This winter finale of Gotham
focused mainly on the war between Sofia and Penguin. We get a few glimpses
about what is going on with Bruce, Riddler, and Grundy – but the crux of the
episode deals with the feud that has been building all season.
Main story arc – “No
one gets to decide who lives and dies in Gotham”:
We pick up this week right where we left off last episode. Sofia’s team
of misfits makes the first move and attacks the Iceberg Lounge trying to find
Penguin, who is out gathering support from criminal gangs across the city. Sofia
gets an urgent call and returns home to see her father, Carmine Falcone, who
has come back to Gotham. Carmine chastises her for her behavior, especially for
her relations with Jim – which come as quite a surprise to Barbara & co. as
well. It turns out the Carmine is in Gotham because Penguin reached out to him,
which was a strong move on his part.
In the meantime, Jim is back on the hunt for Pyg/Lazlo. Jim
and the GCPD believe that Lazlo has taken the face of another person to hide
his identity once again and left Gotham. Jim heads to GCPD where he
gets news of the meeting between Penguin and Sofia at the bridge the night before.
He realizes that the war between Sofia and Penguin needed to be GCPD’s focus
and they would have to deal with Lazlo later. Jim goes to Sofia’s house to
check in on her, but Carmine meets him out front. Carmine tells Jim that he
made a deal with Penguin – if Carmine takes Sofia out of Gotham that day,
Penguin won’t kill her. Carmine then leaves Jim with an ominous message
foreshadowing something terrible that Jim has brought upon his city. Just as
Carmine and Sofia are about to leave Gotham, a van pulls up in front of
the house with a gunman that shoots and kills Carmine and shoots Sofia.
At Carmine’s funeral Jim approaches Sofia, who does
not want to see him. She tells Jim that Penguin did this to her father and Jim
needs to bring Penguin to justice, with evidence or without. Zsasz is also broken up about Carmine’s death. He leaves a bullet in Carmine’s casket
and then storms out, ignoring Penguin’s request that he stays. Harvey attends
the funeral as well and asks Jim why Penguin hasn’t been arrested. Harvey tells
Jim that deciding to go after Penguin months ago set in motion all of the
events that led them to this point – so this is all on Jim and that it is time
he finished what he started. Penguin threatens Sofia at the funeral, but Jim
interjects and removes her from the situation.
After the funeral, Penguin goes to the GCPD and demands that
Jim hands over Sofia. Jim tells him that isn’t going to happen and that Jim and
the GCPD will uphold the law. Penguin tries to bribe the other GCPD officers,
but that time is long gone – they all respect Jim and the badge again. Jim
sends the GCPD to crack down on criminals and a few gunfights ensue, but the
might of the GCPD leaves them victorious. These are just a few battles and not
the war though. Sofia goes to the GCPD and pressures Jim to go directly after
Penguin. Jim lets her know that while Penguin is using proxies and not
committing illegal acts himself, he is safe. Sofia tells Jim about Martin and
how Penguin ‘killed’ him. Jim goes to arrest Penguin for the crime, causing
Penguin to burst out laughing and tell Jim the boy is alive and it was all a
setup. In a twisted turn of events, Zsasz tells Jim that Penguin did kill
Martin and he would testify to that, causing Jim to carry out the arrest.
Zsasz goes to visit Sofia and pledges his allegiance to her.
Zsasz switching sides is a huge blow to Penguin. Zsasz was a powerful ally that
provided a lot of legitimacy and firepower to Penguin’s operation. Sofia holds
true to her word and gives Barbara & co. the club back – Penguin sure as
hell won’t need it anymore. Jim decides to visit Sofia to ask her not to try and
take control of the criminals of Gotham. Sofia holds on to the idea that that was
their deal – Jim would be the law and she would be the order. Jim warns her
that if she does this, he would have to come after her. Sofia instead decides
to give Jim a proposal of her own. To make sure Jim is listening, she has Lazlo
– YES, Lazlo! – hold Jim at gunpoint. It turns out that Sofia hired Lazlo to
come to Gotham as part of her plan, and Lazlo created the Pyg persona to do so.
