The Case

A full scale gang war has broken out between Maroni and Falcone, thanks to Cobblepot’s meddling and trickery. Falcone takes a heavy hit and favor turns to Maroni, leaving Falcone in danger as he lies in the hospital. Maroni, with Commissioner Loeb on his side, has the hospital emptied to allow his thugs to kill Falcone. Gordon, however, arrives at the hospital just in time to save Falcone from Cobblepot and then to protect him from Maroni’s assassins, believing that Falcone is the best worst choice for running Gotham’s crime world. Bullock reluctantly comes to help Gordon protect Falcone and are all able to escape the hospital and take Falcone to a safe house. However, Fish Mooney has recently arrived back in Gotham and is there to meet Falcone with a gang of her own, taking the entire group captive. She makes a deal with Maroni to trade Falcone’s head for her old territories and an equal standing in the crime world with Maroni. While Maroni agrees to this, he’s exceptionally condescending to Mooney, calling her pet names and belittling what would be her position in the organization. Eventually he goes too far and she shoots him in the head, causing chaos to erupt. Gordon, Bullock, and Falcone escape together while Cobblepot goes after Mooney. Falcone decides he wants to retire instead of retaking his place as Gotham’s crime lord, and Cobblepot seemingly disposes of Mooney (although her death is not confirmed), making Cobblepot the new crime lord of Gotham.

Barbara and Leslie

Meanwhile, a recovering Barbara only agrees to trauma counseling if Leslie agrees to be her counselor. Leslie reluctantly agrees, but when they meet Barbara is creepy and awkward. She wants to know about Leslie’s relationship with Gordon, which Leslie is uncomfortable talking about. When Leslie finally gets Barbara to talk about what happened to her, she reveals that she is the one who killed her parents, not the Ogre. She then attacks Leslie, leading to a struggle which ends with Leslie knocking out Barbara. It is at this point that Gordon arrives with Bullock and Falcone in company, with Leslie explaining that Barbara just went crazy.

We all know that Barbara has her issues – with a great lack of self-confidence and deep self-loathing being at the core of most of them. She blames her parents for emotional abuse, neglect, and never understanding her. When Jason Lennon – the Ogre – seemed to see through her, to her very core being, it changed something in her. I think all her life traumas had a hand in bringing Barbara to this point of crisis, and that this mental break was lying beneath the surface for the right circumstances. The point is, she is a much more interesting character now than she was when she was just a shallow Barbie doll. I’m looking forward to how they use her character in the future. Will she have her own children one day, ones that Gordon will end up adopting as his own as he does in some versions of the comics? Will one of them inherit his mother’s homicidal tendencies and land in Arkham? Its perhaps too far ahead to be thinking of these specific storylines.

Bruce

Bruce spends all his waking hours trying to discover his father’s secrets. Alfred insists that Thomas Wayne didn’t have any secrets, but Bruce has other ideas. He tears apart his father’s study, from top to bottom and finds nothing. Bruce insists that his intuition is almost never wrong, but Alfred reminds him that there are men in Arkham who think the same thing. Alfred quotes Marcus Aurelius, leading Bruce to remember that Lucius Fox called Thomas Wayne a true stoic. Bruce finds his father’s book of Marcus Aurelius and discovers a remote control. When he presses the button, music begins to play and the fireplace recedes back to reveal a secret passage. Is this where Bruce will one day keep his Batcave? What secrets did Thomas Wayne hold and how will it change Bruce’s investigation – or indeed, his life?

Cobblepot

Things will not improve with Cobblepot as the king of Gotham. We all knew it was coming, especially since the Penguin is a powerful crime lord in the comics, if not the most powerful. I can see things getting pretty twisted in Cobblepot’s hands, but who is there to take his place? And what kind of relationship will Gordon have with Cobblepot now that he’s king? And is Mooney really gone for good? I could see her returning in a season or two to make things difficult for Cobblepot.

Nygma

Ms. Kringle is a smart woman indeed, and one with a suspicious mind. She actually notices Nygma’s little clue in Dougherty’s note, where the first letter of every line spells out “Nygma”. Nygma claims not to know anything about it, strange and pleasant as always. However, when she leaves, he begins talking to himself – and not in the normal way most people talk to themselves. He has a full on conversation with a completely different side of himself in a sort of Gollum/Smeagol kind of way. There seems to be the good-hearted, well-meaning Nygma and the violent, superior Nygma who goads the better one on. Nygma shakes it off, but obviously is battling with some pretty hefty demons. Will Kringle keep digging and uncover Nygma’s misdeed? Of course she will. But we’ll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.