Hello Gothamites! The summer lasted extremely long without our weekly trip to Gotham. But finally, we are back! And here is what happened in the first episode of the fourth season. Now I must say it wasn’t the most exciting episode ever, but nevertheless a great start to hopefully an awesome season!
We begin this episode with Bruce stopping a robbery in an alley as the masked vigilante. He is begin watched by Ra’s al Ghul as he pulls a license of the knocked out robber.
Somewhere else in Gotham, a lovely young couple is celebrating their wedding but dark clouds roll over their perfect day when thugs come in to rob them and their guests. The thugs don’t have a license and they think they can get away with it, but then Victor Zsasz shows up. When the thugs don’t want to listen to him, he shoots one of the guys’ finger off. No license means no crime. The thugs get the hell out of there and the couple is happy that Victor saved their wedding. But there was a license handed out to rob the wedding so the next group shows up with their guns.
Meanwhile, Penguin pays a visit to the mayor and the GCPD commissioner. Penguin wants to help Gotham by dropping the crime rates. The licenses are already a great start because the crime rates are already half of what they were three months ago. Gotham survived because of the licenses Penguin has been handing out. He wants to make sure that the mayor and the commissioner are on the same line and keep silent, so he gives them part of the money he earns with the licenses.
Gordon walks in on a robbery at his favorite bar. The robber shows a license and thinks he can get away with it, but Gordon still arrests him. But as soon as he brings him to the GCPD he has to release him, only because he is carrying a license.
©2017 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Jeff Neumann/FOX
The thugs from the wedding find that they were humiliated by Penguin and make a plan to stop and humiliate him. They go to Arkham Asylum to get Jonathan Crane. They pay the Arkham director so they can take Jonathan out of there. The plan is to use the fear toxin Jonathan’s father made to rob everything they want without the use of a license. They take Jonathan to his old house and dig up the research. By blackmailing Jonathan with a scarecrow they force him to make more of the fear toxin. They even lock him up in a closet with a scarecrow when they leave the house.
As soon as more of the fear toxin is made, the thugs use the gas to rob a bank in Gotham in broad daylight. Sometime later, the GCPD goes to the crime scene. Gordon wants to find the thugs before Victor Zsasz does so he can show that the GCPD is still better at protecting the city then Penguin is with his licenses. Gordon recognizes some of the symptoms of the fear toxin on the victims of the robbing, so he and Bullock go to Arkham to see Jonathan. After all, Jonathan is the only person who knows how to make the fear toxin. The director of Arkham tells Gordon and Bullock with a straight face that he was overpowered and threatened and that some people took Jonathan. Due to witness statements and security camera’s, Gordon and Bullock find the guy responsible for both the robbery and the abduction of Jonathan. When they go to his house, at first he denies knowing about anything. But as soon as Gordon and Bullock entered the house his friends show up and give mostly Gordon a beating. Then they lock them up while running off.
©2017 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Jeff Neumann/FOX
The first scene we have in this season of Selina is right away a pretty badass one. She walks through an alley and is about to be harassed by five guys. But she knows how to stand her man and beats the guys up pretty easily. When she turns her back on one of the guys, he is about to knock her down, but Tabitha saves her ass. It turns out that this whole thing was part of Selina’s training by Tabitha. When they are back at their house, Victor shows up. He tells them that they need a license to commit such crimes, one they don’t have at the moment. Penguin is willing to give them one, as long as they appear at the opening of Penguins new club. Selina wants to right away, but Tabitha doesn’t because she refuses to work for Penguin.
After Bruce found one of the licenses for crime, he is focused on stopping Penguin. Alfred tells him he can’t, Bruce is already busy protecting the city and preparing for the return of Ra’s al Ghul. Bruce needs to pick one goal and completely focus on that one. But because he can’t let it go, he goes to Gordon and shows him the license. Gordon tells him that he knows about the licenses, but that he can’t do much. After all, the GCPD needs to turn their backs on crimes committed with those licenses.
©2017 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Jeff Neumann/FOX
The Iceberg Lounge opens up for the press, where he tells the press that with the help of his licenses Gotham will face a new era of the lowest crime rates ever. He calls it Pax Penguina as a variance to what Julius Caesar once called his changes. Penguin then shows the main showstopper of the club, the frozen Edward Nygma as a constant reminder that he defeated his once loyal friend. Gordon eventually shows up, using the advice that Bruce gave him. Penguin tells him that he will destroy the gang that robbed the bank, but Gordon taunts him that the gang does not fear him, prompting Penguin to set up a list to catch the gang. Back at the GCPD, some other cops are not happy that Gordon is willingly going against the licenses rule and therefore making sure that the cops need to do more work again. It leads to a fight in the locker room, but we don’t really get to see who wins the fight.
©2017 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Jeff Neumann/FOX
When the Iceberg Lounge officially opens for the first time, all the rich and powerful of Gotham have gotten an invitation. Including Bruce and Alfred. When Bruce catches Penguin alone, he asks him about the licenses and who might have the master list. Penguin finds him not the slightest bit too curious and tells Bruce that the master list is in the hands of Mr. Penn. Although Tabitha does not like the idea, she still joins Selina to Penguins party. Even though Selina still won’t talk to Bruce, he follows her to the roof where he apologizes for everything he said to her in the hospital when Alfred was laying there. Their beautiful moment is ruined when Alfred shows up to tell them that downstairs it’s getting out of hand.
©2017 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Jeff Neumann/FOX
That is because the fear toxin gang has already infiltrated the kitchen of the Iceberg Lounge and is waiting for the right moment to crash the party. But Penguin wouldn’t be Penguin if he didn’t already know that the gang was there. So with the help of Victor, he captures the gang and puts them on display to the entire crowd in the club. Yet again, Penguin tells everyone that he is the one keeping the people of Gotham save, rather than the GCPD who failed to capture the gang before him. Penguin wants to make a statement and kill the gang here and then, but Bruce tries to stop him and confront him and his ‘dirty’ work. Alfred holds him back by saying that there is a time for masks and a time for Bruce Wayne. Ivy has enough of all the talking and cuts of the power. In the chaos that follows, the gang (with the help of Tabitha) tries to get out and the GCPD shows up. Alfred and Victor end up head to head with their guns, but luckily no one actually fires. Penguin is hit with the fear toxin and faces his greatest fear: a defrosted Nygma. Eventually, the GCPD creates order and most of the gang is arrested, but one, called Grady, still escapes. The next day, Penguin is called a chicken by the newspapers and Gordons number one priority is now finding Jonathan Crane.
Bruce as the masked vigilante pays a visit to Mr. Penn the next day and steals the master list. Well, I wouldn’t necessarily call it stealing because Mr. Penn practically gives it to him. On the list is one crime with a license that is currently happening and Bruce decides to take a look. But the glass of the ceiling window breaks and he falls right next to the robbers, just as the GCPD comes storming into the place and he is then caught without his mask by the GCPD.
Grady, the criminal that escaped the opening of Penguin’s club comes back to the house where he orders Jonathan to make more of the fear toxin. But when he opens the closet, he discovers Jonathan has adopted a new persona, naming himself “The Scarecrow” and sprays Grady with fear gas.
And that was already the episode for this week! Not much action yet, but maybe with the official arrival of Scarecrow, it’s just waiting until all hell breaks loose. Again. And honestly, I would totally commit a crime without a license if it means that Victor Zsasz would show up and crack one of his cheesy jokes.
