The Case
Detective Flass is being released after Bullock is blackmailed by Commissioner Loeb into giving false testimony in his favor. According to Bullock, everyone at the GCPD has a Cobblepot – someone who they were asked to kill or something they were forced to do – a choice they were forced to make that is forever being held over their head by Commissioner Loeb and his mob ties to Don Falcone. Gordon and Dent team up to try to find this stash of files that incriminates the GCPD officers, only to be lured into a trap of dangerous, armed Chinese money-launderers. Bullock turns up to save the bumbling duo and violently coerces Loeb’s former GCPD partner into revealing that Falcone is the only one who knows the location of the incriminating files. Gordon, desperate to clean up Gotham corruption, asks Cobblepot for information. Cobblepot asks for a future favor in return and five minutes with the files in question. Gordon agrees, despite Bullocks warnings, and the trio are off to a remote farmstead. Inside they find a friendly elderly couple who turn out to be excellently capable caretakers when they surprise the trio with blazing guns. Bullock and Gordon quickly suppress the caretakers, leaving Cobblepot on guard. They check the attic only to find Loeb’s demented daughter, Miriam, kept under lock and key after she murdered her mother twenty years ago, in an attempt to keep her out of Arkham Asylum. Gordon is able to use Miriam’s secret to blackmail Loeb into behaving, possession of Bullock’s file, a fair trial for Flass, and endorsing Gordon for GCPD President. Bullock warns Gordon to be careful when Cobblepot comes calling for his favor, saying that no matter how many good things you do, the bad things will always haunt you.
Cobblepot
While Cobblepot’s part in this episode is partly plot device and partly humor, it also promises future complications between himself and Gordon. Gordon, never one to compromise his pristine reputation, is likely going to take issue with whatever Cobblepot comes up with for his favor. Even Bullock, always one to get a little dirty to get good results, is uneasy with Gordon’s bargain with Cobblepot.
Meanwhile, Cobblepot’s idea of entertainment is predictably twisted, as he pits the elderly married couple against each other to see who gets the ticket to safety, only to reveal the ticket never existed and that the game was because his shotgun was down to a single shell.
Fish Mooney
Mooney drives a hard bargain when she awakes and finally meet Dr. Dollmaker, who has given her a new, strikingly blue eye. Dollmaker is in charge of an upscale, resort style, black market facility that offers organ and body transplants to wealthy Gothamites. She demands that he makes her his second in command, promising that the “production line” for organs will resume as long as she can run the basement and that the “live stock” be given better living conditions. Its pretty clear from his nonchalant manner that Dollmaker is probably sociopathic, but his true insanity is made quite clear when his office manager – the go-between played by Jeffrey Combs that Mooney consulted with previously – is revealed to have become part of a sick Frankensteinian experiment in which several mismatched body parts have been sown together for Dollmaker’s amusement. Mooney, who doesn’t shy away at much, is clearly repulsed. In the end, Mooney is made second in command, as is fitting of her character, but is dismayed to learn that her location is on an island in the middle of nowhere.
Bruce Wayne
Alfred awakes and appears to be in stable condition, expected to fully recover. When Gordon asks who stabbed him, Alfred claims not to know, saying it was very dark. Bruce asks why Alfred is protecting Reggie, to which Alfred says that friends don’t turn friends into the police, even if they do stab you. Alfred, a single day after his stabbing, tries to leave the hospital to deal with Reggie. He gets about six inches from the bed before he looks as if he’s about to die, prompting Bruce to firmly order Alfred to get back in bed.
Meanwhile, Selina visits Bruce at the hospital, gives him a hug and offers her help in his proposed investigation of Reggie’s involvement with the board of Wayne Enterprises. He refuses, saying he can’t put anyone else at risk because of his investigation. She shrugs it off, telling him he knows where to find her.
Nygma
Apparently Kringle was dating Detective Flass before his incarceration, so at the news of his impending release Nygma attempts to dissuade Kringle from continuing her relationship with him. She assures him that she has realized there are far better men in the world and not to worry. Nygma takes this as his chance to ask her out, only to find out that she’s already dating another GCPD officer.
Notes
This was another smooth, tightly plotted episode, with not a lot to distract from the main plot while the various B plots were relevant and well situated. Even the throwaway Nygma plot was unobtrusive. I think they’re starting to work out a good balance of plot to character on a weekly basis.
