Hey there Gothamites! This week on Gotham, we got to see a lot of exciting stuff. We also get to feel a ton of emotions, from anger, to joy, to confusion. Let’s relive all of that, shall we?! If you’ll take a moment to remember, last episode we got to see Barbara wake from her coma and arrive at Jim’s door.
This episode after Jim turns her away, she finds herself desperate to help him and…I won’t say earn his forgiveness, because I don’t think she was actually ever expecting forgiveness, but at least earn his appreciation. After discovering that Jim has a lead on the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents, she convinces not only him, but the lead, known only as “The Lady,” that she’s still batshit crazy. She “delivers” Jim to The Lady, posing as the kidnapper looking for redemption in the criminal limelight. Once Barbara tricks The Lady into believing she’s still a criminal, she lures The Lady into giving up something about the Wayne case, and tells Gordon that the person who called her referred to himself only as “The Philosopher.” Barbara then knocks out The Lady and her cohort before releasing Jim and escaping with him.
Jim leaves Barbara standing in an alley, conflicted and upset at his lack of appreciation and by the end of the episode, finds herself adorable and asleep in Tabitha’s lap, who tells Butch that “She’s finally home.” To be honest I don’t think Butch has a say on the matter, so he just sort of rolls with it. Jim dashes away to rescue Bruce and Alfred after receiving a frantic phone call while with Barbara, and while Jim was previously busy being strapped to a chair, Bruce finally unlocks his father’s computer and finds a lead of his own. He and Alfred follow the address of a remote cabin in the woods, a cabin that his father visited just days prior to his death. There they find a woman named Karen who was experimented on. She leads them to The Philosopher’s old experimentation lab, when two of Hugo Strange’s goons attack them. They kill the goons before attempting to escape into the street, where they’re arrested by the police. Now bring in Jim Gordon, who received a call from Bruce and Alfred, locked up at GCPD. After revealing the truth to Captain Barnes, Bruce and Alfred are released, though Karen is being transported to the general population of Blackgate prison.
Jim decides to break her out, with the help of Bruce and Alfred, and Hugo, obviously worried that they’re getting too close to the truth, sends Mr. Freeze into the city to take them down. Karen sacrifices herself for them and Mr. Freeze escapes into the shadows. Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce is practicing his brooding when Lucius Fox appears. He’s found a file at Wayne Enterprises that he thinks could help their case, and reveals a photo of Hugo Strange next to Thomas Wayne. On the photo, it lists their nicknames, and next to Hugo’s? You guessed it…”The Philosopher.”
Cut to Arkham Asylum, where Hugo Strange is experimenting on a deceased person and finally succeeds in bringing him back to life. It’s revealed to be Theo Galavan, who Hugo renames “Azrael.” I have to go off on a small rant about this part, because I’m so damn excited about it. We get to see the beginnings of Azrael, and it opens a lot of questions. Will this be the actual Azrael? Will the Order of Dumas take the image and persona of Azrael and hand it down to others? I’m extremely fascinated to see how the immediate release of major Batman villains will affect Bruce Wayne’s future and the steps he’ll take to becoming The Dark Knight.
Keeping that in mind, tune in with me every Monday at 7 pm CST when I live tweet Gotham and gossip about it with me, @TheGameOfNerds on Twitter!
