‘Gotham’ 1.18 Recap: “Know When You’re Beaten”

I have to say, I’m a little disappointed with ‘Gotham’ this week. I was really hoping to see Jada Pinkett Smith rock a badass eye patch for a while. She could totally pull that look off.

The Fish with One Eye

After having scooper her own eye out, Fish Mooney awakens in a hospital bed with a bandage on her face. She’s doted on by the owner of the institution, who introduces himself as Dr. Francis Dulmacher (Colm Feore). It’s my understanding that he’s the mysterious “Dollmaker” mentioned but never shown back in Episode 2.

Yes, really, Dulmacher = Dollmaker. Groan.

Dulmacher is clearly impressed with Mooney and applauds her “remarkable constitution.” She immediately makes a case that she should be working with him, not against him, as his new right hand. Fish explains who she is and who she used to work for, but Dulmacher claims not to know the name Carmine Falcone.

The doctor then tells her that eyes are in short supply at the moment and apologizes for not having her color in stock. Fish removes her bandages in front of a mirror and discovers that she’s been given a brand new blue eye to replace the one she lost.

Dulmacher admits that he may have a job opening, and shows her what happens to employees who fail him. In a surgical suite, she finds the former “Manager.” Or, more accurately, she finds his screaming head attached to a horrifically Frankensteined body of mismatched body parts. Eek.

As an act of good faith, Dulmacher asks Fish to prove that she will keep the supply of donors flowing. She returns to the dungeon and orders that the guard be released. Then she sends two of the weaker inmates, including her sycophant Kelly, upstairs for donation. When the other prisoners balk at this and call her a traitor, she reasserts her dominance and explains that the weak must be sacrificed so that the strong can survive.

Later, Dulmacher welcomes Fish to “Upper Management.” He gives her a tour of the facility, which ends in the revelation that the building is located on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere with no hope of escape.

Scratch & Dent

Back at the Gotham P.D., Jim is enlivened when he learns that the murderous Det. Flass has been released and cleared of all charges with the help of corrupt Commissioner Loeb (Peter Scolari), who blackmailed Bullock into recanting his testimony. Further, Loeb is backing Flass in a run for President of the Policeman’s Union.

Working with Harvey Dent, Jim learns that Loeb maintains his power by holding blackmail dirt over a wide range of cops, politicians and businessmen. (Dent insists that he’s clean.) According to old rumors, Loeb allegedly also murdered his wife a couple decades earlier, but no one could make the story stick. Because Jim is pretty pissed at Bullock again, he brings Dent along on his quest to find Loeb’s blackmail stash. The trail leads them to a Chinese bookie, but it’s a trap. Bullock has to rescue them, which apparently puts him back on Jim’s good side for the time being.

Bullock has a better plan. He brings Jim to The Penguin, who can use his connections with Falcone (who’s been in league with the Commissioner) to find Loeb’s files. Penguin asks in return that he be given five minutes alone with the files, and that Jim has to owe him a favor, no questions asked. Jim reluctantly agrees.

Penguin brings Gordon and Bullock to a farm outside town that’s owned in Loeb’s name. They meet an old couple who run the place, and bluff their way inside by claiming to work for the Commissioner, who they say has sent them on an “inspection.” Of course, the old couple aren’t as friendly as they seem. After a brief shoot-out, Jim and Harvey tie them up and leave them downstairs under the supervision of Penguin while they go upstairs to investigate noises in the attic. There they find no files, but instead a girl named Miriam – Miriam Loeb, the Commissioner’s daughter.

After talking to her for a few minutes, it’s quite clear that the girl is crazy and murdered her own mother, after which the Commissioner hid her out at the farm to keep her out of the Arkham Asylum.

Hearing a commotion downstairs, Jim and Harvey find Penguin on the floor. He claims that the farmers got the drop on him and escaped.

Jim returns to the city and confronts the Commissioner with the info he’s learned. He may not have found Loeb’s blackmail stash, but he has leverage of his own, which he uses to pressure Loeb into putting Flass back on trial, turning over the blackmail file on Bullock, and backing Jim in his own run for President of the Policeman’s Union.

While all that gets resolves, we discover that Penguin actually let the farmers go on purpose. At his club, he informs them that he has one plane ticket out of town, but they’ll have to fight for it. The woman quickly kills her husband and demands the ticket. Penguin then announces that he lied and shoots her dead. This all seems a little fruitless. If he’d just wanted to kill them, he could have done it at the farm and made excuses that they tried to attack him. I guess we’re supposed to feel that Penguin is becoming a sociopath.

A Penny Saved

Alfred is laid up at the hospital recovering from his stabbing. He will not give up the identity of his friend Reggie as the assailant, and tells Bruce that he needs to take care of it himself. He tries to leave but doesn’t get far. Bruce makes him get back in bed.

Selina pays a visit. She happened to spot Bruce when she and Ivy were sneaking through the hospital stealing food. She tries to give him a hug, but he receives it coldly. Bruce tells her that he has figured out what Reggie is up to with the Wayne Enterprises board and plans to find him on his own.

This episode is kind of a mixed bag and feels disjointed. Not a lot important happens in it that couldn’t have been condensed to a few scenes in a later episode. After this, the show is taking another break until April 13th. I feel like last week’s episode would have been a stronger place to leave off.

4 comments

  1. I really liked this episode – particularly the stuff between Gordon and the current police commissioner. The scene where Harvey (Bullock, not Dent) tells Gordon that he realized a bunch of good deeds could never replace the one bad one was a great moment.

  2. I thought this was a pretty solid episode myself. Jim making a deal with the devil was, I think a crucial moment in the show, as he’s realizing there’s no such thing as a total straight and narrow path. I don’t know if that bit where we see the manager has boobies and was supposed to be disturbing or funny, but it had me in stitches. Frankenhooker anyone? I’m kind of bummed we have to wait until mid April for the rest.

  3. James Parker

    I think Josh missed the significance of the scene with Oswald and the two “caretakers” — he had time to get information from them, and much more than the 5 minutes worth Jim had promised. We already know he’s a sociopath.

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