Gotham’s ladies shine in ‘Pinewood’

Gotham doesn’t tend to have many main female story lines, and with Morena Baccarin (who plays Lee Tompkins) taking a hiatus to have a baby in real life, the last few episodes have been lacking a regular female lead. But in ‘Pinewood,’ we’re gifted with killer performances from Erin Richards as Barbara Kean and special guest star, Julia Taylor Ross, as Karen, Thomas Wayne’s secret.

Not surprisingly, Barbara’s first stop is to see Gordon after being released from Arkham. He’s not very pleased with her visit and his first instance is to pull a gun on her, even though she swears she is sane now. To me, that gesture would solidify that you aren’t wanted, but no, Barbara keeps coming back.

Barbara’s good. Barbara’s bad. Barbara’s faking.

If she’s that good at leading on Gordon and the Lady, can we ever be certain what is an act and what isn’t? Holding a knife to Gordon’s neck and tying him to a chair, yeah, that’s not going to convince him she’s sane. She wants to help and did help Gordon get the name of the man who contracted the Wayne’s murder, but Gordon’s not biting. You can’t try to kill his almost baby mama and expect that things will be okay now because you’re “sane” again. And after being rejected by Gordon again, she seeks refuge with Tabitha and Butch. Now if she’s running to the current couple running the underground crime world, what does that say about her wanting to be good. It’s only a matter of time before something snaps and she let’s the crazy out.

 

Down in the bat cave, Bruce and Alfred discover a secret of Thomas Wayne that leads them to Karen, a disfigured girl experimented on at a secret Wayne laboratory, Pinewood Farms. The Philosopher turned her crippled arm into a three-fingered claw. Karen, leads Bruce and Alfred to the abandoned lab at Pinewood to help them find answers but it’s a trap. They are apprehend by the police that just magically appeared.

Gordon bails out Alfred and Bruce from the police station, yet again. Karen is being transported to another prison, and they plot to break her out on route. Two prison breaks in almost back to back episodes, can we go for a third before the end of the season?

The escape is interrupted by Mr. Freeze, who Dr. Strange signed out for a field trip. Karen sacrifices herself to protect the boys. Bruce feels guilty about not being able to protect her after promising her would and without her, fears they will never learn the identity of the Philosopher. Alfred, in all his wisdom, tries to tell him if he keeps going down this quest, more casualties are a given. Then Gordon waltzes in with an old photo of Thomas Wayne and his friends, pointing out that one is called the Philosopher–Dr. Hugo Strange. We all know where this is going to lead. Next stop (episode), Arkham Asylum.