The episode kicks off with Penguin and Butch at the warehouse down by the pier with a few goons, finding Penguin’s mother. And, the Galavans show up. Uh-oh. “My sister gets attached to her play things.” Penguin orders Butch to shoot the Galavans, and instead he shoots Penguin’s other goons. It seems Tabitha managed to un-program him after all. Penguin begs the Galavans for mercy, even saying “kill me if you must but let her go.” They let her out of the cage and… Tabby slides a knife into her back. Penguin holds her as she dies and apologizes to her. She says “you were always such a good boy” and fades away. “You don’t have the stomach to kill me yourself? No wonder your family was run out of town, you come from a long line of cowards,” Penguin says to Theo. Theo holds a gun to his head and asks for last words, and Penguin says, “Yes, I’m going to kill you,” pulls the knife out of his dead mother’s back, slashes Theo’s neck and runs away.
After the show logo, we see Nygma having fitful nightmares about killing Kristin last week. He wakes up to his “other half” taunting him. He had managed to push that darkness aside for a bit, but the accident brought it back out, it seems. Dark Nygma tells Nygma he can make a body disappear – and apparently already had. He left a green question mark on an envelope – it’s full on Riddler time. The note said he hid the body while he was catching some Zs, and to look at the GCPD for clues as to where. “You hijacked my body while I was asleep and stole my dead girlfriend?”
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Galavan tower, he’s watching a news report that he’ll be winning the Mayoral election in a landslide. His plan is to buy Bruce’s company, then kill him, and Silver is his tool to “wrap him around her little finger.” He also plans to use the “army” of the GCPD to hunt down Penguin.
Speaking of, down at the GCPD, Gordon and Bullock have a chat about, well, almost everything we were just talking about. Gordon says he only lightly trusts Theo Galavan, and wonders what Penguin’s game is, with the attempted Mayoral candidate killings and the fires. Theo shows up with Captain Barnes having accused Penguin of attempting to kill him.
Theo’s story is that Penguin came seeking an alliance with the new Mayor, and when he declined, he cut him in the neck. Gordon is a bit skeptical. Ah, look it’s finally the return of district attorney Harvey Dent, who delivers a warrant for Penguin, and the news that a Judge Turnbull has declared a state of emergency, granting the new Mayor additional powers – he’s going to impose a curfew and ordering the Strike Force to do door to door searches – Gordon’s not good with this, and Barnes is fine with it. “Desperate times call for strong measures,” Galavan tells Gordon. “Just remember, Detective: you came to me,” he says menacingly.
Wayne Manor: Selina comes in through the window into Bruce’s office. “What do you have against the front door?” he asks. She came to him to commiserate on her terrible week, but realizes Silver is there, too. Silver insists Selina stay for lunch, and sends Bruce away to tell Alfred to set another place. Silver threatens Selina, saying pointedly that she’s Bruce’s only friend and “you’re a piece of gutter trash. Would anyone miss you if one day you were just gone? Didn’t think so.”
At the GCPD, Nygma is looking for Kristin’s initials, KK at the precinct. A strangely goofy, jazzy song plays while he’s searching. He finds KK on the vending machine, and it’s a snack called Lady Fingers – but after he buys a few he finds her hand in the same slot. Yipe.
Galavan’s lair, the siblings talk about fueling Penguin’s craving for revenge “all we have to do is keep feeding that and invite him to dinner. Then you get to kill him,” he tells Tabitha.
Penguin’s lair, the new Mayor Galavan is holding a press conference that they’re watching, and taunts Penguin on it. He says men like him will no longer be tolerated, “Men not even a mother can love.”
GCPD: Gordon and Bullock have a lead on Penguin – apparently Butch Gilzean has started his own crew (yes!). Lee stops in on the scene to give Gordon a key to her place, and a little crap. They’re cute.
Back at Wayne Manor, the uncomfortable lunch of the year award goes to… Alfred gives the kids food and tea. “That smell really does slap you in the face, doesn’t it, Alfred?” Selina says. He grins a bit and leaves. Silver pointedly asks Selina about her family, and Selina goes off – she sees straight through these manipulations, and calls her on it, asking her what she’s after. Bruce isn’t happy about it, and Selina continues to go after her. Silver runs off. “I know you’re not the best judge of people, but that girl is bad news, I just did you a favor!” Selina says to Bruce. He asks her to leave, and he clearly doesn’t see what Silver was doing at all.
