In this episode of Gotham, “Mad City: New Day Rising,” the Mad Hatter will stop at nothing to reunite with his sister, Nygma and Butch are at odds over how to run Penguin’s mayoral campaign, and Gordon suffers lingering effects after being hypnotized by Jervis.
Bullock questions Alice and learns that Jervis wasn’t exactly truthful about much of anything. Alice swears that her brother held her captive most of her life; she finally managed to escape and fled to Gotham, which seemed like a good place to hide. That is, until Professor Strange found her and locked her up in Indian Hill. Alice swears that she’s not a monster, but if Bullock wants to see one, all he has to do is wait until her brother comes for her.
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Cobblepot for Mayor
It’s Election Day in Gotham, and it’s a tight race between former mayor Aubrey James and “former” criminal kingpin Oswald Cobblepot. Penguin is excited to have his pal Nygma back, and both men agree that their struggles at Arkham have only made them … stronger. To commemorate their ordeal, Penguin even has the certificates attesting to their sanity framed.
Two Sides of the Same Twisted Coin
Lee draws some of Alice’s blood to try and get some idea of Alice’s affliction. Alice reveals to Lee that if someone comes into contact with her blood, it changes them. It affects every person differently. Her brother believes it brings out people’s true nature. Jervis thinks he and his sister are connected — two sides of the same coin. He uses hypnotism to uncover people’s innermost desires, and Alice’s blood causes them to act on them. Jervis preys on anger, fear and regret, which is exactly how he got Gordon to climb onto the ledge of that building. Alice warns Lee that once Jervis gets in your mind, you’re doomed.
Gordon’s Death Wish
Alice appears to be telling the truth because Gordon is still experiencing the lingering effects of being hypnotized by the Hatter. The clicking noise of a traffic signal triggers the memory of all of the things Jervis said to him, and he enters a trance-like state. He steps in front of an oncoming truck but is pulled to safety by a stranger. The Mad Hatter has left Gordon with suicidal tendencies.
Selina Bonds with Bruce’s Doppelganger
Alfred and Bruce are trying to figure out what Five is up to. Alfred is certain that Five went to the city to pretend to be Bruce but has no idea where the pain-resistant clones of multi-billionaire teenagers go when looking for a good time. The car was found in the Narrows, and Bruce thinks he may have looked up Selina.
Selina is hanging with Five and takes him along on her latest caper. She’s set to rob a betting parlor, which should be flush thanks to the mayoral race. She instructs Five to meet her around back and goes to work. But Selina gets caught in the act, with no easy escape in sight.
Selina is seconds from losing some fingers when Bruce 2.0 makes an appearance. He readily disables the two very large men, eager to teach Selina a lesson, and the twosome make their escape.
Selina thinks Bruce’s newfound fighting skills are the result of Alfred’s training. But Five didn’t escape unscathed. When Selina checks out the nasty knife wound on Five’s stomach, she also sees several other nasty scars and finally realizes that Five isn’t Bruce.
As Selina stitches Five up, she questions why Strange made a Bruce Wayne look-alike. Five doesn’t have any idea. He didn’t even know he was the young billionaire’s doppelganger until a few days ago. He tells Selina he went to Bruce’s house looking for answers but didn’t get any. Selina wants to know why Five decided to run off and pretend to be Bruce. He admits that it was the way she looked at Bruce that made him long for something he’s never had. Selina denies looking at Bruce in any kind of way, suggesting that Five should get his eyes checked.
Five is lonely and doesn’t think Selina has any idea what it’s like to live your entire life in isolation, but Selina tells Five that he’s actually better off. People are overrated. She’s got no parents, and her two friends are both presumed dead. She reassures Five that he’s more normal than he thinks, and the two share a kiss.
Keep It Clean
While Oswald makes a rousing campaign speech, Nygma spots Butch handing an envelope to a man. That man is a member of the election board, and the envelope is full of money. Butch instructs someone to keep an eye on Nygma for the rest of the day. These two can’t seem to play nice, and it’s not going to end well for one of them.
Nygma goes to Penguin and questions if he’s aware that Butch is bribing campaign officials. Penguin chuckles and tells Nygma that in Gotham, that’s how things are done. Nygma tells Penguin he can win the election on his own merit. Penguin doesn’t want to risk it since there’s no upside. Penguin wants this more than he’s ever wanted anything, and Nygma argues that that’s all the more reason to call off Butch. Penguin warns Nygma to stay out of it.
Dark, Twisty and Really Gross
Realizing that Jervis has severely mind-effed him, Gordon is determined to find the man. He goes to Barbara for help, who is growing a bit tired of her ex storming in and demanding favors. But she can tell by Gordon’s demeanor that something is up. Gordon warns Barbara that Jervis is dangerous, and she tells him that Jervis came by the club earlier saying he wanted to hire some muscle for some performance he’s planning. Specifically, he wanted guys with “flair.”
The Hatter appears to have found what he was looking for when he comes across five brothers known as the “Terrible Tweeds.” Jervis wants the no-necked thugs to break Alice out of the GCPD. Jervis uses his singular powers of persuasion to recruit the brothers.
Gordon goes to Barnes and asks to speak to Alice. Barnes refuses, but Gordon’s frantic demeanor causes him to soften a bit and ask what’s wrong. Things have been super rocky between these two lately, but the Captain obviously still has some affection for his one-time golden boy.
Gordon reveal that he had a run-in with Alice’s brother the previous night, and Jervis may have done something to him. He doesn’t know exactly what, but he’s having “thoughts.” Barnes chalks up Gordon’s mental state to recent events (Blackgate, Lee, etc.), but at some point, Gordon is going to have to make peace with the decisions he’s made. Barnes grants Gordon five minutes with Alice.
