In this episode of Gotham, “Rise of the Villains: The Son of Gotham,” Bruce executes an elaborate plan to get the name of the man who killed his parents, Alfred has a run-in with Tigress, and Gordon and Bullock chase down some murderous monks.
It’s a rainy, dreary day in Gotham, and Jim Gordon and the rest of the GCPD are on hand to lay Katherine Parks to rest. She’s the poor soul who got her throat ripped out by a hitman named Eduardo after Gordon failed to kill him, choosing to take the moral high ground instead. Now Gordon is questioning why he didn’t put that dog Eduardo down. Lee tries to reassure her squeeze that he made the right choice by upholding the law instead of becoming a murderer, but Gordon doesn’t think Parks would agree.
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Law and “Order”
Even though Theo Galavan is set to appear before a grand jury, Gordon has a bad feeling Galavan will get off, so he’s scrambling to find Gertrude Cobblepot’s body or any evidence linking Galavan to any of the slew of nasty goings-on in Gotham of late.
Barnes is back, much to Bullock’s dismay. He thought a stabbing should have kept the good captain out of their hair for a week. Barnes assigns Gordon to a new case, but he wants to continue chasing down possible leads implicating Galavan in other crimes. Gordon stresses to Barnes that he feels they’re missing something, something that’s going to come back and bite them in the ass. Why is Gordon so insecure? Because he paid a visit to Galavan the night before, and Theo was nonplussed. He certainly didn’t act like a guy who is facing at least a decade in jail.
Barnes, who obviously hasn’t learned anything during his short tenure as police captain, tells Gordon that moving on to a new case is for his own good.
While in Galavan’s apartment, Gordon spotted a cassocks (robes worn by religious guys) and some kind of symbol. Bullock had a local priest, Father Mike, look into the items. Bullock gets a call that the symbol has something to do with the Order of St. Dumas. The order used to have an abbey downtown, and as coincidence would have it, the former mayor, Galavan, tried to purchase the building the previous week. The new owner told Galavan to go piss up a rope. This is just too juicy a lead to pass up, so once again, Bullock and Gordon blow off Barnes and decide to follow it up.
The former abbey is now a massage parlor that gives happy endings. Gordon and Bullock arrive to the sound of gunshots and women in skimpy lingerie covered in blood fleeing the premises.
Gordon runs into one of Theo’s “brothers,” and after some hand-to-hand combat, Gordon manages to stab the guy with his own knife. He chases another gentleman out to the street, where he pulls his gun. The man in black says, “The day of reckoning is at hand, and the blood of nine shall wash away the sin.” He also says something about Gotham being cleansed before stepping into the path of an oncoming truck.
The Sacrifice of Nine
Gordon learns from witnesses that there were at least six monks. He tells Barnes that the Order of St. Dumas are penitents; they believe in purification through pain. They were big in Gotham until about 100 years ago.
Barnes orders Gordon to hand over all the info he has to another detective, but Gordon argues that the monks could be the key to whatever Galavan is planning. Barnes doesn’t care. He reminds Gordon that he gave him another case and to expressly move away from Galavan.
Gordon already has some intel on the other case. It involves the murder of a career street thug who was found with his throat slit. Gordon states that the man attacked a woman who reported that she was saved by a man dressed like a monk.
Now Gordon has Barnes’ undivided attention. Barnes can’t figure out why these monks would wipe out a bunch of businessmen getting handies and a common criminal. Gordon believes it’s some sort of ritual, and they need to figure out what Galavan stands to gain.
Gordon is determined to find a monk and make him talk. He has no doubt that whatever these monks are up to, it has something to do with Galavan’s trial.
Bruce Betrays Silver
Bruce hasn’t given up on finding out who killed his parents. He approaches Silver with a deal. He’ll pay for all of Theo’s legal expenses if Theo gives him a name. Silver is chafed to find out that Bruce thinks Galavan is guilty, but Brucie doesn’t care. He pleads with Silver to get the name. She questions why Bruce would trust Galavan to tell the truth, and Bruce says if she brings him the name, he’ll know it’s real. He plants a few kisses on the blonde minx, and she seems genuinely won over by Bruce. Maybe it’s those ears or that doofy haircut. Bruce just oozes earnestness from every pore.
