Gotham - S1E14 - The Fearsome Dr. Crane
Previously, “Welcome Back, Jim Gordon”
Synopsis: Fish reveals a secret of Oswald’s, prompting Maroni to take him on a trip to test his loyalty. Gordon and Bullock hunt down a killer who targets victims with severe phobias, and Bruce confronts Gordon for failing to make progress on his parents’ murder.
Recap:
Scarecrow and Mr. Gordon:
- We begin our story with a chair, a guy, a rope, and a stethoscope. We end it with a sudden drop and a sudden stop. A mysterious man drops a man with a noose around his neck from a very tall building. Before he does, though, he checks his heart rate with a stethoscope. Can this be… Mr. Crane himself, Scarecrow (Julian Sands)…?
- Bullock and Captain Essen go over the crime scene of our man in a chair and have a nice discussion about accidents and how they both need to be careful since they both have a link to a certain detective’s arrest last week, Detective Flass.
- Back at GCPD, Bullock meets with Ms. Scottie Mullen (Maria Thayer) who was the hanging victim’s sponsor. They were both part of a phobia support group. The victim’s phobia was of heights. Interesting how he died being dropped from a tall building. I would think he was probably scared to death! Bullock is smitten with Ms. Mullen and Gordon, when he comes into the room, realizes both of them are in trouble.
- Crane is waiting for a man who is leaving his apartment building. Crane was holding a pig. How much do you want to bet this guy has a thing for pigs in the most awful way? Good thing we are not the British Prime Minster right now! Anyway, Mr. Crane starts to follow the man and his pig coming out of his apartment, and then things get freaky. Mr. Crane and someone else grab the guy off the street and throw him into their trunk.
- Meanwhile, Nygma is getting suspended for sticking his hand into things that don’t belong to him.
- Bullock and Gordon go to an abandoned warehouse and talk about each other’s love life. Please tell me this is not going to be a thing! They then hear a scream and see a man with a pig mask about to cut a guy in a chair. The two detectives shoot the guy and discuss their girls. I guess in Gotham, even before Batman, masks were an expectable disembowelment uniform. And what is up with the pigs? I think there was a pig guy in another episode, too! As long as we don’t have Gordon getting a video ransom demand in which he has to save Barbara all Black Mirror-style, I will be okay!
- Bullock and Gordon discover the guy being held by the pig guy was part of the same phobia support group as the hanging victim. Bullock thinks the case is closed and is on his way to tell the phobia folks all is well again. Gordon is not so sure. He wants to bring Nygma into the mix, but Captain Essen tells Gordon that Nygma is suspended, and they all have to watch their backs now that they went against the department and arrested Flass.
- Gordon has dinner with Dr. Thompkins, but I think both of them are there for different reasons. Gordon wants help on a case, and Dr. Thompkins wants help with Gordon. Gordon sees the disappointed look on her face and apologizes saying the case work was a pretext. Do we really believe that? Does not matter, anyway. Gordon gets a phone call about the second victim awaking and claiming he was taken by two men. Thompkins will bring the case file to him later.
- Nygma goes to see Ms. Kringle who is crying on the floor. Nygma, being very observant, asks why she has been crying. She tells him no reason, and he tells her he has been suspended and wanted to give back a significantly stunted pencil he borrowed from her some time ago. You are an odd man, Mr. Nygma.
- Bullock is having small talk with Ms. Mullen, talking about what fear really means, and offers to talk to the support group about his fear. I have a feeling about these two. Bullock bumps into a guy who makes his Spidey sense tingle.
- Nygma is up to no good in the medical examiner’s office. Maybe Ms. Kringle should not have encouraged him. Later, the medical examiner comes into his office and opens a closet. As body parts fall out of the closet, two police officers come into the room. Coincidence? That Nygma!
- Bullock tells stories to the group about being scared every day and not wanting to die alone. Then Todd, Spidey sense guy who is really Gerald Crane, tells his story about a fear of failure and how he feels like he is passing it on to his son. He runs out of the room with Ms. Mullen following him to console him.
- Bullock realizes that Ms. Mullen and Todd have been gone an awfully long time. As Todd is putting Ms. Mullen in the back of a van.
