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Gotham Recap: “Hog Day Afternoon”

By Kelly Shanaphy

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Gotham knocks it out of the park with “Hog Day Afternoon,” as the show embraces it’s ridiculous nature.

A good episode of the series manages to balance the camp with the seriousness and this week gets the perfect combination. What could have easily been a poorly executed hour, the villain of the week played by Michael Ceveris, is so enigmatic that it’s a joy to watch him gleefully dance with a butcher knife despite the corny script.

Jim Gordon finally doesn’t find himself in immediate trouble in “Hog Day Afternoon,” because the Pyg is only targeting dirty cops. The officers who are on Penguin’s pay roll end up murdered with a pig’s head covering their face. Bullock knows who the cops are working for which gives him and Jim their first clue on finding their killer. Penguin provides them with the name of a criminal who got a license from him to rob a butcher, but he unfortunately doesn’t turn out to be the culprit. Hot on the lead though, the two partners end up kidnapped an at the mercy of the Pyg.

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Turns out, he’s a huge fan of Jim’s unwavering morality and is simply trying to clean up the streets of Gotham, starting with the authorities who allow the crime. Threatening to kill Harvey sends Jim sprinting into action and he manages to save his partner despite the guy getting his throat slashed. Pyg escapes, but Jim still realizes that Bullock has been taking cash from Penguin despite claiming to be on the side of the law.

Meanwhile, Nygma is desperately trying to earn Lee’s trust so that she’ll help heal his mind in “Hog Day Afternoon”. Of course, she has no interest in assisting the man who murdered her friend, so Nygma offers up some cash instead hoping money will grease the wheels. Sadly no, Lee still refuses and even tries to convince Grundy to leave the man behind. However, she eventually has to change her mind once her underground clinic runs out of supplies. In order to keep it running, Lee has cut a deal to be the doctor to the Narrows’ fight ring.

It’s nice to see the writers actually make her atone for her mistakes from last season by having her help the people affected by the Tetch virus. Her actions last season were basically the reason the virus infected other people, and this storyline will go a long way for fixing the weird character developments from last year.

Finally, the Penguin and Sofia storyline makes little movement this week but is still fun to watch. The moment after she skips out on a lunch with her new friend in “Hog Day Afternoon,” it’s incredibly obvious that Sofia is playing a game. Penguin takes the bait immediately and assumes she’s trying to wage a war against him but it turns out she only opened an orphanage in Gotham. Since Penguin’s ultimate demise seems like the overarching storyline for the season, it’s doubtful that the payoff will come closer to the finale. Nevertheless, Crystal Reed has been an excellent addition to the cast and hopefully she gets more involved in the main plot soon.

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“Hog Day Afternoon,” is an excellent introduction to the villain, Pyg, and manages to touch on the most interesting plots of the season.  Hopefully Gotham manages to build off of the success of this episode in order to create a good season. Any theories about what Sofia’s plan to do with the Penguin in the long run? Sound off in the comments below!

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