Gotham Knights Season 1 Episode 6 Review: A Chill in Gotham

Gotham Knights Season 1 Episode 6, “A Chill in Gotham,” offers a nice change of pace and an exciting retcon for a notorious DC Comics villain.

The episode sees the Gotham Knights gang continuing their efforts to decipher the McKillens family’s ledger. At the same time, Turner Hayes is summoned to speak with Joe Chill, a man on death row accused of killing Bruce Wayne’s parents.

Chill has a long comic book history, and though his motivations and extent of involvement vary from iteration to iteration, he is always depicted as a major player in the death of Martha and Thomas Wayne.

However, “A Chill in Gotham” surprises viewers by putting him in the same boat as the Gotham Knights.

Before his execution, Chill reveals that the Court of Owls framed him and wasn’t even the one who pulled the trigger on the Waynes. Over the years, countless Batman adaptations have depicted Chill as a clumsy low-level crook, a coward, or a hitman, but never as an actual victim.

Chill is a vital part of the story of Batman, as his alleged murder was responsible for inspiring Bruce to become Batman.

However, by giving him his own story, instead of making him a mere catalyst in Batman’s evolution, Gotham Knights gives him a lot more depth in one episode than much of his history as a whole has.

Meanwhile, the retcon also aids in further elevating the Court of Owls’ power and firmly placing them as the show’s central villain.

Chill’s story shows how good the Court of Owls is at covering its tracks and controlling the public narrative.

Their motivation in framing the Gotham Knights also becomes more apparent, as Chill explains they strive to give Gotham a monster to despise to keep them from digging too deeply into the truth.

Even as things become clearer, the episode succeeds in sneaking more mystery into the storyline, especially concerning Harvey Dent.

The Talon’s decision to spare his life seemingly confirms that Dent is unwittingly aiding the Court of Owls. Still, there is no indication of why or how his suspected alternate personality is doing this.

With Lincoln March surviving the Talon’s attack, he will likely sound the alarms, which may push Dent’s true nature to take over.

Per usual, the episode handles the show’s villains better than it does its younger cast.

While each episode tries to give one of the Gotham Knights a side story or opportunity to see the crew bonding, it always feels half-developed.

On this episode, for example, viewers get close to seeing the gang act a little more like typical teenagers when Duela brings out the whiskey. However, that storyline is cut short in favor of seeing the crew running off and pulling another vigilante act.

Similarly, while Duela has some convoluted feelings over Chill’s death, it isn’t explored enough to make it understandable or tie it to her feelings over being the Joker’s daughter.

While the show continues to do an exemplary job developing its villains and differentiating them from their comic book counterparts, even six episodes in, it fails to build its young vigilantes meaningfully.

This is to be expected, though, when the show is trying to divide attention between six members of the young vigilante group.

Fortunately, when Gotham Knights focuses on Dent, guest characters, and the overarching story of the Court of Owls, it largely makes up for the messy situation regarding the vigilantes.

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Gotham Knights airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.

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