Gotham is truly fucking up its next generation. None of the grown-ups can keep them from burning themselves, or choosing to be homeless, or even from some child trafficking ring run by someone named the Dollmaker. And that's the grown-ups who care. The ones who don't are even worse. No wonder Gotham's in for a terrifying future.
Bruce starts the episode in typical tweenie stupidity, holding the palm of his hand squarely over a candle flame until the burn starts. Then he continues to hold it there, wincing and crying through the pain until Alfred comes in, looking for him. Bruce fails at hiding the burn mark from Alfred, who panics that Bruce is now hurting himself. At first, he violently shakes Bruce. When he realizes that he's hurting Bruce in order to teach Bruce to not hurt himself, he stops and immediately seizes the boy in a close hug. The look on his face screams that Alfred has no idea what he's doing.
The show also hammers home the point that the city is hopelessly corrupt. Detectives Gordon and Bullock arrive to start a homicide case for a homeless man, only to find that no uniformed officer has been keeping the crime scene secure or clean. When the officer finally shows up, turns out he was paying more attention to the diner that pays him on the side to give them extra protection on his beat- they had a junkie storm through their window the night before. Gordon and the uniform practically fight right there at the homicide scene.
We know they are definitely related, as the night before, a group of homeless teens shuffled around an impromptu alley bonfire, our plucky pickpocket from the first episode lingering in the shadows. A strange van pulls up and two devoutly religious-looking people climb out, with good news. They're here from the city to feed the kids! Have some candy! Oh, and have these awesome hypodermic needles in your necks! A homeless man, old and weary, looks like he might stop the kidnapping, but the man from the van shoots him dead. Our pickpocket-ing heroine, called Cat by her fellow kids, was alone in not approaching the van, but she's not the only one to escape. Another teen, stuck with a needle but not down for the count, manages to run away. The man from the van chases him until he crashes into a diner window.
And now the teen is sitting at Gordon and Bullock's precinct, insisting that he didn't willingly do the drugs found in his system, or kill any homeless guy. He's scared, insisting that Cat saw the whole thing too. No one proposes finding Cat. Instead, Bullock and Gordon get into a fight about whether to beat the teenager sitting at their desks. Oh, and Bullock reminds Gordon that he doesn't get to act high and mighty, as everyone still thinks Gordon killed Oswald.
Captain Essen once again has to referee. Yes, you still have to investigate these kidnappings. No, you can't go to the press. No reason for anyone to panic. Bullock is baffled by the crime. By the descriptions given, none of the kidnap victims were pretty girls, and those are the only kids worth kidnapping. We get an appearance from Edward Nygma that lacks riddles, but gives Gordon and Bullock something to go on- the teenager was shot with ATP, a knock out drug last used at Arkham Asylum. Over ten years ago, when the place was closed down. The Wayne Foundation had been talking about re-opening it, but with the Waynes dead, the Asylum is still closed. So, no one should have the drug stocked anymore.
Bullock decides to start asking questions in the neighborhood, and asks the captain whether they can do it without involving Fish Mooney, who might still be pissed at them. But she has her own problems. Her club is jumping, full of music and booze and fun, when she gets an honored guest: Carmine Falcone has come to appear briefly in the episode. With his favorite wine served, he toasts the honesty of men about to die.
Falcone wants to talk about Oswald. In fact, everyone will talk about Oswald in this episode eventually. Falcone wants to know why Oswald thought there would be a war, with blood in the streets, which means Oswald gave that line to more than just Gordon. Mooney feigns ignorance of what he could mean. Falcone tells her that Oswald blabbed on her plans to take Falcone down and take his place. Mooney categorically denies this, going so far as to grasp Falcone's hand as a sign of her deep affection for him.
After dismissing Oswald's last words as babbling, Falcone asks about her newest squeeze. Mooney is very smooth as she declares that his job is to provide her with some exercise. Turns out, he's the waiter who's been serving the table. His name is Laslow, and Falcone is very pleased to meet him and have his goons beat him off to the side, while Falcone kisses her hand, demonstrating that he's in charge. When Falcone leaves, taking his men with him, Mooney can vent. And she does, closing the club immediately by screaming, using every last breath in her lungs, at her customers to get out.
So, where is Oswald? Walking away from Gotham. Mooney's beating left him crippled, and he hobbles along a side of the road until an SUV stops for him. Or rather, plays with him a bit, teasing him and then slipping forward out of his reach, until it finally relents and lets him in. Inside are Biff and Jeff, two frat boy types with plenty of beer in the car and insults for a stranger. Oswald makes a point of keeping it together, smiling at his current predicament and promising his saviors that he'll get back on his feet. Speaking of his feet, did Oswald know that he walks like a penguin now?
