Mad City: The gentle art of making enemies

After a power outage in Gotham, the police station is crowded with criminals, while the police are trying to arrest the criminals. Meanwhile, Kobblepot ( Robin Lord Taylor ) and his henchmen come to the warehouse and find Nigma ( Corey Michael Smith ). He kills minions and shows Isobella's car to Kobblepot, who is given a way out to declare that he knows the involvement in her death.

Catherine ( Leslie Hendrix ) and a member of the Court ( James Remar ) discuss the events that take place in Gotham and the member tells her that she wants to give the police of Gotham a chance, although she doubts his faith. With lights not returning until the following days, Gordon ( Ben MacKenzie ) and Bullock ( Donal Log ) discuss Jerome ( Cameron Monaghan ), but then they recall that he spoke to Lee ( Morena Baccarin ) and he finds out that he plans to kill Bruce ( David Mazouz ). Nigma binds Kobblpot to Isabella's car, prompting Kobblpot to admit that he killed Isabella and made for his love for him. Nigma also places a caustic cauldron tied with a chained large piece of ice, so that when the ice melts, the acid will kill Kobblepot.

Bruce and Alfred ( Sean Pertwee ) are attacked on the Wayne Jerome estate and his followers, who destroy the owl statue. Jerome takes Bruce and orders followers to kill Alfred. Gordon arrives just in time to kill the followers and save Alfred. Jerome takes Bruce to the boardwalk circus, where citizens are used as gaming rides for the entertainment of followers. Jerome kills one of his followers and uses his blood to draw a mouth on Bruce's face. Meanwhile, Kobblepot manages to free himself when a policeman helps him. He returns to Dahl’s estate and is caught by Butch ( Drew Powell ) and Tabitha ( Jessica Lucas ).

Jerome ties Bruce to a pole to arrange an event with his “boom” and fills the canon with a cannonball and knives to kill him. Gordon, Alfred and Bullock come and fight with followers, while Jerome lights a cannon. At the last second, Bruce is released and runs, while Jerome follows him. Barbara ( Erin Richards ) tells Kobblepot that if he wants to live, he must find Nigma to kill him. However, Kobblepot realizes that love includes a victim and discovers that he has destroyed Nigma's happiness for him and decides to die instead of calling him. Nigma appears, stating that he wanted him to die so that he could see that he could not truly love anyone, but was clearly moved by Kobblpot’s assertion that he could.

Bruce runs into the house of the mirrors, while Jerome follows him. They fight in one of the rooms when Bruce takes the upper hand and hits Jerome in the face for multiple times, disfiguring him. He then takes a piece of glass to kill him, but at the last moment, decides not to kill him. He leaves and reunites with Alfred. Jerome comes out of the house of the mirrors, and Gordon attacks him until he hits his fist hard enough to remove his face. Jerome is arrested and taken to the Arkham clinic with his face being placed back. At Wayne's estate, Bruce tells Alfred what happened and how he felt he did, this is justice. Alfred states the rules that he cannot break, and Bruce replies that he will never kill. Meanwhile, Catherine speaks with the twin of Bruce, who has been brainwashed about his new goals. When he was touched, a member of the Court replied that he would go with someone to join them, as "no one refuses the Court." He visits Gordon, showing himself as Uncle Frank Gordon, the man who wore the ring . Nigma brings Cobblepot to the port to kill him. Kobblepot continues to beg that he created him and that he still loves him, but Nigma instead shoots him in the stomach and throws him water. The episode ends with Kobblepot plunging deeper into the sea.

Development

In November 2016, Drew Powell tweeted that the fourteenth episode of the season would be called “The Tender Art of Making Enemies” and that the script was written by Seth Boston and directed by Louis Shaw Milito ^[1] .

Casting

In November 2016, James Remar played the role of Frank Gordon, Uncle James Gordon, in the role that was described as “The Elder Gordon left Gotham after Jim's father died, but 25 years later, he came back and hoped to reconnect with his a nephew. But Frank has a dark secret that will force Jim to choose between saving his family and saving Gotham. ” Remar is the second Dexter veteran to join the show, the first of which is David Zeyes ^[2] . Kamren Bikondov , Maggie Geha, Benedict Samuel and Michael Chiklis did not appear in the episode as their characters. Despite the announcement in January 2017, no star guests were announced with the title of the episode ^[3] .

