Gotham: “Tonight’s the Night” — Nov. 9, 2015
Photo courtesy of Fox
Barbara sets a honey trap; Theo makes Bruce an offer he can’t refuse—or can he? And, is Edward Nygma out to lunch? As usual Gotham is batshit crazy. Special Contributor Ralph S. delivers a play-by-play. — Elaine F.
Things in Gotham reach a bit of a climax this week. Barbara fights to get her man back, and Theo executes the next major part of his grand scheme to rule the city. How did things work out for them? Let’s find out, shall we?
We start with Barbara waking from a bad dream about her wedding and rising from her bed, which is covered with a nice assortment of whips and chains, by the way, to find a present from Theo. The present seems to chase the memory of the nightmare from her twisted little mind. The morning also finds Theo scheming with Tabitha about the final phase of his plan to take revenge on young Bruce Wayne. He speculates that for things to work in his favor Jim Gordon must be removed from the picture. As if on cue—probably was on cue ’cause this is TV, after all—Barbara strolls in to join the conversation. You can just guess the direction of the chat from there.
Gordon and Bullock meet with Barnes so Gordon can pitch his theory about Galavan being the city’s latest rising crime lord. Barnes is skeptical, but he doesn’t tell Gordon that he’s got his head shoved up his ass. Instead, Barnes tells the detective that he needs concrete evidence before he’ll buy into Gordon’s theories. When Jimbo walks out of the captain’s office to tell his lady, Lee Thompkins, about this latest development he’s interrupted by someone from his past. Well, hush my puppies here’s Barbara showing up at the precinct where every cop in the room pulls their gun on her. It’s obvious who she came to see. The couple retires to the interrogation room for a romantic little chat and a kiss, which sets Lee’s teeth on edge as she watches from behind the room’s two-way mirror. Barb tells Gordon that she has something to show him. She also alludes that if he goes with her to see this thing she may tell him what he wants to know about Galavan and the chaos that’s been going on in Gotham. Gordon knows it’s a trap but plays along with his ex, much to the chagrin of his current lady love.
Young Bruce Wayne arrives at the Galavan residence to meet with Theo and is greeted by Silver St. Cloud. After a few minutes of small talk and acting coy, she leaves Bruce in the wily clutches of her uncle. Galavan talks to Bruce about the corruption and assorted deviltry that he knows is going on at Wayne Enterprises. He claims that he wants to help Bruce clean up the Wayne family business, and to do that effectively, Bruce must sell him the company. Bruce is hesitant. Obviously this kid’s no pushover, so Theo sweetens the deal. Galavan shows the lad an envelope he claims contains all the information about who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne. Now he’s managed to get the boy’s attention. “I will fix your company, protect your legacy and give you closure. That’s what your father would have wanted and what Gotham desperately needs,” Theo says in his most poignant voice. He wants an answer from the kid by the end of the day.
Back at the precinct house the gang’s gearing up to go with Gordon and Barbara on their little getaway. It seems Barnes has recruited numerous new members of the Strike Force. I guess he’s got no choice, wearing a Strike Force vest on this show seems to have the same consequence as wearing a red shirt had on the original Star Trek. As he’s heading out the door Lee once again voices her objections to Gordon’s plan. He tries to reassure her saying that it’s the only way to find out what Barb’s up to. Off they go, Bullock, Gordon and Barb in a police car followed by the Strike Force in a tank that that clearly was a tank the military has been giving out like candy to cities. During the ride, Gordon tries to get Babs to give up the info he knows she has on Galavan but it’s no use. She plays coy and just continues to spout out directions to their unknown destination like the voice on Google maps. Despite knowing it’s a trap, our intrepid detectives forge ahead even as their commander orders them, over the radio, to turn around. With Barbara in the back seat opening up a six-pack a crazy and talking about how she still loves him, it’s no wonder Jimbo doesn’t see the 18-wheeler that T-bones their weak-ass, little police cruiser. Gunplay ensues when thugs pop outta the truck to engage the Strike Force. While this latest round of chaos plays out, Babs gets the drop on her ex and has him taken captive.