Oswald still hates being called a penguin, and he erupts without warning, smashing his beer bottle in the car, and using the broken shards to kill Jeff sitting in shotgun. Blood sprays all over the car as Biff, still driving, panics.
Oswald's mother is completely clueless about her son's whereabouts, which is bad for Montoya and Allen, who are looking for their snitch. Mrs. Kapelput (the original version of Oswald's name), insists that her son is a good boy who is only missing because some slut lured him into a den of iniquity somewhere.
Oswald is actually driving around the countryside, stopping only when he sees a "For Rent" sign stuck to a dilapidated trailer squatting on a farm. The farmer is a little baffled by Oswald in his ripped clothes, looking like he hasn't slept in days, and happy to rent his piece of crap trailer. But he does take Oswald's (or should we say Biff"s?) money and tells Oswald the keys are in the trailer. Oswald's only concern is keeping Farmer Joe out of his SUV, where Biff and Jeff are on the floor, and Biff looks like he's still alive.
The homeless kids from the night before awake, in a dark, windowless room. There's a door somewhere, but their attention is drawn instead to a dark pit at the center of the room. The other kids aren't hopeful about getting out, with one wondering if they're already dead.
Fish Mooney is a little bit more realistic about Oswald, even if she still thinks he's dead. Wishing only that she'd beaten Oswald a bit more, or at least enough that he couldn't talk anymore, she also can't wait to really kill Falcone. And she can't wait to confide the whole thing to her First Mate, who will happily rat her out if his life his on the line. Bullock and Gordon interrupt her, but she's happy to see them, and chirps that all is forgiven. But not forgotten, so that Mooney can torment Gordon with his supposed killing of Oswald.
Gordon wants to get to work on questioning Mooney, but she spends a minute or two waxing poetically on Gordon's fine ideals being useless. When she can finally be persuaded to take Gordon seriously, she immediately dismisses the kidnappings for the same reason Bullock does- why would anyone want any kid except pretty girls? All she knows, and all anyone is willing to find out, is that there's an overseas buyer.
Gordon is frustrated enough about the whole investigation, or lack thereof, to blab to Barbara over dinner. Barbara chalks it up to Gotham's corruption, and that word is going to be bandied around quite a bit on this show. Everyone's corrupt, but it's obvious that Gotham might come to a standstill if people had to resolve their issues through the law. Jim tries to calm Barbara down, without making her anymore curious about just how corrupt Gotham is, and how close that corruption is now sitting next to her. When she wonders why nobody's talking about the kidnappings, Gordon informs her of Captain Essen's "no press" rule.
Barbara is horrified. People can't even talk about how bad things are, because they're not allowed to know. Well, she knows what to do about that. She immediately gets up, gets out of Gordon's reach, and calls a local paper, spilling just enough to get Gordon in trouble. When Captain Essen accuses Bullock of leaking the investigation, she reminds him that he's done it before. Which, he has to admit, is true. Gordon takes the fall, getting a freebie warning from the Captain, but all is forgiven. He has a lead. Or rather, three. Three local pharmacy suppliers still carry ATP. And Gordon is already getting warrants for them.
One of the suppliers is owned by a horrible-looking middle-aged man who thought he'd gotten a lucky break selling ATP to strangers and letting them lock up teenagers in his basement. When he sees the local papers, he panics, demanding that the man and woman from the van get the kids out of there. The two kidnappers, Slick Man and Church Lady declare that their boss, called the Dollmaker, won't tolerate failure before killing someone who had the stupidity to protect the owner of the supply warehouse. All this is wrapped up in time for Bullock and Gordon to arrive with their warrant.
Bullock has more than a warrant. He has some advice, gentleman to gentleman. He successfully guesses that it was Barbara, not Gordon, who talked to the press, and Gordon has to admit he's right. Gordon holds firm when Bullock tells him to control "his woman", stating that he likes Barbara the way she is. Bullock, with all the cynicism of a man who has failed at every relationship in life, lists all of Gordon's sexual partners: a high school sweetheart, some foreign girls while serving overseas, and Barbara. Gordon has to admit he's right, and Bullock tells Gordon that Barbara is out of his league, that Gordon is a monkey riding a race horse. Gordon looks like he'll take that mental image to the grave as they enter the pharmacy supply shop we just saw.
The owner, Mr. Horrible Greasy Guy, tries to act chummy with them, But it quickly degenerates into Slick Man and Church Lady shooting at the cops, and getting away in a nice-sized delivery truck. Mr. Greasy Guy tells his remaining assistant to kill the kids downstairs. Because the cops aren't on to him already, so he may as well add murder to the list.
Or rather, attempted murder. The bad guy reaches the basement, where scared teens, probably hearing the gunfight stare uselessly at the gun until Jim Gordon comes to save the day, taking a good long look at the kids he's just saved in the process.
