Gotham - S1E7 - Penguin’s Umbrella
Last time on Gotham… Mr. Oswald Cobblepot made a major mic drop moment as he revealed to the world that he was still alive. This set the mood for everything that happens during this episode. Now that everyone knows Oswald is alive, heads must be detached from bodies. Fish Mooney above everyone else wants Oswald dead for obvious reasons but Penguin’s new “boss,” Maroni, doesn’t want to give up his new pet. And Falcone is a little too calm counting his chickens and eating home baked goodies from his new stepford wife, who as we find out, has not had the wrapper taken off yet, if you know what I mean. I guess Fish’s “seduce me” tricks were a waste of time. The underlying theme of the entire show has been that everything is connected. Do we finally get to see who is pulling the strings?
Penguin is Here
- On your marks… everyone is dealing with the revelation that Oswald is alive and kicking. To Bullock’s dismay, I am sure he sees his life passing before his eyes and is a little upset that his partner kept him in the dark about his little penguin sized lie. Mooney is lobbying Falcone to go guns blazing into Maroni’s place and take out their fine feathered friend. Maybe even gut him like a pig…wait wrong show. Anyway, Gordon is telling Barbara that she has to leave Gotham like today, no questions asked. Does anyone see a pattern yet? I sure didn’t.
Mr. Zsasz
- With Oswald alive, it was obvious to the crime families that Gordon was a bad boy and did not go through with his Penguin slaying as he was ordered. So Gordon’s got to die. Falcone calls in his big gun, Victor Zsasz (Anthony Carrigan) - if you know any Batman lore you know is a well-known rouge in Batman’s endless gallery. Victor “Crazy Eyes” Zsasz has to bring Gordon in alive (I wonder if we have found Suzanne’s long lost daddy). Zsasz, the intelligent bad boy that he is, decides to go right through the front door of the GCPD, standing on desks and screaming for Gordon to come out, come out, wherever he was. Gordon, who is in Captain Essen’s office, comes out and asks him what is he going to do. Kill him with 50 other cops looking on? Crazy Eyes, I mean Zsasz, calmly asks everyone to leave, which they hesitantly do, and Gordon is left with his Johnson in his hand. Gordon, seeing that his back up just backed out, begins to shoot first and wipe egg off of his face later. During the chaos, Gordon is hit twice and is playing hide-and-go-seek in the GCPD garage until he gets help from a most unlikely source, Montoya and Allen.
Montoya and Allen to the rescue
- Montoya and Allen pull Gordon out of the fire, get him off the grid and patched up, and then to the one place in Gotham Gordon says he’ll be safe: Wayne Manor. While Allen goes out to make sure the coast is clear, Montoya takes the time to apologize to Gordon and ask if her… I mean his Barbra was safe. Gordon re-assures her that Barbara is safe and they shake hands putting this tired storyline to rest, I hope.
- Meanwhile, Allen does not have the magic word and is made to recognize British style as Alfred slams him into the window of the car. There’s about to be a beatdown on one of GCPD’s finest until Gordon puts a stop to it. Alfred invites everyone inside, and Gordon tells Bruce that he might not be able to keep his promise of finding his parents killer. And if something were to happen to him, Bruce is to put his trust in Montoya and Allen, and they will find out who killed his parents.
Fish With a Side of Penguin
- Mooney and Maroni are having a parlay at Maroni’s restaurant, as Oswald keeps a safe distance in the kitchen. Mooney wants the Penguin back, Maroni wants to keep his golden goose, the standoff ensues. Maroni makes the Penguin apologize to Mooney as a show of respect. But he makes the mistake of calling her Fish, which is a name reserved for her friends. Oswald is far from her friend and she made him pay for the infraction by scratching up his face.
From Dishwasher to No. 2?
- With the mob factions looking at going to war, Penguin persuades Maroni to hit Falcone and take out one of his top lieutenants, Nikolai (Jeremy Davidson), who is also Mooney’s lover. And it just so happens that Penguin knows exactly where he will be. The hit works, Fish’s latest boy-toy is dead, however Maroni’s No. 2, Frankie Carbone (Danny Mastrogiorgio), does not see Oswald as the golden goose his boss thinks he is. Frankie sees Oswald as manipulating Maroni, and he decides to take matters into his own hands and have Oswald catch a “stray” bullet. Unfortunately for Frankie, Oswald is more than prepared for this move and takes advantage of Frankie’s weakness and out pays his muscle, who turn on Frankie so that Oswald can dispatch him Penguin style. So just like that, Oswald is on the elevator to upper management.
Bucket of Crack Anyone?
- We find Gordon loading up some serious guns and ammo at his place and he gets a visit from Bullock. Instead of punching him in the face, he decides to be the hero and re-partners up with his partner, but not before getting a little lovin’ from his companion.
- Bullock wants to know the plan. Gordon proceeds to inform his partner that they are going to arrest the mayor and Falcone for covering up the Wayne murders to which Bullock utters the episode’s best line, “Did you consult a panel of monkeys and a bucket of crack?” So off they go. They apprehend the mayor pretty easily, but come up against a little resistance when they get to Falcone’s place. Falcone is prepared for this move and tells Gordon that he has Barbara, who was supposed to be on a train to who knows where, and she is with Zsasz as they speak. So Gordon has a choice to make; he can arrest Falcone and get Barbara killed, if he believes him, or put the guns down. Being that this is TV in which 90 % of the time the hero always puts his gun down, can you guess what Gordon does?
- Well it looks like Falcone was telling the truth and he did have Barbara and releases her, to Zsasz’s disappointment. I guess one less tic mark on his body. Falcone tells Gordon he still has faith in him and that he’ll get with the program like all of his other co-workers. Falcone lets Gordon, Bullock, and Barbara leave unharmed.
Surprise!
- Oswald shows up at Falcone’s place after Gordon’s attempted arrest. For a split second you think he is going to take out Falcone but instead he just gives him a big old hug! What?!? Proceed to flashback. We see that Oswald is not only a double agent, but he is a triple agent. Or is he? Oswald had told Falcone all he needed to know to let Falcone to prepare for what was to come. He even let him know that Mooney was sleeping with Nikolai, oh and by the way, they were planning to over through him. So now the question is: Can Falcone really trust Oswald? I would say no. Oswald is the real puppet master while everyone else is tangled in strings. Can’t you hear him now? There are no strings on me.
