Gotham really heats up this week as Azrael is unleashed onto the City causing everyone within his purview to scramble to try to avoid or try to end his rampage. There is Professor Strange covering his tracks, Tabitha planning her departure, and Gordon trying to take down Azrael before he can do any more harm. It’s a race to beat the clock in this week’s action packed hour.
Although “Scarification” is not as momentous as the previous episodes have been, it still offers some interesting backstory, introduces a complicated blooming villain, and slowly develops the Galavan plot with a newly revealed element that invites more curiosity to the proceedings.
In the Pilot episode the Penguin warns Gordon that there will be a war coming to Gotham City, a war that would possibly result in a change of power amongst the crime bosses. As it turns out Penguin was not merely playing Cassandra predicting doom for Gotham but planned for the war to happen all along. Ever since the Wayne Murders the Falcone crime empire began crumbling due to having lost one of its pillars leaving Falcone weak in his reign which prompted all of the crime underbosses to sniff around and try to tear him down. Although the Wayne Murderer remains a mystery the finale resolves Falcone time in power, relinquishing him to possibly make way for the dawn of a new class of villain to overtake Gotham, one that will be full of colorfully criminal characters and Machiavellian madmen (and madwomen); the Gotham City by which the comic book mythos are based. Now that Falcone has fallen, is the new Gotham City finally rising?
Gotham returns from its break with a solid episode that continues the shifting status quo, with many darker turns and just a few flashes of hope. “Rogues’ Gallery” gives us our first real look into how Arkham Asylum is run and it’s just as criminally understaffed and underdeveloped as one would imagine. Gordon gets no sympathy from his managing director Gerry Lang, as he is constantly berated by Lang for having inmates break into fights under his watch. The only promising turn of events during Gordon’s time at Arkham Asylum is his alliance with Dr. Leslie Thompkins. She is a beacon of hope that will be an essential asset in Gordon’s war against the corruption of Gotham City.