Gotham: Spirit of the Goat
October 28, 2014 12:32 PM - Season 1, Episode 6 - Subscribe

Bullock and Gordon investigate a copycat of the Spirit of the Goat, a serial killer Bullock arrested ten years ago who targeted the children of Gotham's elite. Meanwhile, the investigation into the apparent murder of Oswald Cobblepot gets a critical clue.
posted by Small Dollar (18 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I don't know if it's just my Edlund bias, but I tuned in this week and didn't hate this one? There were some good lines, at least. Montoya arresting Bullock and Gordon on a murder where there's no body due to the word of an old Norwegian by the docks is still pretty stupid, but it wasn't as horribly offensive.
posted by dinty_moore at 2:36 PM on October 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


I liked the Bullock backstory that was wound up in this one. It added some interest and depth to the characters. Also, the ending: they don't believe in the slow buildup at all with the Gordon-Cobblepot murder plot, do they?
posted by immlass at 7:42 PM on October 28, 2014


I have a feeling that Montoya may be on the take, and that the move to get Gordon is an effort to tie up loose ends. That may be wrong though.

Otherwise, this was a pretty solid episode. I definitely feel that they're getting better as the show goes on. The scene with Selina breaking into Wayne manor seemed sort of extraneous though... it's like "hey, these characters still exist! remember?"
posted by codacorolla at 7:34 AM on October 29, 2014


Montoya on the take ? If they do that, I'll stop watching.
posted by Pendragon at 7:58 AM on October 29, 2014


I did appreciate that they finally had a plot where it kind of made sense for us to somewhat care about Bruce, though. Not so much Selina, but the 'who would they take me from?' line and then panning to Alfred worked surpringly well.
posted by dinty_moore at 8:09 AM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


So... Nygma's coffee mug.

Just when I thought the foreshadowing couldn't get any less subtle, they take it to a whole new level. I'm guessing his next appearance will feature blinking green text in all caps reading "HAY GUYZ, LOOK, IT'S THE RIDDLER!!1"
posted by entropicamericana at 3:10 PM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


This was to be 6 of 6 for me, but I guess I'll be in for one more.

DAMN YOU EDLUUUNNNNNNDDDDDD!!!!!!!!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:29 PM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


Good ep but a bit puzzled by...well, why a goat?
posted by davidmsc at 11:48 PM on October 29, 2014


You guys have already covered most of my thoughts about this week's episode: it somehow managed to not be completely awful, even though they were clearly trying. Bullock was actually sorta fun.

The only thing I have to add is that I've been binge watching Batman: the Brave and the Bold, and it makes watching Gotham extra sad because I don't think they'll ever do anything a tenth as cool as B:tBatB's KIte Man. And that's terrible.
posted by mordax at 11:58 PM on October 29, 2014


I too felt this was a genuinely better/less bad episode.

I have a feeling that Montoya may be on the take

My instinct since the first episode was that her partner is dirty since he's otherwise a complete empty cipher of a character (I don't even recall his name).
posted by audi alteram partem at 1:18 PM on October 30, 2014


My instinct since the first episode was that her partner is dirty since he's otherwise a complete empty cipher of a character (I don't even recall his name).

His name is Crispus Allen and his name, at least, is an easter egg for DC fans--though I have to admit if I didn't know it from the comics, I probably wouldn't remember it either.
posted by immlass at 1:27 PM on October 30, 2014


Yeah, so far Allen is not even a spectre of what he is in the comics.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:32 AM on November 1, 2014


Oh, I didn't realize Montoya was a character from the Batman canon. I guess that means she's probably on the straight and narrow, given what I just read in her wikipedia entry.
posted by codacorolla at 7:59 AM on November 1, 2014


Or, well, so consumed by the need for justice and disillusioned by the Gotham police that she goes full vigilante and becomes the Question.

Though Gotham's worldbuilding seems to be leaning away from ever allowing non-Batman vigilantes - even those as morally gray as the question - and Montoya's characterization needs a hell of a lot of work. I still (somewhat) have hope.
posted by dinty_moore at 6:35 PM on November 2, 2014


Just caught up on this episode and was wondering: the lady who deals with the GCPD files (and who Nigma annoys so thoroughly) - is she canon? He said her name so specifically that I felt like I was supposed to recognize it, but I didn't.
posted by komara at 12:57 PM on November 4, 2014


This episode was terrible! I mean the show is starting to find its stride, the actors and pacing and direction are working. But that script, just awful. Random single episode serial killer with undistinguishing generic creepy details. Lots of pretty girls being tortured. Then the twist, the therapist, just all so stupid. Grr.
posted by Nelson at 9:05 PM on November 7, 2014


The scene near the beginning with Nygma and Bullock and the first victim — anyone notice that Nygma (possibly) gets the answer to his own riddle wrong?

We don't hear the whole puzzle; Nygma just references a riddle about "a wolf, a sheep, and a cabbage" which he told to Bullock earlier, off-screen. There's a classic puzzle which matches that description. (In fact, it also made an appearance in the last two episodes of the first season of Fargo.) But the answer Nygma starts to give before Bullock shuts him up doesn't fit the classic version of the puzzle. Nygma says something along the lines of "First the farmer takes the wolf and the cabbage across...." But the classic version of the puzzle only allows the farmer to transport one of the three at a time.

So either Nygma screwed it up, or the version Nygma told is different from the classic version. But if he told a different version, then what was it? If it differs only in that the farmer can take two items at a time, the puzzle becomes ridiculously easy. And was that intentional on the part of the writers, and something we should try to interpret regarding Nygma, or was it just shoddiness on their part?
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:02 PM on November 9, 2014


is she canon? He said her name so specifically that I felt like I was supposed to recognize it, but I didn't.

Kristen Kringle. I was wondering the same thing during the episode, but Googling doesn't bring up any DC-related links outside of Gotham, so she's apparently a de novo character.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:12 PM on November 9, 2014


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