’Gotham’ 3.03 ”Look Into My Eyes” Review: Enter Mad Hatter

Gotham has been heavy on the monstrous spotlights so far in its third season, but this week’s episode was a little bit more “human”. As we have been introduced to many famous Batman villains over the past two seasons, tonight marked the debut of another one. This time it was with The Walking Dead’s Benedict Samuel entering the DC Universe as the Mad Hatter, one of the new series regulars of Season 3. We also get introduced to his complicated relationship with his sister Alice, who is just as tricky as her brother.

Leslie also returns to Gotham City as she reveals to Gordon that she is now engaged to Mario Falcone, son of Carmine Falcone (who also makes a guest appearance in tonight’s episode) and while Gordon doesn’t seem to care, it’s absolutely getting under his skin. Meanwhile, on the subject of getting under someone’s skin, Aubrey James is given quite the surprise as the Penguin decides to run for mayor in Gotham City. One of his first moves in his campaign is that he gets his good buddy, Edward Nygma, out of Arkham Asylum. Bruce is busy with getting to know his bizarre clone as we discover new mysteries about Indian Hill’s own Bruce Wayne that apparently doesn’t feel pain.

Let’s go through the top 5 highlights and important moments of the Gotham Season 3 episode, “Look Into My Eyes.”

#5 – Leslie & Gordon’s Awkward Encounter

Let’s face it, post-break ups are always awkward, in many ways than one. In this episode, we see Leslie and Gordon not being extremely comfortable around each other. What we do see more of is the introduction of Leslie’s fiancé, Mario Falcone, who discovers that Leslie hadn’t told Gordon who he was, when the two men meet at the hospital. I’m not the biggest fan of triangle dramas and given that Leslie is getting involved with a Falcone, I’m only excepting drama to come out of this triangle, but just worse because of the Falcone involvement. But who knows what will happen, maybe Gordon and Leslie as a couple is not happening again, which would be refreshing. It’s too early though to tell where the writers are going with this aspect of the season, so only time will tell.

#4 – Bizarro-Bruce Gets Bizarr-er

First off, I’m sticking to the name Bizarro-Bruce because that’s exactly what he is and this episode is a good example for why that is. While he still remains a big question mark (even bigger than Nygma because, you know, the Riddler thing), we do learn quite a bit about him this week. For starters, he can’t feel pain after getting punched by Alfred during boxing as well as being burned by a candle, so that’s an advantage for the clone. It became quite clear that he is heavily interested in Selina, which I hope doesn’t become an uncomfortable triangle between Bruce, Selina and Bizarro-Bruce, because it would literally be Bruce fighting with himself over a girl. In the final moments of the episode, where he gets his hair cut and poses as the real Bruce to get closer with Selina, it gave me all the chills. We will have to wait till next week to find out what he has planned.

#3 – Penguin Runs For Mayor

Who ever thought that Oswald Cobblepot would ever decide to run for mayor in Gotham City? Robin Lord Taylor continues to be one of the show’s ultimate highlights because he can go from being hilarious to absolutely terrifying in the matter of seconds. Whether this had been revealed in an interview or not, the surprise of seeing Penguin deciding to run for mayor, was definitely neat, but also hilarious. While he may have supporters behind him, will he honestly have enough people to vote for him? Either way, I’m 100% game for this storyline, but it’s mostly because I would watch Penguin just sit and laugh at a wall, and still call it an enjoyable storyline because it’s him.

#2 – Nygma Released From Arkham

While it didn’t play a large part of the episode until the very end, seeing Nygma finally getting out, in a surprising way, was appreciated. Even though he had a big role in Season 2, I still feel that we aren’t getting enough of Cory Michael Smith on the show, so to see that Nygma finally got out and is now going to be part of Oswald’s campaign, which means that we should be seeing a lot of him in coming episodes. Besides, who can resist loving the adorable buddy relationship that is Nygma and Penguin?

#1- Mad Hatter’s Debut

Now last, but absolutely not the least, the Mad Hatter himself. Samuel’s portrayal of Tetch was immediately slick and intense. I was however hoping that we would see a version of the character who had yet reached this stage, but again, because Gotham does spin the Batman mythos a little bit, it’s just the way it is which is fine, I guess. We also got to meet Alice who, like her brother, is also quite complex, but as you could see, she is a victim of Indian Hill so what is happening to her, it’s out of her control. The Mad Hatter was overall a lot of fun for his first episode and definitely made it clear that he is a dangerous player, just with words. It will be intriguing to see how Tetch plays into things in the overall story of Season 3.

Verdict: Aside from some pacing issues, “Look Into My Eyes” was a setup from last week’s episode, as we got a good dose of Bizarro-Bruce, a solid introduction to Mad Hatter and lots of fun moments with the Penguin. Season 3 is so far off to a great start as it’s inspiring to see a show that had its struggle back in Season 1, having come such a long way in its improvement.

Grade: A-

Gotham Season 3 airs on Monday nights at 8/7c on FOX.

Andy Behbakht

Andy Behbakht

Andy Behbakht is an online entertainment journalist who has been covering television and movies since 2010. In addition, he is also a podcast producer.