Gotham S1E16: The Blind Fortune Teller
Original Airdate: February 16, 2015
Recap by Sarabeth Pollock
Gotham Fans, I apologize for my absence. I blame my DVR and the delay in getting shows up on demand. That said, let’s get to tonight’s episode!
(By the way, did you catch Robin Lord Taylor on last night’s Talking Dead?)
Bruce is sleeping on the couch, surrounded by notebooks and files. He has been taking notes, clearly.
Penguin is at his club listening to his mother singing on stage. No one else thinks she’s as good as he does.
Fish is sleeping in her new world. She hears someone crying and wakes her people to provide water to the prisoners whose limbs have been amputated.
Barbara returns to her apartment to find Selina and Ivy in her apartment. Selina lets her know that Gordon dropped off his keys the week before. “So screw him, anyway,” Barbara says, plopping down on the couch with Ivy’s cereal.
Gordon and Leslie are at the circus together. They’re eating popcorn in a scene that reminds me of Val Kilmer and Nicole Kidman in Batman Forever. There’s a trapeze act onstage at Haly’s Circus, and while they canoodle, the Flying Graysons are introduced. But the MC is interrupted by a clown car full of…clowns. These clowns don’t seem to be clowning around, though. They have beef with the Graysons, and a fight breaks out in the center ring. Gordon springs into action, breaking it up.
Back at Penguin’s club, Penguin’s mother finishes her song to a rousing round of applause from her son. When someone boos, Penguin storms over and bashes his head in with a bottle.
Gordon proceeds to interview the suspects but no one is talking. Meanwhile, Leslie tends to John Grayson while his rival, Mary, is tended to on a stretcher across from him. He reveals that the Graysons and Lloyds have always been rivals, and this particular fight was over a woman named Lilah, who is also a snake dancer. Mary snaps at John for being so forthcoming. It doesn’t look like they’re married yet, or even dating. (Aside: Ahhh! It’s Dick Grayson’s parents!!!) Gordon meets back up with Leslie and apologizes for the date, but she’s thrilled. He’s stunned at how much information she was able to find out, and she begs him to allow her to go with him to see the snake dancer. But when Gordon gets a “look” from the MC at the mention of the snake dancer, we know that there is much more going on.
A young man exits Lilah’s trailer. Her red-headed son, Jerome, hasn’t seen his mother in a day. The MC tells Gordon that Lilah is a party-girl, but given that she left without her purse or coat, there is cause for concern. Gordon notices that the snake is agitated and tells Jerome to let it out. It isn’t long before the snake goes off toward a truck. It disappears under a tarp, and that’s where they find Lilah’s bloody body. Jerome falls to his knees while the snake cuddles up to its owner. Leslie comforts the boy. Gordon knows that the MC knew her body was there. He admits that they found her body there that morning.
Fish addresses her people, telling them that they are nothing more than transplant donors. She can get some of them out of there, but some of them will die on the way. She says they’re all family now, and they have to fight together to get out. The crowd loves her.
The MC says that some rigging people found the body that morning, and then they moved her to the truck. He says that only the heads of the families know about it, but they have their own justice and justice will be served. Gordon arrests him.
When Gordon and Leslie arrive at the station, he recruits Bullock’s help. Bullock thinks that the group of performers being led into the station is part of a joke until he realizes that it isn’t. Gordon interviews Jerome, who says that him mom was perfect, aside from her bad cooking. She didn’t have any enemies, and she didn’t have boyfriends. Just lovers, apparently, including a Grayson and Lloyd. Jerome isn’t embarrassed about the number of sexual partners his mother had.
When Gordon talks to Owen Lloyd, he says that Grayson killed Lilah. He explains that the feud between the two families started ”before the Great War” after a Lloyd was accused of stealing a horse. Bullock talks to the Grayson brother, who corroborates the horse story but says that Lloyd killed Lilah. In the outer office, Mary and John bicker while they’re being interviewed. Mary can’t believe she ever thought she loved pigheaded John.
Fish meditates when she hears the men coming. She rallies her troops so that when the lead guard calls for the desired inmate, no one moves. Inmate 57A finally raises his hand, and Fish steps forward. “We need to talk,” she drawls. He tells her to back up. She introduces herself and says that she’s in charge now. She demands water, blankets and supplies, and when he says no, she has her men kill 57A. The guards are stunned. Fish repeats her demands, and she’s told that she has to go speak to the manager. The manager doesn’t go down to the cells, but Fish isn’t going anywhere. They have a standoff. Eventually the guards leave, and Fish’s men cheer. She kisses 57A’s forehead in appreciation for his sacrifice.
