Based on Stephanie's mom's various warnings that she not go to her father's house in issue #3, it was pretty clear that she knew that her ex-husband was Cluemaster. Snyder et al. confirm that in this issue, and Stephanie's life just got a lot more complicated (even though she doesn't know that yet).
At this point, the problem with the Stephanie plot is the same one as the Gordon plot: you've got to engage in some pretty significant suspension of disbelief to stay engaged. It seems clear that Stephanie didn't, in fact, overhear the criminals' plans for Gotham when she was breaking into her father's house; she has too many details to glean that much information in that brief scene, making it more likely that she heard them when she was "unconscious" on the floor. But, again, it raises the question why the criminals would've left her there in the first place. Similarly, Gordon is on the receiving end of the scorn of the judge hearing his case, despite the fact that I can't quite believe that no one -- no one -- seems to care about the various elements of the story -- the trains heading at each other, the power box not affecting the lines, etc. -- that imply a set-up. (We're not even mentioning the whole question over whether the perp had a gun, since that element is settled in the eyes of law enforcement, if not Batman and Batgirl.) I think that we're supposed to assume that the corruption reaches beyond just the GCPD, to include the judges. I can believe that. But, is Falcone (or whoever engineered the crash) buying off all the media? Where is Vicki Vale when you need her?
Snyder et. al add Batgirl into the mix in this issue, and her single-minded pursuit of the party responsible for setting up her father leads her to discover that someone spent three hours on the platform without boarding a train but then exited shortly after the crash. She identifies him as a Brazilian opera-star with connections to organized crime and departs the Batcave in a hurry to go find him. Bruce is weirdly dismissive of Barbara's crusade here, claiming that he's working on Gordon's case and encouraging her to rest since she hasn't slept since the accident. However, all we actually see him do in this issue is shake down Falcone. Doesn't it make sense to let Barbara do her thing, even if she isn't thinking straight? After all, they throw the Commissioner into the general population in Blackgate in this issue; it's not like time isn't of the essence. Plus, it's not like Bruce had identified the soap-opera star. How hard is he really working?
The good news is that I did more or less manage to suspend my disbelief for most of this issue, so I enjoyed it. Layman scripts this one, and he keeps everything moving at a pretty brisk pace. Moreover, I'm hoping that we'll get somewhere in both the Gordon and Stephanie stories so that these nagging inconsistencies won't be so annoying soon. A scene showing Cluemaster deciding to let Stephanie overhear the story on purpose or one depicting Gordon's judge taking a bribe from Falcone would go a long way to making me happy.
*** (three of five stars)
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