It doesn’t seem like Gordon has much time before the virus completely takes over. However, there is evidence that there may be a cure out there. But considering this version of the virus was created by Professor Strange, then he would be the only one who knows what the antidote is. Yet, Professor Strange is no longer in custody after Alfred let him go, so they have no idea where to find him. They don’t even know that Fish Mooney is the one who has him now. Professor Strange seems to always be doing someone else’s bidding for such an independent and selfish guy.
Fish wants the virus. It’s all part of her plan to run the city again. She isn’t the only one that sees the current destruction of Gotham as an opportunity again. Barbara has interest in taking over Gotham as well, but her team isn’t very eager to help her. Nygma wants to kill Penguin, and Butch wants Tabitha’s help to kill Barbara. There isn’t much she can do about the Butch and Tabitha situation, so she makes a deal with Nygma. If he helps her get power, then she will help him get Penguin.
Gordon and Harvey go to track down Professor Strange, and Harvey made the decision to give an unstable man a gun. This doesn’t backfire on him, but I still think it was a poor judgment call on Harvey’s part. When they encounter Professor Strange and Fish Mooney (they barely blink an eye at her, they got too much else to worry about). Strange and Fish now know that Gordon has the virus (and a gun), yet they both still taunt him. Everyone loves to stress that he is the real James Gordon now. Luckily, Gordon uses his super strength to save himself and Harvey as opposed to killing everyone in the room. Instead of being frozen, Harvey and Gordon are merely trapped behind an ice wall.
Gordon uses his super strength to break down the ice wall in their way (but ripping off his car door is where Harvey draws the line), but not before Fish takes Strange to Penguin. Turns out that Penguin and Fish are partners, even though Penguin tried to kill her before. Maybe Penguin and Nygma should abide by the same rules. Anyway, Fish wants to rule Gotham again, this time with the freaks at her side. She knows that they could demand anything in exchange for his Strange’s antidote, and knows that Penguin is the best person to get the antidote out of him. He has the device that Strange used on him in Arkham to torture him, and is very eager to use it. It’s nice to finally see Penguin with a smile on his face these days, even if that smile is a result of inflicting torture.
After a healthy bout of torture, Strange gives Fish the antidote. Fish promises that Penguin will rule the city with her and that Nygma will die. I found it very hard to believe that she would forgive him so easily, and was patiently waiting for her to betray him. After seeing Penguin trying to get revenge on Nygma, it seems impossible that Fish could forgive him. However, last time we saw her, she was saying things like how proud she was to have made him essentially. That also seemed like a rouse, but maybe it was the truth.
We may never know the truth about Fish’s intentions because some fancy ninjas come out, shortly followed by Gordon and Harvey. Despite the mysterious ninjas and possession of guns, Gordon is the most dangerous one in the room with a sword. Gordon stabbed Mooney and she dropped the antidote. After so many near-death survivals, she knows she can’t survive this one. Penguin does seem quite upset that she is about to die, but that might just be because his savior and protector from Nygma is about to disappear. Her last words are in support of Penguin, so it does seem that she does truly respect Penguin. Penguin is pissed at Gordon for once, but Gordon is fully willing to admit that he is a monster at the moment with the virus in his system. The GCPD gets everybody in custody (score one for the GCPD).
Now, who are these fancy ninjas? Great question. I’ll get back to you on that. Let’s keep watching the episode.
Tabitha isn’t quite ready to take over and kill Barbara yet, despite Butch’s best efforts to convince her. Then Lee walks in to the club to see (and kill) Barbara, which really would be the answer to Butch’s problems. Instead, she just uses her strength against Butch since Barbara isn’t around. Poor Butch never catches a break.
After being assaulted, Butch and Tabitha probably realizes they have bigger problems to worry about than Barbara. Their crew get Tetch out of prison, since The Riddler is pretty sure that he is the key to the antidote. However, Nygma takes him for himself, in order to exchange Tetch for Penguin. After all, in the words of James Gordon, Penguin is the only things that Nygma cares about. Without any context, it’s a lovely statement.
Harvey and Gordon drag Penguin to the slaughter, essentially. He is already pissed that Gordon killed Fish, now this, so it seems like our Penguin and Gordon partnership may be over with. Nygma dressed up for the occasion; he put on his hat and everything. There is also a grenade around Tetch’s neck as a precaution. Before the exchange can be completed, Barbara runs in, and they actually give a fairly detailed explanation on how she used dirty cops to find where they are. I’m just so used to this show doing ridiculously unbelievable things with no reasoning. Nygma throws the grenade for a distraction, and it gives Penguin the opportunity to run away. Nygma follows him, but Penguin knocks him out and steals Harvey’s car.
