Gotham is truly fucking up its next generation. None of the grown-ups can keep them from burning themselves, or choosing to be homeless, or even from some child trafficking ring run by someone named the Dollmaker. And that's the grown-ups who care. The ones who don't are even worse. No wonder Gotham's in for a terrifying future.
Bruce starts the episode in typical tweenie stupidity, holding the palm of his hand squarely over a candle flame until the burn starts. Then he continues to hold it there, wincing and crying through the pain until Alfred comes in, looking for him. Bruce fails at hiding the burn mark from Alfred, who panics that Bruce is now hurting himself. At first, he violently shakes Bruce. When he realizes that he's hurting Bruce in order to teach Bruce to not hurt himself, he stops and immediately seizes the boy in a close hug. The look on his face screams that Alfred has no idea what he's doing.
The show also hammers home the point that the city is hopelessly corrupt. Detectives Gordon and Bullock arrive to start a homicide case for a homeless man, only to find that no uniformed officer has been keeping the crime scene secure or clean. When the officer finally shows up, turns out he was paying more attention to the diner that pays him on the side to give them extra protection on his beat- they had a junkie storm through their window the night before. Gordon and the uniform practically fight right there at the homicide scene.
We know they are definitely related, as the night before, a group of homeless teens shuffled around an impromptu alley bonfire, our plucky pickpocket from the first episode lingering in the shadows. A strange van pulls up and two devoutly religious-looking people climb out, with good news. They're here from the city to feed the kids! Have some candy! Oh, and have these awesome hypodermic needles in your necks! A homeless man, old and weary, looks like he might stop the kidnapping, but the man from the van shoots him dead. Our pickpocket-ing heroine, called Cat by her fellow kids, was alone in not approaching the van, but she's not the only one to escape. Another teen, stuck with a needle but not down for the count, manages to run away. The man from the van chases him until he crashes into a diner window.
And now the teen is sitting at Gordon and Bullock's precinct, insisting that he didn't willingly do the drugs found in his system, or kill any homeless guy. He's scared, insisting that Cat saw the whole thing too. No one proposes finding Cat. Instead, Bullock and Gordon get into a fight about whether to beat the teenager sitting at their desks. Oh, and Bullock reminds Gordon that he doesn't get to act high and mighty, as everyone still thinks Gordon killed Oswald.
Captain Essen once again has to referee. Yes, you still have to investigate these kidnappings. No, you can't go to the press. No reason for anyone to panic. Bullock is baffled by the crime. By the descriptions given, none of the kidnap victims were pretty girls, and those are the only kids worth kidnapping. We get an appearance from Edward Nygma that lacks riddles, but gives Gordon and Bullock something to go on- the teenager was shot with ATP, a knock out drug last used at Arkham Asylum. Over ten years ago, when the place was closed down. The Wayne Foundation had been talking about re-opening it, but with the Waynes dead, the Asylum is still closed. So, no one should have the drug stocked anymore.
Bullock decides to start asking questions in the neighborhood, and asks the captain whether they can do it without involving Fish Mooney, who might still be pissed at them. But she has her own problems. Her club is jumping, full of music and booze and fun, when she gets an honored guest: Carmine Falcone has come to appear briefly in the episode. With his favorite wine served, he toasts the honesty of men about to die.
Falcone wants to talk about Oswald. In fact, everyone will talk about Oswald in this episode eventually. Falcone wants to know why Oswald thought there would be a war, with blood in the streets, which means Oswald gave that line to more than just Gordon. Mooney feigns ignorance of what he could mean. Falcone tells her that Oswald blabbed on her plans to take Falcone down and take his place. Mooney categorically denies this, going so far as to grasp Falcone's hand as a sign of her deep affection for him.
After dismissing Oswald's last words as babbling, Falcone asks about her newest squeeze. Mooney is very smooth as she declares that his job is to provide her with some exercise. Turns out, he's the waiter who's been serving the table. His name is Laslow, and Falcone is very pleased to meet him and have his goons beat him off to the side, while Falcone kisses her hand, demonstrating that he's in charge. When Falcone leaves, taking his men with him, Mooney can vent. And she does, closing the club immediately by screaming, using every last breath in her lungs, at her customers to get out.
So, where is Oswald? Walking away from Gotham. Mooney's beating left him crippled, and he hobbles along a side of the road until an SUV stops for him. Or rather, plays with him a bit, teasing him and then slipping forward out of his reach, until it finally relents and lets him in. Inside are Biff and Jeff, two frat boy types with plenty of beer in the car and insults for a stranger. Oswald makes a point of keeping it together, smiling at his current predicament and promising his saviors that he'll get back on his feet. Speaking of his feet, did Oswald know that he walks like a penguin now?
Oswald still hates being called a penguin, and he erupts without warning, smashing his beer bottle in the car, and using the broken shards to kill Jeff sitting in shotgun. Blood sprays all over the car as Biff, still driving, panics.
Oswald's mother is completely clueless about her son's whereabouts, which is bad for Montoya and Allen, who are looking for their snitch. Mrs. Kapelput (the original version of Oswald's name), insists that her son is a good boy who is only missing because some slut lured him into a den of iniquity somewhere.
Oswald is actually driving around the countryside, stopping only when he sees a "For Rent" sign stuck to a dilapidated trailer squatting on a farm. The farmer is a little baffled by Oswald in his ripped clothes, looking like he hasn't slept in days, and happy to rent his piece of crap trailer. But he does take Oswald's (or should we say Biff"s?) money and tells Oswald the keys are in the trailer. Oswald's only concern is keeping Farmer Joe out of his SUV, where Biff and Jeff are on the floor, and Biff looks like he's still alive.
The homeless kids from the night before awake, in a dark, windowless room. There's a door somewhere, but their attention is drawn instead to a dark pit at the center of the room. The other kids aren't hopeful about getting out, with one wondering if they're already dead.
Fish Mooney is a little bit more realistic about Oswald, even if she still thinks he's dead. Wishing only that she'd beaten Oswald a bit more, or at least enough that he couldn't talk anymore, she also can't wait to really kill Falcone. And she can't wait to confide the whole thing to her First Mate, who will happily rat her out if his life his on the line. Bullock and Gordon interrupt her, but she's happy to see them, and chirps that all is forgiven. But not forgotten, so that Mooney can torment Gordon with his supposed killing of Oswald.
Gordon wants to get to work on questioning Mooney, but she spends a minute or two waxing poetically on Gordon's fine ideals being useless. When she can finally be persuaded to take Gordon seriously, she immediately dismisses the kidnappings for the same reason Bullock does- why would anyone want any kid except pretty girls? All she knows, and all anyone is willing to find out, is that there's an overseas buyer.
Gordon is frustrated enough about the whole investigation, or lack thereof, to blab to Barbara over dinner. Barbara chalks it up to Gotham's corruption, and that word is going to be bandied around quite a bit on this show. Everyone's corrupt, but it's obvious that Gotham might come to a standstill if people had to resolve their issues through the law. Jim tries to calm Barbara down, without making her anymore curious about just how corrupt Gotham is, and how close that corruption is now sitting next to her. When she wonders why nobody's talking about the kidnappings, Gordon informs her of Captain Essen's "no press" rule.
Barbara is horrified. People can't even talk about how bad things are, because they're not allowed to know. Well, she knows what to do about that. She immediately gets up, gets out of Gordon's reach, and calls a local paper, spilling just enough to get Gordon in trouble. When Captain Essen accuses Bullock of leaking the investigation, she reminds him that he's done it before. Which, he has to admit, is true. Gordon takes the fall, getting a freebie warning from the Captain, but all is forgiven. He has a lead. Or rather, three. Three local pharmacy suppliers still carry ATP. And Gordon is already getting warrants for them.
One of the suppliers is owned by a horrible-looking middle-aged man who thought he'd gotten a lucky break selling ATP to strangers and letting them lock up teenagers in his basement. When he sees the local papers, he panics, demanding that the man and woman from the van get the kids out of there. The two kidnappers, Slick Man and Church Lady declare that their boss, called the Dollmaker, won't tolerate failure before killing someone who had the stupidity to protect the owner of the supply warehouse. All this is wrapped up in time for Bullock and Gordon to arrive with their warrant.
Bullock has more than a warrant. He has some advice, gentleman to gentleman. He successfully guesses that it was Barbara, not Gordon, who talked to the press, and Gordon has to admit he's right. Gordon holds firm when Bullock tells him to control "his woman", stating that he likes Barbara the way she is. Bullock, with all the cynicism of a man who has failed at every relationship in life, lists all of Gordon's sexual partners: a high school sweetheart, some foreign girls while serving overseas, and Barbara. Gordon has to admit he's right, and Bullock tells Gordon that Barbara is out of his league, that Gordon is a monkey riding a race horse. Gordon looks like he'll take that mental image to the grave as they enter the pharmacy supply shop we just saw.
The owner, Mr. Horrible Greasy Guy, tries to act chummy with them, But it quickly degenerates into Slick Man and Church Lady shooting at the cops, and getting away in a nice-sized delivery truck. Mr. Greasy Guy tells his remaining assistant to kill the kids downstairs. Because the cops aren't on to him already, so he may as well add murder to the list.
Or rather, attempted murder. The bad guy reaches the basement, where scared teens, probably hearing the gunfight stare uselessly at the gun until Jim Gordon comes to save the day, taking a good long look at the kids he's just saved in the process.
Mayor James is ecstatic. Gotham PD looks like a bunch of real cops. Gordon turns out to be the real hero, while Bullock rides the wave of being the hero's partner. Mayor James gets to do all the triumphant press conferences. In Captain Essen's office, a replay of the presser plays while Essen, Mayor James, Bullock and Gordon have a drink to celebrate cracking a high profile case. Mayor James, still on TV, announces that he's starting a new initiative to prevent any more kidnappings, or least to keep kidnappings out of private hands. So, La Chaim!
Now, Gotham PD will be taking homeless kids off streets and putting them in Gotham's juvie facility upstate. Gordon thinks the kids are being locked up without trials; Mayor James is telling the people it's necessary for the kids' own safety. Rounded up with the rest is one Cat.
Bruce gets to stay home, apparently not even having school to go to. He's going Goth, or at least starting to. While heinous heavy metal plays, Bruce inks in an abysmally dreadful drawing of horrific creatures. Good thing Alfred decides to pay Jim Gordon a visit, inviting him to tea, and asking him if he'll have a word with little Bruce, on the grounds that Gordon is one of the few grown-ups Bruce might listen to. Gordon resists a little at first, but eventually agrees to come out.
The buses are being loaded with Gotham's youngest homeless people, all totally unwilling to go, and Cat simply refuses to name herself, insisting that the pigerina processing her do something obscene. This gets her the name Jane Doe, which Cat can live with as she sits on the bus and reaches for a locket. She opens it briefly, which is probably not a good idea to do on a bus full of kids who might steal from you, but she can't resist looking at the two pictures, both portraits, inside. What is this, Orphan Annie? The boy next to her is shaking with fear of juvie, and Cat turns to reassure him that it won't suck completely, as long as he keeps his shit together. Oh, and go for the eyes.
The bus seems ready to go when one of their new caretakers boards, and Cat instantly jumps up and books for the back door when she see's it's Church Lady, with Slick Man. Church Lady pulls a gun on Cat, promising to give her and any other troublemakers a third eye while the bus pulls out of the lot with no resistance from the city employees running around.
Mayor James is furious. Jim Gordon is so frustrated he lets Bullock clobber Mr. Greasy Guy for a while before they get a logo from the truck out of him. It looks like a plate with a fork on it. Which is their only lead. It's Gordon, once again the real detective, who figures out the fork is really a trident, which can lead to an actual company name. Maybe an address, too?
The kids get off the bus, except for one. Instead of instantly realizing it's the kid who's already tried running away, Church Lady spends a tense moment on the bus, with Cat who's hiding among the seats, having left something on the floor so Church Lady will proceed to the back of the bus and Cat can sneak off, and quickly scramble underneath the bus. When the ruse works, Cat gets to demonstrate her whole go-for-the-eyes strategy on one of the other people running around getting kids shipped out, who Church Lady eventually shoots since his eyes have been gouged out.
Cat and Church Lady play some more warehouse-hide-and-seek before Cat makes a kiddie mistake by dropping the locket, which Church Lady finds plus Cat, too. Before Church Lady can shoot, Gordon has the whole situation under control. Kids found! Now they can go back to juvie.
And Jim can visit Bruce. Alfred, Bruce's legal guardian, refuses to get the boy therapy, which is Jim's first idea. Apparently, Mr. Wayne Senior believed in letting kids make horrible choices. Like, sneaking up on adults talking and insisting that Alfred is just being a pussy. Jim realizes his job today will be refereeing the match between Alfred and Bruce. One wonders if this will happen again and again, with Jim and Alfred arguing about Bruce's needs for the next six years.
Bruce explains that he hasn't been hurting himself. He's been testing himself. Like, testing to see if fire really burns. Or maybe how much pain he can take. Gordon doesn't really know what to do with that, and they go to discussing the kids Jim's recently saved from the Dollmaker, whoever that is. Bruce wants to give them money. Jim says they really need guardians. Bruce settles for sending them clothes.
Clothes that Cat is completely uninterested in. After announcing that her mom is actually alive, she is once again trying to get out of juvie, Cat finally realizes she can bamboozle one of the detectives into finding Jim Gordon for her. Well, threaten him with defamation, really. But it works. Faster than you can say "He said she said", Jim Gordon appears. After they briefly talk about the kid first picked up at the beginning of the episode, Gordon realizes he probably should have dug her up at the beginning of his investigation, instead of just running into her now. But that's not important. Cat wants a deal to stay out of juvie. She lets Gordon know that she already knows Mario Pepper, the Waynes' supposed killer, was framed. And she lets Gordon know that she saw the Waynes' killer.
Oswald is having a less fruitful day than he planned, even though he did get to his arts and crafts project. It's a shrine/map of Gotham, filled with images of people he hates, who have the Wrath of Oswald to worry about. He gets a phone call that really doesn't go his way. Turns out that Biff's call for ransom money wasn't all that convincing; Biff's mom thinks the whole thing is a fake. Oswald takes it well, thinking maybe he can still get something out of her, when she hangs up. Biff, hearing the call, sits in an open closet. He's bound, gagged, and practically naked, while Oswald now wears his clothes. Oh, and Biff is already bleeding and crying. Oswald hangs up, calls Biff a scamp, and I guess gets to work poking Biff's eyes out. A promise is a promise.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Monday, September 29, 2014
Empty, and Become Wind - Legend of Korra - Season 3, Episode 12
As usual, the next-to-last episode of the season shows Team Korra united, separating only so they can attack from multiple points. As usual, the episode shows Team Korra being dealt a horrible loss. Remember last season, when Raava was ripped from Korra and destroyed? Well, this season gives Team Korra a bitter loss, too.
