Unfortunately, his magic needles apparently don’t have this ability to easily and immediately remove emotions. It has to be Bruce’s choice. Well, it’s not like he is going to say no in this situation, it’s his only way to get out of this place. So, in a heavily symbolic moment, Bruce locks up his father’s cuff links in his memory, which seems more like repressing than removing to me, but it seems successful enough. Bruce is a better fighter, and he feels nothing when fighting anymore. The old guy is pleased, and is excited for the day when “together, we will make Gotham pay.” Shocker, the old guy alone in the mountains with a connection to the Court of Owls isn’t benevolent.
There isn’t even any mention of clone Bruce’s activities in this episode. However, with Selena in a coma, I suppose there isn’t much interference on his end. Selena is on the brink of death in the hospital. Ivy finds her because somehow Tabitha has heard that Selena fell out of a window and is in pretty bad shape. However, Ivy has determination, magical perfume, and a shit ton of medicinal plants, so she is going to find a way to heal her friend.
As ridiculous as it sounds (about as ridiculous as the rest of this show sounds), it works, and Selena awakes from her coma. I’ll be sure to let my pre-med friends know that plants are the way to go in the medical world now. Selena is ready to leave and go to Wayne Manor to kill clone Bruce, and I suppose Ivy should be used to people waking up from a coma wanting to kill people. After all, Penguin did the same thing.
Even without Ivy at his side, Penguin is still determined to get to Nygma as soon as possible. He searches out Gordon to find a way to set up a meeting with the Court of Owls, not realizing that he literally picked the worst time to bug Gordon. No wonder he wasn’t surprised that Penguin was alive, he too much else on his mind to worry about. He can’t add Penguin’s favor to his plate right now. I do always love their interactions where Penguin asks him for favors (and kind of threatens him a little).
Gordon is on his way to break into Kathryn’s home after getting her fingerprint earlier to get more information on her. Don’t you think she would have a lot of security? Or at least a camera in her home?
Nope, she has none of that. Essentially, Gordon just walks right in, and searches her home. When she spots him in her home, he pulls the Oswald card. When that doesn’t seem like enough, he requests a seat at the table to know what is going on. I don’t know why she doesn’t just ask HOW do you know where I live, instead of why are you here, but she seems to buy his excuses. Not only that, but also agrees that maybe it is time that Gordon learn more about what their plan is.
They plan to show the people of Gotham their darkest selves, and I guess after hearing judgment enough, Gordon put two and two together and realized that they meant releasing Alice’s blood. That whole Barnes being transferred to an unknown location thing earlier that the GCPD really should have been more worried about than they were seems a lot more relevant now. They go to Lucius, and it seems Lucius is back to his regular role as the guy that is just around to keep the story moving, and he points them in the direction of the offsite lab they need to go to in order to find them.
They find that the lab has been trashed by an experimental victim of Alice’s blood. However, Professor Strange comes to the rescue. He is in a fantastic position here. He gives his research and a vial of blood to Gordon as a show of good faith, and weaponized the blood for the Court of Owls. He has helped both parties, so no matter how this ends, he will be free. Harvey accurately summed this up by calling him a “logical bastard.”
The most important part of Professor Strange coming back in this episode is his reassurance that Fish Mooney is still alive. I’ve been waiting for her to return for ages, so it is nice to hear that I have not been waiting for nothing. However, no one ever really dies on this show, so I was never very worried in the first place.
Gordon and Harvey give the research and vial to Lucius so he can work on a cure (and of course he will find one, that’s his role in the show again). Yet, Gordon is held back by a call from Kathryn, asking him to meet at 3:31 (why not just 3:30? Why you gotta make it difficult?) because she believes that he does deserve a seat at the table. I don’t understand why she is giving this guy a promotion after locating her home, but you do you girl.
She takes him to a gathering of Gotham’s elite daughters, where she intends to test the bomb of Alice’s blood and make Gordon watch. For some reason, she doesn’t stay herself to watch the results, and instead leaves Talon to ensure Gordon’s loyalty. If he tries to stop the bomb, he will be executed, but that doesn’t mean he can’t call someone else to take care of it. Penguin to the rescue. It’s been awhile since we have seen Penguin do his own work since he was King of Gotham. It’s nice to go back to our roots every now and then.
After the bomb being thwarted and Talon’s death, Kathryn still does not realize Gordon’s disloyalty. It is not until she sees her drawer slightly askew that she realizes Gordon has been unfaithful all this time. Maybe someone this slow shouldn’t be in charge of Gotham. However, Trump is in charge of the US, so I suppose I understand how it is possible.
Since Penguin did show up and kill Talon, the Court is more than willing to meet him now. They imprison him (in a large bird cage, of course, they are really dedicated to this Owl thing). This probably wouldn’t have happened if Ivy was around. Turns out that Nygma is in the cage beside him, so he sort of got what he wanted. He isn’t able to kill him through the cage, but I’m sure the Nygma is properly frightened nonetheless.
Overall, this was a jam-packed episode. That isn’t to say there weren’t some slow parts, however. Lee is stuck in the past, mourning her husband and accusing Gordon of ruining everything in the world. She wants to open an investigation of his uncle’s death and find out the truth of what is going on. She is tired of him getting away with everything and everyone covering for him. She asks Harvey for information, even tries Lucius, and even the guy that is always there to move along the story can’t give her any more information.
She was upset with Gordon’s obsession over her, so I guess her revenge is to obsess over him. I’m not sure where this will end, considering there is no fiancée of his to kill. Truly, she is upset that Gordon has taken everything and everyone away from her. Instead of calmly handling this situation and apologizing for ruining her life like a normal person would (and should), he tells her that he isn’t sorry for killing Mario when he was infected.
That’s all it takes for Lee to get out of there. Clearly, her monologues weren’t affecting Gordon at all, so what was the point if he wasn’t going to change his behavior? All it was doing was annoying all the main characters and distracting them from doing their work to take down the Court of Owls. Lee doesn’t really have a part in this show anymore unless she forgets about Mario entirely. It’s time we get rid of that side story entirely, and I’m glad they finally did that in this episode.
This season is coming to an end soon. I have to admit, I’m the most curious about what Selena will do. After all, all my other favorite villains are locked up right now. And I am curious about Alfred’s reaction once he finds out that clone Bruce isn’t the real Bruce. Alfred and Selena are great together when they are working towards the same goal.
Written by Nicole Teeters, GOTHAM Beat Writer -- Click to read Nicole's posts
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