Viewers

The episode was watched by 3.46 million viewers with a share of 1.1 / 4 among adults aged 18 to 49 ^[4] . It was a 4% decline in the audience from the previous episode, which was watched by 3.60 million viewers from 1.2 / 4 in the demographics 18-49 ^[5] . With this rating, Gotham ranked second on the FOX channel, behind Lucifer , third in its time interval and sixth for the night behind Strange Couple , Lucifer, Kevin will wait again, the Big Bore Theory explosion ”, and“ Bachelor ”.

Critical Reaction

The episode "Mad City: The Gentle Art of Making Enemies" received great praise from critics. This episode received a rating of 89% with an average score of 9.53 out of 10 on the Rotten Tomatoes website ^[10] .

Matt Fowler of IGN gave the episode “big” 8.1 out of 10 and wrote in his verdict: “The material of Bruce / Jerome was great here in the silly malicious“ Tender art to make enemies ”, giving us a version of this Batman show against the Joker. Elsewhere, with Mysterious and Penguin, things did not go as well as Ed was tired and the intricate vengeful plot (fortunately) gasped a last sigh ” ^[11] .

Nick Hogan from TV Overmind gave a wonderful 5 out of 5, writing: “If we had to pause (what do we MEAN? * Sad face *), then this was the way to go. “Gotham” proved again and again that he knows how to excite the audience, this episode was no exception ” ^[12] . Sage Young from EW gave the episode a rating of "A" and wrote, "Gotham" is another show now, which was at the end of the second season, and the transition was smooth. Violence and blood were compared to remind Gotham City, which we know from the movies. And these frauds of the underworld players of the city place them on the brink of war. While Oswald and Ed ended their Greek tragedy, Tabitha and Barbara calmly killed all those "old dudes" who previously commanded. Justice is submissive. And Bruce Wayne is ready to come to the side of the road ” ^[13] .

MaryAnn Slasman from TV.com wrote, “I am ready to ride it yet. I blamed “Gotham” many times and again to be too afraid of calling its source material to be really big, but several episodes that we have under our service belt since returning the show have had several “really big” moments in them. The series lays the foundation - for what, who knows? The irony of all this development is that the future of Gotham cannot ultimately be seen on Gotham, simply by the nature of what the series is. This does not mean that we cannot enjoy the hell out of it, though ” ^[14] . Lisa Babik from TV Fanatic , gave a wonderful 5 out of 5, pointing out: ““ The gentle art of making enemies ”was the only crazy hour from television, but it was also the only one of the best“ Gotham ”. Justice and revenge were the main theme of the hour with Bruce taking the side of justice and Penguin customizable for revenge like we have never seen before. " ^[15] Vinnie Mankuso of the New York Observer wrote," A lot of things in this story should have happened to get Eddie and Oswald so gray that the cloud could face a few funny moments from Barbara’s character, because Erin Richards is the show’s secret MVP. ” ^[16]

Carmen Fox of The Baltimore Sun wrote, “As I value innovation, having a winter episode fragment was a terrible idea. Yes, it was explosive, and yes, it excited the viewers to see Jerome reuniting with Gotham's rogue gallery, but ending it after three episodes is an unmistakable way to lose momentum. " ^[17] Sydney Baksbome from Nerdist wrote," The Joker came, he saw, and he very nearly conquered Gotham. But thanks to the joint efforts of Jim Gordon and the young Bruce Wayne, he was stopped before he could cause any irreparable damage to the city " ^[18] .

Robert Janis, Jr. from Screenrant wrote, “In addition, Ed and Penguin friendship - which was the key to the first half of the season - now looks ready to develop into something far from complicated, especially with the bloody way that this week’s episode wraps things up. While the endless rise and fall of Penguin has long been the trend of the story for Gotham for virtually every season, Ed's story feels that this is only the beginning of the character’s true fate, it would seem, just around the corner. But we are running ahead. Let's take a closer look at “Gentle art of making enemies” before getting into any specific features. " ^[19] Katie Burt from Den of Geek gave an episode of wonderful 5 out of 5 and wrote," This show will always have its own problems, but if it continues to deliver contributions like this, backed by the strong talent of its cast of actors, film crew and director, this gives a good argument for its long existence in this era of Peak TV. If nothing else, it remains committed to his comic tone and is really unlike anything else on TV. ” ^[20]