Episode 5 is a standout entry that continues one of season one’s best arcs, “Moving Target.” In the episode, Commissioner Jim Gordon must evade an assassin, only to discover the hit was meant for the other Gordon — Barbara.
“The Spectral Hand” opens with a flashback of Barbara held at gunpoint by former GCPD detective, Jim Corrigan. The scene repeats in her mind as she fires bullets into a human target. Barbara suppresses this PTSD as she learns Corrigan has been granted an early release.
Corrigan’s release is conditioned he volunteer for an experiment meant to lengthen life. Barbara witnesses this ordeal with a crowd of spectators, including Bruce Wayne who is enticed by the premise of immortality.
A Dr. Peterson’s Osiris Project hooks Corrigan to a machine set to revive him after they stop his heart. Unfortunately, he does not withstand the electro shock, and dies on the gurney. When news spreads that Blackgate murdered an inmate — a cop no less — mutiny erupts against the guards. Luckily, Batman reestablishes order.
Barbara, alone at home, sits conflicted with her feelings around Corrigan’s death. Meanwhile, the coroners’ journey to the morgue is interrupted when Corrigan rises alive.
He stalks Gotham’s snowy streets with a goal for vengeance. Like a ghoul of Christmas past, he visits Vinny DeLeon, Roger Marshall and Freddy Borke, three criminals who evaded justice due to insufficient evidence. He summons cardiac arrest in DeLeon, and chases Marshall, an abuser who murdered his wife, into an oncoming double-decker bus. Borke, a drug trafficker, leaps from a roof and is impaled atop the city’s Christmas tree.
As news spreads of Corrigan’s murder spree, Barbara deduces that she’s next on his hit list. Sure enough, the zombie treads his way to her home. She meets him outside, gun toted, demanding to know what he wants from her. Corrigan gravely asks for her forgiveness, his soul unsettled until he atones for his betrayal.
Stunned, Barbara stands in silence as Corrigan collapses, free at last.
“The Spectral Hand” is a tremendously powerful episode that explores Barbara’s ongoing moral strife. On one hand, her empathy has a long reach, as seen with Harvey Dent last season. But, it can also be manipulated, given the criminal at the center of “Moving Target.” Now, when she has every right to exact rage toward Corrigan, his soul prevents harm. It’s a stark sign at the grey of law and order; good and bad; right and wrong.
Along with the triumphant moral dilemma, the episode embraces the supernatural elements to great success, out pacing the previous “Devil’s Due.” It also continues this season’s embrace of more onscreen violence. The visible blood and slight gore leans into a mature approach that gives the series a new, thrilling edge.
Rating: 10/10