Lord Zuko has returned to the Fire Nation. Pabu, Naga, and Bolin and Mako's family remain in Zaofu, where Yin is a very stern pet-sitter.
Team Korra has started on their journey to the Northern Air Temple. Tonraq, Lin Beifong, Suyin Beifong, Bolin, Mako, and Asami brainstorm for a rescue of the air bender hostages. Lin calls off an air assault, as P'Li will shoot them down. Suyin calls off scaling the cliffs of the Northern Air Temple, as the lava bender will burn them alive. Bolin's bird call is an admirable effort, but Korra nixes them all. She is convinced that the air benders will only be safely recovered if she turns herself into Zaheer and the Red Lotus. Korra points out that the return of the Air Nation is necessary so the world can regain balance, so if the worst should happen, she's done her job as Avatar. Asami points out that there's no way they're letting Korra go in alone; the rest of the team gives her their support, but looks fearfully to each other as Korra leaves to radio Zaheer that he's getting what he wants.
Zaheer is smug on the radio. He is playing his leverage to full advantage, and dictates how Korra will surrender. Korra will turn herself over at Laghima's Peak, seen in a previous episode. Suyin sees a way to ambush the Red Lotus; while Korra is keeping Zaheer busy on her surrender, her metal benders could climb the peak undetected and ambush Zaheer. After Asami, Bolin, and Mako radio that they've safely recovered the air benders at the Air Temple, of course.
When trading hostages for the Avatar, you need to be sharp. Zaheer gets in a meditation session before the big event, reminding himself of Guru Laghima's vague directive to let go of the earthly tether, to empty oneself, and become wind. Maybe Zaheer should research what Guru Laghima would have thought of taking air benders hostage as a part of a spread-chaos-and-disorder scheme. Does Zaheer know what "become wind" means, or will he realize later?
P'Li approaches from behind, and Zaheer is fine with the interruption. The two are well aware today could end badly for them. Red Lotus is in the open, and inviting enemies to approach. The Avatar has evaded them before, her friends have defeated them before. P'Li reminds Zaheer that his mission saved her from a life of servitude to a warlord. Zaheer reminds P'Li that he thought of her every day in prison. Together they vow, no more prisons, no more running. Today they succeed, or they die.
Korra's goodbye to her friends is bittersweet. They all head into their separate fights, but only after deep hugging. Tonraq, before he climbs Laghima's Peak with the metal benders, also gives her encouraging words, reassuring her that he'll be fine just before leaping into his climb, water in his hands ready to use as his own grappling hooks. Korra glides up to the top of the peak.
Asami, Mako and Bolin, in the airship, circle the Air Temple, concerned about the damage. Mako, carrying the radio, warns Korra not to turn herself in until he tells her the air benders are safe. Ghazan is brusque when they arrive, ordering them inside. They can see Tenzin, clearly, bound and gagged and barely conscious. Behind him, in the shadows of a distant alcove, are the others, bound and silent, heads bowed beneath their hoods.
Korra arrives, radio slung around her shoulder, and wants the air benders let go first. When Zaheer calls her bluff, Korra agrees to surrender, and approaches P'Li. She makes a show of abandoning her radio and glider, and P'Li makes a show of chaining Korra's hands and ankles, and telling her the chains are platinum, so Korra won't be able to bend them as metal. Zaheer then gives the all clear to Ghazan, who waves the others to a bound and gagged Tenzin.
Tenzin isn't relieved to see them, furiously groaning something through his gag, and Asami tries to calm him, telling him that everyone's getting out of there. That's when things turn to poop, right there in the temple. The other air benders literally collapse into puddles on the floor. Water was holding the clothes and ropes in shape. Water controlled by the huge bitch sitting behind the air bender decoys. Ming Hua attacks.
Mako manages to get a broadcast to Korra, who hears and attacks Zaheer. Even with feet and hands bound, Korra has plenty of moves. Mako radios Lin to attack. She, Suyin and the other metal benders get to the peak and start. P'Li stays behind to handle them. Zaheer concentrates on Korra. Lin's earth bending sends up a lot of dust, which gives them time to avoid P'Li.
Zaheer tries to march Korra onto the airship, but Tonraq ambushes him, while saving Korra from plummeting. The airship, obviously piloted by someone who doesn't like when things don't go as planned, takes off. Tonraq is ready for Zaheer, shouting at him that he can't escape, while whipping water around to attack.
Asami frees Tenzin while Mako and Bolin hold off Ghazan and Ming Hua. When Ming becomes impatient, Ghazan brings on the full lava flow, which Bolin can barely hold off. With no exit, the airship stolen, and the bison scared off. Bolin has to improvise. With Tenzin showing the way to a secret room, Bolin bends rock barriers as they use a secret stair to descend the temple cliff. When the lava catches up with them, Bolin bends them an opening in the cliff that they are quickly trapped in, with the lava coming for them.
Tonraq and Korra battle Zaheer together, with Tonraq getting in a spearing attempt with a giant shard of ice. Zaheer dodges the blow, massive as it is, and attacks Tonraq, hurtling him off the cliff.
Lin and Suyin hide from P'Li, who's blasting the rocks they hide behind. Lin says a quick I love you to Suyin, then scolds her to attack once P'Li is distracted. Insulting P'Li as she dashes from the rock, she dodges the combustion bender's attacks until she's hit, crashing on the ground. With P'Li focused on her on the ground, Suyin gets to work, and her large metal collar/chest piece floats off of her. It reshapes itself while swiftly flying towards P'Li, engulfing her whole head in a sealed helmet less than a second before P'Li launches another explosion.
Zaheer, trying to spy the airship in the distance, turns around in despair when he hears the explosion in that helmet, which would have reduced P'Li's head to ashes. He's broken for a few seconds, until Korra launches a second attack. He dodges her bending, only to blast her with so much air she's knocked out. As Lin and Suyin surround him, he gathers unconscious Korra on his shoulder. He turns to face them, and closes his eyes. He re-recites Guru Laghima's wisdom. And then, he takes a step back. Into the void. Did P'Li's death "empty him" so he could become wind? Did he know that it would?
Lin and Suyin rush to the peak's edge, only to see a totally-in-control Zaheer, Korra still over his shoulder, floating above the clouds. He takes to flying right away, too, zipping up to Lin and Suyin's complete astonishment and buzzing the airship Ghazan and Ming Hua were bringing to him. They, too, are amazed. But then, gaining new powers is Zaheer's game this season.
Tonraq caught some luck, even if he didn't catch a branch or rock on the way down. A metal bender has caught him, and he's hanging on for dear life, watching Zaheer fly his daughter away. Zaheer flies away, passing the Northern Air Temple, which is completely engulfed in lava.
Trapped on the ledge about to be a lava fall, Bolin decides to make the sacrifice play by running right into the lava. As Mako cries out for his brother, Bolin is hidden by the lava. For a moment. Then the lava turns black and cool and into rock, and Bolin emerges totally unscathed. It's Bolin's talent- he's a lava bender too. Even if he only realized it when they were all about to die.
Their day gets a little better when Kai turns out to be usefully floating around the Temple, pops up behind them, and they climb onto the bison calf's back. The Air Temple falls to fiery pieces as Kai and the bison calf get them away. Tenzin, crushed, watches.
Suyin's metal benders are tending to the injured, which includes Tonraq. He's getting helped personally by the bender that caught him on that cliff. Tonraq thanks her personally and she introduces herself as Kuvira. We linger a bit on her, to remember her face, presumably because we'll see more of her. There's a terrible sounding bird call, and Tenzin and his rescuers collapse on the ground.
Kai wants to tell them something about the air benders, but there's the news of Bolin's lava bending, and Zaheer's new talent for flying. The adults don't really have time for Kai, until he shouts that he knows where the air benders are. He points out that after escaping the assault on the Temple, he spied the air benders taken to some nearby caves, by members of Red Lotus he didn't see before. The team realizes there are more than just the four they've been fighting. And they don't know how to even get close to the caves. Until, Tenzin gets his first bit of hope.
They hear a familiar call, and see a shadow from above, as Oogi reappears. With Oogi, Kai can lead a team to the air benders for their rescue. But he can't go until Mako has had a talk with him, their first since Kai caused him so much trouble in Ba Sing Se. They talk it out, manage to get a joke or two in, and then Kai and some of the adults fly off.
When Ghazan and Ming Hua find Zaheer in a cave, they demand to know how long he's been flying. He announces that since he's given up all earthly desires, he can follow the footsteps (metaphoric) of Guru Laghima. He proceeds to show them Korra's imprisonment. She is chained, chains spanning a vast chamber in the cave. She's far back enough from Zaheer that she can't hurt him with bending.
Chained to immobility, the symbol of the Red Lotus framing her as a prisoner, Korra's a little ticked off that Zaheer killed her father. Zaheer tries to sympathize, pointing out that he's lost someone too. But all her pain will soon be over. A new world will be arriving soon, and Zaheer tries not to sound excited as he calls for two acolyte-looking servants to bring the poison. So he's wanted to kill her all this time anyway?
Lord Zuko has returned to the Fire Nation. Pabu, Naga, and Bolin and Mako's family remain in Zaofu, where Yin is a very stern pet-sitter.
Team Korra has started on their journey to the Northern Air Temple. Tonraq, Lin Beifong, Suyin Beifong, Bolin, Mako, and Asami brainstorm for a rescue of the air bender hostages. Lin calls off an air assault, as P'Li will shoot them down. Suyin calls off scaling the cliffs of the Northern Air Temple, as the lava bender will burn them alive. Bolin's bird call is an admirable effort, but Korra nixes them all. She is convinced that the air benders will only be safely recovered if she turns herself into Zaheer and the Red Lotus. Korra points out that the return of the Air Nation is necessary so the world can regain balance, so if the worst should happen, she's done her job as Avatar. Asami points out that there's no way they're letting Korra go in alone; the rest of the team gives her their support, but looks fearfully to each other as Korra leaves to radio Zaheer that he's getting what he wants.
Zaheer is smug on the radio. He is playing his leverage to full advantage, and dictates how Korra will surrender. Korra will turn herself over at Laghima's Peak, seen in a previous episode. Suyin sees a way to ambush the Red Lotus; while Korra is keeping Zaheer busy on her surrender, her metal benders could climb the peak undetected and ambush Zaheer. After Asami, Bolin, and Mako radio that they've safely recovered the air benders at the Air Temple, of course.
When trading hostages for the Avatar, you need to be sharp. Zaheer gets in a meditation session before the big event, reminding himself of Guru Laghima's vague directive to let go of the earthly tether, to empty oneself, and become wind. Maybe Zaheer should research what Guru Laghima would have thought of taking air benders hostage as a part of a spread-chaos-and-disorder scheme. Does Zaheer know what "become wind" means, or will he realize later?
Enter the void, become wind, and don't kidnap your fellow air benders
P'Li approaches from behind, and Zaheer is fine with the interruption. The two are well aware today could end badly for them. Red Lotus is in the open, and inviting enemies to approach. The Avatar has evaded them before, her friends have defeated them before. P'Li reminds Zaheer that his mission saved her from a life of servitude to a warlord. Zaheer reminds P'Li that he thought of her every day in prison. Together they vow, no more prisons, no more running. Today they succeed, or they die.
Korra's goodbye to her friends is bittersweet. They all head into their separate fights, but only after deep hugging. Tonraq, before he climbs Laghima's Peak with the metal benders, also gives her encouraging words, reassuring her that he'll be fine just before leaping into his climb, water in his hands ready to use as his own grappling hooks. Korra glides up to the top of the peak.
Asami, Mako and Bolin, in the airship, circle the Air Temple, concerned about the damage. Mako, carrying the radio, warns Korra not to turn herself in until he tells her the air benders are safe. Ghazan is brusque when they arrive, ordering them inside. They can see Tenzin, clearly, bound and gagged and barely conscious. Behind him, in the shadows of a distant alcove, are the others, bound and silent, heads bowed beneath their hoods.
Korra arrives, radio slung around her shoulder, and wants the air benders let go first. When Zaheer calls her bluff, Korra agrees to surrender, and approaches P'Li. She makes a show of abandoning her radio and glider, and P'Li makes a show of chaining Korra's hands and ankles, and telling her the chains are platinum, so Korra won't be able to bend them as metal. Zaheer then gives the all clear to Ghazan, who waves the others to a bound and gagged Tenzin.
He's just resting his eyes
Tenzin isn't relieved to see them, furiously groaning something through his gag, and Asami tries to calm him, telling him that everyone's getting out of there. That's when things turn to poop, right there in the temple. The other air benders literally collapse into puddles on the floor. Water was holding the clothes and ropes in shape. Water controlled by the huge bitch sitting behind the air bender decoys. Ming Hua attacks.
What, you can't trust the Red Lotus?
Mako manages to get a broadcast to Korra, who hears and attacks Zaheer. Even with feet and hands bound, Korra has plenty of moves. Mako radios Lin to attack. She, Suyin and the other metal benders get to the peak and start. P'Li stays behind to handle them. Zaheer concentrates on Korra. Lin's earth bending sends up a lot of dust, which gives them time to avoid P'Li.
You know I'm the Avatar, right?
Zaheer tries to march Korra onto the airship, but Tonraq ambushes him, while saving Korra from plummeting. The airship, obviously piloted by someone who doesn't like when things don't go as planned, takes off. Tonraq is ready for Zaheer, shouting at him that he can't escape, while whipping water around to attack.
Asami frees Tenzin while Mako and Bolin hold off Ghazan and Ming Hua. When Ming becomes impatient, Ghazan brings on the full lava flow, which Bolin can barely hold off. With no exit, the airship stolen, and the bison scared off. Bolin has to improvise. With Tenzin showing the way to a secret room, Bolin bends rock barriers as they use a secret stair to descend the temple cliff. When the lava catches up with them, Bolin bends them an opening in the cliff that they are quickly trapped in, with the lava coming for them.
Earth bending hero time!
Tonraq and Korra battle Zaheer together, with Tonraq getting in a spearing attempt with a giant shard of ice. Zaheer dodges the blow, massive as it is, and attacks Tonraq, hurtling him off the cliff.
Shoulda' worked
Lin and Suyin hide from P'Li, who's blasting the rocks they hide behind. Lin says a quick I love you to Suyin, then scolds her to attack once P'Li is distracted. Insulting P'Li as she dashes from the rock, she dodges the combustion bender's attacks until she's hit, crashing on the ground. With P'Li focused on her on the ground, Suyin gets to work, and her large metal collar/chest piece floats off of her. It reshapes itself while swiftly flying towards P'Li, engulfing her whole head in a sealed helmet less than a second before P'Li launches another explosion.
