Bullock and Gordon must stop a killer called The Spirit of the Goat who is copycatting a killer Bullock caught ten years ago. The Goat kidnaps and kills the first born children of Gotham’s rich and prominent families, leaving them to be found at local landmarks. Meanwhile, Montoya closes in on Gordon for the murder of Cobblepot, Barbara and Gordon come to an understanding, Nygma struggles with his crush on the Records Annex clerk, and Cobblepot visits his mother.
The Case
Ten years ago, back when Bullock was a do-gooding, white knight of Gotham, he and his partner Dix close in on a serial killer calling himself the Spirit of the Goat. As they enter an abandoned building, they find themselves too late to save the girl, but manage to kill the Goat, a man named Randall Milkie. Dix is injured and paralyzed in the process. Ten years later, someone has taken up the mantle of the Goat and starts killing the first born children of Gotham’s one-percent. What’s worse, is that the new murders are a perfect replication of the Milkie murders, right down to the one fact left out of all the reports and media coverage – that the killer would sow a penny into the back of his victim’s neck. The murderer isn’t a copycat, he is somehow connected to the original killings. Dix thinks it’s all a conspiracy.
Gordon and Bullock check the records for anyone who worked as a maintenance worker in the houses of the victims and seek out a man named Raymond Earl for questioning. This leads them back to the same abandoned building where Bullock caught the first Goat. Inside, they find that they are in time to save the girl. Bullock chases down Earl and arrests him. Bullock feels that something isn’t right, needing to know how the two Goats are connected. Earl seems to come to his senses suddenly and repeats a hand clenching gesture that Bullock had seen the father of the first victim compulsively repeat. Bullock has a revelation about who else is involved.
Bullock goes to talk to Dr. Marks, the first family’s therapist, having discovered that not only is she a hypnotherapist, but that she has been providing outreach therapy to underprivileged workers. She treated both Milkie and Earl, turning them into the Goat, claiming that it was therapy for Gotham. Marks thinks that killing the privileged children of Gotham, taking away the hope of the greedy one percent, would give the rest of Gotham some hope. Bullock shoots Marks in the leg as she attempts to escape.
Gordon
While Gordon and Barbara come to an agreement about their relationship – with Gordon promising to tell Barbara everything as soon as he gets the chance – Montoya finds a witness that saw the shooting and identified Gordon as the shooter (while notably not saying that anyone was actually killed, only that he saw a shooting). Barbara tries to work with Montoya, telling her that Gordon didn’t kill Cobblepot. Montoya refuses to listen and tells Barbara she should get out of town. When Gordon comes home after the case, Barbara tells him that Montoya has a warrant for his arrest and begs him to run away with her. There’s a knock on the door and Gordon tells Barbara that he can’t run away. Gordon is arrested for the murder of Cobblepot, but just as he’s being brought into the GCPD Cobblepot shows up and announces himself to everyone. Bullock, who was in the process of also being arrested for accessory to murder, is furious at Gordon for having deceived him. Awkward.
Cobblepot
Cobblepot doesn’t do too much scheming this episode. He mostly just visits his mom, who seems unsurprised and unimpressed by the survival of her ostensibly dead son. She chastises him for carrying on with hussies, even though Cobblepot keeps telling her that he doesn’t even date. Finally he makes her realize everything he’s been through and she dutifully stokes his delusions of grandeur. He tells her that he thinks he finally found someone he can trust, a real friend who is a policeman at the GCPD. His mother seems pretty wary about this – indeed, about anyone holding any place in her son’s life that isn’t her. I can see some pretty deranged trouble brewing here. Cobblepot may eventually have to kill his mother, and it won’t be pretty. Cobblepot cleans himself up and pays a visit to the GCPD just in time to exonerate Gordon of his murder. For what purpose, we will have to wait and see.
Nygma
They’re starting to beef up Nygma’s role a bit in this episode. His intelligence and his accompanying arrogance is pretty clear, as well as his contempt for anyone who doesn’t appreciate that intelligence. He clear has some pretty distasteful feelings about Bullock. However, we also see a softer – albeit creepy – side to Nygma when it becomes clear he has a hopeless crush on Kristen Kringle, the GCPD Records Annex clerk. He starts out on the wrong foot by sniffing her – and not at all subtly – and then takes it upon himself to reorganize her entire filing system. His intentions were good, but in the process of showing off his intelligence and trying to help her, he only manages to undermine her own intelligence and capabilities. It leads to an awkward confrontation. Nygma doesn’t seem to quite understand why Kristen is angry with him, only that he’s done something inappropriate somehow. He leaves sheepishly, but notably without actually managing to apologize.
Bruce
Bruce mostly continues to work tirelessly on his investigation, while Alfred struggles to make a solid emotional connection. In the midst of the Goat killings, Alfred suggests that they get out of town since Bruce is the perfect target. Bruce wants to stay, saying that there no one to take Bruce away from. While Bruce is obviously thinking about his parents, Alfred is a little stung by Bruce’s thoughtless discounting of him as a caring figure. It’s quite obvious that Alfred cares deeply about Bruce, and to suggest otherwise – or to suggest that Bruce doesn’t care about him in the same way – is clearly painful.
Later, Selina breaks into Wayne Manor while Bruce is sleeping. She takes a silver case from the desk and watches Bruce sleep before Alfred’s footsteps scare her away.
