For a show that packed its first few episodes with villains, mysterious locations, twists, turns, and a ton of red herrings, Gotham 's fall finale, "Lovecraft," was pretty lackluster. The episode featured Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle on the run from some mysterious assassins, and as awesome as it was to see Alfred in action, I was waiting for the episode to reach its climax until its final moments. And then? Well, what was apparently supposed to be the big cliffhanger, the thing that would send us into the winter break desperate for more, was apparently Jim Gordon being reassigned to Arkham Asylum. Sure, it might've been an exciting cliffhanger — if viewers hadn't already known about it for days.
That's right, the ending was spoiled, but not by fans online or any sort of leak. Fox revealed that Gordon was being assigned to Arkham in some pretty obvious ways. One big example? The network promoted a preview for Monday night's episode on the main page of its website by showing a photo of Gordon along with the words "Gordon is reassigned to Arkham" in large capital letters. TV Guide's summary of "Lovecraft," which has been available for over a week now, reads "Gordon is reassigned to duty at Arkham Asylum, following a misstep. Meanwhile, Selina takes a new friend on a dangerous journey through Gotham to evade some assassins who are trying to kill her." We may not have known what the misstep would be, but that gives the episode's entire ending away.
Don't get me wrong, sending Gordon to Arkham is a great twist that is bound to invigorate Gotham with a sense of chaos, while introducing a multitude of iconic Batman villains. I just wish I had been surprised by the reveal, rather than surprised by the fact that it served as the "cliffhanger" of the show's fall finale. Now that Season 1 of Gotham will be 22 episodes instead of 16, maybe the real shocks will be saved for later in the season, when we reach the new halfway point. Let's just hope they aren't revealed to the audience in advance next time.
Image: Jessica Miglio/FOX