The Captain can’t believe that Gordon let the snake out to find the body. And their prime suspects are an acrobat and a clown. She laughs. Leslie and Nygma have identified the cause of death, but the timing makes it unlikely that either Lloyd or Grayson could have done it, as both were performing. They will be kept in custody while the others are released. Gordon tells the group they’re free to go, but he says that the feud must end, as it has gotten their families nowhere.
Leslie meets Gordon back at his desk. She teases him about his stern voice and then asks him over for dinner to finish their date. They’re interrupted by a man named Cicero, who is a blind psychic. He is accompanied by a boy in a coonskin hat. He tells Gordon that Lilah sent a message from beyond the grave, that the killer can be found by the iron sisters. Gordon dismisses him, but Leslie wonders why Gordon is so closed-minded. It creates a rift between them.
At Wayne Manor, Bruce pours over documents while Alfred enters and says that the meeting with the board of Wayne Enterprises has been confirmed. Apparently they didn’t cancel or postpone again. Alfred still thinks the meeting is a bad idea and voices his concern, but Bruce wont’ hear it. Alfred says it won’t be his fault if they end up in a ditch. This catches Bruce’s attention…momentarily.
Penguin is playing Greensleeves on the piano while a group of men at a table play cards.
Barbara twirls in front of her new friends, showing off her outfit. Selina thinks she’s trying too hard to get Gordon’s attention, while Ivy rolls her eyes.
Leslie and Gordon clink glasses and start dinner. Gordon loves the food. Leslie has a realization that the psychic’s message related to the iron gates at Arkham. She wants to go with him. They go off in search of “clues” but Gordon doesn’t think it’s a place for a nice lady. Leslie points out that he’s contradicting himself in his choice of women. He finds a hatchet on the ground from a member of the Hellfire Club, a group of Satanists who have been inactive for some time. He calls for backup, urging caution.
The duo return to the police station, where Leslie knows that she’s being dismissed. He quickly says that he wanted to stay at home to finish their date. Eventually he acquiesces and lets Leslie interview the suspects with him. Mr. Cicero is in a room by himself. He greets the duo, and he appears frustrated when Gordon tries to pin him for the crime. He’s trying to cover for someone. Cicero looks uncomfortable. He brings in Jerome, and as soon as the boy sits down, Gordon says that Jerome killed his mother and cleaned up in Cicero’s trailer. Gordon suspects that Cicero was Jerome’s father. Jerome denies it, saying that his mother said his father died at sea, but Cicero cracks and says that it’s true. Jerome starts to cry…but he’s really laughing. He laughs and admits that he killed his whore of a mother for nagging at him, and pushing him to do the dishes while she was banging a clown in the next room. He laughs maniacally.
Are we witnessing the birth of the most notorious Gotham criminal of all time?
Leslie sits in the locker room and gathers her thoughts. Gordon knows she’s emotionally drained. It was ugly, she says, but thrilling. And scary. She thanks Gordon for letting her be there. He’s blown away by her. “Can we go home now?” she asks. He kisses her passionately, and of course Barbara walks in at that moment and sees them. She storms off in a fury.
A violinist plays a sad song at Penguin’s club. Victor Zsasz shows up and says that Falcone thinks he doesn’t know how to run a club. He whistles, and Butch is standing near the stage. Penguin backs away in terror. Victor says Butch is harmless now, after working him over in his basement for a few weeks. Victor says that Butch is there to help him run the club, and that he will do exactly what Penguin says. Penguin asks him to dance, and he dances. “I do good work,” Victor sighs.
Alfred preps Bruce for the big meeting. Bruce salutes him. In the boardroom, Bruce takes his place at the head of the table, and Alfred stands at his side. The board is nice to Bruce, thinking him harmless, until he says he has two areas of concern: underworld involvement at Arkham, and chemical weapons manufacturing. The board doesn’t see him as harmless anymore.
Gordon congratulates Mary and John on their engagement. Since Gordon put the feud to rest they can be together. They leave, but not before Mary pecks him on the cheek. Bullock walks up and notes that Gordon must have gotten laid because he smells like ladies soap and he didn’t shave. Gordon can’t deny it.
Bruce is relentless with the board. He assures them that he plans to take this information to the shareholders meeting. The board is mostly silent, but they try to placate him. He says he knows much more than he’s letting on, and he plans to pursue legal action. And if he was a grown man, he’d be the Chairman of his company.
The guards return and tell Fish she has a deal. She tells Thomas Schmidt, the guard, to relax while she meets the manager. Her family surrounds him as she leaves.
Can you believe there are only 5 episodes left of this amazing season?
Up next: Red Hood!
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