Kind of uncomfortable
Zaheer, trying to spy the airship in the distance, turns around in despair when he hears the explosion in that helmet, which would have reduced P'Li's head to ashes. He's broken for a few seconds, until Korra launches a second attack. He dodges her bending, only to blast her with so much air she's knocked out. As Lin and Suyin surround him, he gathers unconscious Korra on his shoulder. He turns to face them, and closes his eyes. He re-recites Guru Laghima's wisdom. And then, he takes a step back. Into the void. Did P'Li's death "empty him" so he could become wind? Did he know that it would?
Lin and Suyin rush to the peak's edge, only to see a totally-in-control Zaheer, Korra still over his shoulder, floating above the clouds. He takes to flying right away, too, zipping up to Lin and Suyin's complete astonishment and buzzing the airship Ghazan and Ming Hua were bringing to him. They, too, are amazed. But then, gaining new powers is Zaheer's game this season.
Can't catch me, I'm the Red Lotus Man!
Tonraq caught some luck, even if he didn't catch a branch or rock on the way down. A metal bender has caught him, and he's hanging on for dear life, watching Zaheer fly his daughter away. Zaheer flies away, passing the Northern Air Temple, which is completely engulfed in lava.
Trapped on the ledge about to be a lava fall, Bolin decides to make the sacrifice play by running right into the lava. As Mako cries out for his brother, Bolin is hidden by the lava. For a moment. Then the lava turns black and cool and into rock, and Bolin emerges totally unscathed. It's Bolin's talent- he's a lava bender too. Even if he only realized it when they were all about to die.
Consider this lava bent!
Their day gets a little better when Kai turns out to be usefully floating around the Temple, pops up behind them, and they climb onto the bison calf's back. The Air Temple falls to fiery pieces as Kai and the bison calf get them away. Tenzin, crushed, watches.
Thanks a lot, Zaheer
Suyin's metal benders are tending to the injured, which includes Tonraq. He's getting helped personally by the bender that caught him on that cliff. Tonraq thanks her personally and she introduces herself as Kuvira. We linger a bit on her, to remember her face, presumably because we'll see more of her. There's a terrible sounding bird call, and Tenzin and his rescuers collapse on the ground.
So, now that you have a name, will you have a plot line?
Kai wants to tell them something about the air benders, but there's the news of Bolin's lava bending, and Zaheer's new talent for flying. The adults don't really have time for Kai, until he shouts that he knows where the air benders are. He points out that after escaping the assault on the Temple, he spied the air benders taken to some nearby caves, by members of Red Lotus he didn't see before. The team realizes there are more than just the four they've been fighting. And they don't know how to even get close to the caves. Until, Tenzin gets his first bit of hope.
They hear a familiar call, and see a shadow from above, as Oogi reappears. With Oogi, Kai can lead a team to the air benders for their rescue. But he can't go until Mako has had a talk with him, their first since Kai caused him so much trouble in Ba Sing Se. They talk it out, manage to get a joke or two in, and then Kai and some of the adults fly off.
When Ghazan and Ming Hua find Zaheer in a cave, they demand to know how long he's been flying. He announces that since he's given up all earthly desires, he can follow the footsteps (metaphoric) of Guru Laghima. He proceeds to show them Korra's imprisonment. She is chained, chains spanning a vast chamber in the cave. She's far back enough from Zaheer that she can't hurt him with bending.
I guess I'm officially the coolest guy ever
Chained to immobility, the symbol of the Red Lotus framing her as a prisoner, Korra's a little ticked off that Zaheer killed her father. Zaheer tries to sympathize, pointing out that he's lost someone too. But all her pain will soon be over. A new world will be arriving soon, and Zaheer tries not to sound excited as he calls for two acolyte-looking servants to bring the poison. So he's wanted to kill her all this time anyway?
Sunday, September 28, 2014
In the Sky with Diamonds - Lucy
Okay, we get it. Homo sapiens as we exist today are wildly cognitively advanced from the furry, chimp-like creature gathering water between her fingers to drip into her mouth, while crouching naked in a stream. And yet, because we only use 10% of our brains, we're actually not as advanced as we would like to think.
Lucy isn't really about a young woman "attending" college in Taiwan in between drunk routs who gets caught up with drug dealers who accidentally make her brain into raw molecular power. It would be, if the first half of the movie didn't flash nature films among the actual events of the film. It includes cheetahs zeroing in on killing a gazelle while Lucy is entrapped by the murderous drug dealers, or cells splitting while Professor Norman talks about the possibilities in the human brain, or animals mating while Norman explains that cells choose reproduction if an environment is preferable.
The footage interspersed with the action of the film reminds us that despite our extra brain capacity, we are as much animals as cheetahs, and not much removed from the hominids that existed a few million years ago. But not Lucy. Lucy's powers just keep expanding throughout the movie, and her understanding of the nature of matter deepens.
She starts with the easy stuff, being able to glean and understand information in any form. Languages are no longer a barrier. She can process the written word in seconds. She can manipulate electromagnetic waves. She proceeds to actually altering matter with will, because she can now perceive the particles of matter themselves. This includes changing her appearance, or freezing other people motionless in the air. As the movie reaches its climax, and she approaches 100% brain capacity, she transcends existence as matter; she announces to one of her new friends that's she's everywhere now.
The climax is basically a whiz bang through history. Going back decades, then eons in one spot on Earth, Lucy is no longer bound by time. Even that has become a fluid she can swim through. It's her final trip on the original drug that started her journey, and takes place after she tells Professor Norman's friends that the only true measurement in the universe isn't distance, isn't anything that can relate back to humans at all. The basic measurement of the universe is time.
Lucy tries to be more than a high-tech, high-concept thriller with lots of violence. It has everything - trouble in foreign countries, a destructive car chase through Paris (what would our cities really be like if movie heroes like Lucy or James Bond actually existed??), a winner-take-Lucy gun battle between French police and Asian gangsters, an attempted rape that goes badly for the would-be rapist. But the high-stakes violence and mayhem are a pull for people to see the concept behind the film. The movie wants to expound on the theme of how expanding our brain capacity would help us truly understand the nature of the universe, but it has the good sense to mix in demos of Lucy evading her would-be killers and captors with her newfound mind powers.
These demos end up impressing the hell out of the other characters who interact with her: Professor Normal, Detective Del Rio, and her roommate Caroline. In fact, as she mind-powers her way through Paris, she accumulates a small group of protectors who are all blown away by what she can do and what she tells them.
Early on in the film, after the leaked bag of drugs has begun its work, Lucy knows her time is limited. It's why she calls her mother and recites a long line of new sensory perceptions and recovered memories that she can now access. Her mother is stunned and confused, but seems to hang up from the call without saying she's flying to Taiwan immediately to pick up her daughter. Lucy manages to turn the call into a vague farewell to her human self as well as her life. She can only spend her remaining time getting the rest of the drug necessary to perform the climactic experiment, and getting to the men who can help her pull it off.
Despite the movie being based on junk science, it's actually a good rollicking ride with a thought-provoking premise. Sure, we do actually use all of our brains, just not all at the same time (due to blood flow constraints). But, in the end, that's not the point. The movie makes the point that it's our brain's capacity, a physical constraint, that keeps us from being totally awesome and all-knowing. But, there are no physical constraints keeping us from deepening our knowledge of how the universe works. What if, given enough time (the true difference between us and our hominid ancestors), the human brain could perceive our true nature in the universe? Would it unlock the power of mind over matter? Or help us transcend a material existence completely?
Lucy isn't really about a young woman "attending" college in Taiwan in between drunk routs who gets caught up with drug dealers who accidentally make her brain into raw molecular power. It would be, if the first half of the movie didn't flash nature films among the actual events of the film. It includes cheetahs zeroing in on killing a gazelle while Lucy is entrapped by the murderous drug dealers, or cells splitting while Professor Norman talks about the possibilities in the human brain, or animals mating while Norman explains that cells choose reproduction if an environment is preferable.
The footage interspersed with the action of the film reminds us that despite our extra brain capacity, we are as much animals as cheetahs, and not much removed from the hominids that existed a few million years ago. But not Lucy. Lucy's powers just keep expanding throughout the movie, and her understanding of the nature of matter deepens.
She starts with the easy stuff, being able to glean and understand information in any form. Languages are no longer a barrier. She can process the written word in seconds. She can manipulate electromagnetic waves. She proceeds to actually altering matter with will, because she can now perceive the particles of matter themselves. This includes changing her appearance, or freezing other people motionless in the air. As the movie reaches its climax, and she approaches 100% brain capacity, she transcends existence as matter; she announces to one of her new friends that's she's everywhere now.
The climax is basically a whiz bang through history. Going back decades, then eons in one spot on Earth, Lucy is no longer bound by time. Even that has become a fluid she can swim through. It's her final trip on the original drug that started her journey, and takes place after she tells Professor Norman's friends that the only true measurement in the universe isn't distance, isn't anything that can relate back to humans at all. The basic measurement of the universe is time.
Lucy tries to be more than a high-tech, high-concept thriller with lots of violence. It has everything - trouble in foreign countries, a destructive car chase through Paris (what would our cities really be like if movie heroes like Lucy or James Bond actually existed??), a winner-take-Lucy gun battle between French police and Asian gangsters, an attempted rape that goes badly for the would-be rapist. But the high-stakes violence and mayhem are a pull for people to see the concept behind the film. The movie wants to expound on the theme of how expanding our brain capacity would help us truly understand the nature of the universe, but it has the good sense to mix in demos of Lucy evading her would-be killers and captors with her newfound mind powers.
These demos end up impressing the hell out of the other characters who interact with her: Professor Normal, Detective Del Rio, and her roommate Caroline. In fact, as she mind-powers her way through Paris, she accumulates a small group of protectors who are all blown away by what she can do and what she tells them.
Early on in the film, after the leaked bag of drugs has begun its work, Lucy knows her time is limited. It's why she calls her mother and recites a long line of new sensory perceptions and recovered memories that she can now access. Her mother is stunned and confused, but seems to hang up from the call without saying she's flying to Taiwan immediately to pick up her daughter. Lucy manages to turn the call into a vague farewell to her human self as well as her life. She can only spend her remaining time getting the rest of the drug necessary to perform the climactic experiment, and getting to the men who can help her pull it off.
Despite the movie being based on junk science, it's actually a good rollicking ride with a thought-provoking premise. Sure, we do actually use all of our brains, just not all at the same time (due to blood flow constraints). But, in the end, that's not the point. The movie makes the point that it's our brain's capacity, a physical constraint, that keeps us from being totally awesome and all-knowing. But, there are no physical constraints keeping us from deepening our knowledge of how the universe works. What if, given enough time (the true difference between us and our hominid ancestors), the human brain could perceive our true nature in the universe? Would it unlock the power of mind over matter? Or help us transcend a material existence completely?
Friday, September 26, 2014
Gladiators Or Bitches? - Scandal - Season 4, Episode 1
How do you bring a show back from it's natural conclusion? Remember the end of Season 3? Olivia and Jake flew off into the sunrise. Harrison was bye-bye. Quinn and Huck were getting together. Abby and David were together. Jake left David what he needed to expose B-613. Rowan got his old job back, and got the whole crazy-terrorist-wife situation under control. Fitz got his re-election (or, I should say, his election). Cyrus got his precious victory. Mellie got her husband back.
So, why are we doing this? Why are we watching the characters un-resolve all their plotlines? Or were the plotlines not so much resolved, but avoided, so the characters could try to have lives? And what exactly will they be fighting this season? B-613 has withstood every attempt to destroy it. Rowan is right back where he was before. Fitz doesn't have to win another election, ever. Mellie is officially done meddling. Cyrus is rocking a new haircut and enjoying bossing Abby around. Rowan has made it clear that investigating Harrison's death is just going to lead to dead ends. So, what are we doing?
Apparently, we're going to watch Jake and and a wonderfully curly Olivia have a lot more sex this season. Starting with beach sex, which it turns out Jake is really super good at. Poor Jake, though, as the supply plane brings only gourmet food, rare and exquisite red wine, but no beer. That's the deal- you get a beach on an uncharted island off Zanzibar, but no beer. Hey, at least it's not Gilligan's Island. But hey, they get mail! Addressed to Olivia's island alias, not her. So, someone's been doing some digging. And clipping. Specifically, clipping a newspaper story on the death of one Harrison Wright. Jake can't get her not to open the letter, and realizes the honeymoon is totally over, despite what Olivia tells him in the car when they arrive back at Dulles in D.C. But we know better. Her hair is now stick straight.
Her first stop is the office, or what's left of it. Did she expect it to still be running with its star gone? Because, she looks crestfallen when she sees sheet-covered furniture, and a deserted conference room. OPA's one remaining employee appears behind Olivia. Quinn, despite threatening to kill Olivia the last time they met, can't resist describing Olivia's trackable weakness- the best red wines. She's even saved receipts! And she's kept track of Huck.
Or, we should say, Randy. Randy has no customer service skills, which is unfortunate, as he works a support desk for some digital repair service. Turns out to be a plus for the customers, though, that he will dish on whatever info he's gleaned from other people's devices. Sometimes, it's your IT guy who has to tell you the wife is cheating. Quinn stands back while Olivia tries to chitchat with Huck, who simply refuses to engage.
On the other hand, engaging is now President Fitzgerald Grant Jr.'s middle name. He's spent the last months firing his entire cabinet, and working with Democrats on an equal pay law, which I'm assuming means there's no Ledbetter Law in Scandal-world. Juxtaposed with media images that make it clear the public can't really comprehend what's going on in the White House these days, is Abby giving rapid-fire answers to questions, standing at the White House Spokesperson's podium. That's right, Abby is now working directly for her old boss's married ex-lover. It's all the better considering that Cyrus considers her so much less than Olivia to the point where her name is just "Red" behind the cameras. Cyrus, all bouffed up, Fitz, and Abby are discussing strategy on the equal pay law, with Abby actually urging caution in pissing off Grant's Republican voters and colleagues.
Grant is determined, though, to make something of his second term that is for others, and not himself. Or rather, be the President Olivia wanted him to be. Grant is also awful determined to ignore Mellie's state, or let anyone else remark on it. With no re-election... ever, Mellie is officially done. She's just proud of herself for wearing clean underpants, and disappears when she realizes the Oval Office has no booze. Fitz, when she's gone, points out that she's washing her hair, and he's picking his battles. And hey, the White House bowling alley will finally get used.
