Gotham - S1E16 - The Blind Fortune Teller
Previously on Gotham, ‘The Scarecrow’
Synopsis: Ladies and Gentlemen! The circus is coming to town with their own clowns, trapeze artists, and big top brawls. All while Gordon and Dr. Thompkins are in the attendance.
Recap:
The show starts with a snapshot of what is going on with all of our players. Bruce is asleep on the couch, Oswald is grinning from ear to ear listening to his dear old mother serenade him in his new club, Barbara comes home and finds Ivy and Salina squatting in her apartment, Fish is taking care of her subjects who seemed to be all kinds of maimed and hurting, and Gordon and Dr. Thompkins, oh I mean Lee, are enjoying an evening at the circus with… The Flying Graysons!
Show Time at the Circus:
- One of the clowns at the circus, Owen Lloyd (Jeremy Bobb), attacks Alphonse Grayson (Slate Holmgren) for apparently no reason, while Gordon and Lee are in the audience. After the brawl, Gordon begins questioning multiple members from the circus. When questioned, no one seems to know why Owen attacked Alphonse, or at least they are not saying. But Lee has better luck as Mary Lloyd (Abbi Snee) and John Grayson (Robert Gorrie) give up the goods saying that the brawl was a result of a family feud between the Graysons and the Lloyds… oh and some one named Lyla the snake dancer. Lee wants to have a more active role in the investigative side of things and of course Gordon cannot say no.
- Gordon and Lee go looking for Lyla at her trailer but all they find is her son, Jerome (Cameron Monaghan). If you’ve seen some of the promotion stuff the show has been putting out this past week, you know this Jerome character may be someone to watch. Gordon sees Lyla’s snake is agitated and tells Jerome to let the snake out as we can all see everyone’s breath due to the cold. Now, I wasn’t a biology major, but I do know that cold blooded animals would not be all that functional in the cold. Just saying. And this snake can do a really good dog impersonation. The snake, yes the snake, finds Lyla’s dead body underneath a tarp and the ringmaster, apparently knew she was there.
- The ringmaster shows Gordon where they found the body. And he arrests the circus. Or what looks like the entire circus. Gordon questions Jerome about his mother. Looks like Jerome’s mother had a very healthy sex life and Jerome was good with that. If not, he would not be around. Then Gordon questions Owen Lloyd about why he attacked Alphonse Grayson. He stated that Alphonse killed Lyla because she was going to pick Owen over Alphonse. Owen explains that their families have been fighting for three generations over a horse. It is the little things that get people worked up right?
- The gang is all here, Gordon, Bullock, Nygma, Lee, and Captain Essen. They determine the snake dancer was killed by blunt force trauma with a sharp object while both Owen and Alphonse were doing a show. Gordon lets everyone go except for Owen and Alphonse. He also tells everyone to stop fighting.
- Enter Paul Cicero (Mark Margolis), the circus psychic. And he has a message from Lyla from the other side. Something about some “iron sisters.” Lee is open to the idea. Gordon dismisses it completely. Lee is not very happy with Gordon for not being open minded. This is the first time he has upset her.
- Gordon and Lee are at her place eating dinner when she thinks she has figured out the “iron sister” riddle; Arkham bridge and the garden around the bridge! Gordon is the skeptic but Lee convinces him to go investigate with her. They find the murder weapon. On the hatchet is the letters THFC…The Hell Fire Club, a Satanist group who has not been active for a long time. Side note—why is Lee out there in heels people!
- Back at the GCPD, Gordon is dismissive again and Lee is not happy about it. But he begrudgingly laments and decides to give her X-Files a chance and allows her to come along to question the psychic. Gordon confronts Cicero who sticks to his story. Gordon feels that he is covering for someone important to him. Enter Jerome. Gordon tells Jerome that he killed his mother and Cicero allowed him to clean up in his trailer because Cicero is Jerome’s father. What?!?! So Gordon pulled all of that out of thin air, not even Batman is that cognitive. But suspension of disbelief and all of that. Cicero confesses to being Jerome’s father. And then the change…and a very familiar smile. Ha! Jerome confesses to killing his mother because she just kept pushing and she was a drunken, nagging whore. You know how mothers are.
- Lee thanks Gordon for letting her be present during the interview. She said it was scary and thrilling all at the same time. Must have been a turn on because she wants Gordon to take her home.
Lets Talk Straight!:
- Fish gives a rousing speech about who they are in the mystery prison, all the while literally standing on the backs of her followers. She tells the crowd they are nothing but spare parts for whoever is outside of the prison walls. She wants to get some of the people out alive. She realistically warns that some of them will not get out but die in the process. I bet she will not be one of the sorry saps who dies, but they seem to buy into it.
- It is medication time at the prison and trying to find that center before starting an uprising. Some guards come into the room looking for a specific prisoner. Fish raises her hand and says she needs to talk with them. Should be an interesting conversation. Well the conversation really is more of a show that Fish means business. So much so that she orders the crowd to kill one of the guys to prove a point. Fish says all they want is some supplies. The lead guard says the “manager” is not going to be happy and would want to speak to her. She tells him that she will be right here as she is surrounded by her new “Butches.”
- Thomas, the lead guard, comes back and tells Mooney that he will stay with her people while she goes and sees the manager.
Wrapping Up:
- Bruce is getting ready to meet with the Board at Wayne Enterprises. Alfred does not think it is a good idea. Bruce does not care. He meets with the Board who seem eager to help the owner of the company. Bruce asks about the Arkham project and chemical weapons and the eagerness fades away.
- Oswald is getting used to his new club. But Don Falcone is not happy with his progress. He sends Zsasz to help and Zsasz brings a little friend…Butch! Who is a changed man, he dances and everything.
- Barbara is having a fashion show with the girls in an effort to find the outfit to get Gordon back. And as she stops by the GCPD to show off her choice she sees a little more than she was hoping for as Gordon is kissing Lee in the locker room. Barbara does not stick around to ask what is up.
- Mary and John get engaged after all the nasty business with Lyla’s murder. Boy, I wonder what wonderful things will come out of their union? Time will tell, I guess.
This was another good episode. It had things that were really good and others that were just interesting plot points moving the story along. The Jerome character was wonderfully uncomfortable to watch. We all know who he is supposed to be and the actor did a really good job with the material he was given. Not Heath, but very good. Gordon and Lee were consistent with their relationship, but it was about time Barbara comes back into the picture. The Fish stuff was okay, but still not my main reason to watch. The Penguin wasn’t around a lot, but the end was entertaining. This episode hit some really strong notes, while others just kept the story moving.
