Her name is "Cat"
When homeless children are being abducted by a pair of eccentric kidnappers, Gordon and Bullock are put on the case.
That is pretty much the basis of this episode. Then what does this have to do with Selina Kyle aka the girl who will become Catwoman? Well, she is one of those homeless children who is being abducted. But unlike the other homeless street kids, she's smart enough to know that when two really cartoonish eccentric people walk up to you and offer you food, they're not to be trusted. Also given her cat like reflexes and extremely efficient parkour skills, she's able to get away. Other than being considered a witness to these crimes, she's not really as important as the story makes it out to be.
This is mainly because of the efficiency of Gordon and Bullock as detectives. The chemistry between Ben MacKenzie and Donal Logue is definitely the anchor of this show. It continues to show their growing partnership as well as their clash of ideologies. This is evident when Gordon is against Bullock beating up a child to get information, but would later allow Bullock to beat up a suspect (with a phone book) repeatedly after discovering the horrifying truth about what happens to the kids. It is really obvious that while they won't get one to fully "see the light" to their point of view, they can't work well without each other. Which again, shows how efficient they are by solving where the two eccentric cartoon villains were getting their drugs from.
But let's talk about those two eccentric cartoon villains for a moment. Doug and Patti played by guest stars Frank Whaley and Lili Taylor are the really cartoonish cohorts of the mysterious Dollmaker. Yup, another Batman reference. At least in this one he's only mentioned in name only and we never see him. But again, back to these two cartoon characters. The reason why I say cartoon is because for some reason they were directed to really ham it up. Their performances were definitely eccentric and delightful... the kind of performance you'd see in a Joel Schumacher Batman movie. Which is strange, because the pilot establishes the show's tone and look as a strange hybrid between the Tim Burton films and the Chris Nolan films. Now, a Schumacher reference is fine as after all it was the Burton films that led to the Schumacher ones, but for some reason their cartoonish villainy seemed a little too far. To give a comparison level of what seems fine about being a cartoon villain in this show is looking at two of the main players.
Fish Mooney played by Jada Pinkett Smith is both a very serious threat while at the same time an obvious cartoon villain. Yet there is something slightly more subdued about her that makes it slightly tolerable while at the same time still reminding you this is a comic book villain. Then of course there is Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot aka the man who will be Penguin. He is definitely a cartoon villain, but again it is subdued. This is a testament to what a scene stealer Robin Lord Taylor is as he is slowly going crazy while at the same time growing more calculating as a criminal mastermind. A glimpse of his mother in this episode also kind of explains where the crazy comes from, which is also a little cartoony, but again not played as cartoony as our guest star villains. When a level of how far cartoon villainy should be taken is already established, all guest villains should adhere to that feeling. We'll see how this goes with other villains that are sure to be on the show, right now it doesn't seem good.
What else is there to talk about? Oh yeah, Bruce Wayne and Alfred. Sean Pertwee portrays an Alfred who seems to have not broken out of his military roots and into the more loving father figure we all know and love. This is shown from how incapable he is at handling Bruce's tendencies to self inflict pain. Alfred seems to be at a lost of how to deal with his new position as a father figure, which means once again Gordon has to step in to be the surrogate father until Alfred can grow to become the surrogate. This might get annoying as the show is better focused on Gordon, Bullock and Cobblepot rather than Bruce and Alfred. But still, as this show is still young there is room to grow.
But what about the title character? Selina Kyle? I did state that she's not that important. Well, she's not important to the plot of this episode, but she does make herself important to the overarching plot of this season which is the murder of the Waynes. Camren Bicondova shows herself as a competent actress as she excels with playing someone who will definitely turn into the seductive cat burglar fans love. Particularly a key scene in which she deals with one of the kidnappers that shows just how vicious she really is. It is a shame that she doesn't really become important till the end of the episode, but with what she has shown, she is definitely worthy of being called Selina Kyle. It's just unfortunate that for an episode bearing the character's name, didn't seem to serve her to her full potential. We shall see how this all plays out.
