TV Review: GOTHAM: Season 3, Episode 9: The Executioner [Fox]

Gotham The Executioner Review

Fox‘s Gotham: Season 3, Episode 9: The Executioner officially loses the White Knight of Gotham. Prior to his death in the previous episode, Symon manages to name Captain Nathaniel Barnes (Michael Chiklis) as his murderer. Naturally, James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) is the recipient of this news. Obviously, Gordon takes this seriously. What does a dying man have to lose by naming his killer?

But the revelation isn’t something that Gordon takes lightly. For awhile now, Barnes has been the pinnacle of justice in Gotham. The notion that he has suddenly turned his back on the law is quite hard to believe.

But Barnes takes the quick, winding road to darkness when he has three criminals tied up in nooses. During his monolog, he again points out that: he is the law. The repetitiveness is a bit redundant but his point is well made. Justice starts and ends with him. This is a stark departure from the Barnes character we have come to see as the “guiding light of Gotham”.

This automatically sets up an adversarial relationship between Gordon and Barnes. Both are good cops and both and smell deceit. It is clear that Barnes knows his “I am the law” mentality won’t fly in the world of Jim Gordon.

They have a great conversation in a car that highlights their individual mentalities. Gordon with his: the law is the line and Barnes spouting that: bending the law is necessary.

When Barnes and Gordon are in each other’s crosshairs we definitely see the “passing of torch”. On the one hand, Barnes has been holding on the shreds of whatever is keeping Gotham good has now become the poster boy for going beyond the letter of the law. And then Gordon, whose checkered history with the law makes his rise to doing right all the more rewarding.

It only makes sense that Barnes would try to cast Gordon as the villain. Gordon hasn’t had the greatest history with getting on the bad side of the law. This spells bad news for Gordon, but luckily for Gordon, Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) and Lee Thompkins (Morena Baccarin)are able to point the finger squarely at Barnes for the murderers and make his infection with the Tetch virus public. Though, it is surprising considering how much Lee and Gordon went through she would be willing to help him.

Granted, Lee is about to be married but the act of sparing Gordon’s life gives us some hope that the love lost between these two isn’t completely lost.  Though sadly for Gotham, losing Barnes to complete madness has lost a city one the key players in protecting the city from the corrupt characters lurking in the shadows.

On the other side of things, Isabella’s murder has gutted Nygma (Corey Michael Smith) , much to Cobblepot’s (Robin Lord Taylor) delight. Upon visiting the scene of her death Nygma discovers that her car breaks had been cut. He confronts Cobblepot with this information and declares Butch perpetrated the act in revenge for previous events.

This revelation only draws Nygma further and further into Cobblepot’s pocket and sets up the scenario of these two super villains eventually going head-to-head.

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