#4.2 "The Fear Reaper"

[KSiteTV]

New Gotham tonight!

Count down, talk about it live, then let this be the episode thread.

Pics can be found HERE: http://www.gothamsite.com/tonight-on...e-fear-reaper/

[AsteroidMike]

I must say, they did a good job with making the visions from the fear toxin really terrifying. Like legitimately.

[Aurora Moon]

The scarecrow segments were really good. the rest of the ep, not so much.

I hate what they're doing to Poison ivy's character on Gotham, to be honest.
In the comics she was actually intelligent if you looked past her sexy pin-up appearance. She had a PHD in bio-chemistry and botany. And she pretty much just gave herself powers in most continuities and didn't need anybody else to empower her.

On this show, she's a young girl aged up into an adult woman and obviously haven't gone to school at all. And she got her powers from other people instead of herself... so it was like she's basically a dumb bimbo who had to steal from others to empower herself. Oh, and her powers now come from some mystic Chinese potion?? It's like a major DE-evolution of a character instead of seeing her grow up into the poison ivy we know.

would it really hurt them to just keep Pamela the same age she was before and just have her be a intelligent young girl without bringing in her sexuality? It would had been nice to see her as a intelligent young girl first knowing that she was eventually going to grow up into this sexy black widow-type of woman.

[Aries83]

Well, I thought this episode was on par with last week, but it lost points with me when Lee appeared in the nightmare scenario. Bleeding out into a bathtub she still doesn't interest me! Also, the fact that he would see her after being gassed was predictable.

I loved all the scenes with Bruce, Alfred, and Lucius. Did anyone else suddenly think of spelunking after they said rock climbing (at the station)? The episode was a great way to introduce the prototype suit. I liked that Alfred made the mask, too.

The stuff with Crane was pretty good. I could've done without him wanting to amass an army, becauuse we've seen that so many timess already, but whatever I liked how they kind of used Arkham as a separate character in this episode. It felt like a completely different set once Gordon returned.

I thought Barbara's return was semi-interesting, although a bit too convenient. I was glad they pointed that out, too. I have a feeling Al Ghul is behind her new venture? I hope they fill in the gaps about what happened to her after she was fried...

Ivy continues to be the wild card. The effect of swallowing those potions was truly disturbing. I know she'll be ok, though...

Anyway, it was a good episode (minus the stupid Lee scene). Can't wait for next week!

[costas22]

Yeah, not a fan of the Ivy stuff either. I understand that she's a kid in a woman's body making childish decisions, but it still doesn't do the character she should be justice. Even if all the serums she drunk magically turn her into a genius. Last week I was actually surprised by her turn on Penguin, because it hinted at some growing maturity on her part. And this episode felt like a step back. She was better off as part of the Sirens, IMO.

Speaking of, I do like the teamup we are getting here. Barbara and Tabitha made a good pair anyway and adding Selina to the mix makes it all the more intriguing. As for Barbara's (who looked stunning by the way ) "sponsor", my money is on Ra's as well. I just hope these 3 go into a tear of their own and don't become Penguin's lackeys.

The Crane scenes were ok but like I said last week, they should be careful with the fear gas storyline because they already did it last year. I did enjoy the turmoil within the GCPD though. Especially the rift between Jim and Harvey. A sign of things to come and of Gordon's eventual despondency.

Got some real Dark Knight trilogy vibes in the scenes between Bruce, Alfred and Lucius. Can't go wrong with that formula. Bruce becoming a crime fighter already is a bit perplexing, but it's been handled well until now.

Here's a thing that I don't get: Crane doses Jim with his fear gas, which supposedly should make Jim see a vile nasty side of Lee he's never seen before. Instead, Jim's hallucination features the same charming Lee we saw last season.

Not as good as last week, but still pretty enjoyable.

[AsteroidMike]

It was a pretty good episode, the Scarecrow bits were the best parts and the hallucinations from the fear toxin were in fact, very terrifying.

When Barbara showed up, my first thought was how did she survive being electrocuted? My second thought was why does she look a lot like Charlize Theron's character from Atomic Blonde?

Another thing I felt was interesting was the divide between Jim and Harvey, the way the latter wasn't going to back him up in dealing with the issues and just left Jim to do deal with Crane on his own. I do like the contrast on how Jim still wants to bring Crane in and get justice done, while Harvey is the one wondering whether it's all worth it or not.

