Viper

After Gotham's best episode so far 'Arkham' debuted last week I had reassured high hopes for this show. It needs to find it's identity and stick with it. There isn't a need for a convoluted plot with one too many characters. Focusing on Gordon and Bullock case by case with occasional appearances from known Batman mythos characters is the way to go. It's just unfortunate that this week Gotham gave us another pretty weak episode.

Viper was an episode that struggled with similar problems to The Balloonman. It didn't really have an identity and it had a far too comic-booky villain. I think it's fine this show is embracing more of Batman's campy comics, but lets not get into Batman and Robin territory here. Plus having every villains demise isn't the smartest choice for a TV show considering we may need to bring this storyline back later on. What I did love from this episode were the Maroni scenes. I have warmed up to his character now that we have a little more family vs family atmosphere to this show. Also, throwing in the curve ball of having him know about Penguin and Gordon's secret was quite an interesting twist.

Fish Mooney was a bright spot for the second week in a row. It is both disturbing and incredibly intriguing having her basically train an apprentice to be a seductive criminal just as she is. I found the Bruce and Alfred scenes to be good and bad. They weren't completely out of place because an event was held at Wayne Enterprises, but it seems a little bit forced. Nonetheless I think just the two of them together are developing into a better pairing than Gordon and Bullock.

It's worth noting how much the last scene didn't work. I didn't buy into the fact that the woman could persuade Falcone so much. Perhaps I missed the link but how exactly does it relate to the entire episode? Gotham had a bit of a misstep this week but I have faith it will have a comeback once again.

+Maroni scenes

+Bruce & Alfred team

+Mooney and her apprentice

-Another weak villain

-Convoluted

-Last scene...?

6.9/10

Gotham is getting on their stride. But that stride is going to have to win over fans big. I'm glad that the show has got a full season to play with. From the opening scenes of this episode, Viper, the show wants to revel in a comic book world. I think that's the best way to attract more viewers. Build a world that is straight out of the pages and run with it. I hope that they keep it on the balanced level. Don't go too overboard with the comic book stuff and not too real. I think that it is on the way slowly.

The episode starts off with Bruce, doing the young detective thing with Alfred scolding him that he needs to get out and walk around. Our villain of the week shows up in the next scene. It seems he is a interesting man with an interesting drug. A young man play a guitar is the first victim or guinea pig of his drug. It's a green smoke that is only inhaled. He runs off feeling alive and heads to the nearest convenience store. What ensues is a confrontation with the clerk and video footage, witness by Gordon and Bullock, of the main stealing the entire ATM machine. There's a hilarious scene of the man hopped up on this new drug running down the street with said ATM strapped to his back.

Gordon and Bullock are put on the case of finding what is going on as usual. Oswald has a sit down with his new boss, crime boss Sal Maroni who wants revenge on Falcone for the robbery in the last episode. Oswald starts spilling the beans about who he is and that enrages Falcone who is planning a small heist of Falcone's casino. Fish Mooney is working on her "weapon". Teach the young girl who won the job how to sing opera and talk to someone "like a mother". This all gets wrapped up in a few interesting final scenes. Falcone on the other hand gathers his bosses for a meeting about the state of affairs. Mooney gets into a heated argument with one of the bosses.

During the search for the mysterious drug dealer, Gordon is detained by Maroni's henchmen. He is brought to the Don to explain and get Oswald out of a tight situation. It seems that he now 'works' for both sides and Gordon is not happy with it. The mysterious man, in trying to get his point across, dishes out his new drug to anyone he can find. This leads to a whole ton of chaos and a lot of dead Gotham citizens. It seems the drug was made for soldiers by a company that was working with Wayne Enterprises. This catches Bruce's attention who wants to attend a fund raiser where he can speak to the board at his family's company.

The man on the loose is a former worker in that lab and it seems the company behind the drug is just as corrupt as about everyone and everything in the city. The villain plans to release the drug at this fund raiser where Bruce and Alfred are attending. Gordon and Bullock get there just in time to stop the release of the drug but the villain commits suicide in the process. The following end scenes are reveals of facts we should be shocked about. The company that manufactured the drug are now keeping an eye on Bullock and Gordon. Fish Mooney is in bed with one of other crime bosses (shocker) to overthrow Falcone. With the near death experience Alfred has joined Bruce in research on his parent's company. The finale scene was to show us that Fish Money has released her 'weapon' on Don Falcone.

There is a whole lot going on in this episode. At times too much. But I'm glad much of it was wrapped up, even though pretty obviously in the end. I would say that this episode was the weakest so far for me. I wasn't entertained by the bad guy of the week. But the idea that people can get superhuman people is a nice touch. That means that maybe later that can play with the idea of meta humans, even if Bruce is still a kid. I'm sure we will see a few cameos down the line. This episode was also cameo friendly. Selina Kyle shows up for one scene at the beginning which really didn't need to be. Because of the nature of the drug Edward Nygma has a much longer scene which feeds into this his eventual nature.

I'm still on board with the show. It's entertaining for sure. I like how they've created a comic book world not unlike a tone down Sin City or the Marvel Universe. I just wish the writers and producers could be less heavy handed with the Batman references. Does Bruce really need to be a detective this early? And is there only one room he stays in the whole mansion? There's no need for so many cameos. Keep the story tight and don't throw in a future villain just because it's a cool idea. I hope next week's episode focuses more on the bigger picture of the show and less about what Easter egg can we put in this scene. And more Oswald, he was in three scenes tops.

Just finished watching the "Viper" episode and have to admit this was BY FAR the most intelligently written of the episodes I have seen. The plot was intriguing with an interesting "other worldly" edge that help start it off.

Afterwards it became more grounded in the reality of Gotham and the past events. By extending those events in a logical fashion it help develop depth of character for the Evil and Good characters.

I also liked how it brought the element of Wayne Enterprises onto the stage with a promise of more involvement in the development of the plot.

Well done and enjoyable (My FIRST positive rating of any of the Gotham episodes)

"Viper" was pretty good. It didn't have much of the main story with the Wayne murders. It was mostly centered on the villain who created a drug called Venom which makes it's users super strong then kills them.

The only kind of story that could carry over the whole season was that Wayne Enterprises is corrupted. The Fish and Lisa arc was already going on. I think that will lead into a explosive resolve with Carmine and Fish into an all-out-war.

The villain himself was okay. I probably would have liked it better if I read the graphic novel about Venom.

Overall a 7/10.