Cyrus, happy that Mellie is just not involving herself in politics, and that Olivia isn't around to make Fitz forget his job, enjoys the grilling he gets from the RNC Chairwoman, somebody who's name I don't get, so I'll just use Cy's nickname for her: Lizzy Bear. She's clearly the replacement for VP Sally Langston, now out of a job and presumably back under the Southern rock she crawled out from. Lizzy Bear is angry and bitchy about everything Fitz has done. And not done. Cyrus simply waltzes her out of his office. Fitz never has to win an election again. Cy doesn't say it, but his confidence and happiness make it clear that's literally what he's thinking every minute of every day. The next 4 years are a victory lap, and he's not going to let anyone de-rail it.
Olivia isn't as smooth with Abby, when Quinn orchestrates their reunion. Abby is impatient and hostile from the moment she approaches while texting someone else. Abby already knows Harrison is dead, and expresses no interest in coming to the funeral. Of the gladiators, she's the only one who's landed a better job. And she has definitely moved on, and resents Olivia's attempt to draw her back to her old friends. She and Olivia blow up at each other over who was responsible for Harrison's death, and who's betrayed who. Olivia decides to cut her first mate loose, telling her to come or not to the funeral. Olivia tells Abby there's no forgiveness for her.
I get Abby's resentment. Abby never betrayed Olivia, not even unwittingly. If she didn't succeed on the day when she substituted for Olivia in Season 3, she's always been able to think quick when there wasn't a spotlight on her. Unlike Huck, who tortured Quinn, who killed a witness and joined B-613, or Harrison, who let Adnan Salif steal data, or David, who outright raided her safe, Abby was literally Red Faithful. And yet, it's Abby Olivia refuses to forgive. For what? Not keeping Olivia Pope and Associates going without Olivia Pope? Did Abby owe that to Olivia? Abby sure doesn't think so.
While Olivia and Abby duke it out in high-priced designer winter coats, Jake takes the chance to catch up with David Rosen, a.k.a. The Guy Who's Done Nothing With All Those Files. Which David points out is not true. Classifying the files by how deeply scary and evil the information is and then hiding the files away so he can sleep at night could count as doing something, I guess. Jake says either get to work or give the files back.
Olivia, spending dinner without Jake, decides to visit her and her father's favorite tense dinner spot on the off chance that he monitors the airports for her arrival, books dinner at their usual spot, shows up for dinner, and orders her a good red. Hey, sometimes having a super spy dad comes in handy. Especially when your mom is a terrorist for hire who makes your personal and professional life hell. Or rather, made. Rowan denies having anything to do with Harrison's death. Twice, and definitively, but it's not enough for Olivia to believe him. He is then a little vague about Maya Pope's fate, telling Olivia only that she's handled, and Olivia guesses her mom is dead. Which is also not true. Even though Olivia doesn't really want to know her mother's eventual fate, we all know she'll have to learn through some future plot point eventually. Maybe Olivia knows that, too. Olivia concedes to her dad that whatever he did to Maya was the right thing. And Rowan offers his daughter some sympathy over losing Harrison. They won't compare losses. You lose people. Whatever.
Rowan isn't the only one who gets flight info from D.C. airports. Abby sees Cyrus in his office, only to get her second scolding. This time for not alerting Cy that Olivia was back in town. Cyrus sees this only as a bad thing. Olivia makes Mellie uncooperative and nosy. Olivia distracts Fitz. Olivia is bad for Cyrus' victory lap. When Cyrus tries to warn Fitz to stay away from her, he reminds Fitz that we all know how any future affairs with her will go. Just like all the other affairs. Badly. Fitz has Cy figure out if Olivia is staying long enough that Fitz will have to tell Mellie she's back. Because he'd rather avoid that conversation. Mellie might stop washing her hair.
Jake, despite not wanting to come back, is not wasting an opportunity to have all the good, old-fashioned junk food and beer a man with his body really doesn't consume. When Olivia doesn't seem as interested in comfort food, they try to pick out Harrison's casket together, and successfully ignore the phone. The door bell isn't so easy, though, and Olivia realizes that all of D.C. must know she's returned, because at the door is a very pretty, young, female aide to Vaughn, Democratic Senator trying to help Fitz get the equal pay law passed. And, oh yay, Vaughn has a mess for Olivia to clean up.
Senator Vaughn's attempt to talk to fellow Senator Sterling didn't go as planned. Sterling, it seems, thinks feminists are for screwing, and when Vaughn fought him off, she accidentally sent him toppling from the balcony into the foyer below, where he made a bloody mess. Olivia is the first to realize he's alive, and calls 911 so at least Vaughn won't be looking at a manslaughter charge. Her next call is to Clark, a lawyer buddy who wishes Sterling would just die so there's only one story as he reluctantly takes the case and tells Olivia she has no business being anywhere boring. Olivia mentions that an island off the coast of Zanzibar is less lonely than D.C., where she's surrounded by people she doesn't trust or who won't speak to her.
David's evening is spent delving through the files he keeps in a storage facility. Or, at least will, until Rowan figures out they exist. We get to see his super duper color-coding system until David gets a phone call, bringing him to Cyrus' office. How would David Rosen, disgraced attorney when he found out about Cy's vote rigging, like to be Fitz's Attorney General? David can't believe he's actually being pulled deeper into the lion's den.
Speaking of people who won't speak to Olivia, she manages to get an appointment to see busy, important tech guy Randy. With a phone she breaks herself so she can get some of Huck's famous customer service, she tries to convince Huck to come to the funeral and at the same time tries to see if he's reconnected with his family. Randy shuts her down. Randy has his job, and his video games, and he's going to be satisfied with them. But don't get his hopes up for anything else. Hoping is bad for Randy, he tells Olivia. Olivia shakes as Huck tells her unless she's back for good, she should have nothing to do with him. Zanzibar is lookin' good right now. Even I'm hopeful she'll bury Harrison and fly away. I can tell she wants to.
Mellie is having another good day, and that bathrobe is awesome. Fitz is patient as Mellie lovingly places flowers on her oldest son's gravestone, lays down on the grass over the grave, and slowly caresses her son's final resting place. Mellie has found her truth.
Jake and Olivia are also having an awkward moment. Olivia brings work into bed, fuming that Sterling, a probable rapist, will be lionized while the woman he tried to rape has to hide in the shadows. Jake's attempts at keeping things simple fail, and he eventually complains that every second they spend in D.C., she slips away from him, and closer to Fitz's world. And it wasn't Fitz that ran away with her. It was Fitz she ran away from. Jake, for a change, decides sexy time is over.
Clark, the lawyer, grills Vaughn and is disgustedly unsatisfied with her vague and conflicting answers. Olivia smells a liar, and when Clark has vacated the room, unloads on Vaughn. She's angry because she's willing to go to the mattresses for a woman who's been raped, but it turns out that's not what happened. Olivia retreats to the reception area, with Vaughn's assistant Kate, dark-haired, pale and pretty at the reception desk. Olivia gets on the phone with Quinn, trying to figure out just how Vaughn could possibly come out of this without attempted murder charges. It's Quinn, peering up at their wall of pictures and information, who tells Olivia that Sterling has a type- or at least, his female aides do - young, dark-haired, and pale. Like Vaughn's aide, Kate, sitting right in front of Olivia. No wonder Kate couldn't be dissuaded from getting Olivia on board. It was Kate's ass on the line.
David and Abby discuss Cy's offer. Abby says the secret of the files is safe with her, even though she also resents David's files, blaming his obsession with them for ruining their relationship, which I guess is over. Abby then gives the ex-girlfriend version of a pep talk, reminding David that he's a ridiculously good lawyer who vigorously enforces the law (well, she tells him she'll say that to anyone who asks), even if she hates him because of those stupid files. Maybe as AG, he could actually use them. Abby pretty much tells him to do so, instructing him imperiously to get some power and use it.
Olivia sits down for truth and tea with Vaughn, who confesses that she knew about Sterling's tastes. The fact that she just happened to have an assistant who fit the type could not be wasted- she sent Kate to work on Sterling's vote. When Kate finds out that it wasn't an accident that she was in the home of her attempted rapist, she's livid and unloads on Vaughn, who deserves every bit of Kate's anger. For a woman working for equal pay for equal work, Vaughn doesn't have much loyalty to the actual women she knows.
It's funeral time. And Olivia, arriving with Jake, has done a great job. It's sunny, the grass is green (isn't it still winter?), and one by one, OPA shows up. First Quinn, then a silent Abby, then Huck, stand together to say bye now. Jake stands back, willing to let OPA have their grief together and to themselves. Olivia reveals that no one else will be coming, as Harrison had no family and grew up an orphan. Rose petals are dropped. Tears are stifled and wiped. Aretha Franklin covers Bridge Over Troubled Water. One by one, OPA leaves, so only Jake and Olivia are left. And he doesn't stay apart from her for long. Jake's only distraction from consoling Olivia is the sight of a man in a black car, watching the funeral from afar. So even Rowan attended. Jake realizes that if Olivia stays, someone's going to have to stick like glue to her.
Mellie is enjoying the sunshine at the White House, a little to close to the balcony edge for Fitz, who coaxes her back to one of the lounge chairs. Mellie reminds Fitz that he was the one who had the "accident", an accident Fitz wants to talk about even less than he wants to talk about Olivia. Mellie will add it to the list of things they've just decided aren't worth discussing. Which is when Fitz tells her: Olivia is back in town. Mellie looks unconcerned, and asks only that Fitz tell her when he's seen her again. Fitz bristles at having to report to her, but Mellie has decided that keeping tabs on Fitz herself would cut into her cereal-eating-from-the-box time. She needs to devote so much time to boozing and cereal that she can't even wax her pubic hair anymore. And I think the season has already had its best Mellie line: "It's 1976 down there." So... Fitz can just tell Mellie himself when he's seen her.
Although, why Mellie even wants to know is beyond me. Her behavior in this episode, after we left them with Fitz being the one who collapsed, indicates that she doesn't care. About Fitz's career. About her image. About any potential political career for herself when Fitz is done. She does it to protect herself from caring; caring brings you pain. So, what pain would another affair bring her? I think the deal between them is now: you keep me posted, and I'll wash my hair and wear clean underwear.
Back at Olivia's apartment, Jake has called the car to whisk them back to the airport. But Olivia is giving the camera her I-can't-leave-well-enough-alone look. Jake knows what's coming. Olivia reminds Jake that Harrison, in order to rally them, used to ask, are we gladiators, or are we bitches? The question was apt- OPA is a collection of misfits and castoffs, who Olivia found and gave a purpose in life. Working at OPA- sometimes for good people, sometimes for awful people, gave the gladiators victory after victory, for people who'd been losing too much before.
Lizzy Bear, with the weird Paris-Hilton type blonde hair is pissy when David Rosen, who's a Democrat, is nominated as the Attorney General. That woman is one unfortunate tattoo away from being a comic book villain. I hope she'll bring the deliciously self-righteous evil Sally provided.
Back at Gladiator HQ, Olivia and Quinn, together, are at work. And Hope walks in, in the form of Huck. Who, true to Randy's word, has fixed her broken phone in three days max. The implication is clear, both between the characters and the show and audience. Olivia is back for good. She can't leave again. Zanzibar, like Vermont, won't happen.
Senator Sterling, still presumably unconscious in the hospital, is going to find things a little different when he wakes up. Olivia may have been repulsed by Senator Vaughn, but she'll go to the mattresses for Kate, and she succeeds brilliantly, casting the whole thing as a trial by fire for Kate, and a victory for feminism. Oh, and the best way for everybody to show their support for Kate? Why, support equal pay, of course! Will "We know our worth" become a new feminist slogan in real life? Just making the suggestion.
Olivia, confident that she's back and her mojo is still unbeatable, strides through the capital next to Senator Vaughn, who's going to stride right into the Senate Chamber and get us all equal pay. It's crowded in the main rotunda, but one face sticks out: good ol' Tom, member of Fitz's personal Secret Service team. Unbeknownst to Olivia or Fitz, he's also Jerry Jr.'s killer. But his presence means one important thing, right here and now: Fitz is here. And there he is, striding himself, as he rides the wave of legislative victory Olivia made for him. Their eyes don't meet. Their hands, despite a stray flicker of fingers, don't meet. But, I think we all know that's not going to last.
So, why are we doing this? Why are we watching the characters un-resolve all their plotlines? Or were the plotlines not so much resolved, but avoided, so the characters could try to have lives? And what exactly will they be fighting this season? B-613 has withstood every attempt to destroy it. Rowan is right back where he was before. Fitz doesn't have to win another election, ever. Mellie is officially done meddling. Cyrus is rocking a new haircut and enjoying bossing Abby around. Rowan has made it clear that investigating Harrison's death is just going to lead to dead ends. So, what are we doing?
Apparently, we're going to watch Jake and and a wonderfully curly Olivia have a lot more sex this season. Starting with beach sex, which it turns out Jake is really super good at. Poor Jake, though, as the supply plane brings only gourmet food, rare and exquisite red wine, but no beer. That's the deal- you get a beach on an uncharted island off Zanzibar, but no beer. Hey, at least it's not Gilligan's Island. But hey, they get mail! Addressed to Olivia's island alias, not her. So, someone's been doing some digging. And clipping. Specifically, clipping a newspaper story on the death of one Harrison Wright. Jake can't get her not to open the letter, and realizes the honeymoon is totally over, despite what Olivia tells him in the car when they arrive back at Dulles in D.C. But we know better. Her hair is now stick straight.
Her first stop is the office, or what's left of it. Did she expect it to still be running with its star gone? Because, she looks crestfallen when she sees sheet-covered furniture, and a deserted conference room. OPA's one remaining employee appears behind Olivia. Quinn, despite threatening to kill Olivia the last time they met, can't resist describing Olivia's trackable weakness- the best red wines. She's even saved receipts! And she's kept track of Huck.
Or, we should say, Randy. Randy has no customer service skills, which is unfortunate, as he works a support desk for some digital repair service. Turns out to be a plus for the customers, though, that he will dish on whatever info he's gleaned from other people's devices. Sometimes, it's your IT guy who has to tell you the wife is cheating. Quinn stands back while Olivia tries to chitchat with Huck, who simply refuses to engage.
On the other hand, engaging is now President Fitzgerald Grant Jr.'s middle name. He's spent the last months firing his entire cabinet, and working with Democrats on an equal pay law, which I'm assuming means there's no Ledbetter Law in Scandal-world. Juxtaposed with media images that make it clear the public can't really comprehend what's going on in the White House these days, is Abby giving rapid-fire answers to questions, standing at the White House Spokesperson's podium. That's right, Abby is now working directly for her old boss's married ex-lover. It's all the better considering that Cyrus considers her so much less than Olivia to the point where her name is just "Red" behind the cameras. Cyrus, all bouffed up, Fitz, and Abby are discussing strategy on the equal pay law, with Abby actually urging caution in pissing off Grant's Republican voters and colleagues.
