Gotham - Viper

There's a new drug on the streets, and it's a killer. A mystery man is handing out samples of 'viper', a drug which turns regular Joes and Janes into super-strong psychopaths. Gordon and Bullock have to hunt down the source before the whole city explodes. Meanwhile, Maroni and Mooney are both gunning for Falcone, one with a casino heist and the other with an operatically trained lounge singer.

Increasingly the best things about the dark, gritty origin stew of Gotham are the moments of humour, from the opening moment of a buskers's sign reading 'Why lie? Need money for drugs' to the much quoted exchange between Gordon, Bullock and their intellectual suspect:

Isaac Steiner: Those hypocrites! Empty altruism will not erase what they've done. They must pay.
James Gordon: Who? Who must pay?
Isaac Steiner: WellZyn. Wayne Enterprises. Everyone will finally see them for what they are!
James Gordon: How? Where's Potolsky headed?
Harvey Bullock: What's 'altruism?'

Much of the rest of the show is just muddling along this week. The A plot once more hints at links to the future of Batman by tying Viper to Venom, but it's basically another procedural chase after a well-meaning but fundamentally unhinged vigilante. If this is just what Gotham does to good people, I firmly expect to see Gordon dressing up as a Roman legionary to dispense vigilante justice by the end of Season 1.

The Bruce Wayne sideshow was more interesting than previously, with the first real hints of the detective appearing on his wall of conspiracy. Maybe in a twist ending, Bruce will wind up becoming the Question instead. Conversely, the Penguin subplot was treading water, as Gordon was dragged under Maroni's thumb as a result of Cobblepot's machinations. Since you can't really have Gordon actually become a dirty cop, I'm expecting Maroni to be taken off the board in the not too distant.

The third primary sideshow, Fish Mooney sits around her club and acts sassy, is getting deeply tedious. The character just isn't interesting enough to carry her part, and where Bruce has Alfred and Cobblepot (along with Bullock) is rapidly becoming the breakout character, she doesn't have anyone to work off to enliven her scenes.

Gotham made decent pace out of the blocks, but now it's marking time, apparently wary of advancing its own mythology too fast. Something needs to happen, and soon.