[Aries83]

The scarecrow segments were really good. the rest of the ep, not so much.

It did feel like they were jumping between plots in some places, but it didn't feel as obvious as in some episodes as last season.

she's a young girl aged up into an adult woman and obviously haven't gone to school at all. And she got her powers from other people instead of herself... so it was like she's basically a dumb bimbo who had to steal from others to empower herself. Oh, and her powers now come from some mystic Chinese potion?? It's like a major DE-evolution of a character instead of seeing her grow up into the poison ivy we know.

I get what you're saying. To me, it seems like her swallowing the potions was their way of "fast-tracking" her to being more like her comic book counterpart. I do like the unpredictability that comes with her, though. You never really know what she's going to do (mainly because she is still a child).

I do like the teamup we are getting here. Barbara and Tabitha made a good pair anyway and adding Selina to the mix makes it all the more intriguing. As for Barbara's (who looked stunning by the way ) "sponsor", my money is on Ra's as well.

I don't mind the 3 of them together (or 4, counting Ivy), but: I really wanted Tabatha to take Barbara's hand! She went through the fuss of bringing a cleaver with her and just ends up embedded into Barbara's desk because—all of a sudden—she loses her nerve? Ok...

The Crane scenes were ok but like I said last week, they should be careful with the fear gas storyline because they already did it last year.

That's true. That's why I think it should diverge from anything from the Nolan trilogy somehow. Then again, there's only so much you can do with a fear toxin until it becomes repetitive. I was glad that Crane remembered that Gordon shot his father, though.

They should problem retire the, "This is Gotham," line, too, as it was said again last night...

Crane doses Jim with his fear gas, which supposedly should make Jim see a vile nasty side of Lee he's never seen before. Instead, Jim's hallucination features the same charming Lee we saw last season.

Don't even get me started, costas22!... Only in a fear toxin-induced hallucination would Leslie still be the same... They could've had her lunge at him and start choking him, at the very least. It seemed like Baccarin was phoning it in, too. I'd probably want to doze off and go underwater too if that's all I had to do for the week...

[Aurora Moon]

The other thing I didn't like about the ivy story-line is the fact that Selina now has no peers her age at all. instead she's surrounded by all those adults who keeps on telling her what to do, etc.
She's effectively all alone on her own, despite all those adults around her. There's Bruce, but he kinda doesn't count.

I just keep on thinking that it would've been really nice if a young Ivy got herself a mentor too the same way Selina did, and then they'd call on each other for support and continue to be friends while their mentors are being evil dicks to each other. I get that the Gotham writers really wanted to do a poison ivy story-line and they couldn't do that with a young girl like that, but I still think they could had found better ways to do that.

[costas22]

I don't mind the 3 of them together (or 4, counting Ivy), but: I really wanted Tabatha to take Barbara's hand! She went through the fuss of bringing a cleaver with her and just ends up embedded into Barbara's desk because—all of a sudden—she loses her nerve? Ok...

Yeah, but if this thing is going in circles, then Penguin or Nygma should lose a hand next.

That's true. That's why I think it should diverge from anything from the Nolan trilogy somehow. Then again, there's only so much you can do with a fear toxin until it becomes repetitive. I was glad that Crane remembered that Gordon shot his father, though.

That's why I think Crane works best in mini-storylines. They can't do a season long storyline with him, especially after the Tetch virus featured prominently last season. For me, Gotham is at its best when it's dealing with street crime. Which is why I am intrigued to see what Falcone's daughter will bring to the table (apart from being Jim's love interest ) and if she will fight Penguin for control of Gotham.

Don't even get me started, costas22!... Only in a fear toxin-induced hallucination would Leslie still be the same... They could've had her lunge at him and start choking him, at the very least. It seemed like Baccarin was phoning it in, too. I'd probably want to doze off and go underwater too if that's all I had to do for the week...

It's safe to say that "This is your fault, Jim" has been said more times than "This is Gotham". Yeah, Morena did look a bit bored, but I can only imagine what she must have thought when she got her script and she realized that she would say the same stuff for the umpteenth time. Especially now that she's busy with filming Deadpool 2.

