Written by Seth Boston
Directed by Kenneth Fink
Scarface (to Oswald): "Applesauce, you're a liar and a thief. All you do is take. Take."
Ventriloquist: "Take and you never give anything. You worked me to the bone. Forced me to be your puppet. Well, no more."
Originally we were only to get 10 episodes for the show's final season but thanks to FOX clearly wanting to end the series with 100 episodes, we were given an extra two episodes and because of that, a previously abandoned storyline was thankfully brought to the surface with a returning actor nonetheless.
It's been no secret that actor Andrew Sellon was keen on playing Arnold Wesker aka, Ventriloquist/Scarface and with Penn's personality so befitting of Wesker himself, it actually made perfect sense for Gotham to go and do their own variation of the underrated but enjoyable Rogue Gallery member and this was certainly a great live action depiction of the character(s), except with one obvious caveat.
The caveat of course being that we had to see Penn getting shot yet again as the show went to town on both Oswald and Edward solidifying their friendship while also being forced to entertain Penn's desire to get Oswald's gold and out of town on the yet to be built submarine. On one hand - yay for Edward finally embracing Oswald for who he is but at the same time, I could've done without seeing Penn die a second time this season.
Other than that though, Sellon did a great job selling both Ventriloquist and Scarface and given that the latter himself was discovered in a magic shop, could there be some hope that maybe we'll see him in about a decade or so time? One can only hope.
Of course this episode didn't just boast two Rogue Gallery members, but rather four of them. Going with the more recent to comics but generally obscure Jane Doe (Sarah Pidgeon) first - well, she made quite an impression, certainly a better one than Magpie did a fortnight ago. Her story seemed to fuse elements of Clayface (who was mentioned) and Calendar Girl from The New Batman Adventures while also reintroducing Dix from the first season and dealing with a shameful part of Bullock's past.
I did like that Bullock got a decent amount of focus in this episode and while I hated that Gordon was a bit too self righteous at the end of the episode by not giving Harvey some absolution, at least we do know they'll be on good terms seeing as we still have another flashforward to look forward to. Plus if Gordon is willing to be nicer to Barbara these days, then that should extend to Harvey as well.
As for the last Rogue member this week - Killer Croc, anyone? Or someone with a very similar skin condition and razor sharp teeth living in the sewers. He was the contributing to Bruce and Alfred's scenes this week as the latter was also looking for absolution and Bruce giving it to him as well. Their plot did feel a bit more filler compared to the other big stories in this episode but still fairly engaging nonetheless.
- Where is Edward the dog? Oswald's latest minion Dale didn't even last an episode when Scarface shot him.
- Killer Croc here is also down to Jeremiah poisoning the waters and Jane Doe's shape shifting abilities are another consequence of Hugo Strange's experiments at Indian Hill.
- No Leslie, Selina or Lucius in this episode but at least the show is remembering that Walker is an ongoing threat.
- Chronology: It does seem like a fair chunk of time has passed since Ace Chemicals. Barbara was even showing in this episode.
Nothing's Shocking doesn't do much to advance the ongoing plot but given that it was a late entry, I can forgive that. Especially given it's great uses of Ventriloquist/Scarface, Jane Doe and Killer Croc as well as the various scenes with most of our main players this week. I also see the show is determined to put Barbara on the path back to being good, which I'm fine with even if she is more entertaining as a baddie. Next week though, more Poison Ivy and Zsasz.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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