Alice knows that Gordon is there because Jervis is still in his head. Gordon wants to know how to stop it, but Alice tells him that once the trance is broken, that usually stops it. Gordon should have been fine the minute he stepped off the ledge. Gordon questions why it hasn’t stopped, and Alice figures that Jervis tapped into something that Gordon is struggling with.
Alice knows there’s usually a trigger that brings on the hypnotic state and deduces that anything that resembles the ticking of Jervis’ watch will jump-start the impulse in Gordon. Jervis has made Gordon a prisoner in his own skin. He did the same thing to his sister. At first, he did it to control her and keep her with him. Then he started putting other thoughts in her head, thoughts a brother should never have, and that’s why she wants to kill him. Alice swears she’ll never go back to him ever.
Jervis arrives at the precinct with the Tweeds, who proceed to beat the crap out of everyone. Gordon tries to sneak Alice out but is intercepted by the Hatter. Jervis knows that Gordon won’t kill him, not until he renews the nagging impulse he planted. The Hatter removes his watch, and Gordon freezes. He orders Alice to go, but she’s grabbed by the Tweeds. Gordon starts to put his gun to his head but gets knocked out by Barnes.
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Alice in a Not-So-Wonderful Land
Gordon comes to and finds himself handcuffed to a chair. Lee heard the tape from the interrogation room. She tells Gordon she doesn’t know what she’d do without him. He responds that she’d be fine, but Lee assures him that isn’t the case. Yes, she moved on, but it’s only because she had no choice. She went through the most painful period of her life alone. Lee waited for him to show up at her door, and Mario was there when she needed someone. Lee waits for Gordon to say something — anything — but he replies that the past is the past.
Bullock learns the Hatter’s whereabouts from one of the Tweed brothers who was captured during the raid. He breaks out Gordon to help him take out Jervis.
Alice, clad in a dress similar to her cartoon incarnation, must deal with her brother’s disappointment over her abandoning him. He forgives her, but Jervis wants Alice to understand the consequences if she ever leaves again. He draws several vials of her blood, and when Alice questions what he plans do with it, Jervis muses that he might dump it into a public drinking fountain and create a few dozen monsters.
Alice promises to do whatever her brother wants. Their disturbing reunion is interrupted by Gordon and Bullock. The Mad Hatter promises to free Gordon from that nasty little impulse if he lets himself and Alice go. No dice. If Jervis lets Alice go, he gets to live. That’s the deal.
The Hatter sets off a metronome, which puts Gordon into his suicidal state. As Jervis urges Gordon to let go and be free from his pain, Gordon’s head fills with images of Lee and words she spoke to him earlier that day: “There’s a difference between moving on and letting go.” Realizing that his life doesn’t suck nearly as much as he may have thought, Gordon fights the compulsion and shoots the metronome. The spell is broken.
Bullock and Gordon engage in gunplay with the Tweeds, and when Alice attempts to break free of her brother’s grasp, she falls from a balcony and lands on a very sharp something. It’s a pretty grisly end, becoming a human shish kabob.
A Kiss is Still a Kiss
Bruce and Alfred find Five on the roof where Brigit’s pigeons still reside. He’s got a few choice words for his doppelganger. Bruce is pissed, and Five wonders if it’s because he was pretending to be him or because Five spent the day with Selina. Five tells Bruce that for someone who has everything, he has no idea what he actually wants, or maybe he’s just too scared to take it.
Five is no threat to Bruce. He doesn’t know why he was created, but he knows he doesn’t belong in Gotham. Five asks Bruce to say goodbye to Selina for him and to thank her for the kiss. Then he jumps off the roof and disappears.
Best Buddies, Old Loves and a New Villain?
Moments before the final results of the election are announced, Butch barges in to campaign headquarters, screaming that Nygma ruined everything. Penguin’s pal went to every district official and took the money back, stating that Penguin wanted to run a clean election.
Penguin views this as the ultimate betrayal and is about to let Butch blow Nygma’s head off when he learns that he’s the new mayor of Gotham. Penguin realizes that the people of Gotham love him, something he would have never known had he bought he election. Nygma tells Penguin that he believes in him, even when Oswald doesn’t believe in himself. So Nygma is in and Butch is out.
Gordon thanks Lee for all of her help and informs her that whatever Jervis did to him is over. Gordon admits she was right about everything she said to him earlier. Gordon also says he’s trying to be happy for her, which is as good a place to start as any. What he doesn’t tell her is that he did show up on her front porch.
Five encounters Kathryn, who informs him that she’s been looking for him for a long time. She promises him that not only can he be Bruce Wayne, but he can be so much more.
Bad news for Captain Barnes. While at the crime scene, a drop of Alice’s blood lands on his forehead, and I don’t think it’s going to bring out his warm and fuzzy side.
Will the kiss between Selina and Five amp up her romance with Bruce? What do you think the Court of Owls has planned for Bruce’s doppelganger? Will Butch try to take down Nygma?
Gotham season 3 airs Mondays at 8/7c on FOX. Want more news? Like our Gotham page on Facebook.
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Jennifer has worked as a freelance writer in the entertainment field since 2012. In addition to currently writing feature articles for Screen Rant, Jennifer has contributed content ranging from recaps to listicles to reviews for BuddyTV, PopMatters, TVRage, TVOvermind, and Tell-Tale TV. Links to some of Jennifer’s reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes.
