The question is, what makes great stories? The answer is great villains who can create havoc and mayhem and to make hell for everyone. The season opener reminds us that Gotham is overflowing with devious, crooked, and manipulative looking sorts intend on squeezing every ounce of profit and fortune from society and enjoy stepping on whoever gets in their way.
Penguin takes over Falcone’s criminal empire and immediately makes his mark in the criminal underground by making Gordon eliminate a small time nightclub owner who owes money. In return, Penguin uses his wicked charm to get Gordon his job back by forcing Commissioner Loeb to step down and have the new Commissioner Essen to reinstate him. Getting his job that way gives me the impression that Gordon is in a dark place trying to climb out, and he makes a deal with the devil to do so. But before he got in bed with the Penguin, he visited Bruce and offered his regretful apology about not fulfilling his promise to catch Bruce’s parent’s killer. Bruce accepted his apology, but tells him that sometimes good men will find a way to prevail, even if it meant doing some questionable and shady things to achieve it. In a way Bruce is talking about himself and his father’s legacy when he made that speech. His actions at the manor leaves Alfred concerned about his charge’s behavior recently. With the discovery of a hidden tunnel and a locked room, Bruce is hell bent on finding out what his father is hiding. Alfred is extremely troubled when he sees Bruce bring in ingredients that can be made into a bomb. However he knows when Bruce makes up his mind it is hard to deter him, so he decides to help him.
Meanwhile back at Arkham Asylum, Barbara is getting cozy with her new friends. She even gets one of the inmates to get her access to a phone. Who did she call? Yes, her ex-boyfriend Gordon and his new beau, Lee. It is night and day with her demeanor when she calls them. She tries to convince Gordon that she is innocent and that Lee is the crazy one and attacked her first, but turned the table on Lee when said she called her saying she will enjoy watching her scream when she dies. Can you say Fatal Attraction? I have to admit I like this version of Barbara. Last season she came off as frail, troubled, lost, and it got very annoying. This season it seems she has blossomed into a full blown psycho with relationship issues. She and five other inmate escape with the help of a leather skin tight dominatrix, Tabitha, with a whip and guns and a mysterious benefactor by the name of Theo Galavan. His desire to create a criminal gang using Jerome (the Joker), Barbara, and a few others to create a more sophisticated crime wave is something that can make the job of the GCPD and Gordon very difficult to stop. But it is going to be fun.
Back at the manor, Bruce and Alfred successfully enter the locked room with a little forceful assistance of a homemade bomb. Bruce finds a note written by his father addressed to him. It is a good bye letter to Bruce full of regrets and hopeful wishes. His father explains in the letter that he hopes that Bruce will grow up to be a man choosing to be happy and not pursue the truth about his family legacy. He fears it might lead to places and discoveries Bruce would not like. He writes that he can’t have both, happiness and the truth. But if he chooses the truth, then it must be something that he truly believes it is his destiny and calling.
This season starts off with a bang from the beginning. Gordon embraces the motto “the ends justifies the means” to fight crime in the GCPD when he helped the Penguin. Barbara is starting her new life as a criminal with the Psycho gang from hell, and Bruce digs deeper into his family past and secrets. The villain are taking over and it’s going to be one hell of a ride this season.