Harvey and Gordon were able to get Tetch, but they have no means for escape anymore. The only thing they can do is hide. Tetch happens to be the most annoying person to hide with, as he won’t shut up with his constant rhymes, especially rhymes about how Gordon is going to lose his mind. This time, in response to the taunting, Gordon actually does something about it, and forcefully takes a mason jar of blood from Tetch. It didn’t help Gordon calm down at all, but it did shut up Tetch. Somehow, he manages to survive this assault, and this is a classic example of the ridiculous stuff this show does that you just have to go along with.
After this, all the characters become separated from one another as they pursue their own individual goals. After losing Tetch, Barbara also loses her mind. After witnessing her instability, Tabitha finally agrees to kill her with Butch. He has everything ready to go, but Barbara stops him. Turns out his whispering with Tabitha wasn’t as inconspicuous as he thought. Butch says that Tabitha has nothing to do with it. Barbara clearly wants to believe that because she misses Tabitha, and Butch points that out to her. Barbara finally kills him. It was a long time coming for him. It is quite fitting since Fish is dead too.
Tabitha is none too pleased to find out that Butch is dead. Barbara just wants to know if Tabitha had anything to do with planning her death, wants to know if they can move forward, and asking her at gunpoint seemed like the best idea to Barbara. Tabitha wants to know if she killed Butch, and when she admits it, that is the final straw for her. They start a fight to the death. Barbara kisses her, and then headbutts her; that’s the villainy I like to see. Barbara also stabs her with her earring. This is the quality fighting you will never see guys do. Tabitha ends up electrocuting her to kill her. I’d say that the theories of Barbara becoming Harley Quinn must not be true then since she is dead, but no one ever dies on this show anyway.
Our other favorite villainous duo is also fighting. However, Penguin and Nygma like to fight with words. Nygma is tied up in the back of the cop car Penguin stole, and Penguin says he is improvising what to do next. Penguin tells Nygma that he is not as smart as he thinks he is, and gloats while wearing his hat. Nygma tells Penguin that he is letting love control him, and he throws a tantrum when he doesn’t get what he wants. Bringing up Penguin’s previous (and probably current) love for Nygma always does rattle him, and Penguin stops gloating to focus on killing him.
However, Nygma gets the jump on him after picking his handcuffs. Even when Nygma is in control and able to kill Penguin, they still fight with words. Boys can never get anything done, I swear. Penguin makes fun of his new persona. At least Penguin knows who he is, he didn’t need to create a persona based on a lie. Nygma is determined to change that.
Nygma brings Penguin back to where he tried to kill him the first time. Everyone needs to learn that knocking people into water is no an effective way of killing people; apparently, everyone is really good at swimming in this town. Penguin is unconcerned, which annoys Nygma; he always like to have a big production. However, Penguin wasn’t worried since the gun was unloaded and Ivy and Mr. Freeze showed up. Penguin knew his entire plan, since he knows him. Penguin has Nygma frozen so that he can have him around as a constant reminder never to love again, which is unfortunate. I can’t be the only one that wants to see Penguin in an actual relationship after all of this. Remember when he was acting like a lovesick puppy? It was adorable.
Yet, I also understand how love may put him in a dangerous position. After all, Lee’s love for Gordon caused her to inject herself with the virus. She plans to leave town that afternoon, and wants Gordon (the real Gordon) to join her. Since the technicians have been able to create some antidote with Tetch’s blood, Gordon leaves with a vial of it in order to save Lee. However, Lee stops him from using the cure on her by making out with him. Like I said, boys never can get anything done.
Gordon finally lets the virus take him over, and they had to the train station to get out of town. Harvey won’t let him go that easily and tracks him down. Lee gets on the train, while Gordon fights Harvey. I’m not sure why they didn’t just get the train together. Harvey tries to remind Gordon of who he truly is, and in case you haven’t caught on yet, this show was really heavy on the whole “identity” theme.
Gordon leaves Harvey and gets on the train with Lee. Lee’s outfit is just all boobs right now. Even this show falls into the trap of associating villains with slutty and heroes with purity. Anyway, Harvey was able to give him two more doses of the cure. Gordon says that he loves Lee, and then uses the cure on her before using it on himself as well.
