Gotham Episode Review: "Viper"

Guest stars include Daniel London (Stan Potolsky) and Peter Maloney (Isaac Steiner).

My wife and I actually had to do a little bit of catching up with this particular episode because our Direct TV went out last week, causing us to miss the episode that preceded this one. However, once we regained a basic understanding of what we missed, I did think this episode was somewhat interesting.

The part with the drug, Viper, was intriguing because, in addition to who was behind the production of the drug, there was a big question about that person’s motives for distributing it for free.

My guess (which turned out to be incorrect) was it was being used to create enough chaos to pull off a larger crime. As it turns out, the motive was much simpler than that. But, because there was a shadow of doubt behind who was committing the crimes, it was still a somewhat surprising twist, especially since a door was left open for this drug to come into play again later.

I also have to admit, the young Bruce Wayne character is starting to grow on me a bit. That wasn’t the case in earlier episodes, when he didn’t appear to have much more than a cameo role. However, as he has gotten more involved, especially with conducting his own separate investigation into his parents’ murders and how Wayne Enterprises may be tied into their deaths, I think it’s only a matter of time before he becomes a major protagonist (though I think it’ll be a while before we see him don his Batman costume).

The one thing that did disappoint me about this particular episode was the Stan Potolsky character. Given his background in chemistry with an emphasis on chemical weapons and motivation to cause harm for what he thinks is a good cause, I thought, for sure, he would end up becoming a major villain (perhaps the Joker or Mr. Freeze). So, I was kind of surprised and a little saddened when he was killed right away. He was just too talented to be a one-episode villain.

My wife and I became fans of the show the first time we watched it and, so far at least, it has not let us down. And, this episode is one of the reasons for that.

My Grade: A