Back at stately Wayne Manor, or down in the batcave-to-be more precise, young Bruce discusses things with Alfred. Bruce wants to know how long it will take to complete the training that Alfred is giving him that will help him take on the bad guys running Wayne Enterprises. When Alfred can’t give him a specific time frame, Bruce mentions Theo’s offer including the info on the Wayne murders. The ever astute Alfred wastes no time in calling things as he sees them telling Bruce that the offer is nothing more than extortion. Bruce agrees but thinks that he has no choice; he tells Alfred that he just wants it to be over.
Our man Gordon comes to and finds himself tied to a chair in a church with Babs marching down the aisle behind him wearing Theo’s present, a wedding dress. Looks like it’s gonna be a shotgun wedding since the bride-to-be is carrying a sawed-off double-barrel. I wonder if that was in the box from Theo also? She appears to have taken care of all the details as well since she’s abducted a preacher and some hapless witnesses along with her groom-to-be. Crazy but thorough, ya gotta admire that. Oh yeah, as an extra added attraction, she’s had Tabitha abduct Lee for the festivities, as well, guess she wants to rub her rival’s nose in it. Meanwhile, it doesn’t take Bullock long to figure out where Gordon is, especially since Barbara kept babbling on, during the ride, about the church that she and Jimbo picked to hold their wedding. He tells Barnes and they mount up.
At the church, Barbara continues to talk and try to drive a wedge between Gordon and Lee while Jimbo works unseen to free himself. During the conversation, he gets her to admit that Gotham’s legitimate mayor is still alive and being held captive in another part of the city, though she won’t admit that Theo is responsible. Gordon manages to free himself while Babs is busy threatening Lee with a knife that was apparently part of the wedding dress ensemble. He snatches the shotgun from Barb and points it at her, demanding that she drop the knife. With the gun aimed at her head, Babs dares Jimbo to send her to the next world. The cavalry shows up before he can summon the will to pull the trigger and all hell breaks loose. Gordon does manage to wing Tigress before chasing Babs up to the balcony of the church where, in front of a big stained glass window, she rushes at him with the blade. Accordingly the struggle carries them through the window with Babs coming up on the bad end. She’s hanging out the window and Gordon’s hanging on to her. He tells her to hold on but; telling him she loves him, she lets go. It’s quite a looonnng drop but oops her fall is broken by some bushes. She’s got all kinds of broken bones but she’s still alive and crazy. Barnes, Gordon and Bullock race off to find the mayor. Once they locate him, Mayor James confirms that Theo is responsible.
Back at Theo’s joint Bruce is about to put pen to paper and sign away his empire when all of a sudden he hesitates. He stands up and tells Theo that the deals off. Just then Gordon and the cops bust in and Theo tosses the envelope containing the info about the Wayne murders into a blazing fireplace. Gordon arrests Theo for kidnapping the mayor and then socks Theo in the kisser. Bruce, however, ends up all out of sorts because the truth about his parents’ murder has gone up in smoke.
While all this excitement is going on, Edward Nygma goes on a day trip to the forest. He’s packed one last romantic picnic lunch to have with his late girlfriend, Kristen Kringle, whose body is now snuggly packed in a trunk. It’s obvious Ed intends to lay his former beloved to rest in some out-of-the-way spot here in lovely Jellystone Forest and have a snack. When a pesky hunter happens along and asks too many questions, Ed has to do away with him but sees it as only a minor annoyance. He leaves the bodies to get the necessary tools to deal with the hunter. Upon his return, he notices that somebody’s eaten his lunch. “For a secluded forest this place sure has a lot of foot traffic,” he says, with a note of irritation in his voice. He follows the trail left by the person who consumed his Lunchables. His trek ends in front of a trailer in the woods out of which pops the Penguin. As Gomer Pyle would say: “Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!” Oswald, however, seems a bit worse for wear since he’s still suffering from that gunshot wound he got from Tigress last episode. He begs for Edward to help him as things fade to black.
Well, Batfans this should leave you with something to ponder. Now that little Ed’s gone completely over to the dark side what kind of alliance will he make with Penguin? As interesting as things look now, it appears that they’re going to get even more interesting in the episodes ahead. This should be enough to keep your glassy eyeballs glued to the screen, eh?
Gotham airs Mondays at 8/9c on Fox.
