he is the villain of the episode pitted against a hero who has committed murder more than once. Okay, granted, Grady seems to have been tied up crucifixion-style, which would have killed him eventually because his lungs would collapse, but Jonathan’s been shut up in Arkham since he was about fourteen, so I’ll bet he doesn’t know that. So, things to keep in mind for the rest of the episode: Our hero has a body count, and our villain, as of the Grady discovery, does not. I do wonder if Jonathan’s going to kill Warden Reed. The episode might try to frame it as a point of no return, but let’s be real, after everything that was both presented and implied about him and his relationship with Jonathan last episode, if anyone has it coming, it’s that slimy fucker.

- Bruce in lock-up, while Gordon tells him that they will be talking about this. And Grady screaming in his cell.

(I love that Bruce’s go-to excuse was that he was looking for Selina.)

- Next, Arkham at lights out, inmates being strapped down to the beds, while Reed is setting papers on fire. Jonathan shows up—scythe in hand—and asks him if he’s covering up his dirty footprints. Oh, shit; the undertones are playing out. Is the show going to do something with this?

- This is satisfying. Well, not the “Jonathan Crane’s dead” part, but the other part. And Reed’s looking at his gun, tried to kill him, but Jonathan got him with the gas first. And does not kill him, I’ll add.

- We’ve confirmed also that Jonathan was in Arkham the whole time since we saw him in Season 1, presumably while Strange was in charge, too. We’ve also confirmed that he wasn’t given any kind of real treatment or therapy, that no one even tried to help him, that he was instead subjected solely to ice baths and electroshock. In a context that makes it clear that this was meant as torture, and not treatment. Great.

- We are going straight into cartoon villain territory, though, if in an “abused teenager violently lashing out” kind of way (It’s very obvious that it’s a child under all those rags and not an adult, even as he’s being hella menacing). I wonder if Jonathan believes everything he’s saying about dear old Dad when he’s not in an altered state of consciousness. I’m not saying it’s impossible for him to still love his dad and have complicated feelings about him, but all of this together is just a little much.

- (Show, if you’re trying to make me not feel sympathetic for Jonathan, it’s not working. Him gassing the patients to make them more volatile is bad, certainly—I don’t approve of it—but it’s nothing on the scale of what certain other characters in this show have done. It feels like a deliberate ploy to make him less sympathetic and more monstrous, instead of something he might have done organically, and I don’t appreciate being manipulated this way.)

- “Play nice.” “No.” For once, I’m inclined to be sympathetic to Gordon, since Oswald dragged the fucking press down to the precinct to bear witness to their argument.

- I’m not surprised Oswald wants Jonathan found, not after his public humiliation last episode. This does ramp up my sympathy for him, though, which I wouldn’t have thought possible, because Jonathan’s already in the top five of most uncomplicatedly sympathetic characters on this show, and having the local mob boss out for his blood just makes him even more sympathetic, because even as he’s gearing up to raise hell, I worry about what Oswald might do to him.

I am kind of interested to see how Oswald might react if he found out the whole story regarding Jonathan. If anyone might feel sympathy for the kid, it would be him, if only because the “got shut up in Arkham and had a bad fucking time” part of his story would ring a lot of bells for Oswald Cobblepot.

- “Like a chicken?” Jesus, Harvey; right after you told Gordon to play nice?

- And now Oswald has moved on to the list of people who uses Jonathan for his own ends, in this case using his name as a ploy to prove the GCPD is toothless.

- Selina and Tabitha show up at Barbara’s place. “No way.” Indeed.

- Barbara’s not quite as she was, but I wasn’t expecting her to be.

- Barbara still manages to be a better person than Tabitha.

- Alfred’s right; Bruce isn’t ready.

- Arkham being played as a horror movie when it’s a bunch of mentally ill people who’ve been fear-gassed is kinda gross.

- They’re not shying away from the fact that Gordon did kill Jonathan’s dad, though. I appreciate that. (I am kinda surprised he even recognizes Gordon, given the state he was in when Gordon got to him.)

- Oswald’s still being awful to Ivy.

- Barbara’s wonderful in how creepily unflappable she is. Oswald’s right in pointing out how unlikely it is she could have financed all this herself. (I’m thinking Ra’s al Ghul, and I’m thinking Barbara had a date with the Lazarus Pit at some point.)

- Back in Arkham. Jonathan confronts Gordon. He does look suitably horrified when he realizes it’s Jonathan, and seriously, how much of this shit Jonathan’s saying about his father does he even believe when he’s not in an altered state of consciousness?

- Gordon gets gassed, and honestly, I do not care about whatever it is he’s gonna see under the influence of the gas.

- “What will you see? One of your victims, perhaps?” Yeah, Jonathan’s definitely still in there. You’re not fooling anyone, kid.

- He sees Lee having slit her wrists. “You destroy everything you touch.”

- Jonathan tries goading Gordon into suicide, using language that makes me wonder if he isn’t suicidal himself. Though when Gordon shakes off the gas’s effects with ~~~willpower~~~, Jonathan isn’t there, so I dunno.

- It’s both more and less than I was hoping for, but Gordon does appear to feel genuinely sorry for Jonathan. He sounds like he actually means it when he tells Jonathan he needs help.

- “My father thought I was weak. All my life I was scared little Jonny. But I will never go back to being that scared boy again.” Ughhh nothing this show does will ever make me not feel sorry for him. Not with such a horrific backstory and the knowledge that he was being abused the whole time between Season 1 and now.

- (I am deeply irritated that Gordon just shook off the toxins’ effects with ~~~willpower~~~)

- And Ivy has had enough of Oswald, it seems.

- Water neutralizes fear gas?????? Are you fucking kidding me????!!!!!

- I love Alfred’s face when Lucius comes by with the armor. It’s a combination of “Oh, thank God” and “Fuck you, Lucius; don’t encourage him.”

- Selina is definitely not digging Tabitha wanting to cut off one of Barbara’s hands. But she can’t do it. Mercifully. Selina still doesn’t dig it.

(There is definitely something up with Barbara, though. I can’t imagine her being that calm about possibly getting one of her hands chopped off under normal circumstances.)

- And Oswald just straight up says in front of the press that he’ll pay the police to work for him instead. In what world does this work properly, without you getting arrested by the feds for admitting on camera you’ll bribe people?

- Ivy’s looking for stronger substances than just her perfumes. Honey, that’s so not gonna work out well for you. Ivy, please stop drinking it. Ivy, please stop.

…Oh, that’s not good.

- Falcone, fair? Falcone had honor? Are you fucking kidding me?! How thick do your nostalgia goggles have to be for you to say something like that, Harvey?!

- Baby Batman away! (The costume looks better with a cape, but Bruce probably doesn’t need to deal with that until he’s got the other stuff down pat.)

#ncfan watches Gotham

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