Welcome to another Gotham recap! Gotham the show where the streets are dirty, the cops are dirty and the filter this show is filmed with also looks suspiciously dirty too.
This week on the show Renee Pantsuited Badass Montoya makes a return and to be honest that’s really the only reason to watch this week’s episode.
As always, the recap is split into The Plot, The Gay and The Ugly so read on to find out what went down in Gotham this week.
The Plot
After weeks of being the gruff, evil-aligned bad cop to Jim Gordon’s murky grey good cop persona, we finally got a look at Harvey Bullock’s backstory. Not than anyone asked for it, mind you.
Apparently, years ago, Detective Bullock was tasked with cracking the case of a goat-themed serial killer. The spirit of The Goat fuelling his murders, the suspect had taken the eldest daughters of wealthy families before torturing them and killing them off. Lovely. Hot on the case, a younger Bullock and his partner tracked down the original killer, shooting him dead and that was the end of that, or so they thought.
Similar kidnappings spring up around the city in present day and after a visit to his old partner (who is now in a nursing home) Harvey and Jim deem that this is no ordinary copycat but is possibly a partner. Shock!
Jumping to the case the two detectives look for a common theme between the new suspect (gleaned from looking at the service personnel) and realise that both the old goat spirit killer and the new suspect were treated by the same hypnotherapist. Coincidentally enough this same therapist is treating the latest victim’s father, explaining that he is a fragile little flower who is having a hard time dealing with his daughter’s death.
He’s not so fragile after all it seems after Harvey confronts the therapist alone (don’t ask why the lead detective is this foolish, just go with it) she calls on the man to attack Harvey so she can get away with crimes she’s been committing for over a decade. Harvey fights his way out of the scuffle, making it to the staircase just in time to shoot the therapist and jack up her ankle so she can’t escape. Phew. Case closed.
Elsewhere in what was otherwise a meaningless episode, Edward Nygma caused chaos amongst filing cabinets, Penguin hobbles around looking dapper and that was almost about it in terms of a plotline…
The Gay
Like I said, almost.
Continuing on her crusade to bring Jim down and get the girl, Renee Montoya secured a key witness in Jim’s supposed killing of Penguin. She then has a heated discussion with Barbara telling her to get out of dodge because shit is about to hit The Fan and Jim is going to be arrested.
Moseying on over to the police station following Jim’s arrest, who shows up other than Penguin! Proving that he is definitely Not Dead and that Jim clearly didn’t kill him, Renee’s plot to bring Jim down falls apart like a paper towel trying to mop a puddle and Harvey tries to throw a punch because Jim didn’t kill him like he was meant to.
This is all in ‘The Gay’ section because the likelihood of Renee and Barbara getting together seems…a little improved after this week (Barbara was mad at Jim for not divulging his secrets after all) so we shall see.
The Ugly
After a few weeks of really bad episodes, this episode of Gotham was just another spanner in the show’s quality works. Not only did the storyline seem pointless, it served to provide a touching backstory for Harvey Bullock; a character that we are being made to hate, through a series of immoral choices.
Other than the final scene itself, with Penguin making a public return, this episode was mostly quite boring. It’s sad to say for a show that had potential but maybe, by the slimmest of chances, Gotham can turn this thing around.
