Gotham Season 3 Finale

SPOILERS (that goes without saying)

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way… let’s dig in to all the glory of this final, extra long episode. The finale included two major things fans have been waiting to see since the show first debuted, albeit it was rushed at the end for some “looking forward to next season” thrill:

1. Bruce is finally proto-Batman
2. Selina is finally proto-Catwoman

I really think baby Bruce’s acting could be better, and he is still a little too scrawny for someone who is supposed to be a teenage Bruce Wayne training to be a hero some day. Nevertheless, the show managed to tie-in his almost super-human training under the conditioning of the evil sensai with Bruce’s new-found sense of purpose once he is relieved of the spell placed on him. Why does Bruce finally transform? In a final confrontation with Selina — these two are so toxic together, even as kids; their relationship is just a series of missed high-fives — she makes him realize that he doesn’t even know who he is meant to be in this world. He has just been living his lush life with Alfred this whole time and his purpose has only ever been to find the killers of and get justice for his parents. After the death of all the members of the Court, he gets revenge (as opposed to justice, by the way) and he no longer has any purpose at all. In a scene mirroring the night of Bruce’s parents’ death, a mysterious ninja figure knocks out a would-be killer in an alley. Who is the mysterious ninja figure that managed to get up to the roof in time for his closeup? Why, it is none other than Batm… young Bruce Wayne himself!

Selina, on the other hand, is so done with Bruce and done with emotions. Keeping emotions in check has helped her so far in surviving. Now that she has mentally let go of Bruce’s whiny antics, she wants to use her mastery of dropping emotional baggage and thieving to do more than just “survive”, as she tells a hardly-grieving and also-done-with-emotional-baggage Tabitha. She doesn’t know where this journey will take her, but knows she’ll need a weapon, and eyeing Tabitha’s whip, Selina gives it a whirl. Guess who just so happens to be gifted in whipping things? Future Catwoman, that’s who! Not gonna lie, I shrieked with excitement when I saw her finally hold the iconic whip. How this show will make her into a cat person tho? Apart from the strange scene a couple episodes back, where Selina falls to a coma in an alley after being pushed out the window by Bruce’s clone and is licked by tons of alley cats, I can’t really say. It strange enough how Ivy accidentally grew and got her powers. Since she’s clearly headed on a new journey of theft and other crime, its possible that Gotham will take the route of Selina having a particular interest in stealing jewelry that resemble cats. The dominatrix origin story doesn’t fit well with the current character’s story so far and the MPAA rating for the show is TV-14 anyway.

A major loose end that was finally secured was Lee and Gordon’s love story. It was really sweet that Gordon’s love for her was so strong that he was able to stay strong enough for the both of them even under the spell of the Tetch virus. He only ever took it in the first place to save his other love, the city of Gotham, staying alert in order to get to the Tetch virus bomb. Note, he didn’t take it to save his own life, it was only the news of the bomb going off sooner than expected that motivated him to risk his life with the virus. When Lee comes to, she probably realized this, hence her epiphany in that gut-wrenching, but ultimately bittersweet, letter to her heart’s true love. Although the two did not get to be together in the end, at the very least, they both got the closure they so badly needed. Lee finally sees Gordon is not a monster, and Gordon can rest easy knowing Lee no longer sees him that way. And they can love each other from afar.

A surprise reveal no one expected was the real name of Butch on his medical record as he his knocked out from a gunshot wound to the head: Cyrus Gold. AKA Solomon Grundy. So we definitely haven’t seen the last of him even though he is probably dead (not confirmed in the episode). It is very likely that Dr. Hugo Strange will have something to do with his come back as the infamous zombie villain. I think Fish Mooney’s death might prompt Penguin to pursue Strange in reexamining the formula and methods that first revived Strange’s former test subject, also a mother-like figure to Penguin. In doing so, he could use Butch and the now dead Barbara, with just one of them truly reanimating, namely Butch.

Oh, did you think I forgot to mention Ra’s? I was half expecting to see Liam Neeson’s when I heard Ra’s al Ghul was in this episode, but this was the least of my disappointments. The fact that the character pronounces his name “raje” with a soft, bourgeois, French “j” sound completely threw me off. His name is pronounced “raaz” or “raas”! The only redeeming factor in all of this is that the actor wasn’t a random white guy with a beard and accent, it was an actual Arab. Oh and the lazarus pit. Oh and how Ra’s becomes a shadowy figure when Bruce snaps out of his conditioning, which gives reference to the League of Assassin’s other name, League of Shadows. Also, the connection of the Court of Owls story line with the League of Assassins leaves so much story to explore from the comics. Now that everyone in the Court is supposedly dead, maybe we are going to see The Talon as a super-villain assassin on the show for the purpose of vengeance and also to test Bruce’s might to serve Ra’s al Gul’s own purpose.

WHAT A FINALE. I don’t know how the writers of this show managed to fit so much into this double episode thriller. So excited for Season 4. What else do you guys think we’ll see next season?