Gotham: Review: Series 1 Episode 6: Spirit of the Goat

A ghost from Harvey’s past returns – and Jim’s own past also is about to cause him problems…

And once again Gotham changes tack, this time turning the attention firmly on Harvey Bullock and suggesting that some point in the past (okay, ten years ago, to be precise), he seems to have been as idealistic as Jim Gordon is now… until, that is, he became responsible for the injuries caused to his partner. Donal Logue has had to show the tough guy side of Bullock all the time up to now, and it’s good to see some shades of grey in him (although perhaps unsurprisingly the episode’s final revelation tips him back over the edge).

We’re in Hannibal territory here, with the return of a serial killer who’s obsessed with some form of cult, and it was good to see that there was a “rational” explanation given for a copycat appearing ten years after the death of the original murderer. I still think that this is a better way for the series to go, rather than down the supervillain route – and even Mr Cobblepot is behaving almost sanely this episode (although his relationship with his mother is odd, to say the least).

The Jim/Barbara/Montoya relationship is also critical with one thread coming to a head – something that needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later, certainly – but I suspect there’s a lot more to come out about why Montoya is so determined to bring Jim down.

As far as the other characters go, there was a brief visit to Wayne Manor (well, there were two, one of them by Selina Kyle), which tried to put a wedge between Bruce and Alfred after the previous episode’s rapprochement. There was also a little more depth for Mr Nygma and his colleague Kristen Kringle (who as far as I can see is an original character to the series and everything about her screams “origin story”).

Verdict: It may still be bedding down, but Gotham becomes more intriguing by the week. 7/10

Paul Simpson