Gotham - S1E21 - The Anvil or the Hammer

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Previously on Gotham, ‘Under the Knife’

Barbara Breaking Bad

Well, good morning, you two naughty consenting adults! It is the morning after a night of who knows what and Barbara does not look any worse for wear, plus the Ogre made a quiche! Barbara looks like she wants to get on with her walk of shame, but the Ogre is having none of that. So what does he do to keep her around? Tells her the truth. Now, listen, I am all for honesty in relationships, but come on. There is a such thing as too much information and the Ogre shared a bit too much. You know…about the whole, “When I first met you I was going to kill you” thing. Not good. But he did say that she was the girl he had been searching for… that’s sweet, right?

At the GCPD, Lee is doing the caring and understanding girlfriend thing and Gordon is doing the Gordon thing. Gordon says anything that happens to Barbara is on him. Lee does not see it that way.

Bullock brings in a pimp who claims to know where the Ogre is. And after some alternative interrogation techniques, Gordon finds out the Ogre likes a upscale moving brothel called The Fox Club. It is very high-class, but Gordon thinks the Penguin may know how to find it.

Back at the Ogre’s place, he attempts to convince Barbara she is the one for him. How much do you want to bet that the hanging position she is in and the gag in her mouth seemed a lot more tantalizing last night?

Gordon visits Penguin to get an invitation to the Fox Club. Gordon even goes so far as to threaten Penguin when he did not seem to want to help. Penguin relents, but tells Gordon he owes him a big favor. Gordon gets his invite and the location of the club. He tells Bullock he is the one going to the Fox Club. Bullock of course had no problem with this plan.

Barbara is still hanging around and the Ogre is now in love. Barbara then makes a critical mistake…she says that “Jim” will find her. The Ogre was not too happy and hits her. Then he shows her his collection of dead girl pictures, which goes to show that you cannot make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

Bullock shows up at The Fox Club right as the festivities are about to begin. Strange does not even come close to what he sees. But nothing prepares Bullock for what he witnesses when “Ingrid and Gary” takes the stage! He can’t un-see whatever he saw off camera, but we can only imagine with the sounds coming from that stage. Not the least of which was a pig! Bullock puts a stop to that debauchery.

Barbara wakes up in the Ogres arms. She is scared and he tells her she does not know what it means to live without fear. He asks her who should he kill? And after a couple of tears she gives him a name. I wonder whose name she gave?

Gordon threatens the madam of the brothel with exposure if she does not give them something. She points to one of her ladies who met the Ogre about 9 years ago. He gave her a beauty mark to remember him by, but did not kill her. She is able to point them in the right direction.

Gordon and Bullock find Ogre’s layer, but no one is home. Gordon does smell Barbara’s perfume still in the apartment. Ogre calls because his alarms in the apartment was tripped as the two broke in. He tells them Barbara is with him and she is “as safe as milk.” Not sure which of the show writers has a thing for milk, but they love the odd references. Fish gave the last one. Anyway, the Ogre hangs up and Bullock and Gordon attempt to go Daredevil and deduce where the Ogre and Barbara are by the sounds they heard over the phone. They determine they are heading up-state which is where Barbara’s parents live. Did anyone else think the name Barbara gave was Lee’s?

Gordon and Bullock show up at Barbara’s parent’s home with music playing in the background. They find Barbara’s parent’s bloody bodies on the couch. Yikes… no trauma to Barbara there! Barbara comes into the room and asks why he is there. She looks zombie-ish.

Bullock is looking in another part of the house when the Ogre hits him on the head, knocking him out.

Barbara says he is not supposed to be there as the Ogre tackles Gordon. They fight as Barbara looks on with the crazy eyes. Gordon gets free and pulls his gun on the Ogre as the Ogre gets his knife and uses Barbara as a human shield. Barbara tells Gordon to “leave them alone” to Gordon’s puzzlement. Then Bullock comes up behind them and yells at the Ogre causing him to look away and Gordon gets off one hell of a headshot!

So what have we learned today kids? That Gordon really does not care for Barbara like he thinks he does after taking that shot. Huge gamble with a woman’s life that you claim to care for. Just saying.

Lee greets Gordon at the station and tells him he is a hero. She tells him that she was selfish and scared. She thought that Barbara would come inbetween the both of them. He said he would always protect her first. And she said she would never change him. And they lived happily ever after…?

