Gotham Knights: Bad to be Good

When the trailers for Gotham Knights were first released, I had a lot of doubts. After I got to actually watch it, I wondered if the person doing the trailers had a grudge against the show or just didn’t quite know what they were doing. It’s been a surprisingly entertaining series, and the outcasts on the run continue their tale with “Bad to be Good.”

After an opening sequence of random Gotham scenes and a very slick art heist, we see some news coverage about the theft, and in fact, a string of them have been plaguing the city. The news suggests the Gotham Knights should go after the thief. The Knights themselves are not really interested, especially considering they are all still technically fugitives. They’re more concerned with the assassin they’ve been crossing paths with, which is fair since he’s after them. I was amused by them dismissing the art as ‘overpriced paint.” The most recent victim of the killer, although he survived, is Lincoln March. Harvey goes to check on him, which is a bit dubious as Harvey is having an on again, off again affair with the man’s wife. Said wife, Rebecca, seems to be playing both sides, as she’s worried about Lincoln but also showing great interest in Harvey.

The GCPD are reviewing footage of the heist, and both the Commissioner and long-suffering Detective Green are stumped. The thief is quite good and not leaving them any real clues. Never one to pass up a chance for more chaos, Duela steals a car and drags Carrie along to hunt for clues about the assassin. Stephanie, possibly suffering from compulsive curiosity after dealing with her father for so long, starts looking into the thefts, and makes an interesting connection between the missing pieces. The rest of the team realizes this might affect them after all, and with varying degrees of reluctance decide to start trying to track down the thief.

Duela and Carrie continue their buddy cop gone wrong movie, and revisit Eunice, an odd old woman we’ve met before. Duela has an unusual approach for dealing with senior citizens, and Carrie is understandably appalled. The rest of the team try to continue their investigation, but hit a brick wall with their lack of leads. Harper, undeterred, goes out to get some intel on her own. As the Knights go at things from very different directions, Harvey gets a call from Rebecca, who sounds frazzled and scared about the attack on her husband and possible danger to her son. Harvey decides to rush right over, showing poor judgement on his part in my humble opinion.

Harper’s lead turns out to be her ex, Dylan. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect some kind of big dramatic confrontation, but the writers went in a more interesting, humorous, and modern direction that actually kind of worked. The two actually talk without yelling, threats, or punches, and finally Dylan seems willing to help. Carrie, for all her training with the Batman, is in over her head trying to deal with Duela’s rather creative interview techniques with Eunice. The scene swings in a dark comedy direction, and Carrie finally finds her footing. To quote an old X-Files episode, “This is like good cop, insane cop.”

Harper returns from her intelligence gathering, and does her best to not tell the others who she was talking to. There are assorted possible reasons for this, but she finally lets it slip, and the others are predictably not pleased. They finally work out where the thief will likely strike next, and set up a stakeout. They finally apprehend the thief, collecting an injury before the surprising unmasking of their artistically inspired felon.

The Dysfunctional Duo continue their time with Mad Old Woman Eunice, and make a bit of a connection with her by bringing her something from her childhood. Age-related issues to one side, she really does seem quite sociopathic. Duela seems largely unfazed, Carrie a bit more shocked. They definitely have different approaches and mindsets here, but they seem to finally be getting a clue about the source for some of the assassin’s abilities. As all this goes on, Harvey makes it to Rebecca, and they have a chat about many things, including her husband’s infidelities. It seems an odd time to bring that up, but then, Harvey has had issues even before he becomes Two-Face.

While most of the team confronts the thief and gets a series of surprises, making in turn a surprising offer, the Duela/Carrie comedy duo keep trying to deal with Eunice. Duela is obviously out of patience with the old woman and Carrie is starting to seem like she’s not all that far behind. Eunice once again shows she’s not your typical elderly lady as she takes action on her own and laughs at the result. If nothing else, Eunice really does belong in Gotham. Or maybe Arkham, more specifically.

The team debates how to accomplish their new job, while there’s some first aid and flirting as a sort of B plot. After finding out security is harder than they thought at first, Turner comes up with a not-so-subtle plan for getting the job done. It seems like Duela is rubbing off on him. Harvey and Rebeca continue their weird get together, where Rebecca pretty much outlines all the reasons why this is a bad idea, and then they start kissing anyway. I mean, probably everyone has been there at least once, but Harvey really should know better in his current position.

The heist is a far cry from the sophistication of, say, something Catwoman would have done, but they manage to get the job done after a lot of hide and seek and dodge the trigger-happy guards. They examine their new prize and can’t find anything at all useful, which is disappointing to say the least. They decide to help the reluctant thief, and do their best to arrange a meet. As the team reunites, Turner isn’t happy with Duela and Carrie’s field trip, but doesn’t have the time to do much about it right now. Also, really, what’s he going to do? Duela doesn’t listen to anyone, and Carrie has a lot more practical experience than he does.

The exchange is a tense affair, with the virtually mandated double-cross attempt. The Knights have learned a thing or two, however, and took some steps to protect themselves and what they’re after. They probably manage to piss off the Court of Owls even more, but they were already on the hit list, so they really didn’t lose anything. Back in their hideout, there’s some flirting from what could end up being the team’s most unexpected couple. I think they’d work great together, but we’ll see what happens.

Harvey and Rebecca have clearly enjoyed themselves, and each other, and are now enjoying the afterglow. Or at least they would be if they didn’t keep talking so much. I grant they are in a complicated situation, but this gets kind of twisted and dark quickly. Then, another trope kicks in as an attempt at confessing something is interrupted by a sudden phone call that changes things.

The series of wrap up scenes begins with the Knights watching the news about their exploits. Duela is irritated that even the cops are calling them that now, and the news is definitely reinforcing their outlaw hero status. Duela and Carrie are well on the way to becoming grudging friends, and they banter about a souvenir from their recent team up. Then, looking more closely, they find something that surprises them both and ties a few more things together in the never ending Owl conspiracy. Harvey gets an unexpected visitor to his office with an equally unexpected request. And at the end, the Court makes more progress on their own nefarious plans, which isn’t great for either Gotham or her Knights.

What I Liked: The relationships among the characters are entertaining. It’s a complex group, but they are learning to work together, and their very different personalities mean they also have a wide variety of skills to draw on. Duela and Carrie’s little expedition was fun to watch, and Eunice is an interesting antagonist. The heist wasn’t what you’d expect, but they made it work. The reveal of the thief was surprising, but it made sense in the wider world of chaos that is Gotham City. The flaring/hinting at a new couple was an interesting development I’d like to see play out.

What I Didn’t: I really don’t like the Harvey/Rebecca relationship. Not only is it a bad idea, but it feels like it was thrown in just to give Harvey something to do when he’s not with the kids. I have never liked the Court of Owls concept, but I’ll grant they make good opponents in this series.

It was a fun episode with some weird side quests. I’ll give it a 3.5 out of 5.