Red Hood (Gotham)

"Red Hood" is the seventeenth episode of the television series Gotham. It premiered on FOX on February 23, 2015 and was written by Danny Cannon, and directed by Nathan Hope. In this episode, Gordon (Ben McKenzie) investigate the Red Hood gang, which specializes in heists. Meanwhile, Mooney learns more about the place she may be in.

The episode was watched by 6.53 million viewers and received positive reviews. Critics praised the Red Hood gang and Bruce's storyline.

Plot

A group of thugs, the Red Hood Gang, commit a heist in a bank. During the heist, one of the robbers wearing a red mask, is shot by a police officer, but surprisingly, he misses all the bullets. While making their way out, the police arrives so the man in the red mask, Gus Floyd (Michael Goldsmith), throws some of the money so people can catch and distract the police.

Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and Bullock (Donal Logue) discover the Red Hood gang members through video footage as the gang planned the heist a week ago and they also track their address as one of the members showed a Kleg's Auto uniform. While reuniting in the autoshop, Floyd says that whoever wears the red mask should lead the gang and is killed by Clyde Destro (Jonny Coyne), who claims the mask. When inspecting the autoshop, Gordon and Bullock discover Floyd's corpse in a fridge.

After a witness identifies Destro, Gordon and Bullock let him so they can track him down along with his gang. In his apartment, Destro is wounded by another member of his gang, who steals the red mask. Gordon and Bullock find him and while saving him, he reveals all the information. The next day, the GCPD ensues in a shootout with the Red Hood gang, killing all of them.

Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) is brought to an office manager (Jeffrey Combs). He's not the official owner of the prison as the real doctor, "Dulmacher", is away in Gotham. When he tells her that her eyes would be of high value and tries to extract it, she removes her eye herself with a spoon and steps onto it, making it now worthless.

In Wayne Manor, Alfred (Sean Pertwee) receives the visit from an old SAS friend Reggie Payne (David O'Hara), who had been arrested for sleeping in the streets. Bruce (David Mazouz) lets him stay a few days. However, at night, Payne steals some files from Wayne Enterprises and Bruce's notes. Alfred finds him and while they argue, Payne stabs him and flees. Bruce takes Alfred to the hospital. Payne later gives the information to the Wayne Enterprises Board, for which he receives a payment. In the streets, a boy finds the red mask and upon wearing it, he pretends shooting at the police officers.

Reception

Viewers

The episode was watched by 6.53 million viewers, with a 2.3 rating among 18-49 adults.^[1] With Live+7 DVR viewing factored in, the episode had an overall rating of 9.73 million viewers, and a 3.6 in the 18–49 demographic.^[2]

Critical reviews

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer)	77%[3]
Rotten Tomatoes (Average Score)	7.4[3]
IGN	7.4[4]
The A.V Club	B+[5]
"GamesRadar"	[6]
TV Fanatic	[7]
New York Magazine	[8]

"Red Hood" received positive reviews. The episode received a rating of 77% with an average score of 7.4 out of 10 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus stating: "With 'Red Hood,' Gotham finds its footing as a breeding ground for supervillainy, crusaders, and risk, unafraid to throw in a walloping surprise of grotesque proportions that couldn't be seen coming."^[3]

Matt Fowler of IGN gave the episode a "good" 7.4 out of 10 and wrote in his verdict, "Even though the Red Hood gang story will only pay dividends in our minds, it felt more like a fun, harmless one-off rather than a big, heavy 'this is where it all begins' ground zero moment. And I liked that. Also working this week was the visit Alfred and Bruce got from Reggie Payne, as it helped shade in Alfred's past and raise up Wayne Industries as a corporate villain. Fish and Penguin however continued to flounder in stories that, respectively, don't tonally line up and seek to undo established character traits from earlier in the season."^[4]

The A.V. Club's Kyle Fowle gave the episode a "B+" grade and wrote, "For perhaps the first time this season, Gotham actually feels like a show that's about the city, and how that city might come to produce not only hardened supervillains, but also a caped vigilante. There are two central storylines that drive the episode, and they share thematic territory. In one storyline, Bullock and Gordon investigate a series of bank robberies executed by the newly-named Red Hood Gang. In another, an old Secret Service buddy of Alfred's tracks him down in the hopes of getting his life back on track. The storylines aren't connected on the surface, but both serves to deepen our understanding of Gotham and the central characters. They both speak to issues of identity, power, and corruption in a meaningful, subtle way, something that the show hasn’t been able to pull off so far this season."^[5]

References