Penguin is riding his high as hero of the people, declaring that he “alone” got rid of all the monsters – which isn’t true in the slightest considering he literally couldn’t even get rid of one. But while the monsters are away – probably plotting something sinister – Penguin has all the citizen’s support. Considering all the support he has, I couldn’t figure out why he wanted to be mayor. He didn’t need the position to have any more power, or any more support – if anything he will just lose credibility in office as most people do. Even Butch calls him out on the dumb idea, but turns out he wants to make his father proud (remember the father that he knew for a few episodes? Yeah him). If anything I feel like he should be trying to make his mother proud, or a combination of the two, but sure let’s just forget about Penguin’s mother in exchange for a creepy man instead.
Penguin sees his victory as inevitable (and I don’t want to think about what that predicts for our future presidential election), but he still seeks out the new warden of Arkham. This poor guy is in way over his head, talking of appeals and examinations while alarms are going off and inmates are fighting with one another. He must be new to Gotham if he thinks that anyone follows the correct procedure anymore. However, he quickly catches on to the Gotham way, and agrees to release Nygma. My dream team is back together again, and I could not be more excited truly.
Yet there is someone else here who is trying to rival Nygma with all the riddles, and that’s Jervis Tetch. He is a hypnotist, which really means that he has Fish’s mind control without all the struggles and complications she went through to get it. However, he can only get people to do what they truly want to do. At least he is not using his abilities at every given second like the monsters; he doesn’t even use it to convince Gordon to go looking for his sister. And who is his missing sister? The Indian Hill escapee with toxins for blood that set a bar on fire and shot a man? Of course it is. At least she is not running with Fish anymore. Gordon has a brief run in with her, in which the idea of seeing her brother seems to scare her more than the rapey man did before, and she gets the hell out of there.
Now it is time for the inevitable use of hypnosis on Gordon. Not to convince him to actually get his sister first though, no, Tetch goes straight for the suicide route. Of course, Gordon’s willingness to step on a ledge of a building shows that, deep inside, he wants to end it all (probably because he saw Lee and her fiancé this morning, let’s be honest). Surprisingly, Alice comes to the rescue, and her frail frame is powerful enough to help pull a grown man from the side of a building.
Speaking of the fiancé, who we don’t learn the name to until the end of the episode, he is handsome, a doctor, and quite sane seeming, which really sounds like Lee’s type to me. He just wants to be the best he can be for Lee, and tells just that to Gordon, and maybe telling him that while he is stitching his head closed wasn’t the most professional thing to do, but he didn’t have bad intentions with it. Gordon gets all threatening at the idea of this guy hurting Lee – the same way he got all gruff the moment after Lee he saw Lee after she first came back. It’s disappointing that the moment Valerie was making him all soft again, everyone came back to remind Gordon why he sought comfort in booze and leather jackets in the first place. Also, Val saying, “that was fun” the morning after probably didn’t help his self-esteem either.
Really, Gordon can’t catch a break here (what’s new?). Finding out that the fiancé is Falcone’s son may actually be his breaking point at this rate.
He’s not the only one having a tough time though, as both Bruce and Fake Bruce are struggling in their current predicament. Fake Bruce was just curious who he was modeled after, and Bruce is curious to understand why there is a duplicate of him. The only information Fake Bruce gives is that he was called “five” in Arkham, and he was in there for over a year (and a year is a long time to learn and plot things guys, maybe you shouldn’t let him into your home), and Bruce invites him to stay with them (of course he does). As usual, Alfred thinks it’s a bad idea, but Bruce is determined to keep him close in hopes of understanding why Five exists in the first place. Alfred agrees only if they call Lucius Fox immediately in the morning (because apparently he would know what to do if a duplicate of yourself showed up at your door).
The morning comes around, and instead of making that call, they test out Five’s fighting abilities, which might actually be one of the only smart ideas Bruce has had so far regarding this situation. Five is a great fighter, with apparently no training, but not being able to feel any pain is probably really helpful in the situation. It probably helped during his time in Arkham as well, considering there is a nasty scar on the back of his neck.
Fighting isn’t his only skill it seems, as he is able to give himself a decent haircut, drive a car he steals from the Wayne household, and convince Selina to join him. He is doing better with the ladies in one episode than Bruce has done in 3 seasons. He is still not as fashion savvy as actual Bruce since he is missing the hair gel, but I have to give him credit for all the other things that he has manage to accomplish in such a short amount of time. He looks incredibly sinister at the end of the episode though, so I have a feeling that I probably won’t be congratulating him for much longer. We still have no idea what he even wants with Selina yet.
Written by Nicole Teeters, GOTHAM Beat Writer -- Click here to read Nicole's posts
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