Hello Gothamites! It feels SO GOOD to be addressing you all again, and just…thank goodness for this show. Before I dive into the season premiere, some things need to be addressed. If you didn’t catch it in the first two seasons, this isn’t going to be your ordinary Batman origin story. Sure, Bruce Wayne makes strides toward eventually becoming The Dark Knight, but this story is more about James Gordon. It’s about how he was/is the hero Gotham needs and the hero Bruce models himself after. A lot of people don’t enjoy that, but it’s an aspect that I dearly love. If you’ll recall, at the end of season two, dozens of criminals and Arkham patients turned monsters had escaped from Indian Hill after it’s downfall. This included a newly resurrected and powerful Fish Mooney, as well as the Bruce Wayne look-a-like, Hush.
By the beginning of Season 3, Fish has the monsters under her thumb, as well as Selina Kyle working by her side, Hush is scavenging through garbage to survive, Bruce Wayne brings the hammer down on the Wayne Enterprises Board of Directors, and instead of returning to the G.C.P.D., Jim is a free lance Bounty Hunter. But let’s start at the very beginning of the episode, shall we? A (mostly) healed Captain Barnes and Mayor of Gotham attempt to tame a crowd of reports in the middle of G.C.P.D. However, when newcomer Valerie Vale, (Jamie Chung) asks some hard-hitting questions, the two become stumped. The Penguin interrupts the conference to announce that Fish Mooney is behind the monsters, and begs Gothamites to take her down.
Later, he’s seen talking to Barbara Kean and Tabitha Galavan about protection for their new club, The Sirens. They decline the offer, until a man and his goonies threaten them. Obviously, the two can handle themselves, and have no problem taking the three out. Oswald and Butch visit the girls again and Barbara accuses Butch of hiring the trio to make Tabby want his protection. Unfortunately, it backfired, and Penguin and Butch were sent on their way. Oswald is sure to let them know that he will give a million dollars to anyone that can bring him Fish Mooney, Dead Or Alive, and demands they pass the word.
Meanwhile, Jim Gordon: Bounty Hunter, has been taking out monsters left and right for five grand a pop. You’ll remember at the end of Season 2, he was set on going to see Lee Tompkins. But when he arrived at her door, he saw her having dinner with a man. She looked so very happy, and I don’t think he wanted to ruin that, so he let her be. Valerie Vale hunts Jim down and convinces him to follow a lead, while also “casually” mentioning the bounty on Fish. She explains that Fish is getting extremely ill from whatever was done to her at Indian Hill, and that she was going to track down Ethel Peabody for answers. Gordon correctly assumes that Fish was going to use Valerie to locate Ms. Peabody, and although she succeeds in kidnapping Hugo’s right hand woman, Jim manages to nab one of the genetically altered patients.
Now, early in the episode, a new, small character was introduced. His name is Marv, and Fish describes him as a sort of “Fountain of Youth in reverse.” Later, he uses this power to get rid of Ethel after Fish squeezes all the information she can out of her. Ethel ages at an alarming rate before dropping to the ground, dead. Selina Kyle, acting as a Fish Mooney Goonie, (I should trademark that tbh) watches on in horror as one of the monsters drags Ivy Pepper out of the shadows. She’d followed Selina hoping to earn more money, but Fish sends Marv after her. Trapping her between him and a fall to potential death, he grabs her arm for a good minute before she plummets into the rushing water of a busted city pipeline.
Finally we have Bruce Wayne. He left town with Alfred to learn more about the people REALLY behind Wayne Enterprises. He gathers the Board of Directors, tells them he knows who they are, and demands that they speak with him face to face. The Court of Owls has 24 hours to respond, or he’s taking everything he’d learned to the press. The court was contacted and decided to send one of their minions to kidnap him. Will they honor his demand, or is this the end of Bruce for this version of Gotham? Will this set Hush up to replace him for a while? And is this the point where Maggie Geha takes over as an older, more mature Ivy Pepper? A lot of questions are popping up and I hope they’re answered soon. I personally found Season Three’s premiere to be phenomenal, and entirely worth the wait. Let us know what you thought of the premiere and tune in next week for a new review! Thanks for reading!
