Gotham S1.17 "Red Hood" Review

After last week’s episode we were hoping that we’d found Gotham’s Joker, but maybe not. “Red Hood” once again delivers another potential Joker, though in a far more subtle way. No, we don’t mean in the form of the really crap comedian on Penguin’s stage.

Even if you’re not immersed in DC comic book law you can’t have failed to notice that some of the criminal gang members in the episode started acting in a very Joker-ish way when they donned the titular “red hood”. Some of them were a bit more Jack Nicholson than Heath Ledger but they all had their manic moments.

More DC-literate viewers, though, would have come away from the episode loaded with Easter eggs. The Red Hood gang, for example, does exist in the DC universe. It first appeared in Batman #0 after the New 52 reboot and was a gang formed in the aftermath of Thomas and Martha Wayne’s murder, when criminal activity surged. The Joker played his part is wiping the gang out.

However, the name “Red Hood” has been used by two other characters in the DC universe. One was Jason Todd, a former Robin killed by the Joker in Batman: A Death In The Family (1988-9) and later resurrected by Talia al Ghul. Death left a big chip on his shoulder so he became Red Hood and started exacting revenge and being a pain in Batman’s butt.

Finally, before the Joker took a dip in a face-altering chemical vat he was a criminal known as… Red Hood, as explained in a belated origin story for the Clown Prince of Crime written by Bill Finger for Detective Comics #168 (1951). Complicating matters further, in Batman: The Killing Joke (1988) Alan Moore has the Red Hood gang approaching a struggling stand-up comedian to ask him to help them with a criminal raid on a chemical plant… you can see where this is leading, no doubt.

So by the time of that wonderfully chilling final shot of the episode – with a kid picking up the hood, putting it on and shaping his fingers into a pretend gun – you have to wonder if the last week’s episode could have been a “red” herring. Hopefully not, though this would make a great, unexpected Joker origin too.

But was there anything in the episode for those not immersed in DC law? Hell yeah. That was all just optional extras. The main plot with the hapless gang going power crazy over a piece of scarlet cloth was witty, exciting and delightfully odd; after all, are we supposed to believe the hood really did have special powers?

Then we had Fish gouging out her own eye rather than letting the Dollmaker’s lackey take here peepers away. Er… yuck. You certainly can’t claim this show is predictable. At least know we know how this plot links in with the rest of Gotham; the Dollmaker (or “Doctor Dulmacher” – it’s not difficult to join the spare body parts) was mentioned earlier in the season, as the employer of the two child catchers in the episode “Selina Kyle”. Jada Pinkett Smith’s acting still has all the subtlety of circus clown but the body farm plot continues to be one of the surprise highlights of the second-half of this season. Gotham goes gothic; nowt wrong with that.

Fish isn’t the only one left losing blood at the end of the episode. Bruce’s threats to the board lead to them employing one of Alfred’s old mates to infiltrate Wayne Manor and find out what their fledgling boss has on them. Quite why he ends up stabbing Alfred is unclear; it seems a bit of an overreaction if all the board wants is to make a move on Bruce. Whatever the case, the scenes with Reggie, Bruce and Alfred bonding – though with an edgy undercurrent between the old military pals – are casually entertaining enough to make the betrayal suitably shocking.

Elsewhere, Penguin is having an alcohol supply problem and Butch steps in to help out. The fact that Penguin seems unnerved with Butch’s assistance seems at odds with what we were shown last week with Butch helpless to resist Penguin’s commands. It feels like we’ve missed a chunk of the story somewhere.

Anther unconvincing character reversal occurs in the deeply dull flatsharing-future-femme-fatales plot line. Last week Cat was telling Barbara how to dress to impress her man. This week Barbara’s recovered her fashion mojo and is giving Cat tips on what to wear.

Blimey, is that what the writers on the show think it takes to create “interesting” female characters?