- Bullock talks to Ms. Mullen’s mother who tells him her daughter almost drowned in a pool uptown when she was a kid. Now she has a phobia of pools. So we have a starting point.
- Todd is about to drown Ms. Mullen and is measuring her fears somehow when his son, Jonathan (Charlie Tahan), walks in and tells him he needs more coins for the parking meter, as he pushes her into the pool. Gordon and Bullock burst in, and a gun fight ensues… because a gun fight always has to ensue. Bullock goes into the pool and saves Ms. Mullen, and Todd gets away.
- Thompkins brings Gordon back the case files he had left with her. She explains that Todd had been taking out people’s adrenal glands (the fear gland). She continues to explain it would have produced a high concentration of cortisol, which causes the emotion fear. Gordon tells her the medical examiner was just fired for stealing body parts and, if she likes this kind of work, she should put in for the job. Then they play a game of kiss chicken and the winner gets dinner. Dr. Thompkins wins! Oh, look… Nygma is back!
Bad Things Happen When You don’t See a Body:
- Oswald and Maroni toast to Fish’s demise when Maroni gets a very important phone call. Who do we think is at the end of that soup can? Fish, of course! She spills the beans on Oswald, which takes Maroni aback. Penguin, of course, has no clue, which makes the situation very interesting. So Maroni suggests a trip upstate. Road trip!
- Oswald finds himself at a country cabin, which has their lunch ready and where animal heads adorn the walls. I wonder why they all seem to be looking at Penguin. Seems like Maroni just wants to get away from it all and enjoy some fresh, honest, and clean air. He wants to connect and reflect.
- Oswald smells something “fishy” is up and arms himself with Maroni’s gun. Maroni wants to move their relationship into the trust stage and begins a game of truth or truth. We find out Penguin does not like oatmeal and that Fish Mooney is alive and Maroni has talked to her. Oh, snap! Of course Oswald asks what they talked about, and Maroni says Oswald first has to tell him a secret. Penguin does not like coffee, either. Maroni tells him Fish dimed him out which, of course, Oswald denies. But he can’t keep up the charade and pulls a gun on Maroni and tells him he has to tell him a secret. Maroni’s secret is that the gun is loaded with blanks, and Penguin gets punched in the face again!
- Maroni has a conversation with Oswald about crushing a car with him inside. As the car compactor closes in, Penguin, in a last ditch effort to save himself, calls Maroni on his cell phone from inside of the car. He tells him about Indian Hill and Arkham, but Maroni isn’t hearing any of it and hangs up. But Penguin in his last-last ditch effort sees the number to the salvage yard on the wall and calls the owner, Mr. Duffy. He tells Mr. Duffy he called Don Falcone and told him where he was. Don Falcone runs this city. Does he want to get skinned alive? Duffy does not want to be skinned alive and stops the compactor and runs away. This gives Oswald enough time to slither away. Man, he knows how to get out of the tightest of situations.
- The next morning, a church bus full of church-going ladies find Oswald sleeping on the side of the road. Then, as all good church-going people would, they offer to give him a ride back to Gotham City. Praise the Lord!
You Have Failed This City… And Bruce Wayne!
- Gordon comes back to his and Barbara’s old place to what he thinks will be his confrontation with his former girlfriend but instead finds a cat in the house. Selina tells him she lied about seeing the Wayne killer and slips away.
- Gordon goes to see Bruce who is none-too-pleased with Gordon’s progress in his parents’ case. So Bruce decides to release him from his oath to find his parents’ killer and will conduct the investigation himself.
Wrapping Up:
- Mooney is leaving Gotham on a boat. The boat is attacked. The captain is killed, and Fish is staring down the killer. They look at each other, growl, and charge. What?!?!?!
- This episode was not as good as the previous two, but it did have its high points. Nygma framing the medical examiner, Penguin almost getting crushed, and Gordon and Thompkins (for some reason, I just like those two crazy kids). The introduction to The Scarecrow was okay but nothing to stand up and cheer about, and I am at a loss for words as far as the Fish ending. I will be back next week for no other reason if not to see the conclusion of the animal charge.
