Names of the Episodes:
GOTHAM “Wrath of the Villains: Mad Grey Dawn”
LUCIFER “A Priest Walks into a Bar”

Monday nights we are blessed with two DC comics shows. Although DC is known for their multiverse, these shows do not directly relate to one another. Sure Lucifer is the Prince of Darkness and ultimately resides in Hell, and Gotham is usually considered Hell to the Heaven that is Metropolis, but none the less, the two shows only share an evening with each other and not a universe (yet).

Gotham started as a gritty crime drama following Jim Gordon as he sets off on his career in the GCPD with his first case being the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Now in it’s sophomore season, the writers over at the show have turned it up to 11 on the crazy scale. We have villains that are nuts, and they are only going to get crazier as Doctor Hugo Strange acquires them in his secret lab.

The other FOX DC show is the police procedural Lucifer. After this past episode, it is apparent that Lucifer will be going to Hell at some point. Whether it is this season or the next, Lucifer will need to get a little wacky to keep the fans coming back. Unfortunately, one of the best parts about the original comic book (Sandman) probably won’t make it into the show. Morpheus, the Dream King, is tied up in a movie deal that did just see Joseph Gordon Levitt walk away from recently. But that’s not to say FOX won’t do something crazy like have the Sandman movie crossover with the TV show. Warner Brothers owns Sandman (much like WB produces LUCIFER, it still airs on FOX) so while unlikely, Spider-Man (Sony Pictures) is in Civil War(Marvel Studios)…hmmm.

Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society.
Spoilers will follow. You have been warned.

GOTHAM: Cory Michael Smith in the “Wrath of the Villains: Mad Grey Dawn” episode of GOTHAM airing Monday, March 21 (8:00-9:01 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Nicole Rivelli/FOX

Last episode on GOTHAM, Bruce faced his parents killer Matches Malone. Luckily for the boy billionaire, Matches wasn’t a threat and Bruce was able to talk himself out of killing him. Bruce sets the gun down and walks out the door, only to have Gordon rush up the stairs to see Bruce and then hear a gunshot as Matches kills himself. Bruce left a note for Alfred. It told him that he would be living on the streets with Selina for a while so that he can learn how to live without his money.

The episode begins at the Gotham Museum of Art where we find some very Schumacher-esque Batman art. Edward Nygma is there to begin his reign as “The Riddler”! After setting off a fake bomb, he steals a painting and spray paints the signature green ‘?’ to signify that a clue is here. You may be wondering why did he do this? He is the Riddler. All in good time.

Back at the precinct, Gordon and Bullock are briefed on the morning’s activities at the art museum. After the run down, Gordon is told by the Captain that Internal Affairs was re-opening the Galavan case based on some new evidence. Obviously Gordon continues to deny what happened. Captain Barnes isn’t buying the story, but he has no evidence that Gordon killed Galavan.

Now we have our reason for E. Nygma’s game heist. It is to distract Gordon while also systematically breaking down the respect people have for him. Penguin told Nygma what happened at the docks that night of Galavan’s murder. Nygma believes Gordon is going to catch him for the murder of Ms Kristen Kringle. Gordon only recently started looking into Ms Kringle’s disappearance, but we all know that he would have eventually figured it out.

Anyway, this was a huge episode for Riddler fans. We did not get the crazed killer version, no no no, we got a semi-sophisticated clever version of the Riddler. One who seems to focus more on the puzzle of the crime then he would on how many people will die. Which is a nice change of pace from the mayhem that most of the criminals on Gotham bring.

Throughout the episode Gordon is trying to just be his normal self, but Riddler is just leading him around. The end of the episode wrap up explains how Nygma followed Gordon around to collect the evidence necessary to frame him for the murder of Theo Galavan! It really was a brilliant way to treat us with our first “real” Riddler action. He was even cold when the recent Arkham Asylum Graduate(sane?) Oswald Cobblepot showed up tarred and feathered; he just turned him away and told him that the ‘…new you is kinda freakin’ me out’. And what better way to ice the cake than a bad riddle before a kill. “What do you call a tavern of black birds? A crowbar!” Which would be a murder.

The episode ends with a 4 week time jump, and Gordon is off to Blackgate Prison with Bullock saying he was going to find who set him up. I don’t know why he waited 4 weeks to tell him that but I guess Riddler was good at clearing his tracks. It is nice to see the show jump forward. David Mazouz is doing a fantastic job with his Bruce Wayne. If the show wants to jump forward in time to make him about 21 or 22 and then make him the Batman, that would be sweet.

It was a solid episode overall. The introduction to the Riddler was a nice touch to this long and drawn out origins story. I am upset that we didn’t get any Harvey Dent this episode. I mean seriously, Jim Gordon is going to prison for murder of another cop and we don’t even get one courtroom scene with Harvey? The Bruce and Selina storyline is a little bland right now to say the least. It was nice to see Ivy play a small part in an episode. She is seen cultivating some magic mushrooms for the scheme to steal the gang’s money.

Oh and lest I forget, Penguin met his father, Elijah Van Dahl (Paul Reubens) in this episode. The two showed up at Penguin’s mother’s grave at the same time and exchanged stories. Elijah welcomed him with open arms and invited him to come back and live with his family. Not all as it seemed so I’m going to leave the speculating for the comments.

LUCIFER: L-R: Lauren German, Lesley-Ann Brandt and Tom Ellis in the “A Priest Walks into a Bar” episode of LUCIFER airing Monday, March 21 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Michael Courtney/FOX

Up next on FOX is the police crime drama Lucifer. I do highly praise this show for what it is worth. Tom Ellis’ portrayal of Lucifer Morningstar is compelling. When this show was announced, One Million Moms began a petition to keep it off the air and consequently continue to have that same petition. They believe that Lucifer being portrayed as cool is “spiritually dangerous”. Well after this week it seems that God has a plan.

Since the burning of the wings in episode 7, we have seen Amenadiel take on a much more sinister role. We learned that he is in charge of Hell in the absence of Lucifer. Ergo, Amenadiel controls who goes in, and who comes out. We learn that the not-so-dead Malcolm was actually in Hell for 30 seconds before Amenadiel pulled him back to his body. Amenadiel has done this so that Malcolm can kill Lucifer (Lucifer caught the feels, now he is mortal – we think).

It seemed as though this episode was a filler episode, just to get us to the next story. It was funny watching Lucifer and priest playfully discuss faith. We get some great scenes in the bar (dueling pianos) and even when the priest dies he gives Lucifer something to think about. Detective Dan is still a douche, but we can actually hate him now because he was Malcolm’s shooter.

I do hope Lucifer embraces the crazy and weird. For right now, it is nice to have Lucifer on the couch discussing his feelings and to watch him do some good in the world. But at some point, what if we do get to go to Hell? I am hoping for Dante Alighieri’s Inferno (the first part of the epic poem Divine Comedy) being retold with Lucifer as the main character. If this is the case, this first season is him in the first circle, Limbo. As the show continues on, we could see him come out the other side as the ruler of Hell once again, but we could also see him travel off to the other worlds to help super heroes in the DC Multiverse.