GCPD: Nygma is analyzing the severed hand of Kristin, and finds another clue: “I’m tired of hiding, I want to be free. To locate her body find two things missing from me.” Dark Nygma continues to taunt him, too. “I’m trying to show you who you are.” The ME in the sentence was actually M.E. Uh-oh.
Gordon and Bullock in a car, Gordon is distracted and starts looking at how Galavan’s story doesn’t add up. He’s realizing that “everything that’s gone down up to this point, you could argue was orchestrated.” They head into Butch’s new hideout. He is not cooperating. Zsasz shows up and says, “I’m here for Gilzean, anyone who leaves now, lives, anyone who stays, dies.” His goons all leave, and Gordon handcuffs him to a pole, “Tells us what’s going on with Penguin or we leave you with Zsasz.” Butch tells him everything, that it was all Galavan, including that he’d kidnapped Penguin’s mom. The assassins outside open fire, and Gordon and Bullock grab the big automatic weapons on the side and shoot back. “I’ll take that as a no. See you later, Butch!” Zsasz says and leaves. Butch also left – leaving his fake hand in the handcuff.
Bruce is at the Galavan hideout, looking for Silver. “She’s here, seemed a bit upset” Theo said. Theo keeps manipulating Bruce, saying they’re both very alike, “driven to prove ourselves worthy of those who came before.” Bruce is eating it up – uh-oh. Silver comes downstairs and smiles at Bruce.
Penguin and his group are arming up, and he wants to kill Galavan personally. “Let’s get dressed, we’ve got a party to attend.”
GCPD: Barnes is briefing the force, saying they have to protect their newly elected Mayor at his celebration. Looks like Gordon hasn’t told him about Galavan yet. “Penguin has already made one attempt on Galavan today, we should be ready for anything,” Gordon said.
At the gala, Gordon and Bullock have corroborated a bit of Butch’s story, notably that Gertrude Cobblepot has been missing from her apartment for two weeks. Dent introduces Theo Galavan, the new Mayor of Gotham enthusiastically. Everyone applauds, but Gordon and Bullock are very suspicious now.
GCPD: At the M.E.’s lab, Nygma sees a question mark tag on one of the body fridges. Yup, Kristin’s body is in there. Just as he pulls it out, Lee comes in. He says he wants to talk to her about a fight he and Kringle had. Well, that’s kind of true anyway.
Gala: Theo asks Gordon if he got anything out of Butch before the attack, and he says no. Outside, a large group is approaching. Penguin appears to be leading the charge, and he goes down with a shot, fired from Tabitha. It wasn’t him though, a bunch of lookalikes are walking with the Penguin limp, and all heavily armed. They crash through the windows and open fire.
Martinez from the strike force finds Tabby on the roof, and she takes him down with her whip, before literally stepping through his neck with her stiletto. So that’s another Strike Force member down.
Inside, Gordon grabs Galavan to head out the back. Penguin has killed another GCPD member. Penguin shoots Galavan’s driver in the back. “Please step aside, Jim, you would if you knew what kind of man you were protecting. He killed my mother, Jim.” “I know,” Jim replied. Galavan is surprised. Bullock is there too with a gun to his head. “Shoot me, and you’ll have no idea what his end game is, Jim. And you should, because it concerns someone you know, someone you care about.” Tabitha shoots Penguin in the shoulder, and he falls to the ground. During the shootout that ensues, Penguin escapes in Galavan’s car.
After the commercial break, Gordon and Bullock talk about the carnage, and say it’s all Theo’s fault.
Theo talks to the press saying, “My ancestors were swordsmiths. They knew that good steel had to be forged. I look at tonight as a baptism of fire. Our resolve, forged to bring about a new day in Gotham!”
Bruce and Silver watched it, and have a talk. Silver says “Selina is never going to like me,” and Bruce says he doesn’t care. She kisses him – and Selina is outside, watching. Silver looks out the window at her and smiles. Uh-oh again.
Galavan and Gordon have an antagonistic chat. “I thought you would do whatever it takes to bring down the monsters,” Theo says, “I will, and I just decided I’m going to start with you,” Gordon replies.
Nygma goes back to the M.E. office and looks at Kristin’s body. He talks with Dark Nygma. “You got away with it. That is absolutely the point! You can still feel the rush, can’t you, coming so close to being caught.” As Dark Nygma taunts him, they merge, and Nygma admits it felt “beautiful.” Yeah, he has snapped.
And that’s the episode!
