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TV Review: Gotham Series 1 Episode 5: ‘Viper’

There’s a new drug on the streets of Gotham. Niall Whitehead reviews… the TV show, that is

Tuesday 18 November 2014

Rating: ★★★★☆

Another week, another episode of Gotham, Channel 5’s newest Batmanless Batman show! Thus far, it’s been so OK it’s not bad – it’s still managed to remain worth watching, though.

This week, there’s a new drug hitting the streets: Viper, seemingly a prototype of the infamous Venom drug that gives Bane his super-strength in the comics. Users get that same power, lugging cash machines over their shoulders and throwing people through doors, but quickly suffer a fatal case of withdrawal when the effects wear off. It’s up to Gordon and Bullock to cut off the flow, and find out who’s out there supplying it…

All that means that Gotham takes another step forward this episode from noirish corruption to comic- book super-villainy. Our villain of the week – another disgruntled citizen worn down by the system, much like the Balloonman – pioneers the proud Gotham traditions of hijacking television channels and gassing the audience.

The emergence of Viper gives us our first look at actual superpowers, too – complete with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D-esque dodgy CGI, so it’s nice to know they have something in common. In fact, that whole main plot felt like a strong episode of S.H.I.E.L.D, giving the show a more distinct identity than your typical police procedural with “BATMAN” slapped on it.

Meanwhile, the show’s usual subplots tick along unimpeded, pretty much entirely disconnected from Gordon and Bullock and their case of the week. The Penguin makes his first big mistake this week, revealing to his mobster employer who he actually is – an exiled snitch on the run from his last gang – and almost getting introduced face-first to a meat grinder for his trouble. Only Gordon’s intervention saves him, in what’s actually a quite tense scene (kudos to David Zayas’ Salvadore Maroni for bringing a suitable air of menace to proceedings), and that intervention places him squarely under Maroni’s thumb.

Barbara and Detective Montoya are absent this week – not that they’re particularly missed – so Fish Mooney provides the female-led subplot. Last week she picked up a protégée, and this week we see what she’s going to do with her – use her as a honeytrap against her alleged boss, Falcone (called it, by the http://nouse.co.uk/2014/11/18/tv-review-gotham-series-1-episode-5-viper Archived 11 Dec 2018 08:54:04 Nouse Web Archives TV Review: Gotham Series 1 Episode 5: ‘Viper’ Page 2 of 3 way).

A new sub-plot also emerges from the mire this week. After hints that Thomas and Martha Wayne weren’t quite as above Gotham’s infamous layers of corruption as young Bruce imagined – which would have been interesting to examine over a few episodes rather than killing them off in the opening scene, but c’est la vie – it seems there’s some dodgy dealings in the belly of Wayne Enterprises.

It’ll be interesting to see where that one goes, especially with Alfred joining Bruce on his quest to find his parents’ killer. Bruce still seems a lot like a fully-developed Batman trapped in the body of a child – swearing revenge on his parents’ killer and so on – but if he’s going to keep turning up every week, he at least has something to do now.

All in all, that was a strong episode (there’s probably a pun about Viper in there somewhere but I’m too lazy to find it). And there was a scene where an elderly Philosophy professor jacked up on Viper threw Bullock through a door. So we’ll always have that.

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