Gotham: A Legion of Horribles review S2 E21

Jeffrey Lyles August 20, 2016August 20, 2016 0 Comments BD Wong, Ben McKenzie, David Mazouz, Donal Logue, Gotham, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sean Pertwee

A Legion of Horribles sets up season finale terrifically

In its closing stretch Gotham has really become one heck of an entertaining show. Season 2’s penultimate episode, A Legion of Horribles, delivered another immensely enjoyable outing.

With Selina in Hugo Strange’s clutches, Bruce rallied the troops for a rescue mission. Lucius and Bruce would take a tour or Arkham while Gordon infiltrates as a guard. Strange had a terrific scene with Bruce as he fessed up to killing Thomas Wayne to Bruce’s shock. BD Wong has consistently delivered in every scene and David Mazouz more than held his own to make it a powerful moment.

In one of the ways I mentioned Gotham could improve, I suggested the use of the Court of Owls. While a relatively new entry in the Batman mythos, their involvement in decades before his debut made them ideal Gotham villains. The Court debuted this episode as the masters pulling Strange’s strings. Wong and Tonya Pinkins have been the gift that keeps on giving for Gotham. They’ve provided the show the right amount of creepiness and weirdness as Strange and Miss Peabody.

Strange had more important things to occupy his time though as his latest reanimation effort was his most successful yet. Of course Fish Mooney would be the one with complete recollection of her memories. In hindsight it probably would have been better at some point in the season to reveal that Fish did die from her encounter with Penguin so her reanimation would have had more impact. It seemed a bit redundant to give her the power to make people obey her commands though since being such a convincing talker was her gift anyway.

Selina had to do some fast talking herself as her pal Bridgit has fully embraced her persona as Firefly. And not even a wave of fire could stop her. In a smart touch to showcase Selina’s adaptability she offers to be Firefly’s servant since Bridgit is convinced she’s the goddess of fire anyway.

Nygma going all-in as another of Strange’s henchmen made perfect sense and continues his evolution to a criminal mastermind.

Strange wasn’t done crafting super villains though. Using another experimental formula on a man known as Basil, Strange crafts a malleable man capable of adapting any form or identity. It’s probably the best way to do Clayface for this show, but Gotham would have been better served using Everyman from 52 since he doesn’t require such a massive re-imagining. With Gordon captured, Strange has Basil mimic Gordon’s likeness.

Probably the highlight of the episode was Bullock trying to explain away the craziness with Azareal. It was a quick moment in Horribles, but Donal Logue was great. Logue had another standout moment as Alfred asked for Bullock’s help to rescue the others from Strange’s clutches. Bullock didn’t need to go on his own since he’s in charge of the GCPD. He has some real backup and has the department ready to storm the gates to take down Strange once and for all.