Gotham Season 2 E1 Season Premiere: Damned if You Do

Gotham S2E1: Rise of the Villains: Damned if You Do

Original Airdate: September 21, 2015

Recap by Sarabeth Pollock

 

Welcome back to Gotham, ladies and gentlemen!

Tonight’s season premiere started off with a bang as Bruce and Alfred explore the secret room behind the fireplace.  Alfred is visibly stunned at this revelation, and he tells Bruce that there could be any number of combinations to the keypad that unlocks the door.  But we know better, don’t we?  This won’t slow Bruce down.  Bruce is just getting started.

One month later….  The music is rather uplifting for this next montage of updates on all of our Gotham friends.  “It’s such a perfect day, I’m glad I spent it with you….”

Leslie helps Gordon get dressed as they look at each other in the mirror.  They’re very much in love.

Bullock wipes down the bar in the middle of the day.  Wait…Bullock is a bartender now?

Penguin presides over a meeting of Gotham families.  He grasps a man’s head as if in benediction, and then he turns and walks away with a huge grin on his face.  Mr. Zsasz steps forward and aims his gun at the man’s head and puts a bullet through it.  The smile on Penguin’s face becomes a scowl.

Barbara walks through the jail hallway, all dressed up with a guard behind her carrying her suitcase.  She stops to look in at the group of men sitting in a holding cell.  She stops and pulls her sunglasses down.  Red-headed Jerome turns around and smiles at her in return.

Up in a high rise building, a man hands an elixir to a man who kneels at his feet.  The man grins, but his vision is fuzzy.

The next day, Traffic Cop Gordon (what!?) is busy directing traffic when Elixir Man, now clad in body armor with two guns and an arsenal of swords that would make Michonne envious, jumps into the street and fires his guns.  He says he is Zaardon, the Soul Reaper.  Gordon pulls his gun and Zaardon is unfazed by his presence.  “I don’t want to shoot you, man,” Gordon says.  “Too much paperwork.”  He grabs a hostage, then he and Gordon scuffle.  Gordon subdues him in time for his portly partner to show up wielding a hoagie.  He shoves the other officer for being late.  Gordon whips around and points his gun at some people attempting to loot the table behind him, telling them it’s a bad idea.

Zaardon can’t believe Gordon has taken him into custody after he drank the dragon’s blood.  “Dark days are coming,” he tells Gordon.  Gordon runs into Nygma in the locker room.  When Gordon walks away, Nygma continues his conversation with his own reflection.  His reflection suggests that they need more fun and some romance.  Reflection Nygma tries to convince Real Nygma, but Real Nygma begs him to leave Miss Kringle alone.  He storms out, leaving the reflection to smirk at him.

Gordon is rewarded for his brave action by being stripped of his gun and badge by Commissioner Loeb.   He had hoped demotion would keep Gordon in line, but shoving a fellow officer is a major offense. Captain Essen is furious, demanding that Gordon be commended, but the Commish is resolute.  Gordon vows revenge on him.  Meanwhile, Zaardon is asleep in the holding cell, and as he sleeps he spews a noxious vapor.

Gordon explains what happened at work to Leslie while they’re in bed.  He hates that he is walking away, but she points out he was fired.  He says he still has an option remaining, and while it isn’t legal, it will still help to fight the good fight.  He has to keep fighting.  He’s a cop.

At Arkham, Jerome pulls up a chair and introduces himself to Barbara, who flips through her magazine without looking up.  “Keep moving, Ginger,” she says.  He wants to know why she’s there and it turns out they both killed one or more of their parents.  What a coincidence!  And what a rush!  Jerome tries to give her the lay of the land, telling her that a girl needs to have a friend in a place like that.  To prove him wrong, Barbara calls a giant bald man over and asks him to be her friend.  He pledges his allegiance to her with no hesitation.  “Now I have a friend,” she says.  Jerome says his friend is powerful and can get her things.  She needs a phone.  Jerome grins.

Penguin listens as his men give him a rundown of his assets and his outstanding accounts.  Gordon shows up and Penguin welcomes him warmly.  Selina is perched at the end of the table, and Penguin jokes that having her around is like having a cat.  Gordon needs a favor and Penguin knows that he wants Loeb fired and he wants his job back.  Penguin wonders why he wants to be a cop in Gotham.  Penguin also asks about Lee, which tells Gordon just how good Penguin’s surveillance is.  Penguin also wants Gordon to collect a debt for him to prove his loyalty, but Gordon refuses.  He tells Selina to be good (“always,” she replies) and leaves.

Bullock pours Gordon a drink and tells Gordon to walk away.  He says Gordon could never work for Penguin.  Bullock says he has been sober 32 days.  Leaving the job allowed him to get sober, get a woman who actually likes him, and it lets him sleep at night.  These two are close, clearly.

