Gotham 4x22 : No Man's Land review

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

The Gotham season finale has come and gone and with it some very interesting plot developments along with a look at some future villains and the continuing journey of Bruce Wayne to Batman. It all begins at Gotham general hospital as Selina is rushed to surgery after being shot by Jeremiah at the end of last week's episode. She pleads with Bruce to stay by her side and he agrees. At the GCPD we see Jeremiah sitting in a jail cell (much like Heath Ledger's Joker in the Dark Knight) and he tells Gordon that if he doesn't bring him Bruce he will never tell of the other bombs that he has throughout the city. Gordon thinks he is bluffing and threatens him. Is Jeremiah bluffing though? well more on that a bit later as right after this a major in the Gotham City army and his team walk into the GCPD declaring Gotham City under martial law. Gordon and him clash from the get go and the major goes as far as to have Jim arrested much to the dismay of Bullock who now has to answer to the major. As Gordon is being escorted out of the building and across the river the guards accompanying him get taken out by Jim's good old friend The Riddler who also shoots him with a sleeping dart but not before Gordon can answer his riddle. At the narrows we see Ed has Gordon on a slab with hundred's of pounds of pressure being pressed against him slowly getting to the point where his ribs will break. Why's he doing this? well it's all about Lee of course as he plans to kill Gordon so Lee can finally forget about him, so she can finally get away from his lifestyle and become her own woman who ultimately will leave with The Riddler. But of course things don't go according to plan as Lee enters the room and lets Gordon go telling him that she is leaving Gotham later that night and that deep down she'll always care for him even if she'll never be that person again.

Hugo Strange returns to the show after being away for what seemed like forever. He is back to help cure Butch and return him from his Solomon Grundy form. He notices that he has no heart beat but can still restore Butch to his former self. As Dr Strange gets to work Tabitha learns of what has happened to Selina and plans to kill Jeremiah over what he has done to her friend. More on Butch but later back at the house him and Penguin had been staring at his former self Butch enters the room leading to him and Tabitha embracing with Penguin in the corner of the room with a big smile on his face. But to my surprise Penguin flat out murders Butch shooting him in the heart (that's two finales in a row where Butch got killed) he tells Tabitha he done this to her because she was the one who killed his mother. She was the one who made him suffer each and every day since and he wants her to suffer and in time when he thinks she has suffered enough he will kill her also. Penguin was absolutely ruthless in this scene and I kinda loved it if I'm being honest. More on Jeremiah now and he continues to ask to see Bruce and the major gives in bringing Bruce and Alfred to the GCPD (against their will as Bruce puts it) Bruce and Jeremiah share a really impressive scene where the latter is strapped to a gurney (much like the start of the Arkham Asylum game) and he tells him that somebody has helped him open his eyes to create a Gotham in Bruce's image and his name is none other than Ra's Al Ghul. This is when the entire interrogation room goes dark and Bruce is taken by Ra's and Jeremiah along with them. At a building looking out at Gotham's bridges that all connect the city and islands Bruce meets Ra's once again and he offers him to become 'The Dark Knight' that the city needs. Bruce stands his ground however as Barbara Tabitha Penguin and others bust into the room and chaos ensues. Barbara plans to kill Ra's once and for all after reforging the knife that is needed to kill him. But she needs Bruce to use the knife and as she runs at Ra's she grabs Bruce leading to them both stabbing Ra's killing him in the process (kinda disappointing) but before all this evens happens Jeremiah gets his wish of Gotham being reborn in both his and Bruce's image as his bombs go off and all the bridges throughout Gotham collapse into the surrounding sea. We don't really see Jeremiah after this which is also disappointing we do see him smile though which was nice to see. With the city in ruins the GCPD actually stand up to the major and his team once again putting their trust in Gordon which was really pride inducing. Gordon now complete with that iconic jacket from the comics races throughout the city trying to save as many lives as he possibly can. As Bruce and Alfred plan to leave with Selina in an ambulance we learn that she is stable but damage to her spinal cord may very well be permanent. Alfred gets into the ambulance but Bruce doesn't which leads to the two talking and agreeing that Bruce go try and save his city as he feels it is his duty and Alfred agrees to go with Selina to keep her safe. But the real highlight of the episode? well that has to be when Bruce is out beating up thugs we see a light shine in the sky where we see Gordon standing next to a giant spotlight atop the GCPD (later becomes the bat signal) Bruce goes to see Gordon and this is when we see some familiar faces (Penguin, Scarecrow, Mr Freeze, Firefly) putting their own stamp on the city and also some new faces including none other than Man-Bat and Mother and Orphan. A really fitting end to Gotham season 4 that showcases future villains and hints at next season's final 13 episodes being completely Bruce Wayne / Batman focused which will be a highlight of the show if done right
                                  
Gotham season 4 while not a perfect season by any means I feel like it has been the most consistent season of the show in terms of overall quality and the number of good-amazing episodes outweighing the okay-bad episodes and that is why I think this season is the best in this show's 4 year run. Bravo Gotham bravo indeed. Until season 5!

★★★★

Season overall :

★★★★