GOTHAM Season 3 Episode 9 Review: The Executioner


Barnes skipped the judge and jury steps and went right to executioner in this episode, killing more people than we have seen an actual villain kill in ages. However, Gordon is on his case. He is taking his job at the GCPD more seriously than ever, even though he is suspicious of the man who rehired him onto the force; Day 2 on the job and he is already illegally searching through his boss’s stuff in order to find some incriminating evidence of his involvement. 

Barnes catches him looking through his files, and instead of flipping out that he is guilty, he calmly asks if Gordon wants to check out a lead with him. He peacefully brings out a large shotgun, and occasionally glances at it lovingly throughout the car ride. He also casually messes up the address, so Gordon has no chance to call Harvey to tell them where they are. Maybe if you didn’t still have a flip phone, you could have quickly texted him the information, Jim. 

It seems Barnes’ few minutes of not killing has expired, and he guns down the criminal before turning his shotgun on Gordon. He asks Gordon to join him in his crazy rampage to kill criminals outside the law. Of course, Gordon refuses, so Barnes tries to kill him. Maybe he should have asked him a few weeks ago when he was a dark and brooding PI instead. 

There is a quick chase scene which gives Gordon the opportunity to call Harvey and tell them their actual location, before he drops his phone and Barnes crushes it (remember what I said about the flip phone, Jim? This is your chance to get a better phone now). Eventually, Barnes corners Gordon, but luckily Alice’s blood makes Barnes want to kill just as much as he wants to talk in riddles, and they spend some time talking before the GCPD catches up with them. Even though Barnes is distracted by the sudden appearance of the GCPD outside the window, Gordon does not take that opportunity to run, but instead starts a fight with him (he must not have been told about the inhuman strength that comes with infection of Alice’s blood, either that or Jim is just an idiot). The altercation ends with both of them holding up a gun to one another and firing a shot. Apparently, Gordon has the fastest reflexes alive because Barnes has been shot and there isn’t even a graze on Gordon. 

In the end, Barnes is put into captivity for the time being, and Gordon finally has time to fix his messy hair. Messy hair Jim is my favorite Jim. 

From the very start of this episode, I was excited. Ivy is back in the recap, which means there is no doubt that she will reappear in this episode. She starts off the episode doing what seems to be her new favorite thing: seducing men. She tells him, “I meet men, they give me things, I give them nothing, and I like plants.” That is going to be my new tinder bio. Despite this statement, he still continues to talk to her (why), and she uses her perfume to essentially drug him so she can steal a necklace from him. 

Apparently the perfume isn’t enough though, because she also knocks him out. He is understandably quite pissed about the entire situation when he wakes up. 

Ivy heads to Selina for some help in case this guy tries to get his necklace back, and it makes me so uncomfortable to hear about her innocently seducing men but unable to understand the value of money. She is just a child. For someone who seems not to like Bruce that much, she seems happy that Selina and Bruce are a couple. Well, Selina denies that they are a couple, but she also seems to have major trust and commitment issues (most relatable thing on this show) so she will come around eventually. But it seems they have bigger problems when guys with crossbows (why crossbows? How is that more efficient?) come strolling into their hideout. Turns out that the necklace she stole actually hides a key within it. 

Meanwhile, Nygma is mourning the loss of the girl that he knew for a week. Penguin essentially killed a girl just so he could give Nygma a comforting hug, and throws all subtly out the window as he tells him “anything you need, I will be here for you.” Like dude, I know I can be obvious sometimes, but damn, you are lucky that Nygma has been so distracted lately that he hasn’t noticed. 

Penguin’s lack of patience doesn’t just extend to Nygma’s riddles, but to Nygma’s grieving as well. I guess no one taught Penguin that you cannot just yell at someone in order for them to get over something. Penguin does try to give some kind advice about how healing is moving on, but his eyes are screaming that he should move on to him instead. Nygma is still oblivious as he decides to go to where Isabella died and say his final goodbyes. I swear these two are the most emotional criminals I have ever seen. 

It seems visiting the train tracks snaps Nygma out of his depression as he begins to connect the dots that Isabella was murdered. But who could possibly have the power and influence to cover up a murder? It couldn’t possibly be his best friend, the mayor and kingpin of Gotham. After all, Penguin included him on his self-portrait. He is too kind of a criminal. No, it must be Butch who disappeared episodes ago. Poor Butch doesn’t even know what is coming for him. Hopefully that means we can see more of Tabitha and Barbara if he comes back. At this point I am losing hope that Fish Mooney will ever come back at this rate; all we will have for now is a sexualized child Ivy and emotional kingpins of the underworld to represent our villains. Somehow, Barnes has become the best villain even though he was formerly one of the best heroes.

Written by Nicole Teeters, GOTHAM Beat Writer -- Click to read Nicole's posts


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