Gotham: "They Who Hide Behind Masks" Review

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By Matt Fowler

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

Apologies for the day-after review, no advance screener was available.

Hey, so "They Who Hide Behind Masks" was a pretty good time at the Gotham multiplex. I mean, if you can overlook the silly Myrtle Jenkins storyline (which facilitated Edward's freedom and revealed that he CAN'T RIDDLE NOW!) and the fact that Bruce knew who Barbara Kean was but seemed to have no memory of her being the one up on stage with him and Jerome, acting all Harley, when the Maniax attacked the charity ball and tried to kill him. Still, I forgive those two things because Detective Harper (who's actually from the comics) transferred in from "the 3-5."

That's right. Somewhere out there, snuggled deep within the city, is another precinct. There are cops elsewhere. Gotham, all of a sudden, doesn't just have one police station. This is very exciting. It doesn't answer why a cop would ask for a transfer when, apparently, all the cops in town have turned their back on crime and nothing's being done about anything, but I'll take it.

"They Who Hide Behind Masks" had a lot going on, other than Harper's arrival and Nygma's escape from ice. Jim, wearing a slick suit, traveled down to, assumedly, Mexico to try and talk Carmine into helping take down Penguin (I still don't know why he'd care at all - wouldn't SOMEONE taking his place be a given?), but got daughter Sofia (Crystal Reed) in return. Sofia, who had designs to rule in her father's place the entire time, played Jim, seducing him even, so that she could get an - *ahem* - lay of the land. My question though is "Does she truly forgive Jim for killing Mario?" If what we saw was mostly an act, then that might mean her acceptance was too.

Then again, Jim also lied. In a way. Sofia asked him if he'd ever wanted to turn his back on Gotham and he neglected to tell her about the long stretch of time when he totally did.

Now that the Scarecrow mini-arc is out of the way, Gotham was free to dig into what's really the main story of this "A Dark Knight" chapter - namely Bruce's fledgling vigilantism and Ra's al Ghul's determination find an heir (guess his time's up after 2000 years). Everything we're watching right now is Bruce being Batman. The only thing missing is the full costume/theme and the only core difference is that that he's still learning. Alfred being so invested in this new gamble/gambit is really what's helping make this storyline successful. Sure, he warns Bruce about certain things here and there, but he's committed to the cause. He's no longer trying to talk Bruce endangering his life.

This week, Bruce got to battle gunmen in his new crime-fighting suit, put on an outer-borough accent for some snooping, and - finally - play up the "billionaire brat" gimmick at an auction. It was this last bit of detective work that was the most fun since Bruce, so young still, had no qualms abut coming off like a total ass in front of Gotham's "elite." He's so buried in this new life of ambitious action that he has no fear at all about tarnishing his public image. Again, we're getting almost every piece of the Batman equation here.

I don't know what the show has in store for Barbara now that it's been revealed she was brought back to life by Ra's. This version of Ra's doesn't seem to have any daughters so perhaps they just wanted him to have a sinister female sidekick (who's also his lover, I guess). Barbara's always been a character people like (well, ever since she went nuts anyhow) but no one ever knows what to expect. Likewise, the show doesn't ever seem to have firm plans for her. Occasionally she seems to fill DC character roles -- like Harley and, now, Talia -- and some fans keep wonder if she'll actually turn out to be, or morph into, a DC character, so we'll have to see how things shake out. The writers just seem to like having her in the mix somewhere.

The Verdict

"They Who Hide Behind Masks" honed in sharply on Bruce's vigilante tutelage at the hands of Alfred, who encouraged him to not only take on different personas, but to strongly play up a public "spoiled brat" facade to achieve his goals. It worked really well thanks to Bruce's commitment and Alfred's savvy advice. Sure, there was some silliness to endure, but overall this was a good outing.

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