When Gotham went on mid-season break, we were teased with the idea of Gordon being a prison guard at Arkham as the new status quo of the series. Instead, it turned out to really only last for about an episode an a half.

This week was all about reintroducing Gordon back into the GCPD, as the title suggests. I don’t know if we needed an entire episode to reinforce the idea that Gordon is the straight arrow in the department, what with that sort of being the entire premise of the show, but that’s what we got.

For this episode, we’re introduced to the dirty-cop-of-the-week Flass, who’s an interesting character for reasons that didn’t exist in this episode. Flass, the falafel-loving cop created in Batman Begins, also served as sort of a proxy for Harvey Bullock, as well as a nod to Eckart from Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman, again, who served as a proxy for Bullock. But we’ve got Bullock on this show already, so he’s just another name character the show gets to check off.

And when Gordon realizes there’s (yet another) set of protected, dirty cops (previously referred to collectively as the GCPD), he sets out on a crusade to bring them down. And we get another scene of Bullock and the Captain telling Gordon to back off, these guys are too well connected, he’ll rattle the cages and anger the rest of the police force. It’s familiar because it’s the same scene we’ve seen in pretty much every single episode.

And I get that, in-world, they’re freaking out, because to them, the GCPD is this great, impenetrable force, but as other cops keep pointing out, Gordon’s only been on the force for a few months, and aside from the Arkham reassignment, the guy really hasn’t failed. It’d be a breath of fresh air if Gordon was talking to the Captain, laid out his intentions to go after a dirty cop, and she just said, “Yeah, go for it. You’ve been batting a thousand anyway, rookie.”

We also got more of Edward, and worse yet, more hammering away that this dude really, really likes his riddles. He might be good at his job, but you know what? He’s creepy. And not in that malicious, “Oh, of course he’s gonna turn to the dark side” creepy, but just, “Hey, we’re trying to solve a murder, so why don’t you just tell us what’s going on?” I just don’t know how anyone else is supposed to respond to him. He’s weird, and, yeah, he’s getting picked on, but the appeal of the Riddler is not how much we empathize with him, but how smart he is if he could just shut his trap. But we’re seeing sort of a Year One Edward here, so what the hell do I know.

I also feel that seeing Fish Mooney about to get tortured would have held a little bit more weight if the scene had lasted a little longer. And while I do appreciate a little insanity in the face of torture, she seemed to just go crazy right off the bat. And I get that the character is (1) trying to psyche out her torturer, and (2) it’s something of a defense mechanism, but with someone like Fish, you expect her to be calm and collected about it, the silent badass, instead of zero to 60.

And exactly how Butch got the hell out of that van, I don’t know.

I did really enjoy the impact of Gordon’s failed raid on Delaware’s drug stash house. After Gordon and Bullock got their asses kicked, and after seeing that legitimate warrant waved in his face, you sort of get the idea that if Gordon was ever going to give up, it would have been that moment right there. The futility of trying to save and clean up the city, being waved around in his face on paper. And it was in this scene that I finally *got* why Gordon will eventually be so hesitant to accept a vigilante in his city. For all the years that Gordon will have put into the force, he will see his sacrifices and endeavors as a success. Sure, the city is still shit, but man, you should’ve seen it when Gordon got to town. In his eyes, he’ll have cleaned the city up so much, and done it all within the confines of the law. And suddenly here’s this asshole in a bat costume just beating the hell out of people. And he’s thinking, “Well, sure, if I broke the law every night, I could’ve settled this a hell of a lot faster, too.” And in order to accept Batman as an ally, even as necessary, he’ll either need to accept one (or both) of two things: (1) That his efforts never paid off as well as he thought they did, or (2) by the time that Batman rolls around, the city will be so far gone, dealing with it within the confines of the law is just totally impossible. Might as well walk to the moon. So while we can watch the blood, sweat, and tears that Gordon puts into cleaning up the city on this series, we all know that, eventually, it’s pretty much pointless.

Fast forwarding to the end, with Fish escaped and Butch either dead or wishing he was dead, we get a scene of her and Bullock at the dock. Out of friendly concern, Bullock tells her to leave and never return, and they share a kiss that didn’t strike me as romantic, but one of deep friendship. Which raises the question, Didn’t Fish try and kill him a while back? Hanging upside in a meat fridge alongside Gordon? I get that some people can see past that as “just business,” but enough to maintain that close a relationship?

Final Thoughts:

– Bruce playing chess, one of the pieces he moved was the dark knight. Heh.

– So Carmine Falcone throws out one of his top guys, replaces him with Penguin, and Maroni doesn’t hear about this? I just figured this was a pretty public move.

– Whatever happened to Alfred and Bruce investigating the crooked executives at Wayne Enterprises?

– I like(d) Butch. Liked him ever since he killed that friend of his in the car. He’s fun to have around.

@kent_graham