Red Hood.

“Another freak in a mask. Awesome.” - Harvey

Gotham turned into a mix of Fight Club, Saw, and The Mask this week, and I almost loved it. Emphasis on almost.

The Red Hood Squad ponies up for The Mask part of the story (obviously), with a mysterious bit of cloth causing some pretty drastic mood swings. Whoever wears the hood pretty much undergoes a personality transplant, and then it’s all just fun and games and murder from there.

Jim & Harvey

BAs sad as I am to see these two get pushed to the background, I think it was about time. Less focus on their detective work and more on the other characters of the ensemble has really allowed this show breathe (though you can always count on Harvey for a zinger or a laugh). Only he could find a dead body inside a fridge and then crack open a soda from the top shelf.

Alfred

A

When an old army friend decided to swing by Wayne Manor for a visit, I figured we’d finally be getting some backstory on our favorite butler. I didn’t expect a violent, PTSD-ridden sociopath, but there you have it. After stabbing Alfred for no apparent reason, I was pretty darn upset with this guy, but then they had to go and reveal that he was hired by Wayne Enterprises to leave Bruce defenseless. These corrupt execs are awful and they've got to go. Where is Morgan Freeman during all of this? 

We obviously know Alfred is going to be a-okay, but that didn’t stop me from tearing up at Bruce’s panicked screams. Alfred is all that kid has left. Don’t judge my pain.

Fish

AHOLY MOTHER OF CHRIST GOD ALMIGHTY!

I may have had to pause my episode to choke back the urge to vomit after Fish spooned her own freaking eyeball out of her skull. And then stepped on it. Ahhhhhh! Can they show that on television?!

It was all to save her own life – and the lives of the people waiting on her down in the basement – which is kind of noble, but still. I’m telling you, that was some Saw shit right there, and it was totally and graphically unnecessary. I’m not a gore person. Not at all.

Butch

B+Brainwashed Butch makes me a little sad, but he’s also super interesting. He seems to have all his faculties about him, even the ones that help him mastermind a clever alcohol heist from Maroni. I can’t tell if he’s just playing along with the song and dance for Penguin’s sake, or if his allegiance to Fish is actually dead and buried. We’ll see when she returns, I guess.

Barbara

D

“Your appearance can be a weapon. As powerful as any knife or gun.” - Barbara
“Yeah? What good’s it done you?” - Selina

GO, SELINA.

Time to have a serious talk about Barbara, guys.

I’m truly about to throw in the frickin' towel on this character and her entire mess of a personality. She only had two short scenes, but both of those scenes were so very pointless. In fact, the entire back half of the season could quite literally have happened without any of Barbara's scenes and nothing would have changed. That's bad. I want so desperately for her to become an actual person on this show because I think there is a lot of potential there. But week after week they just keep throwing her one crappy storyline after the next. I'm not saying she needs to throw on a cape and start kicking ass; that's not in the cards for her. But taking charge of her life, getting her shit together, and moving on from the breakup that turned her into a human vodka bottle would be nice. 

Hopefully a few harsh words from Selina might actually put her on track to being a less pathetic human being, but after 17 episodes… I’m not optimistic. Barbara’s words about using her looks as a weapon seem to fit right in with Catwoman’s future tactics, but with one major difference: Selina’s got the brains and the attitude to back up her femme fatale moves. Barbara? She probably has a low-cut dress laying around somewhere. Someone give this woman something of substance to work with besides stalking Jim Gordon and getting day drunk to deal with rejection.

"Red Hood"

B-The mash-up of stories this week worked in most respects, if not as effectively as probably intended. But hey, you can't hit it out of the park every time. It was a nice change, focusing more on independent subplots than the villain of the week. Mostly, it seemed like this episode was mostly a filler, building up to something big next week. We'll be going on a fairly long hiatus after that, so I expect "Everyone Has A Cobblepot" to be a seriously climactic episode.  

Demerits

• Where did the lesbian detective go? Bueller?
• Can we get back to the Joker and Robin please?
• I will give this show anything it wants if it gets rid of Mama Cobblepot next week. Seriously. 

Extra Credit

• Hey, Two Face is back next week! Huzzah! 
• It took me a full 45 minutes, but I finally recognized Reginald as 'that guy from Braveheart.'