However, before the explosion Lee tells us that they developed a way to test if someone has been infected with Alice’s blood, which means that we are not done with that yet. Barnes is locked up until some sort of cure is found, and until then Harvey is the acting captain (why didn’t someone more qualified get that position? Don’t worry about it. Let Harvey live his dreams).
Harvey and Jim are on the case of who is after Falcone (because Jim would never let go of a case that has anything to do with Lee, and now captain Harvey has got to learn when to shut that down). They follow a lead to a broken into apartment with a warm dead body in it (maybe if you weren’t talking so loudly in the hallway he wouldn’t have dipped). Jim finds some files under the bed that apparently make it clear that Falcone is not the true target, but Mario is.
Cut to motorcycle assassins coming after Mario. How does Mario not live in constant fear how does he not have his father’s bodyguards around him all the time, especially now with his wedding coming up (motorcycle assassins would have been a much more interesting title for this episode. Time bomb is really quite dull for how much is going on in this episode). Jim swoops in to save his life, but that doesn’t stop Mario from still being really verbally aggressive around him (at least he probably won’t punch him in the face anymore, we’ve moved on from physical to verbal aggression, so hopefully that is positive progress).
Mario is told to stay in the precinct in order to remain safe, but the moment that he gets the chance, he gets the hell out of there (you would really think they would keep better track of a Falcone in a police precinct). I really don’t blame him; it seems like criminals are constantly raiding that place. Instead, he is using himself as bait. For a doctor, we certainly see him with a gun a lot. Jim knows that is his plan, so he comes to help, and without him, I’m almost certain that Mario would have gotten a knife in the head immediately (did Mario learn how to fight with various weapons? Is that part of being Falcone’s son? I would love to know everything about his childhood).
Mario does take down one of the assassins, and starts asking him questions while simultaneously choking him (how do you expect to get answers from someone you are choking? Mario, please, you are a doctor, think a little). The man is able to choke out that Mario knows exactly why they are going after him, and Jim is probably overjoyed to have a reason to try to break up him and Lee now. It seems all the aggression Mario is holding back from Gordon comes out as he is choking this man, and he looks like he is the one infected with Alice’s blood (turns out that was intentional, but you can never be sure in this show).
They take one of the other assassins into custody where he obviously not going to talk, but Don Falcone really doesn’t care either way. Like the true former crime boss he is, he calmly takes out a knife before digging out his teeth. He has an owl-stamped tooth (how? Why? Of all things that the Court of Owls could do to distinguish themselves…), and it is time for Falcone to deal with this situation his way. Unfortunately, that doesn’t include explosions or the destruction of Gotham (not yet at least) but a terse conversation with Kathryn. They are blackmailing him in order to do something, but as to what that is, we have no idea. All she talks about is how Gotham is on the “brink of chaos” and honestly, isn’t it always?
While the city in on the brink of chaos, Harvey is giving Jim love advice. And let me tell you how much I needed to hear Harvey’s speech right now. If Jim doesn’t follow Harvey’s advice to just tell her how he feels, then I will. Nothing is more relatable than cowardice in admitting feelings, let me tell you. However, Jim is probably telling himself the same thing I always tell myself when I say that I want to admit my feelings to someone: it’s just not the right time. I will never have a good opportunity to do that.
Well, Jim can’t use that excuse anymore because instead of going to her rehearsal dinner, she went to Jim’s place, and basically encourages him to finally say what he is feeling. So, let’s hear it Jim, I’m taking notes. And here, ladies and gentlemen, is James Gordon’s school of how to get the girl:
Step 1.) Tell her you missed your chance to give her the life she deserves.
Step 2.) Tell her that you just want her to be happy.
Step 3.) Say a final goodbye.
Uh, I think something went wrong here. To be fair, this process will get you a quick peck on the lips, but this definitely doesn’t get you a girl. Granted, I really doubt that it was a final goodbye either because you don’t just casually go to your ex’s place to talk about your feelings the night before your wedding. Maybe Gordon’s process is good for the long game.
What I can definitely say is that Gordon has successfully pissed off Mario. Now he is scared that Lee loves him, and we see that he has been infected with the blood in his eyes, so Gordon is basically going from one infected man to the next. Why would we ever need some sort of way to test if someone has been infected by Alice’s blood? Just ask if they want to kill Jim Gordon, and there’s your answer.
Meanwhile, Tabitha and Butch are nowhere to be found, and Barbara is not going to let that be the case. She is on the war path, and that is what I like to see. We haven’t had enough people waving a gun in front of Penguin’s face lately. Penguin doesn’t give any information away to her, and surprisingly Barbara lets it go. Penguin makes a quick call to Nygma to let him know what happened, but Nygma is being a bit rude to him. Nygma just wants to work through his grief alone and at his own pace, and doesn’t really listen to anything that Penguin has to say before hanging up on him. He even has the audacity to say that Penguin can be a little self-centered sometimes. And yeah, that’s true, but not the most relevant thing right now.
Butch has no idea what’s going on, and Tabitha is probably regretting her relationship choices. Butch is just trying his best to make sure that Tabitha doesn’t get hurt in all this, which is quite sweet of him.