Grant is determined, though, to make something of his second term that is for others, and not himself. Or rather, be the President Olivia wanted him to be. Grant is also awful determined to ignore Mellie's state, or let anyone else remark on it. With no re-election... ever, Mellie is officially done. She's just proud of herself for wearing clean underpants, and disappears when she realizes the Oval Office has no booze. Fitz, when she's gone, points out that she's washing her hair, and he's picking his battles. And hey, the White House bowling alley will finally get used.
Cyrus, happy that Mellie is just not involving herself in politics, and that Olivia isn't around to make Fitz forget his job, enjoys the grilling he gets from the RNC Chairwoman, somebody who's name I don't get, so I'll just use Cy's nickname for her: Lizzy Bear. She's clearly the replacement for VP Sally Langston, now out of a job and presumably back under the Southern rock she crawled out from. Lizzy Bear is angry and bitchy about everything Fitz has done. And not done. Cyrus simply waltzes her out of his office. Fitz never has to win an election again. Cy doesn't say it, but his confidence and happiness make it clear that's literally what he's thinking every minute of every day. The next 4 years are a victory lap, and he's not going to let anyone de-rail it.
Olivia isn't as smooth with Abby, when Quinn orchestrates their reunion. Abby is impatient and hostile from the moment she approaches while texting someone else. Abby already knows Harrison is dead, and expresses no interest in coming to the funeral. Of the gladiators, she's the only one who's landed a better job. And she has definitely moved on, and resents Olivia's attempt to draw her back to her old friends. She and Olivia blow up at each other over who was responsible for Harrison's death, and who's betrayed who. Olivia decides to cut her first mate loose, telling her to come or not to the funeral. Olivia tells Abby there's no forgiveness for her.
I get Abby's resentment. Abby never betrayed Olivia, not even unwittingly. If she didn't succeed on the day when she substituted for Olivia in Season 3, she's always been able to think quick when there wasn't a spotlight on her. Unlike Huck, who tortured Quinn, who killed a witness and joined B-613, or Harrison, who let Adnan Salif steal data, or David, who outright raided her safe, Abby was literally Red Faithful. And yet, it's Abby Olivia refuses to forgive. For what? Not keeping Olivia Pope and Associates going without Olivia Pope? Did Abby owe that to Olivia? Abby sure doesn't think so.
While Olivia and Abby duke it out in high-priced designer winter coats, Jake takes the chance to catch up with David Rosen, a.k.a. The Guy Who's Done Nothing With All Those Files. Which David points out is not true. Classifying the files by how deeply scary and evil the information is and then hiding the files away so he can sleep at night could count as doing something, I guess. Jake says either get to work or give the files back.
Olivia, spending dinner without Jake, decides to visit her and her father's favorite tense dinner spot on the off chance that he monitors the airports for her arrival, books dinner at their usual spot, shows up for dinner, and orders her a good red. Hey, sometimes having a super spy dad comes in handy. Especially when your mom is a terrorist for hire who makes your personal and professional life hell. Or rather, made. Rowan denies having anything to do with Harrison's death. Twice, and definitively, but it's not enough for Olivia to believe him. He is then a little vague about Maya Pope's fate, telling Olivia only that she's handled, and Olivia guesses her mom is dead. Which is also not true. Even though Olivia doesn't really want to know her mother's eventual fate, we all know she'll have to learn through some future plot point eventually. Maybe Olivia knows that, too. Olivia concedes to her dad that whatever he did to Maya was the right thing. And Rowan offers his daughter some sympathy over losing Harrison. They won't compare losses. You lose people. Whatever.
Rowan isn't the only one who gets flight info from D.C. airports. Abby sees Cyrus in his office, only to get her second scolding. This time for not alerting Cy that Olivia was back in town. Cyrus sees this only as a bad thing. Olivia makes Mellie uncooperative and nosy. Olivia distracts Fitz. Olivia is bad for Cyrus' victory lap. When Cyrus tries to warn Fitz to stay away from her, he reminds Fitz that we all know how any future affairs with her will go. Just like all the other affairs. Badly. Fitz has Cy figure out if Olivia is staying long enough that Fitz will have to tell Mellie she's back. Because he'd rather avoid that conversation. Mellie might stop washing her hair.
Jake, despite not wanting to come back, is not wasting an opportunity to have all the good, old-fashioned junk food and beer a man with his body really doesn't consume. When Olivia doesn't seem as interested in comfort food, they try to pick out Harrison's casket together, and successfully ignore the phone. The door bell isn't so easy, though, and Olivia realizes that all of D.C. must know she's returned, because at the door is a very pretty, young, female aide to Vaughn, Democratic Senator trying to help Fitz get the equal pay law passed. And, oh yay, Vaughn has a mess for Olivia to clean up.
Senator Vaughn's attempt to talk to fellow Senator Sterling didn't go as planned. Sterling, it seems, thinks feminists are for screwing, and when Vaughn fought him off, she accidentally sent him toppling from the balcony into the foyer below, where he made a bloody mess. Olivia is the first to realize he's alive, and calls 911 so at least Vaughn won't be looking at a manslaughter charge. Her next call is to Clark, a lawyer buddy who wishes Sterling would just die so there's only one story as he reluctantly takes the case and tells Olivia she has no business being anywhere boring. Olivia mentions that an island off the coast of Zanzibar is less lonely than D.C., where she's surrounded by people she doesn't trust or who won't speak to her.
David's evening is spent delving through the files he keeps in a storage facility. Or, at least will, until Rowan figures out they exist. We get to see his super duper color-coding system until David gets a phone call, bringing him to Cyrus' office. How would David Rosen, disgraced attorney when he found out about Cy's vote rigging, like to be Fitz's Attorney General? David can't believe he's actually being pulled deeper into the lion's den.
Speaking of people who won't speak to Olivia, she manages to get an appointment to see busy, important tech guy Randy. With a phone she breaks herself so she can get some of Huck's famous customer service, she tries to convince Huck to come to the funeral and at the same time tries to see if he's reconnected with his family. Randy shuts her down. Randy has his job, and his video games, and he's going to be satisfied with them. But don't get his hopes up for anything else. Hoping is bad for Randy, he tells Olivia. Olivia shakes as Huck tells her unless she's back for good, she should have nothing to do with him. Zanzibar is lookin' good right now. Even I'm hopeful she'll bury Harrison and fly away. I can tell she wants to.
Mellie is having another good day, and that bathrobe is awesome. Fitz is patient as Mellie lovingly places flowers on her oldest son's gravestone, lays down on the grass over the grave, and slowly caresses her son's final resting place. Mellie has found her truth.
Jake and Olivia are also having an awkward moment. Olivia brings work into bed, fuming that Sterling, a probable rapist, will be lionized while the woman he tried to rape has to hide in the shadows. Jake's attempts at keeping things simple fail, and he eventually complains that every second they spend in D.C., she slips away from him, and closer to Fitz's world. And it wasn't Fitz that ran away with her. It was Fitz she ran away from. Jake, for a change, decides sexy time is over.
Clark, the lawyer, grills Vaughn and is disgustedly unsatisfied with her vague and conflicting answers. Olivia smells a liar, and when Clark has vacated the room, unloads on Vaughn. She's angry because she's willing to go to the mattresses for a woman who's been raped, but it turns out that's not what happened. Olivia retreats to the reception area, with Vaughn's assistant Kate, dark-haired, pale and pretty at the reception desk. Olivia gets on the phone with Quinn, trying to figure out just how Vaughn could possibly come out of this without attempted murder charges. It's Quinn, peering up at their wall of pictures and information, who tells Olivia that Sterling has a type- or at least, his female aides do - young, dark-haired, and pale. Like Vaughn's aide, Kate, sitting right in front of Olivia. No wonder Kate couldn't be dissuaded from getting Olivia on board. It was Kate's ass on the line.
David and Abby discuss Cy's offer. Abby says the secret of the files is safe with her, even though she also resents David's files, blaming his obsession with them for ruining their relationship, which I guess is over. Abby then gives the ex-girlfriend version of a pep talk, reminding David that he's a ridiculously good lawyer who vigorously enforces the law (well, she tells him she'll say that to anyone who asks), even if she hates him because of those stupid files. Maybe as AG, he could actually use them. Abby pretty much tells him to do so, instructing him imperiously to get some power and use it.
Olivia sits down for truth and tea with Vaughn, who confesses that she knew about Sterling's tastes. The fact that she just happened to have an assistant who fit the type could not be wasted- she sent Kate to work on Sterling's vote. When Kate finds out that it wasn't an accident that she was in the home of her attempted rapist, she's livid and unloads on Vaughn, who deserves every bit of Kate's anger. For a woman working for equal pay for equal work, Vaughn doesn't have much loyalty to the actual women she knows.
It's funeral time. And Olivia, arriving with Jake, has done a great job. It's sunny, the grass is green (isn't it still winter?), and one by one, OPA shows up. First Quinn, then a silent Abby, then Huck, stand together to say bye now. Jake stands back, willing to let OPA have their grief together and to themselves. Olivia reveals that no one else will be coming, as Harrison had no family and grew up an orphan. Rose petals are dropped. Tears are stifled and wiped. Aretha Franklin covers Bridge Over Troubled Water. One by one, OPA leaves, so only Jake and Olivia are left. And he doesn't stay apart from her for long. Jake's only distraction from consoling Olivia is the sight of a man in a black car, watching the funeral from afar. So even Rowan attended. Jake realizes that if Olivia stays, someone's going to have to stick like glue to her.
Mellie is enjoying the sunshine at the White House, a little to close to the balcony edge for Fitz, who coaxes her back to one of the lounge chairs. Mellie reminds Fitz that he was the one who had the "accident", an accident Fitz wants to talk about even less than he wants to talk about Olivia. Mellie will add it to the list of things they've just decided aren't worth discussing. Which is when Fitz tells her: Olivia is back in town. Mellie looks unconcerned, and asks only that Fitz tell her when he's seen her again. Fitz bristles at having to report to her, but Mellie has decided that keeping tabs on Fitz herself would cut into her cereal-eating-from-the-box time. She needs to devote so much time to boozing and cereal that she can't even wax her pubic hair anymore. And I think the season has already had its best Mellie line: "It's 1976 down there." So... Fitz can just tell Mellie himself when he's seen her.
Although, why Mellie even wants to know is beyond me. Her behavior in this episode, after we left them with Fitz being the one who collapsed, indicates that she doesn't care. About Fitz's career. About her image. About any potential political career for herself when Fitz is done. She does it to protect herself from caring; caring brings you pain. So, what pain would another affair bring her? I think the deal between them is now: you keep me posted, and I'll wash my hair and wear clean underwear.
Back at Olivia's apartment, Jake has called the car to whisk them back to the airport. But Olivia is giving the camera her I-can't-leave-well-enough-alone look. Jake knows what's coming. Olivia reminds Jake that Harrison, in order to rally them, used to ask, are we gladiators, or are we bitches? The question was apt- OPA is a collection of misfits and castoffs, who Olivia found and gave a purpose in life. Working at OPA- sometimes for good people, sometimes for awful people, gave the gladiators victory after victory, for people who'd been losing too much before.
Lizzy Bear, with the weird Paris-Hilton type blonde hair is pissy when David Rosen, who's a Democrat, is nominated as the Attorney General. That woman is one unfortunate tattoo away from being a comic book villain. I hope she'll bring the deliciously self-righteous evil Sally provided.
Back at Gladiator HQ, Olivia and Quinn, together, are at work. And Hope walks in, in the form of Huck. Who, true to Randy's word, has fixed her broken phone in three days max. The implication is clear, both between the characters and the show and audience. Olivia is back for good. She can't leave again. Zanzibar, like Vermont, won't happen.
Senator Sterling, still presumably unconscious in the hospital, is going to find things a little different when he wakes up. Olivia may have been repulsed by Senator Vaughn, but she'll go to the mattresses for Kate, and she succeeds brilliantly, casting the whole thing as a trial by fire for Kate, and a victory for feminism. Oh, and the best way for everybody to show their support for Kate? Why, support equal pay, of course! Will "We know our worth" become a new feminist slogan in real life? Just making the suggestion.
Olivia, confident that she's back and her mojo is still unbeatable, strides through the capital next to Senator Vaughn, who's going to stride right into the Senate Chamber and get us all equal pay. It's crowded in the main rotunda, but one face sticks out: good ol' Tom, member of Fitz's personal Secret Service team. Unbeknownst to Olivia or Fitz, he's also Jerry Jr.'s killer. But his presence means one important thing, right here and now: Fitz is here. And there he is, striding himself, as he rides the wave of legislative victory Olivia made for him. Their eyes don't meet. Their hands, despite a stray flicker of fingers, don't meet. But, I think we all know that's not going to last.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
You Belong To The City - Gotham - Season 1, Episode 1
This is probably not going to be a deep, thought-provoking show of cathartic emotions. Just sayin'. But it is going to be a juicy delving into the interconnected back stories of Gotham's most famous characters. It's a show so full of Gotham in its totality of messed-up-ness, that Bruce Wayne is actually a supporting character, not the focus of the show. And I plan to love that.
We start with a tweenie. She's skinny, in skin-tight black, with goggles that she wears on her forehead. As if, any minute, she'll need them. Even though you won't actually see her use them for the whole episode. But they're there, a symbol of the crazy life she leads slipping through the city, cutting grocery bags and taking milk, picking pockets and jumping to fire escapes. She eventually clambers down to earth, using the milk to feed Gotham's stray cats. But someone's coming.
She jumps up to hide among the fire escapes as a wealthy couple and their well-dressed pre-teen son amble down a dark alley at night in a crime-ridden city. Dad is completely unconcerned, complaining about the movie they've just seen, and little Bruce has to agree with him, despite how much his mother liked it. This charming scene is cut short by a man with a gun, his face entirely masked except for two blue eyes. He quickly demands their money, and Dad is totally compliant. When the gunman wants Mom's pearls, the hand-off is bungled. One strand is broken, and the gunman has had enough. He shoots Dad right away, then Mom. Bruce, who has been scared the entire time, can't even register their deaths because the gun is pointed at his own face. For a second, you wonder if this will be about Gotham without Bruce Wayne. But then the gunman lowers his weapon and leaves.
Bruce spends a few moments trying to revive his parents. When reality sinks in, all he can do is scream. And all the girl who's been watching the whole thing from the fire escape can do is watch.
