Time for another member of the rotating reporting staff of the Gotham Gazette! Just like last week’s recapper, Elias, I’ve also been watching Gotham regularly so I’m well versed in the off-the-wall world of Bruce Wayne and company.
When we last left our cast of miscreants, the highly prized piece of cutlery that Bruce bid on at auction has led to death twice over. Sofia Falcone wraps Penguin and Jim Gordon around her little finger, and Penguin takes joy in gas lighting Nygma into believing he no longer has the intellectual chops to be The Riddler. It can’t get any more bonkers than that, but this is Gotham, so you know it will. Grab a drink at the Iceberg Lounge (can we still call it that even without Frozen Nygma?) and let’s settle in for the story of “The Blade’s Path.”
(Warning: contains spoilers!)
1. The Course of Justice Never Did Run Smooth
Ra’s al Ghul’s trial is postponed, much to Jim’s chagrin. (He’s also rather angry about these darn licenses to crime, but that is small potatoes at the moment.) Bruce is remorseful over Alex’s death at Ra’s al Ghul’s hands, and it is pushing him over the edge to kill the immortal himself, in spite of Alfred’s reminder of the vow not to take a life. Neither of these men believe in the adage of “the arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” They want to set the moral compass to its proper position now by any means necessary. For Bruce, this is running away to Black Gate to kill Ra’s al Ghul himself, which (of course) puts him in even deeper trouble. Might want to stick with things like Senior Cut Day and hotwiring the principal’s car for your cheap thrills, Bruce.
2. Butch is Back! And He’s Got a New Friend…
Butch Gilezan/Solomon Grundy/Cyrus Gold is back! (Could he pick a name and stay with it now? Please?) He rises like a watery phoenix from the ashes, but there’s been a side trip to the Land of the Three Eyed Fish while he was upstate taking a long deep nap, so he’s looking a little different. Good news is that now Butch has both hands again. Bad news is he’s a weird zombified mashup of Hodor and Hulk.
We also have our new bromance of the season, with Nygma and Butch. If done right (which for this show means, throw caution to the wind), this will be fun to watch. Looks like there will be a few Thursday Night Fights along the way!
3. Her Father’s Daughter
Sofia proves herself to be more and more her father’s daughter, playing both sides of the story. In a short afternoon she brokers a peace agreement lunch with Penguin to help bring the remaining rogue loyalists to her father under control, but leads the restaurateur into thinking that this is a meal with a final course of bullets and bloodshed. While her father relied on violence to consolidate his power, Sofia uses the softer, feminine touch of an old Cobblepot family recipe and an ankle massage — a sharper cut than any knife, even the one Bruce and Ra’s al Ghul want so desperately. Is this Softer Side of Falcone a genuine compassion, or a means to an end? What role is Jim going to play in this master plan, or is he just keeping the bed warm at night?
4. The Curse of Ra’s al Ghul
And now Bruce faces his strongest test: to kill Ra’s al Ghul at his own hand to end his immortal suffering. It’s what has been prophesied, after all – he is to die at the hands of Wayne the Younger. Bruce remains steadfast in his desire to let Ra’s al Ghul live with his eternal torment, but when tempted with the threat of never being fully free from the threat of Ra’s returning once more, Bruce plunges the dagger through his heart. Was this the right decision? In spite of reassurance from Jim and Alfred that this is a bump in the road in his moral growth, Bruce shows guilt and an inability to live with consequences, going as far as to destroy his mask and suit. It’s an early lesson in the course of true north being a bumpy, squiggly path – not a straight line.
Continued below5. And Guess Who Else is Back?
Looks like Leigh didn’t really get on the train in those final moments of last season’s finale. Or it was just a quick trip to the hairdresser for a flat-iron and some bangs, because she’s back in Gotham doing sports medicine for an underground fight club…that Butch and Nygma just joined to make their way back to the top. That’s going to be one awkwardly fun reunion, and just wait until Jim finds out.
Line of the night:
A little hard to find a gem without an appearance by this season’s comic relief (Victor Zsasz), but you can always count on the British:
“What’s the difference between you and me?” – Black Gate officer
“I’m not wearing undercrackers.” – Alfred
