Better writing? Huh? The entire episode hinged on characters acting insanely dumb, much like the rest of the show. The specific moment they all put on the stupid cap stands out well. When Bullock is interviewing the pointlessly antagonistic warden about the people he works with, and then he suddenly has an incredibly unsubtle I AM HAVING A REALIZATION face. Then everyone starts acting insanely stupid. Gordon goes to the basement, fine. Then for some reason the doctor shows up in this place nobody goes to. Then when the guard investigating attacks on inmates gives her a pointed look and repeatedly tells her to leave, she stands there going DURR WHY I DON'T UNDERSTAND. Which allows this old woman to run at her and throw her. And then it turns out the "nurse" was an inmate all along. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? This NEVER gets explained. Why is an inmate allowed to roam free, why do they act like she's staff, why do the guards not know? That was so contrived it was painful. And then somehow the sociopath had been doing shock experiments to take over people's minds. Never mind the fact that he just got the keys, and somehow had to get the car battery, jumper cables, electrodes, etc in the basement as a prisoner. That entire climax was contrived and stupid.
And that's not even taking into account the D-plots that accounted the rest of the episode. Outside maybe the gangster stuff, nothing anyone else did mattered. The very end of the finale was Barbara getting with Montoya, that's done in less than 2 minutes of time on screen. They don't spend time developing problems, they just say they are there so they can move on. And then she is fooled by a 12 year old on the phone and has a hissy fit, despite being the one who has been sleeping around. That scene was hilarious. Both my friend and I completely lost it at that scene, it was so ridiculous. She had to pause so I could finish laughing. Besides Barbara continuing to be one of the worst written characters on TV, the bit with Selena and Ivy was just there to pad out the character cameo count (REMEMBER GUYS THIS IS BATMAN, SEE BATMAN CHARACTERS), and the bit with Penguin was beyond pointless. This show already tries to juggle so many plots and characters, wasting time on this stuff really hurts the show. Especially given how much they already rush things (see Barbara and Montoya).
I have heard this show's delivery compared to that of a mother bird feeding her young. It takes good ideas in, but then vomits them out as a haphazard mush. There are little bits I like at times. But the actual result when it all comes together is just a mess. I continue to watch it because myself and others find it to be a fascinating train wreck. Maybe this show call pull it together. But a show with as poor writing as this, that falls apart the second you think about it, it has a lot of work to do.
