Episode 18: "Everybody Has A Cobblepot"
Synopsis: While Gordon seeks information about the recent controversy with Commissioner Loeb, Fish's allegiance with the prisoners is questioned when she appears to join forces with Dr. Dulmacher. Meanwhile, after an attack close to home, Bruce deals with the aftermath.
The GCPD: Harvey Dent comes bearing the news that Arnold Flass has been vindicated of all charges thanks to the influence of Commissioner Loeb who is now supporting Flass for head of the Policemen's Union. Gordon confronts Loeb about releasing Flass who reveals a recorded admission from Harvey Bullock that he faked the evidence against him. Bullock freely admits to the tape and tells Gordon that Loeb had a prior murder of a mobster against Bullock and would have used it to get him fired. Gordon is obviously disgusted at how Gotham City works but is left without any options.
Gordon meets with Dent to discuss Loeb's blackmail evidence against the GCPD. The two pull in Loeb's former partner to see if he has any details on the Commissioner killing his wife. The partner plays dumb but tells them to check with Shei Lu. Dent and Gordon head to a Chinese restaurant and confront Lu about Loeb. Instead, Lu unleashes his accountants on the investigators who chase them out of the building where Bullock is waiting to help them escape. Gordon says they need to press Loeb's partner harder so Bullock hangs him out a moving car. He quickly gives up that Loeb and Falcone are in bed together. Now, Gordon realizes they have someone who can help.
Gordon confronts Loeb about what he discovered at the farm house and the Commissioner offers to resign that day as long as Gordon doesn't reveal the truth about his daughter. Gordon instead says he wants to keep Loeb in position as leverage and demands he try Flass and turn over all his GCPD blackmail to Harvey Dent. Loeb says no as it would make him a dead man and loves living. He agrees to give up Bullock's file only and Miriam stays where she is. Gordon agrees along with having Loeb announce Gordon's nomination for Union President.
At Wayne Manor: Despite nearly bleeding out last week, Alfred seems to be doing much better as he begins recouperating from his stabbing at the hands of former buddy, Reggie. Bruce insists that Alfred rest after they lie to Gordon about who injured the butler. Later, as Bruce reads to a sleeping Alfred, Selina Kyle visits to see if her friend is okay. She hugs Bruce and says she is sorry for what happened to Alfred. He tells her that he needs to find Reggie to find out why Wayne Enterprises is trying to hurt him. Selina offers to help but Bruce says he cannot endanger her.
Fish Mooney: Fish awakens, minus an eye, and is in the presence of Dr. Dulmacher. While he poses he is at a loss as to what to do with her, Fish proposes he make her his right hand. Despite not being threatened by Fish, Dulmacher does tell her he replaced her gouged eye, leaving Fish to find a bright blue replacement under her eyepatch. Dulmacher takes Fish on a tour of his hospital which is for rich people needing any number of organs. Dulmacher conditionally accepts Fish's deal but warns her of what crossing him may result in. We then see The Manager turned into a Frankenstein's monster of body parts.
As the basement prisoners prepare to revolt, Fish returns and says they are going to return Dulmacher's guard in exchange for food and clothes. She also turns over several prisoners but before the others can turn on her she reminds them she never promised they would all live. Later, we see Fish meet with Dulmacher who says he is impressed with her success in the basement. He welcomes her to Upper Management and shows her why he isn't worried about her escaping. As the camera pulls back, we see they are on an island in the middle of the ocean.
The Penguin: At Cobblepot's, Bullock and Gordon ask The Penguin to help them find Loeb's evidence. They make a deal wherein Penguin will get five minutes with Loeb's files and Gordon will owe him an unconditional favor. Penguin leads Bullock and Gordon to an isolated house where they pretend to be doing an inspection for the Commissioner. An older couple are inside and are dubious about the three men. The older couple pull out guns and open fire. Taking them out, Gordon and Bullock head upstairs where they find a young woman dancing in a locked room. She introduces herself as Miriam Loeb and asks if her father sent her.
As they talk to Miriam, they learn she has been kept at the house for years but Loeb visits often. They are unable to find any other records. As they discuss whether Miriam witnessed Loeb murdering his wife, she shows them a box of jewelry she hakes out of dead birds. When they ask about how her mother died, we learn that Miriam bludgeoned her to death with a candlestick, meaning the Commissioner covered it up. They hear a thud and find that Penguin let the old couple get away.
At his club, we see Penguin talking to the old couple and tells them he could only afford one ticket to Arizona and they must fight to the death for it. The woman, Margie, jumps on her husband and chokes him to death. When she asks when the train leaves, Penguin says he lied and only had one shell left before unloading his shotgun into the woman.
Other Characters: Edward Nygma reminds Ms. Kristen Kringle that her former boyfriend Flass has been released. She hints to Nygma that she has realized there are better men for her in the world. Nygma brings a bouquet to her later, prepared to ask her out on a date when she reveals her prior reference was to her new boyfriend, Tom. As they walk away, Nygma rips the flowers apart.
Review: In any network TV series, you have a certain number of episodes that feel like filler. These usually fall by the wayside as you approach the final quarter of the season. With GOTHAM, it has been hard to tell which episodes are filler and which are just poorly constructed. After getting a lot of progress on the Falcone/Maroni subplot, we then got a couple of Wayne-centric episodes. Now, we get an episode with the nominal scenes featuring those subplots but way too much time spent with a Gordon-focused storyline. Five minutes of Wayne, fifteen with Penguin, a couple with Nygma, and way too many with a Fish Mooney plot that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the rest of the episode. Where the hell did Dr. Thompkins go? I mean, there are so man elements of GOTHAM that work that suddenly disappear for weeks at a time. This episode had a couple of great moments with Dulmacher and Penguin but the are left unbalanced by a Gordon story that goes nowhere with no real momentum built. We now have over a month with no new episodes and no real motivation to find out what happens.
Final Verdict:
Next Episode: The final four episodes of GOTHAM begin on April 13th.