Gotham P.D. already has their hands full tonight. It's a precinct where the holding cells are literally in the same open space as the detective's desks, which is a two-story space perfect for a hostage situation that turns into a stand-off. Until, that is, a dashing, clean-cut, youngish detective appears at the top of the mezzanine stairs. He's unruffled, and just wants to help the prisoner get what he wants. Until, that is, it turns out he's been bluffing the guy. Our unnamed hero goes in for a knockout once the perp realizes he's been had, and the whole precinct is impressed. Well, almost the whole precinct. His partner, a more senior detective, tells Jim Gordon that he's made a rookie mistake by trying to take the guy alone. Harvey Bullock is partly blond, partly gray, stretching business casual as close to casual as he can get away with. His hair is long and not even parted. He's the perfect foil for Gordon. Bullock's lesson is interrupted by a call to actually get some detective work in before the end of their shift.
It turns out to be Bruce's parents, still laying in the alley, while Bruce has been wrapped in a blanket and stashed on some metal stairs off to the side. Bullocks realizes who the victims are right away, and immediately tries to get off the case; but Gordon has already sought out the only known eyewitness in an attempt to draw him out. In the precinct, he was all business with the hostage-taker. Here, he's all sympathetic and committed to helping Bruce. The kid is obviously impressed with this detective who is already promising to find his parent's killers. Impressed enough to tell Gordon that the killer had shiny shoes.
Their confab is interrupted by someone getting through the police lines to appear at the crime scene. Bruce instantly runs to him, to show us just how close he is to Alfred. Alfred introduces himself with his full name to Gordon, with an English accent that's less Queen's English and more rough neighborhood badass, and he doesn't identify himself as the family butler. As he whisks Bruce away, one can hear him coaching Bruce as they disappear into the light from the cameras and police cars, telling Bruce to not let anyone see him cry. It sounds horribly macho, but Alfred seems completely devoted to Bruce and his privacy from the get-go.
Bullocks is furious enough with Gordon to try to get rid of him. With the mayor ranting on television that these killers will be caught in an emotional outburst that seems genuine, Bullock's and Gordon's captain demands they find the killer quick, and that Bullock will be keeping Gordon. Bullock responds by trying to dress down Gordon, acting as if Gordon got where he is because he's a well-known veteran and his dad was a District Attorney. Gordon responds by finding fault with every aspect of Bullock's dress and hygiene, finally calling him lackadaisical. Bullock responds to this by immediately getting breakfast, and forcing Gordon to come with. No crime is more important than a good breakfast. While seated at the counter of whatever greasy spoon diner Bullock loads up on carbs and fat at, two other detectives stride into the diner.
They're full of confidence and bravado. Crispus Allen, he of a shaved head, and Renee Montoya, with a Brooklyn accent, try to convince Bullock to turn the case over to them. They're detectives in Major Crimes, where they investigate the local mob. It's high profile, high stress work and since Bullock didn't even want the case, shouldn't he just hand it over to them? Why keep the case? Bullocks is turned off by these two. So turned off by their assumption that he can't solve it, that he'll go and solve it. And show them.
Bullock decides they'll solve the crime his way, and leads Gordon on the full Gotham crime-solving experience. Which starts at a nameless club, the kind that will have stand-up comics and scantily-dressed dancers. It will also have an alleyway off the back exit, where the proprietress will be dressed to the nines, as if she'll be meeting the Kardashians later. She'll be questioning a hapless man about money while someone else beats him with a baseball bat. She'll have a lackey who holds her umbrella and better not let her hair get wet, because frizz would be bad for his kneecaps.
Her name is Fish Mooney, and she's the neighborhood crime boss out of her club. She knows what's happening in her neighborhood, which is the same neighborhood the Waynes were killed in. Mooney and Bullock are probably the best-developed characters in the episode. Mooney is the smoothest operator in the neighborhood, but she can turn on you without breaking a nail. She and Bullock are old buddies, exchanging pleasantries while Gordon visibly fumes at the sound of the beating taking place outside. Mooney and Bullock are highly amused by Gordon's sense of ethics. Mooney sends him outside and dares him to try to get the victim to report her. It's a show of her power, so Gordon will realize he shouldn't mess with her. By the time Gordon gets back inside, Bullock and Mooney have concluded whatever tete-a-tete they needed, and it's time to go.
Gordon goes home, which is a high-priced apartment he shares with his gorgeous, blonde, skinny fiancee, Barbara Kean. Barbara is the perfect girlfriend, willing to ditch dinner plans that probably took planning on a moment's notice, on Gordon's whim. He's a lucky man, and he looks like a guy who can't believe he got the pretty girl.
Gordon and Bullock start the next day talking to someone from ballistics. He's a conversationalist, full of good humor, or at least cute riddles. Bullocks has been cutting Edward Nygma's riddles short by barking demands for information for years. Gordon is more willing to play along, solving one of Edward's riddles and gaining a bit of respect from him. With his riddle answered, Edward reveals that the bullets recovered are ridiculously expensive, fired from a gun he can't identify. Which, for a big city police department, means some sort of custom gun that's not on the market. What kind of mugger has that kind of equipment? Gordon is immediately convinced that the Waynes weren't mugged, but targeted.
Bullocks will have none of it, insisting instead that they round up every mugger they can find in one day and tirelessly and ruthlessly interrogate each one. Gordon insists on standing off to the side during these interrogations, looking like he'll gladly step in and do worse than question if he's called upon. It gets them nothing. Gordon is looking dejected for a minute, when Bullocks announces a major tip- somebody seems to have tried to fence Mrs. Wayne's pearl necklace. An ex-felon named Mario Pepper.
Pepper lives in a decrepit walk-up, and an urchin with unruly red hair answers the door. Gordon, trying to sound nice, asks her her name. Why, she's named Ivy. How interesting. Gordon asks if they can talk to her dad. She warns them that they don't want to. Because he's kind of a big, violent jerk. Once around a kitchen table, Mrs. Pepper fidgets nervously by the stove, backing up Mario's alibi, her black eye indicating just why she's got to lie. Ivy stands silently by, just waiting for the violence to begin. Which it does, once Mario realizes they're fingering him for the Wayne murders. He escapes the apartment, dashing through a restaurant, and purloins a huge knife as he manages to get out to yet another alley. Has Gotham considered outlawing alleys?
Gordon is close behind, and as he follows Mario, who we know has a badass knife, he's cautious as he edges around the building, which saves his life. Gordon quickly loses his gun, but improvises with a trash can lid, and then good old fashioned fighting, and almost has the moves to bring Pepper down. But Pepper is bigger than he is, and Gordon's not that much faster. Gordon goes down and is about to get knifed in the head when Mario is shot dead. Gordon looks up to see Bullock standing at the entrance to the alley, gun in hand. His look says, case closed. Gordon thanks him for saving his life.
The cops quickly find Mrs. Wayne's pearls in the Pepper apartment, and Bullock and Gordon are massively relieved. The front page of the newspaper can't congratulate them enough. There's only one problem. Allen and Montoya, for some reason, find themselves in a car for a few minutes, and it's the perfect opportunity for somebody's umbrella holder to slip in and slip them some information. Like, that Bullocks and Gordon set Mario Pepper up, with help from Fish Mooney. Montoya and Allen are incredulous, but they know the lackey, named Oswald Cobblepot.
Oswald is classic future-psychopath material. He's horribly pale, with huge, inset eyes that look like he's imagining everyone he sees as a corpse. He seems mild-mannered, but that's because he considers his own form of violent pathology completely normal. He thinks Fish Mooney is on her way out; and if she goes down for framing Pepper, he has some idea that he'll step up. But for now, he just wants to share some potentially incriminating information on her. Oh, and don't call him Penguin, even though he looks like one. It makes him all pissy.
Gordon and Bullocks, now that they've solved the crime, decide to attend the Waynes' funeral, where Alfred is pretty much Bruce's constant companion. Gordon basically offers up the solved crime on a silver platter to Bruce for his comfort, wishing only that Bruce could have seen the guy tried. Bruce looks unconcerned about that, trudging off while Alfred thanks them for finding the killer. Totally unseen at a major funeral attended by all the hangers on of a wealthy Society couple is one little tweenie, clad in skin-tight black, with goggles on her forehead, ready for use and action. But she only sits on a ledge, watching Bruce leave.
Montoya decides to totally improperly share information from an investigation with a civilian. Who she just happened to have an affair with years ago, and is now engaged to a man. Montoya shows up at Jim and Barbara's apartment to warn her old friend and lover that she's got something on Jim, and that he's a crooked cop. Barbara self-righteously shows her out. But in the evening, when Jim is home and they're alone, she confronts him about it, asking point blank if he set Mario Pepper up. When Jim answers solidly no, he convinces Barbara to tell him who called him dirty.
Gordon is furious when he confronts Montoya, who stays relatively unruffled while Gordon demands to know where she heard he had anything to do with it. Gordon promises to get to the bottom of it himself, which Montoya acts like she's heard before. Just as Gordon reaches out to keep her from turning and leaving, Allen approaches. Allen's concerned about his partner, and slightly enjoys how angry being suspected of a frame-up job makes Gordon. Gordon angrily repeats his promise to really solve this crime before stalking away.
Gordon returns to Mario Pepper's apartment, where Pepper's widow declares that her husband wasn't a killer, because look how many times he could have killed her and didn't? Gordon doesn't know what to make of it, and little Ivy, still with seriously mussed red hair everywhere, is declaring cops to be fair game. So, Gordon asks Mrs. Pepper to show him Mario's shoes. All of them. Not a single one of them is shiny. Or even could be. Gordon realizes Mario wasn't his man, after all.
Barbara shows up at Gordon's precinct, and she has the good fortune to run into Bullock, who gives her a helpful look as he reassures her that Gordon is on a stakeout and his phone probably ran out of juice. He'll upgrade to something with a better battery once he's off duty.
Gordon, who is honest but not very clever, basically marches alone into Fish Mooney's lair, accusing her of masterminding the cover-up, and threatening to bring her down over it. Fish Mooney responds by cooing at Gordon while her men beat him up in her office. Gordon comes to while being dragged along the floor. In a slaughter-house. Exactly what butcher would allow this? Anyway, Gordon is already hanging from the ceiling, about to be killed, when Bullock shows up.
Sure, Bullock is a louse. But he's a cop. And other cops have his first loyalty. Especially junior partners who remind him of himself when he was younger. Getting the first mate to put him on with Fish, Bullock tries to talk her down. Fish was interviewing a new comedian, whose father was apparently a really bad passenger jet pilot. But she's happy to talk to Bullock, who threatens to take her down if she kills his partner. When Fish demands to know just how Gordon suspected her of framing Pepper, Bullock says it must be someone in her operation, because Bullock knows how to keep his mouth shut. Mooney gives Oswald, seated behind her and seeming attentive to her every need, a knowing look. How does she know?
After telling Bullock that he wins, she gets her first mate on the line and immediately demands that Bullock be killed too, for threatening her. First Mate is happy to comply. Mooney then hangs up. After asking the comedian, who is already regretting setting foot in the club, to wait just a little more. She then instructs Oswald to give her a foot rub, and he willingly settles down only to find that Mooney wants to nail him for squealing. She knows it was him, as he was the only crony to see her with the incriminating necklace, which turned out to be a fake anyway, since Mrs. Wayne's necklace is actually who knows where.
Oswald tries to pacify her with talk of being willing to slash a vein for her. But when she dares him to do it, he balks, as he only likes seeing other people's blood spilt, not his own. Mooney erupts, and while the comedian, who's seen the whole thing, continues to regret being there, Mooney viciously beats Oswald with some wooden stick she's acquired, pounding his legs especially.
Bullock and Gordon are now both suspended upside down, and First Mate calls out a blacksmith to deal with them. He's about to caress his butchering tools when the garage door opens, sunlight spilling into the slaughterhouse, and armed men taking out all but First Mate, Gordon and Bullock. Is it the cavalry?
No. It's Mooney's boss, Carmine Falcone, the dreaded main don of Gotham. He's composed as he frostily interrogates First Mate, who is just glad to be left alive to transmit Falcone's message to Mooney. No cops without permission, he tells First Mate. We don't need to ask whose permission. We know. Falcone is next in line this episode to inform Gordon that Gotham is horribly corrupt and Gordon needs to get with the program. He informs Gordon that only his longtime friendship with DA Gordon Sr. has saved Jim's life today. When Gordon tries to pin the Wayne murders on Falcone, Falcone admits that he actually doesn't know who killed the Waynes. But, someone needed to go down, and it was Pepper's turn. When Gordon threatens to go public, Falcone calmly reminds Gordon that he has no real evidence. He'd be getting himself killed with absolutely no results.
After schooling Gordon, Falcone has one last lesson to teach. Bullock and Gordon, now free, pull up at an abandoned dock. Gordon doesn't expect anything good to come of this stop, and he's right. Bullock walks him around to the trunk, which contains Oswald Cobblepot. Partially crippled by Mooney, he's desperate to survive today. As he pleads for his life, Bullock pleads with Gordon for Gordon's life. And Barbara's, which enrages Gordon. All Gordon has to do is kill Oswald, who is the weak link. Oswald went to the cops. Oswald knows Mooney had the necklace planted in Pepper's apartment. Oswald has to go. And Gordon has to prove that he's a team player by killing Oswald.
Barbara is the trump card, and Bullock isn't afraid to play it. Or rather, to tell Gordon that Falcone will play it. Bullock isn't necessarily evil. He doesn't get anything out of this. He's helping Gordon and Gordon's fiancee stay alive. Bullock figured out long ago that the game is rigged, and that he wasn't smart enough or tough enough to win against it. So, he's considered it his job to keep Gotham from falling apart, bring in whatever criminals the mob will let him have, and get home alive at the end of his shift. And he will spend the entire series convincing Jim Gordon that that's the best anyone can do.
Gordon, angry at himself for actually walking Oswald to the end of the dock, doesn't want to hear anything from Oswald. Oswald can only hobble, knees at awkward angles. Gordon has only one thing to tell Oswald, as he holds a gun to Oswald's head at the edge of the dock. His last words are to stay away from Gotham. Forever. Oswald realizes he'll live just as Gordon fires the gun right next to his ear and dumps him in the river. Oswald falls in with a silent splash, floundering in ice-cold water while still in shock from his beating. Oswald will surface somewhere downriver, knifing a lonely fisherman and eating his lunch greedily and messily. He's becoming the Penguin. Will he ever tolerate the name?
