Welcome to the Legion!

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Legion contributor Christina Janke is recapping and reviewing Gotham for us this season. Follow her on Twitter @IntrotoGeek!

Greetings, Gothamites. Y’know the thing we all wouldn’t think happen? Well it did, and I’m glad I didn’t bet money on it. The circus is in town in “The Blind Fortune Teller,” and it wouldn’t be Gotham City without a little murder mixed in it.

The episode chiefly focuses on Gordon and Dr. Thompkins who are among the audience when an all-out brawl takes after the Flying Graysons’ performance. A myriad of bright colors and blood are engaged in fisticuffs, and Gordon somehow manages to stop it all. Circus folk are notorious for doling out their own brand of justice in spite of actual cops just doing their jobs, or so that’s what Hollywood would have us believe. No one comes forward to Gordon as to why there was a brawl in the middle of a performance. Thompkins, on the other hand, has a little more success when she treats a bickering pair of performers. The fight was between two feuding families, one of which is the Graysons. Two men from either side were fighting over a snake charmer, Lyla. Gordon goes to find Lyla and instead find her teenage son, Jerome, played by Cameron Monaghan (Asher from The Giver).

No one supposedly knows where Lyla is, and she’s been missing since last night. So in the biggest faux pas of all plot devices, Gordon releases Lyla’s giant snake so it can lead them to its owner. BULL CRAP! Snakes aren’t dogs! They’re not loyal nor are they particularly attached to their humans, and they don’t possess the same type of tracking skills dogs do. I’d like to know which writer read a fake post on Reddit and believed it enough to convince the rest of the writer’s room. That person needs a flogging.

The snake leads everyone directly to a tarp covered cart. Hidden underneath the tarp is Lyla’s dead body. I’m still shaking my head about the snake.

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Gordon takes the circus to the GCPD for questioning. He interviews Jerome about his mother. For a teenager her seems totally unbothered that his mother sleeps around with anyone in the circus troupe, or any guy she meets in town. That! right there tells us he did it. No teenage boy is that open-minded or laid back about his mother’s sexual exploits.

Afterward, another deus ex rears its ugly face in the form of a blind fortune teller named Cicero. He once knew Lyla some years back. He even has a message from her from beyoooooond the graaaaave! “Her” cryptic message leads Thompkins and Gordon to a spot underneath Arkham Bridge. There they find an axe with symbols and letters scratched on the handle. Gordon recognizes these etchings from an old satanic cult called The Hellfire Club.

Gordon, for all of his outside player knowledge, knows that The Hellfire Club hasn’t been active for years. Instead of following this clue he immediately determines that Cicero was the one trying to throw them off his scent. He knows something who really killed Lyla.

After that it’s a quick hop and a step to Gordon figuring out who really killed Lyla. No really, after the commercial break, Gordon already figured out who the killer was and had invited him and Cicero back to the GCPD. WHAT?! No more sleuthing? You’re actually going to fly off the seat of your pants and cry murder on a gut feeling? Okay…

Of course, we all know who the killer was at the start of the episode. It’s Jerome. Everything he had done before Gordon called him out on it had been an act. Furthermore, Cicero is Jerome’s biological father and helped Jerome hide the body. Because fatherly love and all that. There are a lot of allusions to twisted fatherly love on this show. Anyone else notice that?

It is in this one scene that finally bought the whole Joker gimmick. Cameron Monaghan reveals his character’s true self. His face twists and transforms to look just like every Joker we’ve ever seen. And then there are the slight ticks, the mannerisms, and the voice! Monaghan seems to be channeling two distinct Jokers: Jack Nicholson’s and Heath Ledger’s. He’s scary good. I don’t expect Monaghan to make an appearance again any time soon, if at all, because Gotham seems to like introducing younger versions of iconic Batman villains in a one-and-done manner. However, he will make a great Joker someday if given another opportunity.

We aren’t finished with connections to Joker, yet. Next week we’ll be introduced to Red Hood.

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SIDE NOTES: 

Fish Mooney shines in the episode as a true badass. The prison scenario, which I hope will make sense soon, serves as a fish bowl environment (HA! I get it) where Mooney can rise to the top of the pecking order and really change things around. This highlights what kind of leader Fish Mooney is: charismatic yet ruthless.

We’re FINALLY back to the corruption in Wayne Enterprises plot that Bruce stumbled upon early on in the season. This plot served Bruce well. It showed early signs of coming into adulthood at such an early age. Plus, it’s always entertaining to see a little kid show up a bunch of patronizing adults. He confronted all the board members in a meeting about his suspicions and alluded to them that he knows more than he’s willing to tell them. This obviously stirs some pots with the board members. If next week’s preview is any indication, they want him silenced as soon as possible.

Barbara’s back. I’m not sure if she was blasted out of her mind, but she did not care that there were two little girls occupying her apartment. Instead, she treats them like roommates. So…we’re just skipping over the whole living with her dull parents story? Meh, it would have likely served no more purpose than what Barbara is already dishing out.

Gordon somehow resolved a decades-long family feud and united Dick Grayson’s parents. All he had to do was say “Stahp it!” [Head desk]

There are only six episodes left. Be strong…


Christina is the co-host of “Intro to Geek” on Shauncastic and Editor-in-Chief at Agents of Geek. Her love of all things Mass Effect knows no bounds. She also carries an obsession with comic books, video games, and quirky television shows. Her heroes are Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Gail Simone. She hopes to be just like them when she grows up.

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Christina E. Janke

Christina is the co-host of “Intro to Geek” on Shauncastic and Editor-in-Chief at Agents of Geek. Her love of all things Mass Effect knows no bounds. She also carries an obsession with comic books, video games, and quirky television shows. Her heroes are Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Gail Simone. She hopes to be just like them when she grows up.