With Turner captured, the gang face a race against time to save him from the clutches of the Court of Owls. But what plans do the shadowy villains have for him?

‘Oh for a really world class script doctor’? Oh Greg of a week ago, I think this show is beyond even that, though I have to admit that I still don’t hate it, as painfully obvious as it all is. I made a bet with my editor after watching episode 1 about a pivotal point in Turner’s backstory, and on the strength of this instalment I may have been absolutely on the money, though admittedly there’s time for the tale to twist again. Still, when you can call a major plot point revealed in episode 9 during the pilot, the writers aren’t doing a great job.

So, Turner has been captured, and Duela, apparently forgetting everything we’ve established about her character and backstory to this point, is desperate to save him from the Court of Owls, arguing with the rest of the gang about who’s to blame and why they should be out there already. Then the gang have a eureka moment about where the Electrum might be and so off on a little hunt go Harper and Stephanie, giving them some time to flirt a bit so we can set up another obvious sub plot within the show.

Turner, at the mercy of Lincoln, is induced into some sort of dream state in which he can talk to his parents, as he’s pushed towards that obvious conclusion I mentioned. I’d possibly be less mad about this if it was at least executed with a bit of nuance or style, but this is Gotham Knights so no chance on either count there.

Having discovered that the Court had the same (wrong) idea about the Electrum, the gang have another spontaneous Eureka moment and go looking somewhere else. Having found it they must then have an obligatory argument about whether ’tis nobler to give the immortal super rock to their nemeses to save their friend or not, before coming up with the Dumbest Plan Ever to have their cake and eat it. Then things occur. Look, it’s all very very silly and that’s about all we need say, save that if you’re going to flat out crib from other work in the genre, maybe be a bit more inventive than straight stealing from one of the best villain performances in modern genre cinema and name-dropping Vicki Vale just because you can. Jeez…

Meanwhile Harvey is somewhat at a loss, more so when he discovers that the blood all over that mask he woke up wearing last time out does indeed implicate him in some shady stuff. Having recorded the longest semi-confession/defence video in the history of self-taping (if we compare the intermittent bits we get to the other events of the episode) he discovers – shock horror – that the alter ego he fears so much might well have the same sort of ideas he has. Gosh, who could have predicted, etc…

Verdict: I’m trying to think of a stronger word than ‘hackneyed’ for the plot but at least the cast seem to be having fun. 4/10

Greg D. Smith