In this week’s Gotham
we see the beginning of Jerome’s plan unfold, Barbara’s quick rise to power,
and Bruce and Selina’s complex relationship continue to grow. It was a wild
episode that will undoubtedly lead to a crazy series of events that Jerome has
in store for Gotham.
Tetch’s wild night
story arc: “There will be plenty of time to stab each other in the backs later,
but for now let’s stick to Jerome’s plan” –
The episode begins with a prison guard going to check on
Tetch. She is wearing headphones so she cannot get hypnotized by him.
Unfortunately for her, another guard wasn’t wearing headphones and Tetch was
able to get in her head. He gets this guard to kill all the other ones
surrounding his cell and goes to free Crane. Once Crane is out, the two of them
head over to let out Jerome and then release Arkham’s entire violent ward. Jim and the GCPD
arrive shortly after to try and clean up the mess that Jerome and co. left
behind at Arkham. Tetch calls and tells Jim to meet him in the city – Jim and
Harvey know that it is a set up, but they have no choice but to go.
When they get to the rendezvous point, they see a bunch of
hypnotized citizens and a dressed up couple standing in the middle of the
street. Tetch appears and tells Jim that he will wreak havoc on the city for
what Jim did to Tetch’s sister, Alice. Tetch then kills the couple in a very
brutal way and drives off while warning Jim and Harvey that many more of Gotham’s
citizens will die as the Gotham bell's full roll. Jim immediately realizes that
this means the bells that ring at midnight and that Tetch will hypnotize people
to jump off of the rooftops once those bells ring. Jim and Harvey go up to the
roof and unfortunately their theory is proven right – every rooftop in sight has Gotham’s citizens lined up on the ledge, waiting for midnight to
jump.
Jim wonders how it is possible for Tetch to hypnotize so
many people at once, and then it hits him that Tetch must be broadcasting over
the radio. If they can find out what station the broadcast is coming from, they
can find Tetch and stop the mass suicide. Harvey immediately sacrifices himself
and gets in a car to channel surf until he finds the station Tetch is
broadcasting from – WZPZ – but immediately becomes hypnotized himself and goes
to the roof. Jim heads to the radio station and is able to sneak up on Tetch
and demands that he shuts off the broadcast, which Tetch refuses to do. Tetch
tells Jim that it is impossible to stop what is about to happen, he told the
citizens that they cannot save themselves. In a last ditch effort, Jim gets on
the airwaves and tells the citizens to save each other. Thankfully this manages
to break the hypnosis and they are all saved.
My thoughts:
Tetch is quite ruthless in this episode, but Jim matches
some of that severity when pulling out all the stops to try and save Gotham’s
citizens. It is really great to have Jim and Harvey back in their buddy cop
roles. Yes, there is still a little bit of the emo Jim talking about how he
doesn’t deserve to be Captain, but I think that will subside as we continue on.
In the meantime, sit back and enjoy these two together again going after Jerome
and his henchman.
Barbara’s new
endeavors story arc: “This is mine Tabitha, and I’m taking it” –
The severity of Barbara’s migraines are continuing to
increase and she is super sensitive to sound. She tells Tabitha that it feels
like memories are painfully trying to push their way into her head. Tabitha
scoffs at the idea that Barbara would let the pain stop her from getting the
answers she has been looking for. Barbara realizes that Tabitha is right and
lets the memories come flooding in and finally sees visions of how Ra’s brought
her back to life. She knows now that her hand is a beacon that is calling the
League of Shadows to Gotham.
Barbara and Tabitha go to Club Siren where the League of
Shadows is waiting. Barbara shows them her glowing hand and that Ra’s has named
her as his heir. Some of the members of the League don’t approve of having a
woman lead them, but Barbara quickly disposes of one to set an example for the rest. Barbara
realizes that the members of the League are afraid of her and she takes
advantage of this fear. She orders them to pledge their allegiance to her,
and all of them bend the knee. As they are doing this, the lights go
out and the female members of the League of Shadows mow them all down with Uzis.