Gordon finally appears at home to a Barbara so relieved to see him, she doesn't mention how beat up he looks. Gordon probably tells her nothing, but after getting some shut eye, he proceeds to Wayne Manor, where he gets out of his car to find Bruce, standing on the edge of a roof railing, just hanging out at a great spot to fall to his death. Alfred appears at the front door, and Gordon doesn't even know what to ask, but somehow they talk Bruce into coming inside so Alfred can scold Bruce for being so reckless. Gordon, perhaps thinking that Bruce is suicidal, tries to coax an explanation from Bruce, who only tells Gordon that he's trying to conquer his fear.
Bruce is pretty calm, and Gordon doesn't know what to make of the kid, but he came here to give a speech, and he launches into a description of just how royally fucked up the case really is, and admits that neither he, or anyone else, currently knows who killed the Waynes. But he does vow to find out. It may take a season or two of episodes, but he will find out. Somehow. And it involves putting his badge on the coffee table for some reason. As if Bruce can hold on to a badge he needs for work until the mystery is solved. Which he does. We end, watching Gordon drive away. We're not the only ones. Bruce's only other co-eyewitness, still clad in skin-tight black, goggles still perched on her forehead, watches Gordon drive away too. She stares winsomely back at the mansion, maybe thinking about Gotham's newest orphan. Maybe she wants to tell him it's not so bad, being on your own.
We start with a tweenie. She's skinny, in skin-tight black, with goggles that she wears on her forehead. As if, any minute, she'll need them. Even though you won't actually see her use them for the whole episode. But they're there, a symbol of the crazy life she leads slipping through the city, cutting grocery bags and taking milk, picking pockets and jumping to fire escapes. She eventually clambers down to earth, using the milk to feed Gotham's stray cats. But someone's coming.
She jumps up to hide among the fire escapes as a wealthy couple and their well-dressed pre-teen son amble down a dark alley at night in a crime-ridden city. Dad is completely unconcerned, complaining about the movie they've just seen, and little Bruce has to agree with him, despite how much his mother liked it. This charming scene is cut short by a man with a gun, his face entirely masked except for two blue eyes. He quickly demands their money, and Dad is totally compliant. When the gunman wants Mom's pearls, the hand-off is bungled. One strand is broken, and the gunman has had enough. He shoots Dad right away, then Mom. Bruce, who has been scared the entire time, can't even register their deaths because the gun is pointed at his own face. For a second, you wonder if this will be about Gotham without Bruce Wayne. But then the gunman lowers his weapon and leaves.
Bruce spends a few moments trying to revive his parents. When reality sinks in, all he can do is scream. And all the girl who's been watching the whole thing from the fire escape can do is watch.
Gotham P.D. already has their hands full tonight. It's a precinct where the holding cells are literally in the same open space as the detective's desks, which is a two-story space perfect for a hostage situation that turns into a stand-off. Until, that is, a dashing, clean-cut, youngish detective appears at the top of the mezzanine stairs. He's unruffled, and just wants to help the prisoner get what he wants. Until, that is, it turns out he's been bluffing the guy. Our unnamed hero goes in for a knockout once the perp realizes he's been had, and the whole precinct is impressed. Well, almost the whole precinct. His partner, a more senior detective, tells Jim Gordon that he's made a rookie mistake by trying to take the guy alone. Harvey Bullock is partly blond, partly gray, stretching business casual as close to casual as he can get away with. His hair is long and not even parted. He's the perfect foil for Gordon. Bullock's lesson is interrupted by a call to actually get some detective work in before the end of their shift.
It turns out to be Bruce's parents, still laying in the alley, while Bruce has been wrapped in a blanket and stashed on some metal stairs off to the side. Bullocks realizes who the victims are right away, and immediately tries to get off the case; but Gordon has already sought out the only known eyewitness in an attempt to draw him out. In the precinct, he was all business with the hostage-taker. Here, he's all sympathetic and committed to helping Bruce. The kid is obviously impressed with this detective who is already promising to find his parent's killers. Impressed enough to tell Gordon that the killer had shiny shoes.
Their confab is interrupted by someone getting through the police lines to appear at the crime scene. Bruce instantly runs to him, to show us just how close he is to Alfred. Alfred introduces himself with his full name to Gordon, with an English accent that's less Queen's English and more rough neighborhood badass, and he doesn't identify himself as the family butler. As he whisks Bruce away, one can hear him coaching Bruce as they disappear into the light from the cameras and police cars, telling Bruce to not let anyone see him cry. It sounds horribly macho, but Alfred seems completely devoted to Bruce and his privacy from the get-go.
Bullocks is furious enough with Gordon to try to get rid of him. With the mayor ranting on television that these killers will be caught in an emotional outburst that seems genuine, Bullock's and Gordon's captain demands they find the killer quick, and that Bullock will be keeping Gordon. Bullock responds by trying to dress down Gordon, acting as if Gordon got where he is because he's a well-known veteran and his dad was a District Attorney. Gordon responds by finding fault with every aspect of Bullock's dress and hygiene, finally calling him lackadaisical. Bullock responds to this by immediately getting breakfast, and forcing Gordon to come with. No crime is more important than a good breakfast. While seated at the counter of whatever greasy spoon diner Bullock loads up on carbs and fat at, two other detectives stride into the diner.
They're full of confidence and bravado. Crispus Allen, he of a shaved head, and Renee Montoya, with a Brooklyn accent, try to convince Bullock to turn the case over to them. They're detectives in Major Crimes, where they investigate the local mob. It's high profile, high stress work and since Bullock didn't even want the case, shouldn't he just hand it over to them? Why keep the case? Bullocks is turned off by these two. So turned off by their assumption that he can't solve it, that he'll go and solve it. And show them.
Bullock decides they'll solve the crime his way, and leads Gordon on the full Gotham crime-solving experience. Which starts at a nameless club, the kind that will have stand-up comics and scantily-dressed dancers. It will also have an alleyway off the back exit, where the proprietress will be dressed to the nines, as if she'll be meeting the Kardashians later. She'll be questioning a hapless man about money while someone else beats him with a baseball bat. She'll have a lackey who holds her umbrella and better not let her hair get wet, because frizz would be bad for his kneecaps.
Her name is Fish Mooney, and she's the neighborhood crime boss out of her club. She knows what's happening in her neighborhood, which is the same neighborhood the Waynes were killed in. Mooney and Bullock are probably the best-developed characters in the episode. Mooney is the smoothest operator in the neighborhood, but she can turn on you without breaking a nail. She and Bullock are old buddies, exchanging pleasantries while Gordon visibly fumes at the sound of the beating taking place outside. Mooney and Bullock are highly amused by Gordon's sense of ethics. Mooney sends him outside and dares him to try to get the victim to report her. It's a show of her power, so Gordon will realize he shouldn't mess with her. By the time Gordon gets back inside, Bullock and Mooney have concluded whatever tete-a-tete they needed, and it's time to go.
Gordon goes home, which is a high-priced apartment he shares with his gorgeous, blonde, skinny fiancee, Barbara Kean. Barbara is the perfect girlfriend, willing to ditch dinner plans that probably took planning on a moment's notice, on Gordon's whim. He's a lucky man, and he looks like a guy who can't believe he got the pretty girl.
Gordon and Bullock start the next day talking to someone from ballistics. He's a conversationalist, full of good humor, or at least cute riddles. Bullocks has been cutting Edward Nygma's riddles short by barking demands for information for years. Gordon is more willing to play along, solving one of Edward's riddles and gaining a bit of respect from him. With his riddle answered, Edward reveals that the bullets recovered are ridiculously expensive, fired from a gun he can't identify. Which, for a big city police department, means some sort of custom gun that's not on the market. What kind of mugger has that kind of equipment? Gordon is immediately convinced that the Waynes weren't mugged, but targeted.
Bullocks will have none of it, insisting instead that they round up every mugger they can find in one day and tirelessly and ruthlessly interrogate each one. Gordon insists on standing off to the side during these interrogations, looking like he'll gladly step in and do worse than question if he's called upon. It gets them nothing. Gordon is looking dejected for a minute, when Bullocks announces a major tip- somebody seems to have tried to fence Mrs. Wayne's pearl necklace. An ex-felon named Mario Pepper.
Pepper lives in a decrepit walk-up, and an urchin with unruly red hair answers the door. Gordon, trying to sound nice, asks her her name. Why, she's named Ivy. How interesting. Gordon asks if they can talk to her dad. She warns them that they don't want to. Because he's kind of a big, violent jerk. Once around a kitchen table, Mrs. Pepper fidgets nervously by the stove, backing up Mario's alibi, her black eye indicating just why she's got to lie. Ivy stands silently by, just waiting for the violence to begin. Which it does, once Mario realizes they're fingering him for the Wayne murders. He escapes the apartment, dashing through a restaurant, and purloins a huge knife as he manages to get out to yet another alley. Has Gotham considered outlawing alleys?
Gordon is close behind, and as he follows Mario, who we know has a badass knife, he's cautious as he edges around the building, which saves his life. Gordon quickly loses his gun, but improvises with a trash can lid, and then good old fashioned fighting, and almost has the moves to bring Pepper down. But Pepper is bigger than he is, and Gordon's not that much faster. Gordon goes down and is about to get knifed in the head when Mario is shot dead. Gordon looks up to see Bullock standing at the entrance to the alley, gun in hand. His look says, case closed. Gordon thanks him for saving his life.
The cops quickly find Mrs. Wayne's pearls in the Pepper apartment, and Bullock and Gordon are massively relieved. The front page of the newspaper can't congratulate them enough. There's only one problem. Allen and Montoya, for some reason, find themselves in a car for a few minutes, and it's the perfect opportunity for somebody's umbrella holder to slip in and slip them some information. Like, that Bullocks and Gordon set Mario Pepper up, with help from Fish Mooney. Montoya and Allen are incredulous, but they know the lackey, named Oswald Cobblepot.
Oswald is classic future-psychopath material. He's horribly pale, with huge, inset eyes that look like he's imagining everyone he sees as a corpse. He seems mild-mannered, but that's because he considers his own form of violent pathology completely normal. He thinks Fish Mooney is on her way out; and if she goes down for framing Pepper, he has some idea that he'll step up. But for now, he just wants to share some potentially incriminating information on her. Oh, and don't call him Penguin, even though he looks like one. It makes him all pissy.
Gordon and Bullocks, now that they've solved the crime, decide to attend the Waynes' funeral, where Alfred is pretty much Bruce's constant companion. Gordon basically offers up the solved crime on a silver platter to Bruce for his comfort, wishing only that Bruce could have seen the guy tried. Bruce looks unconcerned about that, trudging off while Alfred thanks them for finding the killer. Totally unseen at a major funeral attended by all the hangers on of a wealthy Society couple is one little tweenie, clad in skin-tight black, with goggles on her forehead, ready for use and action. But she only sits on a ledge, watching Bruce leave.
Montoya decides to totally improperly share information from an investigation with a civilian. Who she just happened to have an affair with years ago, and is now engaged to a man. Montoya shows up at Jim and Barbara's apartment to warn her old friend and lover that she's got something on Jim, and that he's a crooked cop. Barbara self-righteously shows her out. But in the evening, when Jim is home and they're alone, she confronts him about it, asking point blank if he set Mario Pepper up. When Jim answers solidly no, he convinces Barbara to tell him who called him dirty.
Gordon is furious when he confronts Montoya, who stays relatively unruffled while Gordon demands to know where she heard he had anything to do with it. Gordon promises to get to the bottom of it himself, which Montoya acts like she's heard before. Just as Gordon reaches out to keep her from turning and leaving, Allen approaches. Allen's concerned about his partner, and slightly enjoys how angry being suspected of a frame-up job makes Gordon. Gordon angrily repeats his promise to really solve this crime before stalking away.
Gordon returns to Mario Pepper's apartment, where Pepper's widow declares that her husband wasn't a killer, because look how many times he could have killed her and didn't? Gordon doesn't know what to make of it, and little Ivy, still with seriously mussed red hair everywhere, is declaring cops to be fair game. So, Gordon asks Mrs. Pepper to show him Mario's shoes. All of them. Not a single one of them is shiny. Or even could be. Gordon realizes Mario wasn't his man, after all.
Barbara shows up at Gordon's precinct, and she has the good fortune to run into Bullock, who gives her a helpful look as he reassures her that Gordon is on a stakeout and his phone probably ran out of juice. He'll upgrade to something with a better battery once he's off duty.
Gordon, who is honest but not very clever, basically marches alone into Fish Mooney's lair, accusing her of masterminding the cover-up, and threatening to bring her down over it. Fish Mooney responds by cooing at Gordon while her men beat him up in her office. Gordon comes to while being dragged along the floor. In a slaughter-house. Exactly what butcher would allow this? Anyway, Gordon is already hanging from the ceiling, about to be killed, when Bullock shows up.
Sure, Bullock is a louse. But he's a cop. And other cops have his first loyalty. Especially junior partners who remind him of himself when he was younger. Getting the first mate to put him on with Fish, Bullock tries to talk her down. Fish was interviewing a new comedian, whose father was apparently a really bad passenger jet pilot. But she's happy to talk to Bullock, who threatens to take her down if she kills his partner. When Fish demands to know just how Gordon suspected her of framing Pepper, Bullock says it must be someone in her operation, because Bullock knows how to keep his mouth shut. Mooney gives Oswald, seated behind her and seeming attentive to her every need, a knowing look. How does she know?
After telling Bullock that he wins, she gets her first mate on the line and immediately demands that Bullock be killed too, for threatening her. First Mate is happy to comply. Mooney then hangs up. After asking the comedian, who is already regretting setting foot in the club, to wait just a little more. She then instructs Oswald to give her a foot rub, and he willingly settles down only to find that Mooney wants to nail him for squealing. She knows it was him, as he was the only crony to see her with the incriminating necklace, which turned out to be a fake anyway, since Mrs. Wayne's necklace is actually who knows where.
Oswald tries to pacify her with talk of being willing to slash a vein for her. But when she dares him to do it, he balks, as he only likes seeing other people's blood spilt, not his own. Mooney erupts, and while the comedian, who's seen the whole thing, continues to regret being there, Mooney viciously beats Oswald with some wooden stick she's acquired, pounding his legs especially.
Bullock and Gordon are now both suspended upside down, and First Mate calls out a blacksmith to deal with them. He's about to caress his butchering tools when the garage door opens, sunlight spilling into the slaughterhouse, and armed men taking out all but First Mate, Gordon and Bullock. Is it the cavalry?
