TV Review: Gotham – Season 1 Episode 21 “The Anvil Or The Hammer”

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Episode 21: "The Anvil Or The Hammer"

Synopsis: Gordon and Bullock track the Ogre, who manages to break down Barbara's emotions; Penguin leads a massacre that kick-starts an epic war; Bruce learns the truth about Wayne Enterprises; and Nygma deals with his recent actions.

The GCPD: After spending the night with The Ogre, Barbara Kean awakes to learn his true identity. Locked in his sex dungeon, The Ogre begins to convince Barbara that she is his soulmate. Jim and Harvey continue their search for Barbara which leads them to a high class sex club, The Fox Glove. Harvey poses as a john so they can try to get some evidence. Back at The Ogre's apartment, he continues to try and convince Barbara of his love for her, hitting her and showing her his toys and prior conquests. At the Fox Glove, Harvey sees all sorts of abhorrent behavior and sexual acts, but when he sees a man and a pig have sex on stage (infered, not seen), he pulls his badge. When she awakes, The Ogre asks Barbara who he should kill in exchange for letting her live. She refuses until he pulls a knife and she finally whispers a name. At the club, one of the girls reveals The Ogre went by the name Jason who cut her face but let her go nine years prior. The girl gives some clues as to the location of his apartment and asks Gordon not to arrest him, but to kill him. Bullock and Gordon find the apartment and the secret room, but he and Barbara are gone. The phone rings and it is The Ogre taunting Gordon. He heard a train horn and the sound of a bridge which leads him to where Barbara's parents live. There, Barbara watches as The Ogre murders them. Gordon and Bullock arrive to find their corpses on display and Barbara walkng in in a daze. The Ogre sneaks behind Bullock and knocks him out before lunging at Jim with a knife. The two tussle and The Ogre holds Barbara at knifepoint and she pleads for Jim to just go. Bullock calls out and while The Ogre is distracted, Gordon kills him with a shot to the head. The cops applaud Bruce's success and he finds Dr. Thompkins waiting and professes his love for her again. The Captain gets a report of Maroni responsible for three attacks in the city and declares it a war in Gotham.

At Wayne Manor: Alfred delivers a letter to Bruce that contains the replica of Bunderslaw's key that Selina made at the charity ball. Bruce offers too accompany Alfred to identify Reggie's body but Alfred refuses and cites knowing Reggie better than that and doesn't believe he fell out of a window. Visiting Wayne Enterprises, Bruce pulls the fire alarm so he can sneak into Bunderslaw's office. Using the key to open his safe, Bruce is caught by Bunderslaw who was aware of the stolen key. He admits to Bruce that Wayne Enterprises is involved in llegal activity and says it is the nature of being a multi-national company. He also says Bruce's father was aware and came to terms with it as his father did before him. Bruce is shocked by the revelation. As they talk, junior Wayne Enterprises executive Lucius Fox enters and takes Bruce back to his tour guide. As they leave, Lucius reveals to Bruce that his father was actually a good man who kept secrets to protect his family but doesn't say more. Bruce asks Alfred later if he was okay seeing Reggie, but Alfred says the Reggie he knew died years before. Bruce then comes clean about finding Reggie and what they did and everything Bunderslaw said. Alfred says his father was a good man, but Bruce says even good men have secrets. Looking at a photo of his father, Bruce adds it to his board tracking the web of lies.

Fish Mooney: Fish does not appear this week.

The Penguin: The day has arrived for Penguin to kill Don Maroni and he is very excited. He even gets a visit from Jim Gordon who needs help getting into the Fox Glove club. Penguin plays coys and says Jim already owes him a favor, but when Jim threatens him, Penguin begrudgingly agrees. Penguin rehearses with his hired gun as to how he will kill Maroni. It turns out a former friend of Maroni's has been released from prison and heads to Lydia's bar for a meal. Penguin's hired man enters the restaurant and finds the hidden gun and tells Maroni it was just business and that he came on behalf of Falcone, but the gun jams and he is killed by Maroni, now ready to declare war on his adversary. Butch tells Penguin of the failed hit but he already knew as he took the firing pins out of the guns. Butch is confused, but Penguin says now he can watch the two bosses wage war and enjoy the carnage. At Falcone's home, he gets a box with the thug's head from Maroni. 

Other Characters: Edward Nygma works to dispose of the body of the murdered cop he killed last week. As he disposes or parts of the hacked corpse, Ms. Kringle arrives to get some case files and sees the body which Edward gives a fake story. She asks if he has seen Officer Dougherty and Edward plays dumb. Nygma talks too Dougherty's skull and plots to send Ms. Kringle a goodbye note and then proceeds to smash the bones to dust. Edward finds Ms. Kringle later with a note she got from Dougherty and she is biter for always picking bad guys. Edward says she should read between the lines and moves the note, each of the first letters spelling Nygma. He then cackles his trademark laugh.

Review: Well, so much for The Ogre. It took three episodes for Gotham to do virtually nothing useful with the character.Building up his menacing resume seemed to serve only to give Barbara Kean some value on the show, but in the end her parents get murdered, Jim Gordon feels guilty, but he is still with Dr. Thompkins. The sequences in the sex club were funny but seemed pointless. Why would such a careful killer have left one person who could identify him for nine years? The overall motivations by The Ogre don't seem to make much sense, but I guess that is my fault for trusting this show. Once again, the subplots featuring Penguin's orchestrated mob war and Edward Nygma finishing his crime from last week are the most interesting, but they don't really jive with the rest of the hour. Next week's finale has a lot to wrap up for this season to be worthy of any repeat viewers next year but this penultimate episode is a bit of a let down.

Final Verdict:

Next Episode: "All Happy Families Are Alike" airs on May 4th – As Gotham City’s gang war reaches its boiling point, Fish Mooney goes head-to-head with Maroni and Penguin in an attempt to re-stake her claim on the city. Meanwhile, Barbara and Leslie Thompkins are brought together after recent events, and Bruce searches Wayne Manor for any hints that his father might have left behind.