Gotham “No Man’s Land”

So, apparently, Gotham‘s rating really slipped in the second half of the fourth season, leading to an abbreviated fifth season to wrap things up.  Now, knowing that, I am fairly sure no one knew at the time that this episode was actually being made that the show was wrapping up probably a bit earlier than expected.

But man, did season four end in the craziest way possible.

So, I don’t generally think in terms of logic when it comes to Gotham because otherwise it would probably ruin what passes for my mind.  So, yeah, I notice little things here, like how just about anyone can apparently walk right into Barbara’s headquarters and join her crusade to kill Ra’s, particularly since his and Jeremiah’s plans involve blowing up all the bridges out of town to create…No Man’s Land?  Seriously?  Not even going to wait for Bruce to grow up for that one?

Truthfully, the whole need to evacuate the bridges just means Jim Gordon is completely uninvolved in any action that doesn’t involve either Riddler interrogation or grabbing the one small child who doesn’t know to get off the freakin’ bridge, then he ain’t doing squat.  I am fine with that.  No one is listening to him, not even the acting mayor who can’t help getting blown up.

This city loses more mayors that way.

But then again, what makes Gotham what it is is how crazy it is.  Why did this one feel, somehow, even crazier than usual?

Did I expect Ra’s to die?  Sure.  Barbara managed to do it by stabbing him with the knife–reforged!–while Bruce was holding it.  Alfred and the Penguin were there to help.  Because of course they were.  That’s how this show rolls.  All the various regular characters always come together to defeat the guest star villains.

So, what made this season finale more crazy than normal?

• Penguin had Hugo Strange cure Butch only to kill Butch again as a punishment to Tabitha for killing Penguin’s mother.
• Tabitha swore revenge after getting shot in the leg.
• Barbara took that as proof men were untrustworthy.  That sure does track…
• The bridges are out.  Gordon, Bullock, and Bruce stayed behind.  Alfred left with Selina at Bruce’s request.
• Lee and Ed stabbed each other.  Oswold ordered Strange to “fix them”.
• All the criminals in Gotham started taking territory.  Mr. Freeze, Firefly, and Scarecrow were obvious, and kudos to whoever gave Scarecrow a scythe.  But then there’s the vampire-lookin’ person, and the masked mother and son killing with an ax.  Will I see the vampire or the masked family again?  Probably not.  Too bad.  Those were cool.
• And Gordon decided for some reason that a spotlight on the GCPD roof is somehow inspiring hope.

So, all that happened.  And most of that happened in the last five minutes or so.  That was…a bit much, honestly.

But if you gotta bring back an audience for a final season, you might as well go for broke.