Gotham Season 3 Premiere Easter Eggs

Every week, we'll be breaking down the Gothameaster eggs that you might have missed, whether it was a Batman reference or something dealing with the wider DC Universe. The newest episode will always be at the top (and you can click the blue episode title headlines to get taken to a full review), with previous episodes appearing in the dropdown menu in the order in which they appeared.

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Gotham Season 3 Episode 1: “Mad City: Better to Reign in Hell…”

So we had a few debuts this week...

- First off we had the introduction of Valerie Vale, an intrepid Gotham City reporter and potential love interest for James Gordon. Long time Batfans will recognize the name Vale as a grand tradition in Gotham City media. Reporter and frequent Batman love interest Vicki Vale first appeared in Batman#49 (1948) and was created by Bill Finger while Bob Kane caressed his stupid ascot or something.

Vale was to Bruce Wayne what the late Golden Age/early Silver Age Lois Lane was to Superman, a nosy reporter who was constantly trying to discover the secret identities of Batman and Robin. Like Lois, Vale evolved into a troubleshooting reporter and, unlike Lois, eventual lover to Bruce Wayne. The character’s finest hour was in the 1989 Tim Burton Batmanfilm where, played by Kim Basinger, Vale stole Bruce Wayne’s heart and for some reason that DC fans still can’t figure out, was let into the Batcave by Alfred.

As far as I know, there has never been a Valerie Vale in the comics. One supposes that this Vale could at some point have a younger sister who follows in her footsteps as a reporter or something. Whatever the case, Vicki Vale hasn’t appeared in the comics that much these past few years and certainly wasn’t in any recent Bat film, so it’s good to have the Vale tradition continue on Gotham.

- We saw the Court of Owls last season on Gotham, but “Mad City: Better to Reign in Hell…” featured our first live action look at a member of the Talons. As introduced in the already immortal Court of Owls storyline by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, the Talons are basically the Court’s muscle. They are highly trained, fiercely loyal, and deadly. The Talons are usually taken from circuses at a young age and brainwashed into serving the Court of Owls.  

Over in the pages of DC Comics, a few of the Talons even turned good and fought side by side with the heroes of the DC Universe. But most of the Talons are like the silent assassin we witnessed in the season premiere. Talons are highly susceptible to cold which could be a way to bring Mr. Freeze back to the show, too. It’s funny, I hate the Court of the Owls look on Gotham, but I kind of dig the Kato mask aesthetic of TV’s Talons. I don’t think the very busy Talon costume would translate well to TV.

- I also really dug the bond between Selina and Ivy. After all, when these future fatales get older, they will make up the Gotham City Sirens with Harley Quinn and their bond will be stronger than ever, so it’s nice to see the forging of that sisterhood on Gotham.

- Speaking of Harley, Barbara is becoming more and more Harley like as time goes on. The timeline wouldn’t work at all for Barbara being the Joker’s best gal, but perhaps soon we will meet a young girl named Harleen being brought into Barb’s new gang? Wouldn’t be at all surprised.

- So how many of you were just trying to figure out if any of Fish’s new gang were actually established comic characters? We had stegosaurus guy, vampire guy, death touch guy, scary mask chick girl, and a bunch of others. I don’t think any of these weirdos were supposed to be anyone special, but you cats can correct me if I’m wrong.

Maybe death touch guy was supposed to be a villain named Lord Death Man, a crazy ass Japanese crime lord that does have death bringing powers, at least in a few versions of the little known character. But Gotham’s death touch guy was neither Japanese nor a crime lord so I guess not. I just wanted to show my nerd cred by referencing Lord Death Man.

- This week, we saw the accident that may cause the aging of Ivy Pepper into her more familiar Poison Ivy form. We have to bid farewell to Clare Foley, the actress that has portrayed ‘lil Ivy since the first season. We haven’t seen much of Clare these past two years and change, but what we have seen has been fun as she brought a twitchy yet innocent dynamic to her role. You’ll be missed, Miss Foley.

We'll be back next week with more Gotham Season 3 weirdness!