‘Gotham’ 1.13 Recap: “Only My Friends Call Me Fish, Darling”

This week’s episode of ‘Gotham’ answers a particularly nagging question: What kind of parent would name a child “Fish Mooney”?

Apparently, none. In episode ‘Welcome Back, Jim Gordon’, we learn that her actual birth name is Marie Mercedes Mooney. This is something of a relief, as the Mooney character was created for this prequel series and her name is goofy even by ‘Batman’ standards. However, this revelation begs a whole new question: What kind of person chooses “Fish” as a nickname for herself? I guess we’ll have to wait for the backstory on that at a later time.

As we’d last seen her, Fish and her consigliere Butch had been taken captive by Mob boss Falcone and dragged off for punishment. The new episode opens with her about to be tortured by a guy named Bob. (Is he supposed to be “Bob the Goon”? That, I don’t know.) Fish is defiant, even flippant, in the face of impending harm.

Elsewhere in the city, Jim catches his first case since returning to duty as a detective. It’s the murder of a drug dealer. His partner Harvey calls this a “public service homicide” and isn’t too concerned about it, but Jim as always has a dogged determination to see justice done. He finds a janitor who witnessed the killing and brings him down to the precinct to see a sketch artist, but the poor janitor gets stabbed to death by an icepick to the back right there in the police station. As you can imagine, Jim goes ballistic over this. Certain that a dirty cop must be responsible, he wants to interrogate everyone in the building. Even his captain, who’s had his back during some terrible situations, warns him to tread lightly. She turns the case over to Internal Affairs.

Butch escapes his captors and rescues Fish before Bob can hurt her too badly. He wants to take her out of town, but she won’t leave until she kills The Penguin. She doesn’t have to look too hard to find him. Falcone put him in charge of managing her nightclub.

Converging on the same location is Falcone’s assassin Zsasz, looking for Fish.

Gordon links the dead drug dealer to a pair of Narcotics detectives named Flass and Delaware. He finds drugs in the trunk of Delaware’s car that match those found on the dealer’s body. Flass tells him that the drugs are part of an undercover operation, but Jim isn’t buying it. He follows the evidence to a stash house where he confirms that the Narco cops have been robbing drug dealers and selling the drugs themselves. Flass brags that Jim can’t touch him because he’s protected by powerful men, including the police commissioner. As proof, Internal Affairs quickly rules the janitor’s death a suicide (remember, he was stabbed in the back) and clears the Narco cops of any involvement. Jim is furious. The captain tells him to back off and move on to some other case.

Out of other options, Jim asks Penguin for a favor – to use his crime connections to dig up some dirt on Flass. Penguin is glad to help, and insists “Friends don’t owe friends” when Jim worries what he’ll need to do for Penguin in return. Penguin’s henchman then pays the cop Delaware a visit and beats a confession out of him.

Penguin celebrates his new power and success by drinking a little too heavily alone at the club after hours, when Fish and Butch show up. In no time at all, Penguin is literally kissing Fish’s feet, begging for his life. Before Fish has a chance to harm him, Zsasz and his female goons interrupt and start shooting up the place. Outnumbered, Fish and Butch run through the building. Fish is able to get out through a window. Butch stays behind to sacrifice himself and hold off Zsasz. He gets shot, but not killed – at least not yet.

Penguin marvels at his good fortune. Even the worst situations always seem to turn out in his favor.

Penguin’s man delivers two items to Jim: the icepick murder weapon and a taped confession of Delaware implicating Flass. With these in hand, Jim forces a showdown between himself and Flass in the police station. Flass once again boasts that he’s protected and dares Jim to try something in a room full of cops who hate him. Despite her previous reluctance, the captain backs Jim and arrests Flass herself.

Fish eludes Zsasz but basically has nothing and no one left on her side. She meets with Harvey, who helps her get out of town and gives her a farewell kiss. I think it was clear enough in previous episodes that these two had an intimate relationship, but this scene unambiguously confirms it for those who needed it spelled out.

Pleased with himself, Gordon leaves the police station to head home when Delaware stops him – not to attack him, but to grovel. He assumes that Jim sent the thug who beat him up. He pleads with Jim not to hurt his wife or family. Gordon suddenly realizes that he’d compromised his own moral integrity in his zeal to take down one dirty cop. Is he really better than the people he’s fighting?

Questions like that bring this episode some shades of complexity that I appreciate, but I have to admit that this is not one of the more exciting episodes of the season. It’s a little dull, honestly, and Ben McKenzie’s perpetually grumpy, snarly performance as Gordon is particularly overdone in this one. A side storyline where young Bruce wants Selina to be his girlfriend, only for her to give him the cold shoulder, doesn’t amount to much, except that Selina tells him she lied and never actually saw the face of his parents’ killer. Whether she’s telling the truth about that now, and why she’s such a bitch to Bruce all of a sudden, aren’t particularly clear.

2 comments

  1. NJScorpio

    (1) I think they picked ‘Fish’ as her name, because ‘Penguin’ will basically consume/devour her character in order to make a name for himself. I found this very apparent this episode, in the club when a drunk Cobblepot is leaning against the wall eyeing up the fish bone logo.

    (2) I was surprised that Jim didn’t tell Harvey about the drugs he first found in the victim’s shoe. Doesn’t he trust him enough yet?

    (3) The scene where Delaware pleads for Gordon to leave his family alone felt very heavy handed…but then again, everything about Gordon does…which is why I like him. I think he now sees the Penguin isn’t just some informant, but a bit more dangerous.

    (4) Regarding Bruce & Selina…I think that it contributes to the foundation of their long running relationship for them to not get “together” when they are children. Bruce is a smart kid, and this interaction may lead to him realizing that him and Selina are two different sides of the Gotham coin.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *