My Review of Gotham's 3x09: "The Executioner"

Written by Ken Woodruff
Directed by John Behring

Barnes (to himself): "Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!"

Is that it then? After all those episodes and a few deaths here and there for some less than savory bit characters, did the show really decide to bring Barnes to a grinding halt? If so, couldn't they have gone one further and actually kill him off?

Instead they packed him off to Arkham, even though character wise, he was someone the show could afford to lose. Granted this storyline has the first time that Barnes has had something interesting to do and it made sense that Gordon would be the one to expose his new brand of extreme justice as well.

The scenes with Gordon and Barnes were played off well enough. Barnes made an offer for Gordon to partner up with him, Gordon turned him down, Barnes went batshit and tried to kill him before being eventually taken out of the equation. Oh and Leslie and Bullock also played their bit parts in Barnes's downfall.

I guess now though the right person to give the commissioner role would be to Bullock. He did a good job with it between seasons last and Gordon really hasn't earned that role yet either. I know it sounds a bit mean, but I'm actually glad Barnes is gone, though with him not being dead, I don't doubt he'll return though.

Onto something a little more engaging, the show remembered that they aged up Ivy but while the character has matured in years, she's not done the same in intelligence. Her attempts of playing thief and naive seductress saw one of her victims getting killed while attracting assassins to Selina's little hideaway.

I quite liked the Ivy/Selina/Bruce scenes of this episode. I think all three actors played off each other and while it's still early days for the new Ivy (who has one hell of an appetite as well as fancy clobber), her reactions to Selina and Bruce being an item were actually pretty funny. I just hope the writers know what they're doing with her though.

Meanwhile this episode also confirmed Isabella's death, had Nygma in a state of grief before his determination resulted in him doing some investigating into his lover's death. Right now, Oswald should consider himself lucky that Nygma suspects Butch for killing off Isabella but I have a feeling that won't last too long. Either way, Isabella was something of a missed opportunity for the show.

- Ivy has been studying plants and using them to make deadly perfume. Now that's the side of the character I want to see more of.
- Next week's trailer hinted at the Court of Owls being back. Those were obviously the ones after Bruce, Selina and Ivy.
- No appearances from Alfred, Barbara, Tabitha, Butch, Lucius and Tetch this week. I also got a laugh out of Oswald having Nygma inserted into his painting as well.
- Chronology: Not long from where Blood Rush left off.

The Executioner wasn't a bad episode but I would've preferred a more permanent ending for Barnes if I'm being honest. The Bruce/Selina/Ivy and Oswald/Edward storylines were a lot more stronger though.

Rating: 7 out of 10