The truth comes out about Carmine – Sofia was indeed behind the murder. Jim
quickly knocks the gun away from Lazlo and begins hitting him, proclaiming that
he will arrest him and have him rot in prison. Unfortunately Jim’s plan gets
slightly derailed when Sofia puts a bullet into Lazlo’s head.
Sofia tells Jim that if he arrests sure she will talk and
let everyone know about all the transgressions that have happened since Jim
visited the Falcone’s mansion asking for help. The other option is to not
arrest her and continue on living the lie, but not losing the GCPD and Gotham.
Jim takes the latter option. He goes back to the GCPD and runs into Harvey who
has left his badge and gun on Jim’s desk, effectively quitting the
department. We end the episode with Penguin in prison screaming about how he
well get his revenge on everyone that crossed him. Luckily for Penguin, it
turns out his cell is right next to Joker’s and Joker thinks the two of them
can help each other out.
My thoughts:
Sofia is clearly a master manipulator and I think it was
pretty clear that she was the one behind her father’s death from the get-go. I
am a little disappointed that Jim never realized that. I am also disappointed
with the end of the Pyg saga. He was such a great villain that deserved a
better end then being shot in the head by Sofia when he wasn’t looking. The
combination of Penguin and Joker will be a formidable one as both of them are
out of their minds, I am definitely looking forward to seeing what trouble the two of them will cause.
Side stories:
Bruce story arc – “There
is a mess in the Rolls, you’ll need a bucket”:
Bruce is back! He is continuing his party boy lifestyle,
much to Alfred’s dismay. Alfred wants to employ a project he has dubbed
“Operation Save Bruce Wayne.” He wants to take Bruce to Switzerland for a few
months in the Alps. Bruce has been partying and enjoying life in order to run
away from his problems and from his pain. Bruce refuses to join Alfred, leading
to the two of them exchanging blows. Alfred gets the best of Bruce, even after
Bruce tries to take a cheap shot – leading to Bruce storming out of the room.
Bruce comes back later and Alfred vehemently apologizes.
Bruce has something else in mind, and has gone to his lawyer to draw up
emancipation papers. He asks Alfred to sign, which would lead to him not being Bruce’s
legal guardian anymore. Alfred refuses to sign the papers. Bruce tells him it
doesn’t matter if he signs or not. If Alfred is still there when he gets back,
he will go to the Police and show them the bruise on his face.
My thoughts:
Bruce has been a little punk for a lot
of the season now, but firing Alfred is a terrible new low. I had such strong hope
that we were finally well on our way to the Dark Knight – and all signs were
pointing in that direction. I did not expect such a huge step back.
Grundy and Riddler
story arc – “What pretty lady want?”:
We get a glimpse of the nonsense going on in Ed’s mind. He
is arguing with the Riddler in the mirror, who accuses him of being in love
with Lee Thompkins. Grundy interrupts the argument, and Ed decides to step outside
for some fresh air. While Ed is gone, Grundy gets knocked out by Tabitha, who
did promise she would come back for him. Tabitha tries to get Grundy to
remember her – nicely at first, and then a little more sinisterly. Tabitha
gives up for the time being. As she is gone, Grundy wakes up, sees his
reflection, and we hear Butch wonder aloud what the hell happened to him.
My thoughts:
Riddler being back will definitely be a
treat. The dumb Ed story was hilarious and well done, but it’s about time we
get to see Riddler at full strength again. This may bode poorly for Lee
however. All of the women that Ed loves seem to suffer a poor fate once the
Riddler is back in the picture. I am not sure what will happen with
Grundy/Butch’s character. Will he have Grundy’s ability to not feel pain –
being dead and all – but Butch’s memories or will he keep going back and forth?
I guess only time will tell.
This spring on Gotham:
Joker, Penuin, Riddler, Ivy, Sofia – all hell is going to
break loose in Gotham this spring. Harvey holding Jim at gunpoint!? Sofia
torturing Lee!? And was that a Batman silhouette? I really wish we didn’t have
to wait months for the fun to keep going!