The other thing I didn't like about the ivy story-line is the fact that Selina now has no peers her age at all. instead she's surrounded by all those adults who keeps on telling her what to do, etc.
She's effectively all alone on her own, despite all those adults around her. There's Bruce, but he kinda doesn't count.

Maybe a young Harley Quinn will pop up one day and Selina might become her mentor of sorts. Who knows. Selina's storyline is also a bit confusing. She wants to be a big part of the criminal underworld now, but was that always the case with her? She struck me more as a grey character who just looked to get by and was very protective of her friends (like Ivy and Firefly). The latter has been completely neglected lately. Also, her fall last year was glossed over and had no significant impact on her character. As if they wanted to do a Batman Returns homage and nothing more.

[Aries83]

Crane works best in mini-storylines. They can't do a season long storyline with him, especially after the Tetch virus featured prominently last season. For me, Gotham is at its best when it's dealing with street crime. Which is why I am intrigued to see what Falcone's daughter will bring to the table (apart from being Jim's love interest ) and if she will fight Penguin for control of Gotham.

I agree about Crane. The toxin and virus are too similar. Maybe he'll be MIA for a while just to avoid the repetitiveness.

As for Falcone's daughter being Gordon's love interest: Really?! I haven't read a lot of spoilers for this season. If that's where they go with her (e.g., Lee 2.0), forget it!

It's safe to say that "This is your fault, Jim" has been said more times than "This is Gotham".

That totally reminds me of a Smallville video someone uploaded where Clark was featured saying, "This is is all my fault!" over the course of the entire series...

Morena did look a bit bored, but I can only imagine what she must have thought when she got her script and she realized that she would say the same stuff for the umpteenth time. Especially now that she's busy with filming Deadpool 2.

I have nothing against her, really. Thompkins just has no reason to be featured on the show anymore.

The other thing I didn't like about the ivy story-line is the fact that Selina now has no peers her age at all. instead she's surrounded by all those adults who keeps on telling her what to do, etc.
She's effectively all alone on her own, despite all those adults around her. There's Bruce, but he kinda doesn't count.

I just keep on thinking that it would've been really nice if a young Ivy got herself a mentor too the same way Selina did, and then they'd call on each other for support and continue to be friends while their mentors are being evil dicks to each other. I get that the Gotham writers really wanted to do a poison ivy story-line and they couldn't do that with a young girl like that, but I still think they could had found better ways to do that.

It does seem like she's been put on the back burner since last season. Like costas22 said, maybe they'll give her a foil of some kind. They need to do something for her. Without Selina, she's not really that relevant.

Of course, there's The Scarecrow storyline with the fear toxin. They could've easily brought her in to analyze that being that she was already good with plants, but that would be a stretch as it is (given her backstory of being aged-up).

[costas22]

As for Falcone's daughter being Gordon's love interest: Really?! I haven't read a lot of spoilers for this season. If that's where they go with her (e.g., Lee 2.0), forget it!

Apologies. I should have clarified that it's my speculation going by the episode descriptions. It's just that Jim is the one who meets her at Falcone's and then she follows Jim to Gotham, so I'm worried that she will be another Valerie Vale. A love interest for him until Lee returns. Hope I'm wrong and Falcone's daughter doesn't get involved in a romantic storyline at all.

That totally reminds me of a Smallville video someone uploaded where Clark was featured saying, "This is is all my fault!" over the course of the entire series...

The easiest way to get depressed is to watch that video. Give Lee a couple of more seasons and she'll give Lana a run for her money.

[TheSecretVampire]

I really like Bruce being like Batman, right now. I can see how some might not like that but I really like it when they do different things from the comics, at times....along as it doesn't bother or annoy me, I'm all for it....


And it's about time they do something with Ivy. She's pretty much been nothing of importance since her turn into an adult so it's great to see maybe now she'll have "power" to do what she wants and not take crap from anyone.

[Haggard01]

I really like Bruce being like Batman, right now.

Yeah me to. I like seeing Bruce running around as Batman, despite him not being called that. Which it's been since the 1960's where we Batman on TV like this, so I'll take it.

Like how in Smallville we had a Superman show but without calling him Superman. Though I still wish they came up with something better then the Red and Blue Blur or The Blur. Just has never sounded all that great to me.