Gotham 4x13 : A Beautiful Darkness review

 Be warned there will be *SPOILERS* involved in this review. With that being said let's get into it

With this week's Gotham we may have just gotten the most wacky and over the top episode yet. The episode begins as both Selina and Ivy enter a house and Ivy puts the residents under her spell. This happens quite a lot throughout the episode actually. Some in funny ways some in some not so funny ways. Anyways as Ivy talks to the man of the house about what he does for a living it's discovered that he works for Bruce Wayne as part of the science division, and that same division holds a secret project named Project M which Ivy is really curious to find out about. This leads to Ivy fall out murdering the guy by cutting him across the neck with her nails. He blooms flowers right out of his mouth soon after as Ivy makes her escape with Bruce Wayne completely in her thoughts leaving Selina to question what has really happened to her friend? 

The episode's real high point though? well that would be the very first showing of The BATMAN. Yes as Ivy puts Bruce under her spell he lives through a number of different bizarre dreams. One that includes his face being removed by none other than Ra's Al Ghul, one where Jim has a moustache and is dating Barbara again (or so it looks like) one where Alfred swoops in and becomes special Agent Pennyworth. But the one with the most importance is that of Batman himself appearing and showing Bruce what he will eventually become. Even bringing him to the place where his parents were murdered. Complete with white chalk body outlines. He tells Bruce that this is where he was born and that everyone should be afraid. This was such a really cool moment and easily one of the best scenes the show has ever created in my opinion. Gordon and especially Lucius having suffered and survived Ivy's hypnosis spell get the antidote to save Bruce from his vision like state. But before they do Ivy convinces Lucius to bring her to this secret project M that was mentioned earlier. Turns out the big secret being kept is Lazarus water in from Ra's Al Ghul. Ivy takes it and makes even more plants out of it allowing them to recreate and bloom even more than before. Bruce having woken up fully reveals to Gordon that he saw who he truly is when he was in his previous state. He says he knows who he is and as Gordon leaves he tells him about the moustache which was a really funny nod to Gordon's future facial hair. But as soon as Gordon leaves the room Bruce rings up Alfred and leaves him a voicemail asking him for his help. Will Alfred help him? first off I was thinking yes of course but after seeing the preview for next week it seems he is hesitant which is to be expected I suppose after the way he was treated. 

Cameron Monaghan returns as Jerome and he is good although not as good as he was before. Maybe it's just the writing in this episode or something but his performance felt off a times. Attempting to bully Penguin to the point of no return he really has made this role his own as everything just screams Joker whenever he is on screen. Nygma ends up visiting Penguin to basically gloat but he leaves a riddle for Oswald to which Penguin realizes that a bit of The Riddler still lays inside of Nygma. The Jerome and Penguin scenes are really fun and will make you laugh as much as Jerome wanted to laugh. This episode was a bit of a jumbled mess at times with a lot happening but I still enjoyed it a heck of a lot with that Batman scene being the BIG highlight for me. Here's hoping next week can help steady the flow a bit more. The Batman is born!

★★★