The Blind Fortune Teller

"The Blind Fortune Teller" is the sixteenth episode of the television series Gotham. It premiered on FOX on February 16, 2015 and was written by series developer Bruno Heller, and directed by Jeffrey Hunt. In this episode, Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and Lee (Morena Baccarin) go on a date to Haly's Circus, and end up investigating the murder of one of the performers. Meanwhile, Bruce (David Mazouz) sets to investigate Wayne Enterprises.

The episode was watched by 6.19 million viewers and received generally positive reviews. While Fish Mooney's storyline was criticized, Cameron Monaghan's performance was universally acclaimed.

Plot

Barbara (Erin Richards) returns to her penthouse apartment to see Selina (Camren Bicondova) and Ivy (Clare Foley) staying there. Selina adds Gordon (Ben McKenzie) left his keys and Barbara tells Gordon "to screw him". Gordon and Lee (Morena Baccarin) have a date at the Haly's Circus. However, during a performance, the performers have a fight between their respective families, the Graysons and Lloyds. Gordon and Lee visit snake dancer Lila Valeska in her trailer, only to be received by her son, Jerome (Cameron Monaghan), who reports he didn't see her since the morning. They then discover her corpse in a kart where Gordon accuses the ringmaster (James Monroe Iglehart). The ringmaster admits having discovered the corpse before but didn't say anything so it could not interfere in the show, planning to give her a funeral later.

In the prison, Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) acts as the leader of the inmates so they can break free of the prison. When the guards arrive to escort a prisoner, Mooney has her crew to kill the prisoner so it's now worthless. When she defies their orders, they say the "director" would like to talk to her. Alfred (Sean Pertwee) discovers Bruce (David Mazouz) investigating Wayne Enterprises, as there's cases of corruption within the company.

Gordon and Lee then interrogate Jerome's father, psychic Paul Cicero (Mark Margolis), who claims to hear Lila from "beyond". They bring Jerome too, where Gordon accuses him of murdering Lila as Cicero may have had the weapon. Jerome denies anything, but when it is revealed that Cicero is his father, he begins to laugh maniacally. He finally admits he killed his mother for being a "whore", and Gordon arrests him. Later, the two families reconcile when John Grayson and Mary Lloyd get engaged.

Barbara tries to get Gordon back with her but changes her mind when she sees him kissing with Lee in the lobby. In Mooney's nightclub, Victor Zsasz (Anthony Carrigan) visits Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) to tell him that he brainwashed Butch (Drew Powell) so he's now in service of Cobblepot, having worked on him on "his basement for a few weeks". Bruce visits the Wayne Enterprises board to confront them about the cases of corruption and their involvement in Arkham Plan, although they deny everything. In the prison, the guard Thomas Schmidt (Elliot Villar) tells Mooney that the director wants to meet with her.

Reception

Viewers

The episode was watched by 6.19 million viewers, with a 2.1 rating among 18-49 adults.^[1] With Live+7 DVR viewing factored in, the episode had an overall rating of 9.25 million viewers, and a 3.4 in the 18–49 demographic.^[2]

Critical reviews

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer)	61%[3]
Rotten Tomatoes (Average Score)	7.3[3]
IGN	7.3[4]
The A.V Club	C+[5]
"GamesRadar"	[6]
Paste Magazine	7.0[7]
TV Fanatic	[8]
New York Magazine	[9]

"The Blind Fortune Teller" received generally positive reviews, especially for Monaghan's performance as a character widely interpreted (but never officially confirmed) as a younger version of the Joker. The episode received a rating of 61% with an average score of 7.3 out of 10 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus stating: "The action and use of the ensemble in 'The Blind Fortune Teller' add excitement to an otherwise disappointing introduction of an iconic Batman villain."^[3]

Matt Fowler of IGN gave the episode a "good" 7.3 out of 10 and wrote in his verdict, "Look, this show isn't strong enough for me to hold any acute objections to it tackling The Joker. Given the problems the series has at its core, Joker is not suddenly something I'm now demanding they 'do right.' But I am intrigued about how things are supposed to piece together for him. If Jerome was supposed to be Joker, then his origin story happened years ago when something made him snap. So it's very likely that he's just a random(ish) psycho (who the previews for the episode made sure to show us being psycho, thus ruining the entire murder mystery)."^[4]

The A.V. Club's Kyle Fowle gave the episode a "C+" grade and wrote, "'The Blind Fortune Teller' is another dull, convoluted, poorly-written hour of television, but there are a few performances that stand out. Watching Gotham every week is such a frustrating experience because of how banal the procedural elements are and how shallow and haphazard the narrative is; but it's also frustrating because there are moments when characters shine, or when a certain sequence plays out with wonderful tension and patience. So many episodes of the show have given hints as to what Gotham could be if only it could find some narrative depth and focus, and 'The Blind Fortune Teller' is another one of those episodes."^[5]

References