Written by Danny Cannon
Directed by Hanelle M. Culpepper
Ivy (to Selina): "Let's make Gotham our bitch!"
It's been three months since the last episode had Sofia Falcone become the crime boss of the city and Oswald Cobblepot got shipped back to Arkham where he soon interacted with Jerome Valeska. I bring these two bits up because neither of them are surprisingly addressed in this mid-season premiere episode.
Instead the focus goes towards Edward Nygma and his Riddler persona fighting the other. Ed seems content with being Leslie's right hand man (while holding a torch for her) while the Riddler wants her out of the way and hires the Toymaker in order to get the job done, so that he can take over the Narrows and whatnot.
Of course, Ed is unaware that his other side tried to take out Leslie until the Toymaker confessed and was promptly killed by a "shoot first, maybe ask questions later" Gordon for not so good measure. Of course before the death, there was the delightful commentary on how one person can be both a toy maker and an assassin for hire, because after all, this is Gotham.
It's been good that with the exception of a nightmare sequence earlier in the season that Gordon and Leslie's interactions have been pretty minimal. When they interacted here, there was a bit of tension but not a lot as Leslie wasn't going to let something like a hit on her life deter her from wanting to make the Narrows into a better place for everyone involved. Plot wise, this seems to working in her favour this season. As for Gordon, even a bar tending Bullock didn't want to get sucked into his secrets and lies by the end of this episode.
Outside of the assassination plot though, this episode did however have a much welcomed return for Ivy Pepper. In her third incarnation, Peyton List might not be a ginger as her previous two counterparts but this is certainly an Ivy that's closer to the comics as we got to see her poison at least one person, nearly kill Selina before trying to get her on board to take over the city while also using her charms to get two men fighting over during the relaunch of The Sirens club.
While I'm a bit annoyed the show unfairly axed Maggie Geha, I am hoping that this will finally mean Ivy will get something interesting to really do on the show. I can see Selina being conflicted with helping her friend and also staying loyal to both Barbara and Tabitha and given that Ivy has her sights on Bruce next week (whose bad boy antics are amusing but in danger of wearing thin), it seems these two might become enemies rather quickly as well.
As for the rest of the episode, Alfred got something of a cliche but decent enough subplot involving a woman who was murdered by her abusive boyfriend, who then framed Alfred for the killing. I was relieved to see this storyline quickly dealt with and it was a nice way to reintroduce Bullock into the mix as well.
- It seems that the show is maintaining the A Dark Knight subtitle for the remainder of this season.
- I loved the absolute cheesiness of that Sirens television ad. Ivy hates Tabitha, the latter who also realised that her attempts to get Butch to remember actually worked.
- No Oswald, Jerome or Sofia this week.
- Chronology: Not so long since the events of Queen Takes Knight.
For a mid-season premiere, this was a lot of fun. Pieces Of A Broken Mirror set up a good arc with Ivy, which I can't wait to see happen and the Narrows main plot worked well in the episode itself. However, it's Oswald and Jerome that I think we're all looking forward to seeing again next week.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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