Written by Tze Chun
Directed by Rob Bailey
Ecco: "Oh, Puddin' aren't you delicious?"
Selina: "Don't call me Puddin'."
Ecco: "There you go, Selina. I knew you had it in you. All it took was a little kick in the pants."
Okay, the episode might have been named after Penguin and maybe it took up the A plot of this one but the trailers and promotional pictures have been more centred on Selina and Ecco (maybe but probably not Harley) and their meeting here was without a doubt the highlight of this whole episode to boot.
Ivy warned Bruce last week that Selina would be changed forever by the root if she ingested it and this episode didn't waste time in showing us just how changed Selina has become. She's got her mobility back and she didn't waste time in getting Bruce to help her seek out Jeremiah by taking a trip to the Dark Zone this week in order to smoke him out.
For those hoping for an appearance of Jeremiah, you won't get it here but he is back next week though. However, while Selina didn't get her newly acquired claws on Jeremiah, she did however manage to infiltrate his church with Bruce for an entertaining and deadly one on one with Ecco, which also featured a brief spell of Russian Roulette to boot.
Speaking of Ecco - so far, she's had a little in the way of dialogue so it's been a little hard to completely judge Francesca Root-Dodson's acting but odd choice with a Southern drawl for the character to one side, she seemed pretty decent going head to head with Camren Bicondova during their scenes together. I still don't really know what makes Ecco tick beyond her slavish devotion to Jeremiah but there's some semblance of a "backstory" when she revealed to Selina that she's got a bullet dangling in her head though.
The fight scenes with Selina and Ecco and the latter using a choice word were fantastic, some of the best choreographed we've had on the show but due to Bruce's intervention, Ecco was allowed to slip away and Selina vowed to do things her way, which probably means Jeremiah is going to wind up with some scratches on his face, even if/when Selina fails to actually kill him.
Speaking of failed kills, Barbara's second attempt this season to bump off Oswald was yet again intercepted by Jim, as the latter went from a feud with Oswald at Haven to banding together and working with him in order to take out a gang that Oswald himself brought to the sanctuary. All because most of Oswald's staff, including Mr Penn and even Edward the dog abandoned him for Haven, which Oswald didn't like one bit.
By now, Oswald should've learned the lesson that not treating people like crap might get them to be more loyal but as Penn told him before dying "everyone hated you." Somehow even with the Haven residents singing his praises will Oswald actually take this lesson on board. Then again, this episode also ended up with Haven being blown up and that poor kid Jim bonded with also being killed. At this rate, it's got to be either Jeremiah or the government pulling this kind of stunt.
- This episode was certainly gorier than usual (even for this show) with that man's body slashed to ribbons with the words "kill" on it.
- Nice to see that while Selina got her claws in this episode, Bruce also had his grappling hook. Almost surprised we didn't see Ecco with a mallet but that's coming soon. Her gown also had some Harley-esque colours to it.
- We were missing Alfred, Lucius, Nygma and Leslie this week. No one seemed to be that concerned about the latter. I also liked Barbara and Bullock mulling over the old days during one scene here.
- Chronology: Not long from where Trespassers left off.
Penguin, Our Hero certainly wins points for goriness and the electrifying scenes with Selina and Ecco along with Gordon and Oswald's billionth alliance, but I'm surprised that they didn't try to get a little more out of the Haven plot before blowing the place to smithereens though. Other than that, strongest episode so far this season.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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