TV - Gotham Season 1, Episode 4

War is coming to Gotham City as one assassin is playing for both sides and Arkham holds the key. Steve Taylor-Bryant takes a look...

I do love the murky world of politics. Whilst shows like Arrow and Gotham are fictional and set within a comic book universe, the plots of corruption and murder to gain an advantage over someone in the fight for power is only exaggerated, not completely made up. This fourth episode of the DC show, Arkham, shows a little of what has building since the very beginning and, at the same time, develops more of the characters. There are plans afoot for the Arkham district and the Mayor must decide which plan gets the go ahead, the Wayne's plan backed by Carmine Falcone due to the low cost housing, or Moroni's plan for a waste dump. The original Wayne idea also allowed for the destruction of the old Arkham asylum and the construction of a state of the art mental health facility, but could the Mayor have other plans?

An assassin by the name of Richard Gladwell is on the loose, picking off councilmen as he goes with his homemade spike to stab behind the eye socket. Gladwell though is playing both sides, Moroni and Falcone, sending a message to each as the fight for control of Arkham grows. Meanwhile the Moroni restaurant is robbed by an armed gang and the restaurant manager shot to death. Moroni's men find Cobblepot hiding in a freezer, having rescued some of Moroni's money. He is rewarded by the crime boss with a new position of restaurant manager. Cobblepot though had put the entire plan together himself and disposes of his armed friends with poisoned Cannoli before building his cash. He is also playing Jim Gordon and trying to get bad people caught, obviously selfishley.

Gordon runs to the Mayor's protection when he realises that Gladwell will be going there next, and fights the assassin in the line of duty, rescued from death himself at the last moment by Bullock. The Mayor announces a joint plan for the Arkham district, waste site on one side, low cost housing on the other and just a refit for the existing asylum. A plan that pleases Maroni, sends a gut punch to Falcone, possibly making him vulnerable to attack by Fish Mooney, who has added to her personal army with Liza, and upsetting Bruce Wayne as he wanted his parents full dream of a new facility realised.

This was a great episode. Political intrigue, a corrupt Mayor, a villain of the week that fits into a longer story arc and Gordon having to face some issues both in his work and personal life after Barbara leaves him for not telling her who Cobblepot is, but it is Robin Lord Taylor who deserves all the plaudits. We are only four episodes in and he is fast becoming one of my favourite television actors for portrayal of Oswald Cobblepot, so much so that I am already craving a Penguin only spin-off show. His facial expressions are as devious and cunning as you would want from a Batman villain, and his speech patterns are again quite terrifying despite the fact he is just speaking correctly and using real words.

This show is developing into something really special.

Image - IMDb.