Over the last few weeks, Jim Gordon has played the cat-and-mouse game with Gotham’s ruthless serial killer, the Ogre. This week marks the culmination of the Ogre case as detective Gordon races against time to save his once love, Barbara Kean.

The detectives get a lead on the Ogre from his first victim

After a night of passion and assumed debauchery, Barbara and Jason have their morning after talk. He wants her to stay; she wants to leave. Firmly in the mind that she’s all he’s been waiting for, Jason tells her the truth: his original plan was to kill her but now that he’s seen that “something” inside of her, she has his heart. It’s just up to her on whether or not she accepts such an ‘honor.’ She tries to escape and he takes serious measures, not only trussing her up but showing her the proof of his commitment to finding his love in the photos of every woman he has killed. The knowledge is nearly too much for her and Barbara falls into a semi-fugue state, disconnected from the reality of her situation. He continues on with it, threatening to gut her unless she gives him the name of someone for him to kill. Terrified for her life, Barbara gives in and…more on that later.

Feeling the guilt associated with going after the Ogre, Jim’s doing everything he can to find Barbara before it’s too late. With Bullock’s help, Jim gets his first clue by way of the Fox Glove; a very high end brothel that moves around town and requires pretty high up connections to gain an invite. There’s only one person Jim knows who can get that type of invite and he pays a visit to Oswald Cobblepot. Promising a giant favor to the criminal, Jim gains an invite which he gives to Bullock. The grimy detective dresses for the part and after a most disturbing main attraction involving a man and a pig, shuts the place down. The move offers them their biggest clue yet when they speak to Sally, a hostess at the club and the Ogre’s first victim. Her information points the detectives to mid-town and the Ogre’s condo but, when they arrive, he’s already gone. But where’s the fun in just leaving the officers with no clue? No, the Ogre calls and, for all intents and purposes, tells Jim that he’s won. Guess he didn’t factor in Gordon’s detective acumen, using the sounds from the call to extrapolate Ogre’s destination: Barbara’s parents’ mansion upstate.

Bruce Wayne meets future ally Lucius Fox

Three smaller stories (for now) are developing as Jim races to save Barbara and stop the Ogre. First on the list is Bruce, using the key Selina copied from Bunderslaw, infiltrating Wayne Enterprises to access the executive’s safe. Little problem: the wily Bunderslaw had been expecting it. He sits Bruce down and gives him “the talk”. It’s the same talk given to Thomas Wayne about the company. “Your father came to understand the realities of this business,” he tells the stunned Bruce. Bunderslaw admits to the corruption of the company and puts Bruce on the spot to choose his path but they are interrupted by Lucius Fox, a junior executive. He walks a disillusioned Bruce to the elevator but not before telling him that Thomas Wayne “kept his best self…hidden.”

Secondly, we have Edward Nygma doing his best to remove all evidence of Officer Dougherty’s murder. After disposing of the body, he drafts a letter to Ms. Kringle “from” Dougherty that bids her farewell. It’s another big step for the socially awkward Nygma towards his infamous Riddler alter ego.

The third story thread, one that will culminate in a bullet-riddled finale, is Oswald’s plan to kill Don Maroni. But it’s not as simple as that, no. Cobblepot is thinking ahead and wanting more than Maroni dead, figures why not have Maroni and Falcone wipe each other out? It’s a diabolically genius strategy, one that will fill the streets with violence and death but is the exact scenario he wishes to create: Chaos in Gotham.

Angling back to the Ogre storyline, Gordon and Bullock track Ogre and Barbara down to her parents’ estate where we discover they were the names she gave the Ogre to kill. When Jim finds her, Barbara’s still not in her right mind and, before he knows it, the Ogre’s on him, the two go mano-y-mano before Ogre breaks off, using Barbara as a shield. He threatens to cut her throat but when Bullock distracts him, Gordon puts a round in his head, effectively ending the reign of the Ogre.

The aftermath finds Jim gaining a bit more respect from his peers as well as reminding Lee just how much he loves her. “If I had to do it again,” he tells her, “I’d still protect you first.”

Still reeling from Bunderslaw’s revelation, Bruce admits everything that’s happened over the last few days to Alfred, including Reggie’s death. The former soldier does his best to give Bruce strength, reminding him that Thomas Wayne was a good man. Bruce replies “But even good men have secrets.” Married to the truth and justice, Bruce does not hold back his father’s apparent culpability, adding his picture to his Wayne Enterprises Wall of Conspiracy.

And finally, across the city of Gotham, Maroni begins his assault on Don Falcone. And at the nightclub once owned by Fish Mooney, Oswald Cobblepot laughs for war has come to Gotham.