Meanwhile, Bruce’s story happened to be very separated from the rest of the show, and it was so significant that I decided I would talk about it separately as well. Bruce is in holding in the GCPD, and Alfred attempts to remind him of who he is and talk to him about old guy. Alfred calls him old geezer, I call him old guy, it’s basically the same thing. Alfred tells him he was a liar. Bruce says he gave him the chance to get rid of pain and get revenge. Bruce doesn’t even care about the Court of Owls, he just cares about his destiny. However, Alfred’s attempts to bring up memories seemed to have work somewhat to restore Bruce back to normal.
Before Alfred can figure out more about the whole destiny thing, he investigates what all the noise in the GCPD is. Turns out that a cop was infected. Maybe they should start considering gas masks now. Lucius steps in to take him down. He should just be a cop at this point. Yet, Bruce still had enough time to escape. That’s two people in holding that Alfred has lost now.
Bruce knew what creepy place to go to. It seems to be the home of the fancy ninja guys. I’m still a little unsure if these guys are just an extension of the Court of Owls or their own separate thing. Bruce needs to find the Demon’s Head in order to fulfill his destiny, but it turns out “Demon’s Head” was just a guy named Ra’s al Ghul (the guy mumbled his name, but subtitles said it was Ra’s al Ghul).
Ra’s al Ghul knows that Bruce has failed all his assignments, but he wants to give him one last chance. He has been given a lot of last chances, is that what it is like to be a white guy? The ninjas bring in Alfred who was sneaking on him. Ra’s al Ghul wants Bruce to kill him. Apparently dead parents weren’t enough; he also needs a dead butler. Alfred gives a heartfelt speech, and Bruce stabs him for it. He isn’t even infected with the virus and he is doing this crazy stuff. Killing Alfred snaps Bruce out of his trance. He knows he has messed up. He no longer wants to be their heir. Ra’s al Ghul is unperturbed and he fades into the shadows.
We must remember that no one dies in the show. The magical acid in the middle of the room somehow heals him instantly, and Bruce takes him to the hospital. Bruce calls him family, which is meaningful and all, but is also just a good idea for visitation reasons.
While he is waiting, Selena walks in. Bruce doesn’t want to see her, which is understandable. He is a little overwhelmed right now. He’s a bit mean to her, telling her that all she cares about is herself. Selena defends that ideology as survival, and mentions that at least she knows who she is. She leaves in a huff, and we never know why she was actually there. From there, Selena goes to the club to see Barbara. Since everyone else is either dead or captured there, it seems like Tabitha is in charge now. Selena says she wants to do something more than just surviving, and Tabitha needs some help, so these two are going to help each other out. Selena’s natural ability for handling a whip seems to be all the convincing that Tabitha needs.
Bruce goes to Alfred’s bedside, and cries while he waits for him to wake up. When Alfred does, Bruce admires him for always being so sure of who he is. Alfred’s true north is Bruce, and he recommends that he finds something he cares about in order to never be lost again. However, I’m pretty sure that fighting thieves wasn’t what Alfred had in mind, but that is what Bruce decides to do in his makeshift Batman outfit. Yet, in doing this, Bruce also is following Ra’s al Ghul’s prophecy exactly.
Butch is also at the hospital, as if being shot in the head can be fixed. The doctors find out that his actual name is Cyrus Gold. What does that mean? Well, the most important thing to understand from this is that Butch will be back (tell me one character that has actually died on this show).
Penguin is deciding to build his own club. Nygma will be the centerpiece attraction, but I feel like that would kind of kill that mood a bit. Being gay doesn’t automatically make Penguin a good interior designer. Fish never needed to be that obvious with the “don’t mess with me” message, and I assume that he is just trying to keep her legacy alive. Also, wouldn’t cops just see that immediately upon walking in? Couldn’t they arrest him for that on the spot? Nonetheless, Ivy supports Penguin’s ideas.
Gordon is looking for Lee, and she is attempting to leave town in her right mind this time. She believes that Gotham and him can save each other, and maybe one day they can be together. This means that this probably won’t be the last we see of her, but it will be awhile before they bring back this storyline. I’m glad because their destructive love for each other was just getting tiring.
In the meantime, Harvey and Gordon are going to back to some normal cop work. We’ll see how long that lasts for them. Gotham will be back on Thursdays in the fall!
Written by Nicole Teeters, GOTHAM Beat Writer -- Click to read Nicole's posts
Related Posts:
GOTHAM Season 3 Episode 20 Review: Pretty Hate MachineGOTHAM Season 3 Episode 19 Review: All Will Be Judged
GOTHAM Season 3 Episode 18 Review: Light the Wick