Bruce gets a call from Silver after school. She claims that she spoke to her uncle and he’s agreed to the deal. Silver wants Bruce to meet her, so he ditches Alfred and is intercepted by a van containing two nefarious characters. One even has a scar running across his cheek. They’ve got Silver inside the van and her mouth is taped shut. Either Brucie comes with him or the girl gets it.
It becomes obvious pretty quick that Brucie has set this whole little kidnapping stunt up as a way to find out what Silver knows. Unfortunately, Silver doesn’t know jack. She just told Bruce she did as a way to distract him. Silver’s uncle told her to keep Bruce busy, convinced that he’ll be freed and still able to buy Bruce’s company.
Silver simpers and cries and puts on quite a show, but the man with the scar gets her to drop her facade. In spite of her threats of how Theo will gut “Scarface” if he doesn’t let Silver go, she starts to sing like a bird when he threatens to cut off one of her fingers. She says the man who killed Bruce’s parents was one M. Malone.
Bruce had a little help in executing this plan from Selina. She supplied the muscle. Scarface’s real name is Tom, and he and Cat go back a ways. Selina broke into Theo’s apartment and found a file Silver had on Bruce. It was obvious she was playing him, so Bruce decided to fight fire with fire.
Silver warns Bruce that Theo is a very bad man, and he’s likely to kill her when he finds out she gave Bruce the name. At this point, who the hell knows what’s up and what’s down? But Silver does appear to be concerned for Bruce’s safety — second to her own, of course. Silver may not think Bruce is capable of any follow-through, but he assures Silver that that is not the case. A very Batman moment.
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The Son of Gotham
Gordon uses his detective smarts to figure out that the monks must be getting around through the sewers, since they’ve been engaging in murderous acts relatively undetected. The bodies of two other local criminals turned up with their throats slit, bringing the tally up to seven, so Bullock and Gordon climb down into the belly of Gotham in the hopes of coming across at least of one these murderous men.
They hear screaming and find another dead body on an altar. A monk comes out of the shadows and gets seriously wounded while scuffling with Bullock. Realizing that the guy is never going to willingly hand over information, Gordon decides to play a trick. He blindfolds the monk and pretends to be one of his brothers. All Gordon can get is a cryptic “The son of Gotham will die.” It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that he means Bruce.
The Butler Did It
Alfred continues to prove that he’s the biggest bad-ass of the lot. He goes to Theo’s apartment looking for his charge and comes across Tabitha. The two tussle, and Alfred gets nicked with a knife before knocking Tabitha out. She doesn’t stay down for long and chases Alfred into the street. He jumps onto the back of a garbage truck, but Tabitha manages to land one last blow, some kind of Chinese throwing star that hits Alfred in the back. He falls but lands inside the truck as opposed to the street, so he’s good to go.
Theo Goes Free
The time comes for Theo’s hearing, and as Gordon predicted, things don’t go as planned. The Mayor recants his former statement and says that the Penguin made him do it. So Oswald takes the blame and Theo is a free man.
Theo is a man who likes a good show, and he makes sure to put one on for everyone in the courtroom. He says he harbors no ill will towards Gordon or the GCPD. Theo takes it one step further when he approaches Gordon and asks if they can work together to clean up their broken, beautiful city. The smugness is more than Gordon can bear and he punches Galavan in the face and is dragged away screaming like an enraged lunatic.
The Penguin Returns
The two men who pull Gordon from the courtroom turn out to work for Galavan. They take Gordon to an undisclosed location, and he finally gets some answers from Theo. He confesses to Gordon his dark family history, the abbreviated version.
Theo turns to leave, but he has a change of heart. He has his thugs cut Gordon down and gives the detective a shot to save Gotham. Gordon goes at Galavan full throttle, but Theo has the fighting skills to pay the bills and kicks the crap out of our favorite cop. Theo leaves the murder of Gordon in his goon squad’s capable hands. But who should arrive to save the day but Penguin. He had one of his guys following Galavan while he was playing The Odd Couple with Nygma.
Extra, extra! In other news, Lee is getting suspicious about Miss Kringle’s whereabouts, Bruce confesses his undying affection for Selina, and Galavan comes for Bruce.
Gotham air Mondays at 8pm on FOX.
(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.
