Gotham: Do You Really Believe Gotham Can Be Saved?

Warning: Spoiler Alert

The Arkham Asylum’s played a prominent role in the Batman mythos for decades, depicted in the comics and in the movies, so it stands to reason it’s part of the new Fox series “Gotham,” although at this point in the timeline, it’s been shuttered for years. Restoring the asylum and building low-income housing on the same parcel of land, became a mission for Martha and Thomas Wayne, prior to getting shot to death in front of their young, son Bruce. Gotham City Mayor Aubrey James’ champions the cause that the Wayne’s worked so hard for at the start of the fourth episode of the series.

However James’ not the only prominent person interested in the project, as the top Crime-Lord in the city, Carmine Falcone and his less successful rival Maroni, want to get involved in the construction. Falcone favors the Wayne plan, while Marconi prefers a plan involving a waste management and refurbishing the old asylum over building a new structure. Each of the Crime Bosses have City Councilors in their pockets with Falcone holding the advantage.

We’ll come back to the troubles with Arkham in a bit, but first lets start at the beginning of the episode, which picked up right where it ended in the previous episode. Detective Jim Gordon’s at his fiancée’s apartment, when the doorbell rings and he’s shocked and angry to see Oswald Cobblepot on the other side of the door. Cobblepot introduces himself to Barbara as Peter, an old friend of her fiancée, but he can see he’s interrupting something, so he apologizes and says he’ll leave. Gordon tells him he’ll walk him to the building’s lobby.

When the two reach the alley outside of the building, Jim loses it, picks Cobblepot up by the lapels and slams him against a brick wall. He screams that he told him never to return to Gotham, that he should have killed him on the dock and should put a bullet in his head there and now. Oswald agrees with everything Gordon says and tells him, he wouldn’t blame him if he killed him right then. Cobblepot, then says that Jim won’t do it because he’s honest, perhaps the only honest member of the GCPD. He says he’ll be Gordon’s source on the upcoming war in the crime world and anything he tells Jim’s legitimate. He can see the Detective doesn’t trust him, so he picks up a big, jagged shard of glass and tells Gordon to trust him or kill him. Jim slaps the glass from Oswald’s hand and walks away.

That night in a badly lit parking lot, one of the City Councilors controlled by Falcone, and his aide start to get in their car, when a man who tells the elected official he’s one of his constituents, asks the Councilor if he’d look at his invention. The man puts together a metal pipe that strongly resembled a flute and hands it to the aide, telling him to put it up to his eye, when the aide follows the directions, a spike protrudes from the end on his eye, stabbing him through the eyeball and killing him instantly. The man picks up the weapon and stabs the councilor in the chest, he’s injured but mobile and attempts to escape. But the killer traps him and stabs him in the eyeball.

Gordon and partner Harvey Bullock get the case assigned to them the next morning by Captain Sarah Essen, Harvey tries to get some other team to work the case, but Jim’s intrigued, saying with assurance the murder was politically motivated. He tells his partner and the Captain, this revolves around the Arkham project, that the Councilor’s a Falcone guy and Maroni arranged a hit. Bullock believes his partner’s nuts, but Essen thinks it’s a sound theory and they should investigate it.

Gordon drives to the Wayne Estate and asks Alfred and Bruce, what they know about the Wayne’s involvement in the Arkham project and young Bruce reads him a letter written by his mother a couple of years earlier. Martha’s letter passionately proclaimed its society’s responsibility to care of the mentally handicapped and the mentally ill. After Bruce finishes reading, he tells Gordon he doesn’t want his parents dream to die with them.

Excitement arrives at the restaurant that Cobblepot washes dishes at, as Maroni and his henchmen arrive with three huge duffel-bags filled with money that he’s going to store there. He tells the manager of the restaurant, that the best investment’s always land. A bit later, the manager sees Cobblepot whose known as Paulo at the place, watching the henchmen counting the money. He grabs him, calls him a sniveling mouse and tells him he doesn’t see or hear anything on the premises and Oswald apologizes.

We see the assassin again, this time driving a car that he pulls over in the middle of nowhere, gets out of the vehicle and opens the trunk, then pulls an industrial-sized barrel out of it. He opens the lid and we see that he’s got another City Council member inside the drum, then tells the councilor he believe simplicity is the most effective way to do things, but his client wants to put fear in others. He then pours gasoline all over the man and a trail that goes about ten feet from the barrel. The councilor pleads for his life, promising he’ll change his vote on Arkham, but the words fall on death ears as the assassin lights a matchbook on fire and throws it on the trail of the petrol.

