Rise of the Villains: The Son of Gotham

"Rise of the Villains: The Son of Gotham" is the tenth episode of the second season and 32nd episode overall from the FOX series Gotham. The episode was written by John Stephens and directed by Rob Bailey. It was first broadcast in November 23, 2015 in FOX.

Plot

After Officer Parks' funeral, Gordon (Ben McKenzie) visits Galavan (James Frain) in Blackgate Penitentiary where he admits the next day, he will see him in the courtroom and then taken away to the prison. He later tells Leslie (Morena Baccarin) about Galavan maybe not getting punishment for his crimes and his mistake at not killing Eduardo Flamingo to avoid Parks' death. Meanwhile, Order of Saint Dumas sacrifices a thug in the streets for an "initiation".

Gordon and Bullock (Donal Logue) arrive at a Chinese massage parlor where an attack perpetuated by the Order of Saint Dumas took place. Gordon is attacked by a member of the Order but before he can question him about Galavan, the member commits suicide by stepping in front of a truck. Gordon and Bullock go to the sewers where they discover the rituals and eight murders the Order committed. They're attacked by another member, but they overpower him and mistaking him, he reveals "the son of Gotham will die and the city shall be cleansed". Leslie notices Kringle's absence, so Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) is forced to lie to her by telling her that Kringle left Gotham with Dougherty.

During the judgment, Mayor James changes his testimony and tells Galavan didn't kidnap him and frames Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) instead. With his testimony and no further proof, Galavan is released. When Galavan tries to look friendly to Gordon and the public, Gordon punches him and is escorted by security. The security guards turn out to be Galavan's henchmen and they taser Gordon. Gordon wakes up in the docks where Galavan tells him his family's history and his surname being "Dumas". Galavan releases Gordon and fights with him, with Galavan at the upper hand. He then leaves and orders his men to kill Gordon but is saved by Cobblepot.

Selina (Camren Bicondova) tells Bruce (David Mazouz) about Silver's mistrust and she has a plan. Shortly later, Bruce and Silver are kidnapped by a criminal, Tom "The Knife". They're brought to an abandoned warehouse in the outskirts of Gotham City, and wants to know the Waynes' killer for his "employers". He wants to know everything Galavan knows and threatens to torture them unless they tell him. When Bruce is threatened, Silver reveals he doesn't know the name and was just faking everything to Bruce. Bruce is tortured and when Tom returns, Silver reveals his bad character. When Tom threatens him, Silver reveals the killer's name is "M. Malone". Bruce and Selina appear, Tom was paid by them and everything was a facade to get the name and expose Silver's lies. Selina found Bruce's file in her house and enough proof about Silver luring Bruce to sell Wayne Enterprises to Galavan. Silver reveals she just faked the name for the threat but Bruce has enough. They then leave Silver alone in the warehouse.

Alfred (Sean Pertwee), who didn't know about Bruce's plan, goes to the Galavan penthouse, looking for him. Tabitha (Jessica Lucas) denies anything and Alfred threatens her. Tabitha and Alfred then engage in a fight, and even though Tabitha gets the upper hand, Alfred overpowers her and knocks her unconscious but gets wounded. Galavan breaks into Wayne Manor and while talking to Bruce, he takes out a blade, planning to kill him.

Reception

Ratings

The episode was watched by 4.00 million viewers.^[1] This was a decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 4.35 million viewers.^[2] This made Gotham the most watched program of the day in FOX, beating Minority Report.

Critical Reviews

"Rise of the Villains: The Son of Gotham" received mostly positive reviews from critics. The episode received a rating of 77% with an average score of 7.6 out of 10 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus stating: "'The Son of Gotham' successfully balances silliness and seriousness while ratcheting up the tension for the mid-season finale of Gotham."^[3]

Matt Fowler of IGN gave the episode a "good" 7.6 out of 10 and wrote in his verdict, "'The Son of Gotham' was equal parts silly and satisfying. Bruce conning Silver may have been the best thing he's done on the show so far while Penguin basically being the "Oscar" of the new Odd Couple roomie situation with Riddler was distractingly rad. The build up to Galavan's plan (Maniax, Barbara kidnapping Jim, trying to get Bruce to sign, etc) was always going to be better than these final moments of the plan - which seem to involve Gotham crumbling under the heel of a dozen monks who can't fight for s***. Hell, Galavan's a better ass-kicker than all of them. So we'll have to see how this all twists out next week."^[4]

The A.V. Club's Kyle Fowle gave the episode a "B+" grade and wrote, "Outside of that repetitious storyline though, 'Son Of Gotham' manages to chew through a ton of plot before its fall finale next week, and that's a good thing. As I mentioned above, Gotham has a tendency to slow its plot down to a crawl, extending tedious storylines across weeks worth of episodes. Considering that the show struggles to find a consistent tone and compelling plots, that's a huge problem. 'Son Of Gotham' shows that the pacing really is the biggest issue. Despite the lackluster characters and bad dialogue, a fast-paced Gotham is ultimately much more entertaining."^[5]

References