No. It's Mooney's boss, Carmine Falcone, the dreaded main don of Gotham. He's composed as he frostily interrogates First Mate, who is just glad to be left alive to transmit Falcone's message to Mooney. No cops without permission, he tells First Mate. We don't need to ask whose permission. We know. Falcone is next in line this episode to inform Gordon that Gotham is horribly corrupt and Gordon needs to get with the program. He informs Gordon that only his longtime friendship with DA Gordon Sr. has saved Jim's life today. When Gordon tries to pin the Wayne murders on Falcone, Falcone admits that he actually doesn't know who killed the Waynes. But, someone needed to go down, and it was Pepper's turn. When Gordon threatens to go public, Falcone calmly reminds Gordon that he has no real evidence. He'd be getting himself killed with absolutely no results.
After schooling Gordon, Falcone has one last lesson to teach. Bullock and Gordon, now free, pull up at an abandoned dock. Gordon doesn't expect anything good to come of this stop, and he's right. Bullock walks him around to the trunk, which contains Oswald Cobblepot. Partially crippled by Mooney, he's desperate to survive today. As he pleads for his life, Bullock pleads with Gordon for Gordon's life. And Barbara's, which enrages Gordon. All Gordon has to do is kill Oswald, who is the weak link. Oswald went to the cops. Oswald knows Mooney had the necklace planted in Pepper's apartment. Oswald has to go. And Gordon has to prove that he's a team player by killing Oswald.
Barbara is the trump card, and Bullock isn't afraid to play it. Or rather, to tell Gordon that Falcone will play it. Bullock isn't necessarily evil. He doesn't get anything out of this. He's helping Gordon and Gordon's fiancee stay alive. Bullock figured out long ago that the game is rigged, and that he wasn't smart enough or tough enough to win against it. So, he's considered it his job to keep Gotham from falling apart, bring in whatever criminals the mob will let him have, and get home alive at the end of his shift. And he will spend the entire series convincing Jim Gordon that that's the best anyone can do.
Gordon, angry at himself for actually walking Oswald to the end of the dock, doesn't want to hear anything from Oswald. Oswald can only hobble, knees at awkward angles. Gordon has only one thing to tell Oswald, as he holds a gun to Oswald's head at the edge of the dock. His last words are to stay away from Gotham. Forever. Oswald realizes he'll live just as Gordon fires the gun right next to his ear and dumps him in the river. Oswald falls in with a silent splash, floundering in ice-cold water while still in shock from his beating. Oswald will surface somewhere downriver, knifing a lonely fisherman and eating his lunch greedily and messily. He's becoming the Penguin. Will he ever tolerate the name?
Gordon finally appears at home to a Barbara so relieved to see him, she doesn't mention how beat up he looks. Gordon probably tells her nothing, but after getting some shut eye, he proceeds to Wayne Manor, where he gets out of his car to find Bruce, standing on the edge of a roof railing, just hanging out at a great spot to fall to his death. Alfred appears at the front door, and Gordon doesn't even know what to ask, but somehow they talk Bruce into coming inside so Alfred can scold Bruce for being so reckless. Gordon, perhaps thinking that Bruce is suicidal, tries to coax an explanation from Bruce, who only tells Gordon that he's trying to conquer his fear.
Bruce is pretty calm, and Gordon doesn't know what to make of the kid, but he came here to give a speech, and he launches into a description of just how royally fucked up the case really is, and admits that neither he, or anyone else, currently knows who killed the Waynes. But he does vow to find out. It may take a season or two of episodes, but he will find out. Somehow. And it involves putting his badge on the coffee table for some reason. As if Bruce can hold on to a badge he needs for work until the mystery is solved. Which he does. We end, watching Gordon drive away. We're not the only ones. Bruce's only other co-eyewitness, still clad in skin-tight black, goggles still perched on her forehead, watches Gordon drive away too. She stares winsomely back at the mansion, maybe thinking about Gotham's newest orphan. Maybe she wants to tell him it's not so bad, being on your own.
Monday, September 22, 2014
All Right, Now It's Personal - Legend of Korra - Season 3, Episode 11
Ba Sing Se is coming apart in fire and looting. Mako and Bolin decide they can't save the city, and will concentrate on getting Zaheer's message to Korra. What can the message be, that Bolin and Mako will race to deliver it?
Bolin climbs down the fire escape, to see the entire extended family gathered together. In a burning building, on a burning block. Turns out, Grandma Yin won't leave the only home she's ever known, and her family won't leave without her. Uncle Chow tries again to convince her, and Bolin grasps her hands and gives her a heartfelt lesson on home being where your family is together. When she still refuses, Bolin gets to work, hoisting Yin over his shoulder. As the rest of the family hauls ass up the ladder and into the airship, Yin makes Bolin wait so she can grab her second-most prized possession- her photograph of now-dead Earth Queen Hou-Ting. The building falls apart in flame and smoke as Bolin and Yin board the airship.
Bolin summarizes their almost impossible task, already tired just describing it, as Mako decides to take an airship. Which is being pulled apart. Mako tries police business, instructing the looters on the airship's bridge to vacate; when this fails completely, Bolin appeals to their greed, sending them into the palace for the Queen's gold.
Quick! Go steal something else!
Mako, despite wanting the airship in the first place, doesn't think it will fly. Bolin's confidence, first low, shoots up whenever Mako's is down. He's happy to reassure Mako that despite having a crew of two, who don't know what a single lever is for, and parts missing, that they'll easily fly out of there. Cue the inevitable rocky takeoff. Finally, someone finds the up button.
As bad as their airship is, Ba Sing Se is considerably worse. Looting has developed into a full-scale, city-wide riot, with the entire city on fire.
Hey, at least Zaheer freed the city before getting them all killed
Bolin instantly worries about the relatives they've met days ago, and Mako launches into action. Pushing new pilot Bolin out of the way, he grabs the controls, and insists that he will land them safely at their family's house. Which he does.
Bolin climbs down the fire escape, to see the entire extended family gathered together. In a burning building, on a burning block. Turns out, Grandma Yin won't leave the only home she's ever known, and her family won't leave without her. Uncle Chow tries again to convince her, and Bolin grasps her hands and gives her a heartfelt lesson on home being where your family is together. When she still refuses, Bolin gets to work, hoisting Yin over his shoulder. As the rest of the family hauls ass up the ladder and into the airship, Yin makes Bolin wait so she can grab her second-most prized possession- her photograph of now-dead Earth Queen Hou-Ting. The building falls apart in flame and smoke as Bolin and Yin board the airship.
Yin settles in by posting Hou-Ting's portrait on one of the posts in the bridge. Tu tries to pretend he could have saved the day, and was just waiting for Bolin, or something. It's totally unconvincing, and Mako launches right into their newest task. He knows Korra's airship went down in the desert between Misty Palms and Ba Sing Se. He would have learned as much from Zaheer. But he doesn't know where, and he thinks Korra is still out there for him to deliver Zaheer's message to. Without a radio, since it's been looted, he still thinks his best shot of notifying Korra quickly to Zaheer's plans is to find her in the desert.
The whole family gets in on the action, each looking closely for wreckage, which finally, after about a day's ride, Tu finally sees. The guy turns out to be useful for a change! Mako finds a trail leading from the wreckage... back to Misty Palms! After two episodes, the whole gang is literally back where they were before. Mako lands awkwardly, to expert pilot Bolin's frustration.
Once on the ground, it's awkward reunions all around. The family's all entranced by the spirits floating around. Bolin at first doesn't realize his best friend, Pabu, has found him, and grosses out the family with his wildly inappropriate joy. Mako, standing in his usual stand-offishness, is tackled by Naga, and Naga only frees him after getting in some slobbery licks.
Well, at least Naga is happy
Asami and Korra restrain themselves to simple hugs, which is also too much for Mako. Lin actually expresses some pleasure that the boys are alive, and Bolin completely geeks out over Lord Zuko, who looks about two seconds away from toasting Bolin alive. Zuko takes it well, so we can get on to the awkwardness as Yin meets Asami and Korra.
Yin screws up everything. She first mistakes Asami for Korra, gushing over how pretty the Avatar is. When Mako actually introduces Korra, she's less than impressed, and can only reluctantly point out that Korra's very strong, which Korra takes as a compliment, fortunately. Yin goes all out on embarassing her grandson when she takes both ladies' hands, and tells Mako he should be dating one of them. Asami and Korra, remembering how much fun it is to make Mako uncomfortable at his romantic past with them both, smile at each other, then Mako.
It's Asami who breaks the reunion up, asking where they've been all this time. Finally, Mako gets to deliver his message from Zaheer. After telling them they've just come from Ba Sing Se, and already know the Earth Queen is overthrown, he tells them that Zaheer has another awful surprise for them. Zaheer is already proceeding to the Northern Air Temple, where he plans to wipe out all the new air benders, including his fellow new air benders, unless Korra comes to him herself there. Zaheer is truly tired of chasing Korra; we're about to learn just how tired.
Tonraq thinks he may be bluffing; Mako isn't so hopeful. They need a radio powerful enough to reach the Northern Air Temple, which Suyin, still back in Zaofu, thankfully has. As she meets their airship, she can do nothing but worry. Her staff has already tried to reach the Temple, but heard nothing. They're getting through, but no one's answering. Lin tries to comfort her, as the news means Opal is in terrible danger. The whole team tries a new tactic: get to the Northern Air Temple as fast as possible. Most of the team leaves to help Suyin muster Zaofu metal-bending troops to assault the Red Lotus. Korra will re-enter the spirit world to see if Zaheer is back at his favorite grove. Asami will watch over Korra's body while her spirit is elsewhere. Bolin and Mako will stay by the radio in case they hear from the Temple. Yin will take a nap. So, no more awkward scenes.
Korra's spirit, again in Xaibao's Grove, angrily calls for Zaheer to appear, but sees only Iroh, wandering the Spirit World. She's searching for Zaheer, and he's looking for a new teapot. But, he says, it's okay, because in the Spirit World, one always finds what they didn't know they were looking for. Iroh sees that Korra is worried, and offers his ear. He reassures Korra that she doesn't always have to know what to do, and that Lord Zuko might be able to tell Korra what Avatar Aang would have done.
Sigh.... having problems sucks
Korra awakes right away, to find Lord Zuko is preparing to leave. His daughter is the Fire Lord, and his grandson is her heir; he wants to return and protect them from the Red Lotus. His opinion is that Aang would have been willing to do anything to save the new Air Nation. But Aang would also have realized the importance of all the people Zaheer and Red Lotus threaten with death and chaos. Zuko's message is obvious, even if he can't tell Korra what to do: save the Air Nation if you can, but don't sacrifice everything and everybody else to do it. And don't leave the world unable to stop Zaheer by getting yourself killed.
Why be around for the most important fight, anyway?
Korra, though she still has no idea what to actually do, thanks Zuko with reassurance that his uncle is well in the Spirit World, until Bolin grabs them both to announce that they've gotten through to the Air Temple! Good news! The bad news is that Milo is answering the radio, and his phone skills are lacking. Intent on being an urchin no matter what, he distracts Bolin from delivering any news until Korra literally shoves Bolin off his seat, grabs the mic, and orders Milo to follow his Commanding Officer's orders and get his father. Milo, who is in love with being talked to like he's in the Army, instantly obeys. It's a tense wait, but they hear from Tenzin, and Korra frantically gets in her warning, but it's too late- Tenzin can see Zaheer and the Red Lotus out the window. In an airship stolen from the Earth Queen's palace. Zaheer now looks arrogant, instead of the humble man he's always pretended to be.
Tenzin mobilizes an immediate evacuation. But Ghazan starts the attack by lava bending an obstruction to the exit, and Ming Hua takes Opal hostage. Zaheer traps Tenzin and his family personally. Gathered in the central courtyard, Zaheer explains that he plans on letting them all go once Korra has arrived. Tenzin, not willing to trust Zaheer or let Korra walk into a trap, instantly attacks Zaheer, blowing him and Ghazan and Ming Hua out of the way. He calls for Kya and Bumi to stay and fight, and for the rest to get out while avoiding getting blown up by P'Li, who is still on the airship, circling over them.
How 'bout we don't wait for you to break your promise?
The siblings prepare for a hard fight. When the Red Lotus on the ground gets up, they instantly launch into the attack. Tenzin takes on Zaheer, and his expert air bending has Zaheer on the run, over the walls of the Air Temple. Tenzin easily dodges Zaheer's blasts of air.
Bring it!
Kya and Ming Hua face off in the courtyard, with Kya successfully fending off Ming's ice spears and chips. Kya blasts Ming off the balcony, then watches as all the excess water gets sucked up by Ming, so she confronts Kya with six arms.
Oh, fudge
Bumi and Ghazan brawl it out right after them, Bumi's unconventional moves and child-like biting catch Ghazan by surprise, but Ghazan recovers. Kya and Bumi end up at each other's backs, facing a tireless Ghazan and Kya, not hopeful about their chances.
Ha ha! Look at me, I'm a vampire!
The other air benders find the bison, but P'Li guards the escape route to their stable from above. Kai takes matters into his own hands, or I should say, glider, He leaps off a nearby cliff, dodging P'Li's combustion blasts on land and in the air, while whooshing around with his glider, and air bending to distract P'Li and throw her concentration off. He's almost successful, but gets Kai while he's trying to dash away. Kai whips out an air bubble to protect himself from the blast itself, but he's knocked out. A horrified Jinora watches him tumble out of the sky while the the other air benders dash for the sky bison and freedom. She has no time for the sobs she wants to cry, as P'Li regains her focus just in time to blast at the sky bison, convincing them to take off. Without a single air bender. Tenzin's family, and his students, are trapped, full in P'Li's sights now. She looks down on them in cold fury.
Ghazan and Ming work Kya and Bumi to the edge of the great balcony, which they topple off of. When P'Li's airship comes around the bend, Kya convinces Bumi to let go, as a blast from P'Li while they're hanging on will kill them. Closing his eyes to keep his courage, Bumi lets go, and they fall and tumble down the cliff, collapsing in pain and helplessness below.
Zaheer is now launching an all-out attack on Tenzin. Except that now, Ming and Ghazan can help. Together, the three pummel Tenzin. An impatient Zaheer corners Tenzin against the wall, demanding that Tenzin surrender. Tenzin, in pain, out of breath, and digging deep, tells Zaheer that he will never give up. His last breath, if it must, will be fighting Zaheer. The Red Lotus obliges, and we zoom out and away before we can see just how brutally Zaheer, Ghazan and Ming Hua will beat him.
Only Kai, out of the entire Air Temple, manages to escape. Awaking stuck in a tree branch growing out of the cliff, Kai realizes he has company that likes to lick. It's the baby sky bison he saved before, and it's bravely come back for him. He clambers onto it's back, giving a subdued "Yip yip" as his savior gently flies him away from the carnage at the Northern Air Temple.
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