“Azrael” is another fine entry into the season that bring up some good ideas and even better action and sheds light on a potentially highly entertaining closing conflict between Gordon and Professor Strange.
While “Mr. Freeze” takes a great deal to set up this new upcoming arc rather than thoughtfully explore the title character’s predicament, it still is able to quickly establish Mr. Freeze’s situation, present his motivation, and display the extent of his powers to a great degree.
On this week’s Gotham, the villains take the stage as they begin their reign of terror on the City. Continuing the “Rise of the villains” theme, this episode puts the spotlight on Jerome as the indisputable leader of the Arkham Asylum Escapees known as The Maniax!, as he stands to be, perhaps, the most terrifying villain that Gotham City has ever faced.
As Gotham heads towards the end of its first season it winds up some plot threads with an episode that has everyone reaching a turning point. After his big win against Commissioner Loeb in “Everyone has a Cobblepot” Gordon has let his guard down a bit, this has allowed Loeb the chance to retaliate against him. The mark that Loeb places on Gordon gets him so riled up that he is even more determined to bring down the dirty Commissioner, but first he has to deal with the serial killer known as “the Ogre” which is merely set up in this episode as part of the case of the week.
The search for Dr. Crane continues this week in a way that is notably off kilter with the beats of “The Fearsome Dr. Crane”. There are moments that inelegantly reset character progress that would’ve made more sense following an earlier episode, while dialogue bluntly attempts to integrate events that happened in the previous two episodes. As far as recent episodes go, this one appears to have suffered the most from the expanded season order.
The new story arc of Gotham continues to build steam by breaking up one major couple, creating curious alliances between heroes and villains, and introducing new players to the game. So far the series has focused on the darker side of Gotham City, with its citizens bringing justice through criminal means, but with “Harvey Dent”, we are shown the other side, with an episode that is a little brighter and a little more fun but that doesn’t lose the edge of the gritty reality Gotham has already established.