Nygma Cleaning Up

Nygma is bringing two big trucks into the office. One guess what they contain. Nygma is about to do a really good Walt impersonation, when it comes to getting rid of bodies, before Ms. Kringle interrupts him. She needs a case file he had been working on when she sees her ex-boyfriend in the sink. She tells Nygma that she does not know how he does this job. Dealing with death all around him. She asks if he had seen Officer Dougherty and he, of course, says no.

Nygma does a good Hamlet and talks to Dougherty’s skull right before he smashes it. Maybe Dougherty will write Ms. Kringle a letter directing her to make better choices?

Nygma goes by to talk to Ms. Kringle. Looks like Dougherty did leave a letter. How considerate of him. Even with the letter he could not help himself and he left a clue as to the real author of the letter.

Don’t Get Caught

Bruce is still investigating and Alfred is on his way to identify Reggie’s body. But before Alfred leaves, he gives Bruce a package that was just delivered. Looks like Selina is out of the investigating business and is wishing Bruce good luck. She gives him the key. You would think one would want a budding cat burglar when breaking into something like, you know, a safe!

Bruce takes a tour of his own company headquarters. During the tour he pulls the fire alarm to create a diversion so that he can get into Bunderslaw’s office. In the office, he uses the key to open an empty safe as Bunderslaw sneaks up behind him and says he had been expecting him. He tells Bruce that he is a special case and he now will give him the talk. Not that kind of talk… the talk where Bunderslaw tells him Wayne Enterprises in a multinational corporation, and yes it commits criminal acts to secure profits. He tells Bruce that his father had done the same thing, coming into the office with secret files and demanded the truth. But after a while, he accepted the way things worked and allowed the company to go on and the family lived a blessed life. Bunderslaw asks him to think about it and allows a junior executive, Lucius Fox (Chris Chalk), to show him out. Oh and Bruce…don’t forget your cookie. Which he takes by the way!

As Lucius walks Bruce out, he tells Bruce that his father was not what the company thought he was. And what he was about to tell him must be kept a deep secret between he and Bruce. He said he knew his father well and he was a good man. Lucius said his father was a true stoic and kept his best self hidden. Then he tells him good luck. Very cool to see Lucius, but not sure how he thought a pre-adolescent would understand a word that was coming out of his mouth.

Bruce inquires how the day went for Alfred. You know, having to go identify your best-mate’s body. Bruce tells him the truth about Reggie and how Salina pushed him out the window and the Bunderslaw / Reggie connection. Alfred tell him that his father was a good man…Bruce replies that even good men have secrets.

Bruce puts a picture of his father on his investigation board. I guess he is now part of the conspiracy.

Penguin Goes to War

Butch goes to the bar and plants some guns around the place for what is sure to be venue for a future shoot out.

Penguin has a meeting with Connor, the assassin, in which they discuss how the Maroni assassination will go down. Penguin has something he wants to be said right before Maroni is killed which Connor said he would do although he does not understand why. Penguin said he knew Maroni would be at the bar because of someone being released today, Tommy Bones (James Andrew O’Connor). Tommy just happens to be a close personal friend of Maroni’s.

Maroni and Tommy are reminiscing about old times when Connor and his man come into the bar baring gifts. After being searched Connor gets closer to Maroni and pulls the gun out from were Butch had stashed it. He tell him that the decision Don Falcone made to decide to kill Maroni was not easy. But business is business. Connor pulls the trigger with a click! Looks like Penguin is up to something a lot bigger than Maroni and Connor gets a bullet in the head. Maroni is angry and is coming after Don Falcone.

Butch comes in to Penguin’s club and tells him Maroni is still alive and that he needs to get out of town. Penguin scoffs it off and tells him he took the firing pins out of the guns before he planted them. And now he gets to watch all the fun. He wants both Falcone and Maroni removed from Gotham.

Falcone gets a box with Connor’s head in it. I guess this means war with shots fired.

Wrapping Up

This episode was pretty good, but also pretty ridiculous. As it always seems to be with me it was entertaining though. The situation between the Ogre and Barbara was less than believable. Serial killer falls in love and attempts to convert his lady love over to the dark side. Now don’t get me wrong there were some compiling parts of the situation like when the Ogre was attempting to show Barbara what it was like to live with “no fear.” That portion of their situation was interesting. Especially when he asked her to name a name for him to kill. I think we all knew who she was going to pick put then the show throws a curve ball that made since. It was one of the better parts of the show. That and Nygma “breaking bad!” Only 1 episode to go and it is war on the streets.   I hope the season finale is fireworks and body parts but I have a feeling it is going to be sparklers and a Fish, where is Fish by the way?