'Gotham' Recap: Descending 'Under the Knife' into madness

Even though “Under the Knife” represented the second of four episodes featuring The Ogre (Milio Ventimiglia) investigation, the episode marked a line in which some of Batman’s most well known villains seemed to cross a line into insanity. It also continued the ongoing friendship between Bruce and Selina as they forged on with their own investigation into the board members of Wayne Enterprises, specifically Sid Bunderslaw. I have always felt that the strongest episodes of Gotham are the ones that do not follow the “criminal a week” formula and “Under the Knife is no different.

After being introduced to The Ogre and his ways in last week’s “Beasts of Prey”, “Under the Knife” escalated his methods. Thought Leslie was teased as The Ogre’s possible next target due to her current relationship with Gordon it was actually Gordon’s “former” girlfriend Barbara who The Ogre decided would be his next captive “wife”. This brought Barbara back into the fold, as she hadn’t been involved in the show for the last couple weeks, and it seems she is still taking her breakup with Gordon rather roughly. In fact her connection to The Ogre having reinvented himself and her devil may care attitude certainly has intrigued The Ogre more than his previous victim and, we can assume, his others. Though Barbara was not introduced to The Ogre’s devious sexual side until the last part of the episode it is fair to wonder whether she actually won’t be more accepting, at least initially, of his proclivities. Until he forces her to stay, of course.

Barbara becoming the new victim of The Ogre also allows for Gordon to realize he still has feelings for his former beau. This already was shown with the extreme slow motion shot of him running down the stairs once he realized that Barbara was going to be the next target. It was fair to wonder how long Gordon and Leslie’s relationship was going to last and now Gotham has an easy way out of it if Gordon saves Barbara and they both realize they are still in love with each other. While their relationship has not been the most interesting of the show the two will end up together as we know from Batman lore.

The investigation into The Ogre was also rewarding. Where Gotham usually falls flat on its face is during the investigation process of the “criminal of the week”. Since they are allotted more time with having a recurring criminal for these final four episodes of the season the investigation doesn’t have to be rushed. The more methodical nature allows for a greater sense of tension as well because we don’t know when they ultimately will find The Ogre or how they will find him. It also allows The Ogre’s backstory to be explored a little more in depth than the normal villain, so the interrogation of his father as well as the realization of his deformed appearance and subsequent plastic surgery fix offer some plot points that usually the time of a single episode would not afford.

But it was actually Penguin and Nygma who stole “Under the Knife”. Nygma has been on the edge of an sanity breakdown all season. And while it was obvious his crush on the record keeper, Kringle, was always going to be the tipping point Gotham had done a good job of making us guess what would eventually set him over the edge. When Nygma finds that Kringle is being battered by her current boyfriend, another meathead cop, it apparently finally made Nygma go over the edge. The second confrontation between Nygma and the cop, outside Kringle’s house, was ultimately their last. Nygma’s enjoyment of repeatedly stabbing the cop thrust what could initially be considered Nygma just defending himself into Nygma’s turn to insanity. The maniacal laugh coupled with the so many stabs certainly seems like Nygma has finally turned. What repercussions this slaying will have on Nygma -- and if there will be a police case trying to catch the killer -- are not yet known. But there are many possibilities for Nygma’s character that were not there before, which means we hopefully will no longer have to continually be reminded of his social awkwardness in every scene he is in.

Likewise the Penguin could have possibly taken a more sinister turn. While he has certainly killed people before they were almost always people in his way as he tried to climb to the top of the mafia ladder (this includes his first victims). After Maroni visited his club and outed Penguin’s nefarious deeds to his mother, however, Penguin quickly lost any cool he had. His killing of the flower delivery man, who did not seem to be connected to Maroni in any way besides delivering the flowers Maroni sent, felt like a new step for the Penguin. This killing did not, in any way, help him further his career in crime and was just Penguin taking out his frustrations on a seemingly innocent person. Hopefully this also represents a turn towards the criminally insane in the Penguin and this reckless passion becomes more of the norm, as he has been able to keep it together fairly well the whole season.

Finally, Bruce and Selina continue to build a friendship as they investigate Wayne Enterprises and, more specifically, the people who hired Reggie to snoop on Bruce. Aside from gaining the imprint of Bunderslaw’s key their investigation didn’t yield much. But seeing more of their relationship, as well as the interactions between Selina and Barbara who are kind of roommates was fun. This all has to come to head soon but right now Gotham is doing a good job of remembering these two are still in their early teens. And who knew Selina could cut such a rug?

“Under the Knife” is what a typical episode of Gotham should be. It showed growth in almost all of the characters we’ve seen all throughout the year while also allowing for some tension to build and expanding the Gotham universe. While it didn’t reach some of the highs of previous episodes “Under the Knife” was a very solid hour of the show and hopefully will be built upon in the final two episodes of the season. And thank goodness we didn’t have to see anymore of Fish’s boring subplot.