Hey youtubers it’s Charlie and this week on Gotham we learned about one of the next
big Batman Villains the show is going to do, as well as the beginning of all the current
comic book characters rise to power.
This was also the first episode they produced since the pilot was ordered to series.
So if you noticed any minor changes in the way characters behaved or the look of the
show that’s why.
So just like normal I’ll start with top 5 moments, then explain any of the bigger
comic book references and then do my review.
Careful for spoilers if you haven’t seen the episode.
I’ll wait just a sec...okay, here we go.
Number 5 - Professor Pyg Shoutout
In Fish Mooney’s Club, the bartender’s name is Lazlo.
Lazlo Valentin in the comics is Professor Pyg.
They might be doing something different with the character because Professor Pyg is associated
with the Circus of Strange.
I guess this is a prequel show, so you could say that he just hasn’t taken on that persona
yet.
Pyg is a noted brilliant chemist.
So it makes sense they’d tease him in a story involving a date rape drug.
Grant Morrison created him in this story that involved Pyg creating this mindless army of
lobotomized genderless doll-people called Dollotrons.
I know there was a Dollmaker reference so it was a little confusing.
But the Pyg storyline also involved a drug so there’s a lot of mixed references you
could drawn.
Add to that they pig mask we saw.
Number 4 - Bruce Wayne is Testing Himself
There’s a lot you could say about the Bruce Wayne storyline in the series.
Because we know exactly where this character is headed it’s a little strange watching
it play out in episodes.
Because of that I just kind of separate myself from the comics and the movies when I’m
watching David Mazouz the actor.
In the context of the episode, I totally bought that he’d be doing disturbing drawings in
his notepad and listening to crazy hardcore music.
It’s just his way of processing the trauma.
If you thought his acting was a little weird when he was talking to Gordon, think about
it this way.
Bruce Wayne is the mask the Batman wears when he’s in public.
So Bruce Wayne the child, is in the process of creating the fake Bruce Wayne he let’s
the world see.
So I think him being a little wooden in scenes is the actor consciously making the character
look like he’s acting to gordon.
It would be like you putting on a facade to talk to someone versus just being yourself.
I don’t think Batman really knows who he is and I don’t think he wants to know.
So just keep that in mind.
It’s David Mazouz playing a character who’s playing a character.
Bruce Wayne is playing Fake Bruce Wayne.
Number 3 - The Penguin Begins Kidnapping and Extorting People for Money
We are now seeing the beginnings of what will become the Penguin’s penchant for extortion.
He evolves into something of a white collar criminal.
Or at least he’ll exclusively target the wealthy but we’re seeing him figure it out.
I’m still wrapping my brain around Robin Lord Taylor’s character.
He seems like he’s pretty vicious.
I believed he was going to carve that dude’s eyes out.
He murdered the fisherman, so it stands to reason he’d also cut up his kidnapping victim.
The interesting thing is the debt he still owes to Gordon for sparing his life and how
that will tie in with all the “external villain forces” that Falcone teased in the
first episode.
Those are our batman villains we have yet to meet.
Including the Dollmaker.
At some point, penguin will have to cross paths with Gordon again, whether he comes
back to gotham first or Gordon finds him on the outskirts of town.
I think the Penguin will end up repaying his debt this season by helping Gordon take down
some of these bigger batman villains.
I don’t see anything big happening to Falcone, because in the timeline, he’s still around
when Bruce Wayne is in college, which is like 8 years away.
Number 2 - Catwoman emeds herself with Team Batman
I’m really digging Camren Bicondova so far as Selina Kyle.
Her task is to play the street urchin who’s smarter than most of the adults on the show.
As evidenced by the way she worked that police officer who brought in Gordon at the end of
the episode.
She’s in the process of embedding herself as an ally to Team Batman.
She called Bruce “The Boy”, so I’m excited to see what kind of trouble they cause together
eventually.
I wonder if the Bruce Testing himself arc will throw him into her path.
Like he’ll try something crazy, and she’ll be there to bail him out.
And they’ll start being friends.
It’s still too soon to tell, but Catwoman plays both sides of the fence in the comics,
so she could inform on Gordon for Falcone or one of the other villains if she thought
she had to.
and my Number 1 moment - Dollmaker Shoutout
The two guest stars Doug and Patti were working for the Dollmaker.
They were rounding up children for him, it might turn into a doll army situation.
Like they’d do the professor pyg storyline where they turn everyone into mindless slaves.
Otherwise why would they need all those children?
We’ll see more of Dollmaker in the future, he’s just one of many Batman villains coming
to the show.
It sounds like he’ll be one of the big ‘external forces’ Falcone was talking about.
Another big one is Hugo Strange.
He’s tied more to the Arkham storyline, and that only got teased.
So I’ll talk more Arkham when it shows up in an episode.
But it will, they’re doing Arkham this year.
Let me know what your favorite moment was.
And how do you think that Selina Kyle and Bruce will meet for the first time.
It will be like a Batman meet cute where they both trip over the criminals they’re beating
up and bonk heads like in a romantic comedy.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I was just beating information out of this guy...I was doing the same thing…”
Here’s a few Comic Book References I spotted:
I already mentioned Arkham, Professor Pyg and The Dollmaker, but the group of kids Bruce
wanted to help are probably going to be the precursor to the Child Care Facility he creates,
I think he has a boy’s home he funds in the movies.
But I’d imagine he also funds one for girls too.
It’s just the beginning of him using his money to help people.
You don’t always see it in the comics, but Bruce Wayne is like Bill Gates when it comes
to giving his money away to charitable causes.
He even funds the Outsiders Super Hero Group.
Carol Kane as The Penguin’s Mother is amazing.
Kabelput is what she said.
I’m assuming The Penguin changed it to sound more American.
There was aslo some more of The Riddler who got wrapped up in the Arkham reference
and the ATP drug.
It’s also possible Hugo Strange could be tied to that drug plot too.
I don’t know which episode he’s going to debut in.
There were several Joker references with people yelling Clown, even Oswald on the phone at
the end.
I felt like this trident was a reference to either Trident the villain or Aquaman’s
Trident.
He’s not coming on the show, it’s just that there are only a few Trident’s in the
DC Universe.
Someone told me on twitter they saw a Queen Industries Logo, I didn’t catch it but I
believe it.
Let me know if you spotted any other references that I missed.
Next week’s episode is called “The Balloon Man”
I’ll post that video after the episode airs.
Be sure to subscribe to get it.
Tomorrow is also a new Agents of SHIELD so I’ll post that video tomorrow night.
Right now click here for my episode 1 video and click here to catch up on Agents of SHIELD.
Thanks for watching, everybody high five and I’ll see you tomorrow.