SCORE: 7.5/10 - It is not a bad episode, still entertaining, just poorly constructed
STATUS: Continue to Watch - There is still a lot of potential
Review of Previous Episode - CLICK HERE
Review of Next Episode - Click here
This is mainly because of the efficiency of Gordon and Bullock as detectives. The chemistry between Ben MacKenzie and Donal Logue is definitely the anchor of this show. It continues to show their growing partnership as well as their clash of ideologies. This is evident when Gordon is against Bullock beating up a child to get information, but would later allow Bullock to beat up a suspect (with a phone book) repeatedly after discovering the horrifying truth about what happens to the kids. It is really obvious that while they won't get one to fully "see the light" to their point of view, they can't work well without each other. Which again, shows how efficient they are by solving where the two eccentric cartoon villains were getting their drugs from.
But let's talk about those two eccentric cartoon villains for a moment. Doug and Patti played by guest stars Frank Whaley and Lili Taylor are the really cartoonish cohorts of the mysterious Dollmaker. Yup, another Batman reference. At least in this one he's only mentioned in name only and we never see him. But again, back to these two cartoon characters. The reason why I say cartoon is because for some reason they were directed to really ham it up. Their performances were definitely eccentric and delightful... the kind of performance you'd see in a Joel Schumacher Batman movie. Which is strange, because the pilot establishes the show's tone and look as a strange hybrid between the Tim Burton films and the Chris Nolan films. Now, a Schumacher reference is fine as after all it was the Burton films that led to the Schumacher ones, but for some reason their cartoonish villainy seemed a little too far. To give a comparison level of what seems fine about being a cartoon villain in this show is looking at two of the main players.
Fish Mooney played by Jada Pinkett Smith is both a very serious threat while at the same time an obvious cartoon villain. Yet there is something slightly more subdued about her that makes it slightly tolerable while at the same time still reminding you this is a comic book villain. Then of course there is Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot aka the man who will be Penguin. He is definitely a cartoon villain, but again it is subdued. This is a testament to what a scene stealer Robin Lord Taylor is as he is slowly going crazy while at the same time growing more calculating as a criminal mastermind. A glimpse of his mother in this episode also kind of explains where the crazy comes from, which is also a little cartoony, but again not played as cartoony as our guest star villains. When a level of how far cartoon villainy should be taken is already established, all guest villains should adhere to that feeling. We'll see how this goes with other villains that are sure to be on the show, right now it doesn't seem good.
What else is there to talk about? Oh yeah, Bruce Wayne and Alfred. Sean Pertwee portrays an Alfred who seems to have not broken out of his military roots and into the more loving father figure we all know and love. This is shown from how incapable he is at handling Bruce's tendencies to self inflict pain. Alfred seems to be at a lost of how to deal with his new position as a father figure, which means once again Gordon has to step in to be the surrogate father until Alfred can grow to become the surrogate. This might get annoying as the show is better focused on Gordon, Bullock and Cobblepot rather than Bruce and Alfred. But still, as this show is still young there is room to grow.
But what about the title character? Selina Kyle? I did state that she's not that important. Well, she's not important to the plot of this episode, but she does make herself important to the overarching plot of this season which is the murder of the Waynes. Camren Bicondova shows herself as a competent actress as she excels with playing someone who will definitely turn into the seductive cat burglar fans love. Particularly a key scene in which she deals with one of the kidnappers that shows just how vicious she really is. It is a shame that she doesn't really become important till the end of the episode, but with what she has shown, she is definitely worthy of being called Selina Kyle. It's just unfortunate that for an episode bearing the character's name, didn't seem to serve her to her full potential. We shall see how this all plays out.
SCORE: 7.5/10 - It is not a bad episode, still entertaining, just poorly constructed
STATUS: Continue to Watch - There is still a lot of potential
Review of Previous Episode - CLICK HERE
Review of Next Episode - Click here
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