Friday, November 03, 2017

My Review of Gotham's 4x07: "A Day In The Narrows"


Written by Peter Blake
Directed by John Behring

Harvey (to Gordon): "I'm ordering you to stand down."
Oswald: "Finally, a good idea!"

Well, in theory not listening to bull in a china shop thinking Gordon would be a good idea but in reality, it seems that him not taking orders from Bullock is what led to the day being saved from Pyg's latest scheming as Gordon went rogue - yet again in order to do the right thing.

Two episodes in and Pyg is definitely emerging as a brilliant villain to me. Though there's a part of me that wishes he'd turn on Gordon too, I can see why Pyg is a little determined to instead try and mold James into his own image, even if it's a losing battle for him. As a baddie though, he continues to be eerie as anything and despite having very little screen time in the episode itself, he certainly knew how to make his presence felt.

I loved the hiding in plain sight interaction he had with Gordon. It was clever and nicely done and I did like the back and forth between the GCPD and Oswald's Headhunter trying to catch Pyg while at the same time, falling into his trap quite so easily. By Gordon saving the day, it's given Pyg his own little victory for now.

As for Jim, he was pretty annoying in this episode and he could've made more of an effort to try and understand why Bullock had been on Oswald's payroll but on the other hand, I don't think Bullock did himself much favours this week. It's a little disappointing seeing the two of them fall out and having Oswald encourage with his own meddling this week.

Speaking of Oswald, he really doesn't tolerate failure anymore does he? While the Headhunter was an okay stand in for an absent Zsasz this week, even I found it a bit OTT that Oswald just randomly killed him by the end of this one. I did however find his brief interactions with Sofia and the kids this week rather amusing.

In other fun stuff this week, this episode gave us the formation of the Sirens as Barbara, Selina and Tabitha went from nearly going their own separate into forming their crime group and taking out a biker gang as a direct result. While this little group could do with adding Ivy into the mix, I am glad to see the Sirens storyline actually start to play and hopefully it's one the show can really have fun with during the season.

As for Bruce, he really went for the billionaire playboy route this week. Getting away from Alfred, hooking up with Grace, befriending a nicer (and recast) Tommy Elliott (Gordon Winarick) and even buying a posh club and partying the night away. You could see at the end that Bruce was faking it but at least he's convincing his new friends otherwise though.

- Given the title of this episode, you'd think we would've had some stuff involving Leslie, Nygma, Grundy and Cherry. Bit odd they sat out this episode.
- Harper seems to be on Gordon's side, which seems a little different from her previous appearances.
- No Ivy, Lucious, Leslie, Grundy or Nygma this week.
- Chronology: Not long from where the previous episode left off.

A Day In The Narrows didn't entirely live up to it's title as such but in terms of cementing Pyg as a threat, causing more dissent between Gordon and Bullock, setting up the Sirens and exploring Bruce's party boy side, the episode was a success.

Rating: 7 out of 10

No comments: