The Plot

“There’s a war… a terrible war. There will be chaos; rivers of blood in the streets…”

Suffer the children.

This would have been a better title for ‘Gotham’s’ second episode as young Bruce Wayne continues to “test” himself after the tragedy of losing his parents and two very unhinged partners prey upon the young and destitute children relegated to the streets of the crumbling city.

Detective Gordon finds his way to the alley where a homeless war vet has been gunned down in the same alley where Patty and Doug, an unlikely crime duo, has kidnapped two homeless teens. After getting into it Bo, who was supposed to be at the crime scene, the detectives speak to Mackie, the homeless kid that got away. It’s been happening for quite some time but no one’s been paying attention. Gordon and Bullock get into it about the latter’s treatment of the witness and Gordon is realizing more and more just how corrupt and mismanaged the Gotham PD has become.

With the help of Edward Nygma, a crime scene analyst, Mackie’s story is partially validated as the teen had been injected by ATP, a powerful sedative formerly used by Arkham Asylum. The prison has been closed for 15 years but the detectives find out that there are three companies still manufacturing the drug. But first, the detectives need to check in with Fish Mooney as the kidnappings have occurred on her turf.

The Mayor, taking the spotlight as he delivers the children of Gotham’s streets into the “loving arms of Juvenile Services”

And here we get to Fish. After the events of last week, Carmine Falcone pays a visit to his second in command. The discussion between the two, though amiable on the surface, is filled with subtext and threats, primarily Falcone reminding Fish that he’s the man in charge. It’s no clearer than when he has Laslow, Fish’s current lover, beaten in front of the entire club. The overt show of ‘I’m the boss’ doesn’t go over to well with Fish and she vows that, sooner or later, she’s going to take Falcone down. “With my bare hands and my teeth.”

Gordon and Bullock follow the ATP trail to the company that’s providing the drug to the wacked out kidnappers and are able to free several kidnapped teens. Using the opportunity to clear the streets, the Mayor enacts his own cleanup of the streets, relegating the street teens to foster care or the upstate juvenile detention center. Selina Kyle’s on the short list for an upstate trip, one hijacked by the kidnappers. Their overseas employer, the Doll Maker, is expecting the delivery and they nearly get away with it but Gordon deduces an ambiguous lead and arrives in time to take down the kidnappers.

Selina Kyle being bussed away with the others

When he returns to the station, Gordon is met by Alfred. The Wayne Butler wishes the detective to speak to Master Bruce, who is hurting himself in order to overcome fear and pain, testing himself for what’s to come. Feeling for the orphans, Bruce does what he can to help them as best he can. It’s not much but it’s our first example of the boy who would become the Batman reaching out to help those in need. One of those is Selina Kyle—aka ‘Cat’—who wants nothing to do with the Juvenile Services and plays her ace card to Detective Gordon. If he can get her out of this juvenile thing, she’ll tell him the thing he wants to know most of all; the real killer of Thomas and Martha Wayne.

Oh, did I mention Oswald Cobblepot’s interesting journey back to Gotham? Yeah…he really doesn’t like being called the Penguin… 

The Players

Alfred Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee)

Gruff and hard, this isn’t the Alfred most Batman fans have come to know and love. Though he adores and loves his new charge, he’s out of his depths in raising a kid and seems to only know how to be harsh, playing to the British stereotype of maintaining that ‘stiff upper lip.’ Underneath the exterior though, is a man that would do anything for his young Master and reaches out to the only person Bruce has shown to respect; Jim Gordon.

Edward Nygma (Corey Michael Smith)

Ahhh, the slightly askew forensics expert who eventually becomes the Riddler. Right now he remains the background, providing GCPD with his expertise in crime scene analysis and we’ve yet to see how cracked he is right now but the anti-social behavior is there. My guess is we’ll be seeing a lot more of this side of E. Nygma before we are introduced to his villainous alter ego.

Detectives Montoya and Allen (Victoria Cartagena, Andrew Stewart-Jones)

Other than Gordon, the two Major Crimes detectives seem to be the only law enforcement officers firmly on the side of good. Of course, they don’t realize Gordon’s one of the good guys yet, lumping him in with Bullock and the other corrupt elements in the city’s police force. It doesn’t help that Montoya’s past relationship with Barbara, Gordon’s fiancée, is coloring her ability to be objective where Gordon is concerned.

The Mayor (Richard Kind)

One can’t have a corrupt city without a sketchy mayor who’s in it for himself and not the best interest of his constituents. Mayor Aubrey James is that man. His primary purpose is to look good, limit the backlash, and improve his popularity. Not what I’d call the most admirable of traits. It hasn’t been discovered just yet on if he’s in the pocket of one of the crime family’s (most likely that of Carmine Falcone) but it’s almost a given that he, like his police force, is not a paragon of virtue.

The Path

  • Gordon is starting to truly understand the corruption of his beloved police force and there is no such thing as “by the book.” And the dirt’s not relegated to the GCPD either. The city’s Mayor is looking out for one thing and that’s not the well-being of his fair city.
  • While there is crookedness surrounding Gordon, it seems as if Major Crimes detectives, Montoya and Allen, are on the up and up. Unfortunately for Gordon, they’ve pegged him as nothing more than another dirty cop. It doesn’t leave him with much room to maneuver considering he supposedly killed Oswald Cobblepot, staining his hands in order to keep himself and his fiancée breathing.
  • Speaking of Cobblepot, the man that will become the Penguin, returns to the city with the goal of rising from the ashes of his watery grave. Despite his awkward presentation, he’s no fool and has the insight to remain hidden in the background until it’s time to strike. The question lies in whether he has the patience and resources to successfully make his play to become a major player in Gotham’s crime world.
  • And the crime world was front and center again with Fish and Carmine Falcone’s tete-a-tete. Like her former henchman, Mooney wants it all. But she’s not ready to take down Falcone, who himself has to watch out for incursions by the Marconi Family as well as within his own house.