Tuesday, May 10, 2016

My Review of Gotham's 2x20: "Unleashed"


Written by Danny Cannon
Directed by Paul Edwards

Oswald: "Jim, a little tip for next time - always bring the right tools for the job. See you in hell, Theo."

And so it came to an end. Technically, Theo's storyline should've remained ended during the events of Worse Than A Crime but these last two episodes with him as Azrael have undoubtedly been so entertaining that his slightly prolonged existence was justified for them alone. Of course, Azrael's days were numbered the second Oswald became aware of his existence and this episode didn't fail to deliver on that note.

With Tabitha's attempts of reasoning with her brother resulted in her being comatose after revealing Theo's mission with Bruce Wayne, Oswald decided to play on Butch's love for Tabitha (how sweet was Butch at her bedside by the way?) by getting him to take out Azrael with a bazooka of all things outside Wayne Manor.

It's moments like this where this show clearly revels in it's OTT manner and it's also where it delivers them so well. After watching Theo's convoluted way in trying to kill Bruce yet again and Gordon being a somewhat ineffective rescuer of sorts, having Oswald and Butch come to save the day/wreck vengeance was bloody fantastic to see. A fitting end for Theo's storyline overall and a sign that Oswald is back to resume his King of Gotham title as well. Butch was never really cut out for the role anyways.

Keeping with the Strange events - even Bullock was openly threatening Hugo Strange this week and while Hugo was able to outsmart him and Gordon this week, Bullock did manage to inspire the rest of the cops to avenge Barnes (not quite dead yet). Could they possibly be hinting at Bullock becoming commissioner? I bloody hope so. I'd love to see Harvey take on that role.

Elsewhere this episode gave us another treat in the moment where an escaping from Arkham Nygma briefly interacted with a breaking into Arkham Selina met, snarked a bit at each other before attempting to help the other out as well. Of course, Nygma's attempts of escape didn't pan out for him and Selina's attempts of rescuing Bridget saw her being introduced to Firefly instead as the episode ended on a literal fiery note. How the hell is Selina going to get out of this one?

Also in "Unleashed"

With both Barnes and Tabitha placed in comas, at least one of them is likely to die in the next two episode. Butch also kicked Barbara out of his place.

Priest: "I don't have any weapons."
Azrael: "Oh, then what good are you?"

Oswald got him a bird themed cane in this episode prior to his confrontation at the hospital with Butch.

Bullock: "So your brother's gone nuts."
Tabitha: "You tell me. Theo convince you he was Azrael last night or was he acting?"

Bullock (re grave robbing): "I'm sure we're breaking more than a few laws right now."
Gordon: "Really? This is where you draw the line."

I'm pretty sure we just got a very glimpse of Killer Croc when Selina was heading into Strange's laboratory in this episode.

Nygma: "Alive people, dead people, dead alive people. It's horrible."
Selina: "Okay, how do I get in there?"
Nygma: "It's like I'm saying things and you're just not hearing them."

Butch (re Tabitha): "If you touch her, I will kill you."
Oswald: "I like this new side of you. Soft, sentimental. He has to pay, Butch."

Next week, it seems another should be dead person is back in the mix and we've also got another rogue gallery member to gawk at.

Selina: "Bridget, no!"
Bridget: "Don't call me that. My name's Firefly."

Chronology: Not long from where Azrael left off.

I loved this one. Unleashed was another bonkers, over the top joy of an episode with a satisfying end to the Galavan plot once and for all while Strange continues to have more tricks up his sleeve than before.

Rating: 8 out of 10

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