Gotham Review: Beware the Green-Eyed Monster (Season 3 Episode 11)

Gotham’s mid-season finale finally uses the story of Jervis Tetch in a way that is both interesting and creepy, and has us asking “Who’s the one really infected with the green-eyed monster called jealousy here?”

Gotham’s Season 3 Episode 11, “Beware the Green-Eyed Monster,” reveals that Mario has been infected with Alice Tetch’s virus, and its brought out his jealousy. Jim Gordon traces how Mario came into contact with the virus, through the events of “Red Queen” and sets out to prove his point.

There’s one problem; it’s Mario and Lee’s wedding day.

At its core, this episode is about two men fighting over a woman in the most calculating way possible. If we strip away everything we knew to be true, and just imagine what it is like to be Lee on her wedding day, we’d be a little confused too.

Imagine, on one side, you’re hearing from an ex who says your soon-to-be-husband is infected with a virus and needs help, and on the other, your fiance is telling you that these claims are baseless. Who are you likely to believe?

The thing is, the disbelief isn’t limited to Lee, everyone in the department thinks this is a reaction to Lee getting married. Harvey doesn’t believe that this could be Tetch’s virus, he writes off the man Mario kills at the beginning of the episode as just another day in Gotham. He even insistst that Jim go home because there will be another dead body tomorrow.

While Jim in frantically trying to get someone to believe him, Mario is stacking the cards for Jim to be just another jealous ex and the plot he concocts to do it is so simple and comical. In fact, the plot is so simple that no one would believe it, which is exactly what happens when Jim rushes to the church to convince Lee not to marry Mario.

As he lays out his suspicions, the scene is emotional and wrought with an uneasy tension. When it ends it feels like there’s finality to Jim and Lee’s relationship as Lee announces that she and Mario are going to be leaving Gotham after the wedding.

While in the moment these lines deliver a lot of drama, thinking about the logistics of what Lee is saying irks me. Lee just returned to the GCPD a few episodes ago. I can just imagine Acting-Captain Harvey Bullock holding his head in his hands thinking “Great, now I have to find a new medical examiner!” It doesn’t feel very professional for someone who’s job is basically secure with all the murder that occurs this town.

But I digress, because the sequence that follows is one of the best love triangle wedding scenes I may have ever seen.

The wedding is intercut with Jim being escorted out by guards and breaking free in a dramatic fight sequence.

I have to applaud the behind-the-scenes team for this. Weddings can be easily clichéd in television shows and I think having Lee and Mario’s wedding exist in one big moment by itself would have been too saccharine for Gotham. Think about the last time we saw a wedding in this show, it ended with Barbara dangling out a window and ending up in a coma.

Still, this happy moment is shot in such a way that it is tasteful, appropriate, and at the same time disturbing. The audio mix with traditional vows and a somewhat somber melody playing over the action makes this scene feel complete, and at the same time really genuine for Gotham’s aesthetic.

Of course, it can’t end there. The newlyweds leave Gotham to go to one of Don Falcone’s secret getaways and Jim is able, through some force, to get their location.

By the time he arrives, the virus is already talking to Mario, claiming that Lee is lying and that she really loves Jim. It’s more haunting as the voices Captain Barnes hears shouting “Guilty!” Mario is about to kill Lee when Jim shows up, just in time, to shoot Mario.

In the final moments of the episode we see the knife Mario is holding fall off the cliff and when Lee turns to see what’s happened, it appears that Jim shot an unarmed man. Somehow, I don’t think this is going to go well when Gotham comes back for the second half of the season.

Clearly it is not good to be Jim Gordon right now. 

Overall, this episode is a slow burn. There isn’t a lot of action, but a few fight scenes here and there. What I find terrifying about this story is that it feels like something that could happen in daily life, sans the influence of someone’s blood. How many stories have we seen where there’ve two men who appear to be jealous of one another and a woman who they both love?

I have to say that I am really happy to see Gotham stop showboating and finally work a little more with psychological storylines. This episode has a slightly more grisly tone to it and I think that works well for this particular plot.

It’s also the payoff I’ve ben waiting for. When Lee came back early in this season I’ve been waiting for her and Jim to have a more substantial storyline and that came to fruition with this episode. I was so happy to see them this conflict build, and with Mario dead now, I think that we’re going to be in for a rough road ahead when Gotham returns.

Stray Thoughts

• Selina is a badass! And the reveal with her mom following them is really intriguing. I remember Selina mentioning in Season 1 that her mom was in show business and I am really curious to see how that tracks.
• I am glad they were able to reattach Tabitha’s hand from last week’s episode. Butch and Tabitha may be the cutest, albeit somewhat offbeat couple on Gotham.
• Watching Barbara make a power play for Gotham’s underworld is especially exciting. I feel like she hasn’t gotten to do a whole lot since she came out of her coma and I think it’s time she gets to exercise the cunning and devious side of her. Remember, she used to run a gallery so she knows how to be in charge.
• Is anyone else really hoping that Penguin gets taken down? As much as I love the Penguin/Nygma unrequited love storyline, I don’t think he’s a very compelling mayor for Gotham.

What did you think of this episode of Gotham? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Reviewer Rating:

User Rating:

Gotham airs Mondays at 8/7c on FOX and returns January 16th with an all-new episode.

Follow us on Twitter @TellTV