Alfred shows Gordon into the study.  Gordon walked to Wayne Manor to apologize to Bruce for not being able to keep his promise.  Gordon explains what has happened to him, and goes on to tell them about the only way of getting his badge back—doing a job for Penguin.  Bruce muses over this and considers that Gordon may be acting selfishly.  “Surely sometimes the right way is also the ugly way,” he reasons.  Alfred praises the young master, but he tells him there are things he can’t understand.  Alfred shows Gordon out and Bruce rushes to open the fireplace and try the combination again.  When it doesn’t work, he grabs a hammer.  “Screw it,” he says, taking a swing.

By the way, has anyone noticed how much taller and filled in Bruce is this season?  Who knows…maybe he’ll be playing teenage and young adult Bruce later on….

We return to Arkham to see Barbara approach Jerome’s friend.  She wants to know what she’d need to do in order to get a telephone.

Gordon enters a nightclub to talk to the owner.  The owner recognizes Gordon as a cop and blows him off.  He won’t pay Penguin a dime.  Gordon suggests they try to work things out.  The owner pulls a gun on Gordon, and Gordon says he’ll count to three.  By one, he has knocked the goons out and has the money.  As he flees, the police chase after him.  The owner corners him in a parking garage, and Gordon shoots him.  Now Gordon has blood on his hands.

Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce carries in bags of fertilizer to build a bomb to open the door.  Alfred says that Bruce doesn’t know the first thing about building a bomb, but Bruce says he read a book.  The duo have a great little argument about being old enough to discover Thomas Wayne’s secrets, but Alfred eventually ends up relenting and giving Bruce advice about building the bomb, which he will help with after making some tea.

Gordon presents the bag of money to Penguin. Butch looks impressed by his work.  Penguin apologizes that things got messy, and he promises to make sure the GCPD doesn’t interfere.

Later that night, Gordon sips his drink while Lee cooks dinner.  His phone rings.  It’s Barbara.  She tries to tell him that Lee is insane and is the one who attacked her.  He hangs up, so she calls Lee’s phone and leaves a message says she hopes Lee dies screaming.  Lee wants to go away and never come back to Gotham, but Gordon says he can’t leave.  He confesses to doing a bad thing.

Commissioner Loeb wakes up to the sound of glass breaking in his apartment.  It’s Victor Zsasz and Penguin.  Penguin asks if he has any peanut butter.  Smooth, of course.  Loeb calls for his guards, but Zsasz has already severed their heads.  Loeb panics while Penguin and Zsasz share a laugh.  Penguin makes a sandwich and shares a dilemma with Loeb.  He says that he can’t find any vices to threaten him with.  The only option Penguin has is to kill Loeb and reason with his replacement instead.  Loeb wants to know what Penguin wants, but Loeb doesn’t want to do it.  Zsasz is eager to kill Loeb, but Penguin manages to twist his arm enough to get his way.

The next time we see Loeb, he’s being serenaded at his retirement party.  Businessman Theo Gallavan is there to bid him farewell.  Loeb still seems to be in shock.

Barbara is lounging against Richard’s chest as he tells a story while she’s having her toenails painted by her acolytes when Zaardon walks in.  He announces who he is, and everyone pauses momentarily and resumes their business.

Gallavan finishes his speak and Loeb gets up to announce his replacement, Commissioner Essen.

Zaardon doesn’t like being ignored.  Jerome watches in amusement as he passes out on the table, but then everyone stares when the purple gas floats out of Zaardon’s mouth.  The prisoners jump up and promptly pass out.  Suddenly a group breaks into Arkham wearing gas masks.  They shoot the guards and approach the day room.  A very attractive woman looks inside and smiles.

Essen doesn’t know how Gordon pulled this all off, but she’s happy to welcome him back to the job.  Lee says that Gordon is very resourceful.  She has a very strange, almost wistful look on her face.  Essen is looking forward to all of the good work they can do together.  Essen gets pulled away and Gordon promises Lee that it’s a new day, and that it was worth it.  Essen returns and says that there has been an incident at Arkham.  Six inmates have escaped, including Barbara.

Gallavan has the six inmates tied up in a room.  He tells the group he sees charisma and brilliance in this room, not crazed inmates.  Jerome says Gallavan is singing his song, but Richard tells him to be quiet.  Gallavan suggests that if this group worked together they could bring Gotham to its knees.  Richard says he doesn’t take orders from anyone.  Gallavan doesn’t like the idea of sexual jealousy, so Richard has to go.  His female accomplice kills him, and Jerome gasps with glee.

Alfred rigs the explosive and makes sure that Bruce is sure about the decision to blow the door.  Bruce pushes the button and the door blows up.  They exchange high fives and then hurry downstairs.  Inside the cave is a desk with an envelope addressed to Bruce.  He opens it.  Thomas has written a letter to Bruce knowing that something bad has happened to them.  He says you can’t have both happiness and the truth.  He begs Bruce to choose happiness, unless he feels a “true calling.”

While Bruce reads the letter, Gordon stares at his reflection in the mirror and prepares himself for what lies ahead.

GOTHAM IS BACK, PEOPLE!  And so far it kicks major ass!!

Gotham Recap S1E16: The Blind Fortune Teller

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!