Nygma is really enjoying himself though, with an electric shocker and a minuscule guillotine meant for cutting off hands. Yet, there was a real lack of riddles, so I am a little disappointed in him. If anything, I thought that Nygma was actually quite kind in his torture. After all, he thinks that Butch killed his girlfriend, so why wouldn’t he just kill his girlfriend in revenge? Giving her a choice between letting Butch die or cutting off her own hand (Butch and her could have matching missing hands, how sweet) seems quite kind.
Barbara hasn’t dropped the case though, and she knows just the way to figure out the information she needs – Olga. Olga loves Penguin (apparently his knowledge of the word “da” has impressed her enough, and she has no problems with cleaning up brains) but doesn’t like Nygma. I feel you, Olga. With a small bribe, Olga is telling her everything. I think that Olga may be my new favorite character. Barbara definitely loves her because she finds out even more than she thought she would; she knows about Penguin’s feelings for Nygma. It’s a nice little piece of information to tuck away for later after she finds her friends.
Tabitha doesn’t really seem to think about her decision too much, since she is not in love with him right now (it’s only been a few weeks, she shouldn’t be anyway). Here is how a dying man confesses his feelings. Ladies and gentleman, it is time for Butch’s school of how to get the girl:
Step 1.) tell her that the last few weeks have been the best of your life.
Step 2.) tell her that you love her even though she has already told you that she doesn’t love you.
Step 3.) tell her that it is enough for someone like you.
The results have proven to be quite good because she gives up her hand in order to let him live. To be fair, nothing that Butch could have done would have been worse than Gordon though.
Yet, none of that stopped Butch from wanting to hurt Nygma, and he tells him lies about how Isabella insulted Nygma’s manhood before he put a bullet in her brain. Butch really should have lost his temper with Nygma earlier because the moment that Nygma hears that Butch used a gun, he realizes that Butch is telling the truth that didn’t do anything. The poor thing is so confused, and when Barbara shows up, he just casually walks out of the place in a daze and lets Barbara handle the whole chopped off hand thing.
It has just been a really interesting day for Barbara, and now that she has rescued Tabitha, she can go back to the information that Penguin likes Nygma. Butch’s line “another girl likes him?” followed by Barbara’s line “who said anything about a girl?” may have been my favorite part of the episode. Combined with the information that Butch tells her about Nygma’s reasons for torturing them, she puts it all together. Penguin killed her. It is time for Barbara to take the spotlight again, and what better way than to start a war.
Now back to the heterosexual romances. It has been a few days, but Bruce is still touchy that Selina didn’t agree that they were in relationship; that is the level of petty that I aspire to be. Apparently it took all that time for him to finally work up the nerve to ask her about it, but when she gives him an answer that he doesn’t want to hear, he drops it all over again. I get it Bruce, she doesn’t want a label, but you do, and it really sucks, but dropping the conversation all the time is not going to solve anything. Remember when you were the one doing the best in the romance department on this show? That’s because you talked to her.
Both Selina and Ivy want to get the hell out of this mansion. Why? I have no idea. I would kill to be in that mansion, especially if my other option was living on the street. The awkwardness between Selina and Bruce is worth the Egyptian sheets and fancy food. Yet Ivy is still determined to get out of there, so she uses her new found powers (or just chemicals?) on Alfred in order to turn off the alarms. It seems like Ivy is gone for all of 5 minutes before we are notified that she is captured because apparently those persuasive powers aren’t all that useful in these situations.
They have to go down a manhole to get her (which is the mostly sketchy hiding place I have ever heard of, but okay). Bruce found it very easy to convince Alfred to let him come, and Bruce didn’t even try to convince Selina not to, so it seems they have all come to an agreement that they’re a ride or die crew.
Bruce just wants to convince Kathryn that he did not mean to get involved in this mess, but despite the fact that the key has an owl on it, none of the guys around them have on the ridiculous owl masks, so these guys don’t seem to be involved with them. In fact, it turns out that they are working against the Court of Owls. They call themselves the “Whisper Gang” (I’m not sure why), and they need the key to open a safe that has some sort of weapon in it that will destroy the Court of Owls (why is this guy telling these kids his whole plan?).
Bruce is on board with the destruction of the Court of Owls, and offers to help them out.
Overall, it just seems like a really good day for the Whisper Gang; they got the key, they got Bruce Wayne, they got killed… oh wait. The Court of Owl’s personal assassin is back and he is taking the key and their lives. Bruce has got himself way in over his head. Overall, everyone in this episode was busy doing something, and that’s when this show is truly at its best. Finally, Bruce’s story is more than just a love interest, and we have gotten back to the Court of Owls once again. Falcone is somehow dealing with the Court of Owls, but that’s not really a surprise, I would assume that he dealt with everyone when he was the kingpin. It has to be something that Mario is also privy to since the assassin said he knows why, and who knows what that Mario is going to do in his infected state now. We just always have to have someone going after Jim Gordon.
Written by Nicole Teeters, GOTHAM Beat Writer -- Click to read Nicole's posts
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