They tell Barbara that these members were weak and needed to be disposed of and
there are hundreds of sisters of the League who are ready to follow Barbara.
My thoughts:
Barbara being in charge of the League of Shadows can only lead
to some more madness coming Gotham’s way. She is as unstable as ever and giving
her more power will be trouble. It is curious to see what the League really
wants and what Tabitha’s role will be moving forward. It already seems like Barbara
has tossed her aside once this better opportunity presented itself.
Bruce vs. Jerome story
arc: “You don’t owe me anything Selina, you never did” –
While Jim and the GCPD are dealing with Tetch’s madness, Bruce
hears that Jerome has escaped Arkham and he convinces Selina to break into Jim’s
office to get Jerome's file. Selina is still of the mindset that she owes Bruce for
his help with retrieving the jewelry even though Bruce keeps insisting that she
doesn’t owe him for that, or for anything else. Bruce feels responsible for
Jerome’s actions because he spared his life and is determined to catch him and
stop him. Selina thinks this idea is crazy and tells Bruce to just let it go.
Of course he can’t and that is where the two of them go their separate ways.
Jerome goes to visit his uncle Zach at a Gotham neighborhood
diner and immediately holds him at gunpoint. Uncle Zach did have a contingency
plan in place once he heard that Jerome broke out of Arkham, and that was to have the
old Strongman from the circus waiting for Jerome to arrive to have his back. The
plan goes swimmingly and the Strongman flips the script on Jerome and they begin to
torture him. Unfortunately for Uncle Zach and the Strongman, Bruce shows up at
the diner and Uncle Zach sends the Strongman to take him out. Jerome takes
advantage of this distraction and grabs the gun from Uncle Zach. Jerome forces
Uncle Zach to tell him the name of a school (St. Ignatius) that “she picked”, which
he writes down on a napkin for him because of Jerome’s poor memory, before
Jerome shoots and kills him. Jerome tells the Strongman to take care of Bruce
and then sits back and watches Bruce and the Strongman duke it out for a while,
really enjoying the show.
Selina comes to the diner as Bruce is still fighting
Strongman and knocks the gun out of Jerome’s hands. She aims at Jerome and
fires off a couple of misses before Bruce is able to stop her from continuing to
try and kill Jerome. Jerome manages to escape and Bruce and Selina once again disagree
about what the extent of Bruce’s responsibility for Jerome is. Selina leaves and
Bruce finds the note that says ‘St. Ignatius’ on it – cluing him in to the next
location of Jerome’s plan. Bruce calls Jim, who had just returned to his office
with Harvey after saving the citizens of Gotham, and tells him that Jerome will
be heading to St. Ignatius. Jim warns Bruce not to go and that the GCPD can
handle it, but Bruce shrugs this off and tells Jim he will see him at the
school. The episode ends with Tetch being transported back to Arkham, but Crane
and Jerome manage to break him free. While Tetch had the GCPD focused on him,
Crane was able to get his fear toxin and Jerome got the valuable information he
needed – it seems like everything is going according to Jerome’s plan.
My thoughts:
Jerome is a pleasure to watch. He
is a great villain and his antics are spot on for what Joker should be. I wonder who the 'she' is that Jerome and Uncle Zach were talking about. Luckily enough, I won't have to wait much longer to find out! Bruce
is so different from the terrible party boy Bruce we saw for a lot of the
season. He has really progressed with shouldering responsibility and Selina can
see that he is a different person now. The dynamic of their relationship
continues to shift and I’m happy with the direction it is heading.
Next week on Gotham:
Jerome is clearly after someone, but who? There is a message that goes on
screen that says “Who is the Joker?” Is it possible that Jerome isn’t or is it
saying that we are just going to learn more about “who” he is? I’m really not
sure, but sure as hell can’t wait to find out what is going to happen at St.
Ignatius!
