Gotham: The Blind Fortune Teller Review

The circus comes under attack while Gordon and Dr. Thompkins are in attendance.

• From all the marketing, and laugh, it seems like Gotham has introduced its “The Joker,” and his debut leaves a bit to be desired. The actor seems to have the chops and devilish laugh for it, but not keen on the origin told him. It basically boils down to The Joker having mommy issues as a child, and we’ve already been through everyone else on Gotham having some form of parental issues. I’ll give the show the benefit of the doubt to see how it all shakes out.
• Fish is doing stuff, I guess. Her storyline didn’t get much advancement this week, but was oddly a big focal point of the run-time. I’m not entirely sure why, but I guess we’ll get the pay-off next week?
• Another really go-nowhere arc of this episode was The Penguin and his club storyline. We do get the Butch return at the end, but we didn’t necessarily need all the scenes to set that up. Especially since it didn’t have much flow with the rest of the episode. 
• What did work for this episode was the whole circus sub-plot. I think it just blended the absurdity of the entire show in a way nothing has before. Seeing these colorful and over-the-top characters in the police station really drives home the entire “tone” of the series. It’s serious in how goofy it is,and that’s a good thing when it works. The scene where Jim explains the crime/set-up to the Captain and Bullock kind of encompasses the series as a whole.
• Bruce makes big stride in his arc as he finally takes some of his findings to the Wayne Enterprise board, and the reaction was about one would expect, but it does seem to set-up a fun and eventful back-half for Bruce and Alfred. Also really loved the set of Wayne Enterprises. It really contrasts with the rest of the show’s sets. It’s bright, vibrant and gets plenty of sun.
• Jim and Leslies relationship continues to be a bit of fun. I like how they give them conflict without making it too melodramatic…so far. I like Leslie easing into Gordon’s world and it doesn’t seem to frighten her so far, which would explain how she could easily exist in Batman’s world. I also like the pay-off with Bullock even if he was criminally underused in this episode.
• Barbara…what are we going to do with Barbara. Her closest allies are now a bunch of teenage girls. That kind of says all about her maturity.

This was a fun episode of Gotham. While built around the grand-reveal of The Joker that really takes a second or third seat to many other plots in this episode. The preview at the end makes it seem like we’re in for a heck of a ride in the remaining 6 episodes.