Gordon,  Harvey and Captain Essen arrive at the crime scene, and the Captain says this proves Jim’s theory about the hits being politically motivated. She leaves, but GCPD forensic scientist Ed Nygma, arrives shortly thereafter, saying he’s got a paradox. Turns out that although Maroni controlled this councilor, he got killed by the same assassin in the first murder. Harvey tells Jim they’re off to see a friend of his.

Bullock’s “friend’s” in the penitentiary and Harvey brought him two cartons of cigarettes as incentive to cooperate. The convict known as Minks, more than earns the two cartons as he finishes Bullock’s description of the assassins M.O. He tells the detectives that the perp’s named Gladwell and is excellent at his profession.

Gordon arrives at Barbara’s apartment and she asks him who Oswald Cobblepot is and Jim asks her how she knows that name. She stares at him silently and it suddenly occurs to him that MCU Detective Renee Montoya told her. He asks how they know each other so well and Keen admits they’d been a couple for a year before she met Gordon. Jim gets angry, because she hid the relationship and she lied. Needless to say the conversation concerning Cobblepot ended, although I don’t know why Gordon didn’t tell his fiancée, that Cobblepot’s the man she met earlier in the week who called himself Peter.

Cobblepot at that moment’s washing dishes in the restaurant, when three gunmen walk into the restaurant saying they’re robbing the place, so everybody should stay still. They quickly kill the manager then head to the back of the place and grab two of the duffel bags containing Maroni’s money. The Crime Boss and some henchmen arrive later and they search the place for clues, although Maroni’s positive that Falcone arranged the robbery and the hits. One of the thugs opens a cupboard and finds Oswald with one of the duffel bags, saying he wished he could’ve saved all three. Maroni rewards him by promoting him to the manager’s position.

Jim and Harvey track down where Gladwell works and decide to pay him a visit, however he hears them identify themselves and ask about him so he leaves his desk and hides. Gordon goes looking for him while Bullock remains at the desk, Jim’s five feet away from Gladwell, but doesn’t see him. Harvey calls to him and he heads back to the desk and away from the assassin, Bullock shows him stuff about both murdered council members, tying him to the murders.

Cobblepot arrives at an apartment and walks in the door, startling the three gunmen who stole Maroni’s money and killed his men, they’re also all working with Oswald on the caper, which helped the robbery go smoothly. As the men count the money, they ask what Cobblepot’s got in the box on his lap, and he tells them he got them each a cannoli, for a job well done. All three gunmen love the pastries and Oswald smiles. The next scene he leaves the apartment, cash in hand and we see all three men got poisoned by the cannoli.

Barbara and Jim have another standoff and she apologizes about not telling him about her and Montoya, but tells Gordon she can’t live with all his secrets. He says they’re all work-related and Keen says he used to share that stuff with her and he replies that’s a mistake he regrets and won’t repeat. She tells him that he can keep his secrets or her, but not both, his silence causes her to leave.

Cobblepot calls Gordon and tells him that another hit’s happening that night, but he doesn’t know who the intended victim is. Gordon looks at the duty roster of uniforms guarding the elected officials and realizes that Mayor James’ the guy they’re going for. He leaves a message for Harvey and drives to the Mayor’s home. He finds him and tells him his life’s in danger and he’s getting him out of the house, but the mayor says he’s got policemen guarding him and he’s fine but Jim tells him he saw the squad car empty. James says he has to gather some things and pulls out tons of cash from his wall safe, just as they hear Gladwell entering the house.

The pair attempt to escape but Gladwell quickly finds him and gets into a brawl with Gordon, which he’s winning until Bullock arrives pointing his weapon at the assassin. Gladwell releases Gordon then says the reason folks hire pros’, because they finish the job and tries to kill James, but Gordon and Bullock shoot him down.

The vote of the council members gets announced and both sides get something out of the deal. Falcone gets the contract to build the low-income housing, while Maroni gets the Waste Treatment Plant, refurbishing the asylum and gains a bunch of notches on Falcone, although he remains a distant second, he’s suddenly an actual force to contend with.

The final scene’s set at Wayne Manor, as Gordon arrives to explain to Bruce the  way the project worked out, he tells him even though the bad-guys profit in this plan, it will stop much bloodshed and help the less fortunate members of Gotham City. Bruce wishes that somebody could’ve seen his parents realized without compromise and Jim tells him that Bruce can rectify it when he gets older. A glimmer of hope come into the boy’s eyes, as he asks the detective if he believe Gotham can be saved and Jim responds he does.

The Story Continues Next Monday at 8:00 pm on Fox.