Mayor James is ecstatic. Gotham PD looks like a bunch of real cops. Gordon turns out to be the real hero, while Bullock rides the wave of being the hero's partner. Mayor James gets to do all the triumphant press conferences. In Captain Essen's office, a replay of the presser plays while Essen, Mayor James, Bullock and Gordon have a drink to celebrate cracking a high profile case. Mayor James, still on TV, announces that he's starting a new initiative to prevent any more kidnappings, or least to keep kidnappings out of private hands. So, La Chaim!
Now, Gotham PD will be taking homeless kids off streets and putting them in Gotham's juvie facility upstate. Gordon thinks the kids are being locked up without trials; Mayor James is telling the people it's necessary for the kids' own safety. Rounded up with the rest is one Cat.
Bruce gets to stay home, apparently not even having school to go to. He's going Goth, or at least starting to. While heinous heavy metal plays, Bruce inks in an abysmally dreadful drawing of horrific creatures. Good thing Alfred decides to pay Jim Gordon a visit, inviting him to tea, and asking him if he'll have a word with little Bruce, on the grounds that Gordon is one of the few grown-ups Bruce might listen to. Gordon resists a little at first, but eventually agrees to come out.
The buses are being loaded with Gotham's youngest homeless people, all totally unwilling to go, and Cat simply refuses to name herself, insisting that the pigerina processing her do something obscene. This gets her the name Jane Doe, which Cat can live with as she sits on the bus and reaches for a locket. She opens it briefly, which is probably not a good idea to do on a bus full of kids who might steal from you, but she can't resist looking at the two pictures, both portraits, inside. What is this, Orphan Annie? The boy next to her is shaking with fear of juvie, and Cat turns to reassure him that it won't suck completely, as long as he keeps his shit together. Oh, and go for the eyes.
The bus seems ready to go when one of their new caretakers boards, and Cat instantly jumps up and books for the back door when she see's it's Church Lady, with Slick Man. Church Lady pulls a gun on Cat, promising to give her and any other troublemakers a third eye while the bus pulls out of the lot with no resistance from the city employees running around.
Mayor James is furious. Jim Gordon is so frustrated he lets Bullock clobber Mr. Greasy Guy for a while before they get a logo from the truck out of him. It looks like a plate with a fork on it. Which is their only lead. It's Gordon, once again the real detective, who figures out the fork is really a trident, which can lead to an actual company name. Maybe an address, too?
The kids get off the bus, except for one. Instead of instantly realizing it's the kid who's already tried running away, Church Lady spends a tense moment on the bus, with Cat who's hiding among the seats, having left something on the floor so Church Lady will proceed to the back of the bus and Cat can sneak off, and quickly scramble underneath the bus. When the ruse works, Cat gets to demonstrate her whole go-for-the-eyes strategy on one of the other people running around getting kids shipped out, who Church Lady eventually shoots since his eyes have been gouged out.
Cat and Church Lady play some more warehouse-hide-and-seek before Cat makes a kiddie mistake by dropping the locket, which Church Lady finds plus Cat, too. Before Church Lady can shoot, Gordon has the whole situation under control. Kids found! Now they can go back to juvie.
And Jim can visit Bruce. Alfred, Bruce's legal guardian, refuses to get the boy therapy, which is Jim's first idea. Apparently, Mr. Wayne Senior believed in letting kids make horrible choices. Like, sneaking up on adults talking and insisting that Alfred is just being a pussy. Jim realizes his job today will be refereeing the match between Alfred and Bruce. One wonders if this will happen again and again, with Jim and Alfred arguing about Bruce's needs for the next six years.
Bruce explains that he hasn't been hurting himself. He's been testing himself. Like, testing to see if fire really burns. Or maybe how much pain he can take. Gordon doesn't really know what to do with that, and they go to discussing the kids Jim's recently saved from the Dollmaker, whoever that is. Bruce wants to give them money. Jim says they really need guardians. Bruce settles for sending them clothes.
Clothes that Cat is completely uninterested in. After announcing that her mom is actually alive, she is once again trying to get out of juvie, Cat finally realizes she can bamboozle one of the detectives into finding Jim Gordon for her. Well, threaten him with defamation, really. But it works. Faster than you can say "He said she said", Jim Gordon appears. After they briefly talk about the kid first picked up at the beginning of the episode, Gordon realizes he probably should have dug her up at the beginning of his investigation, instead of just running into her now. But that's not important. Cat wants a deal to stay out of juvie. She lets Gordon know that she already knows Mario Pepper, the Waynes' supposed killer, was framed. And she lets Gordon know that she saw the Waynes' killer.
Oswald is having a less fruitful day than he planned, even though he did get to his arts and crafts project. It's a shrine/map of Gotham, filled with images of people he hates, who have the Wrath of Oswald to worry about. He gets a phone call that really doesn't go his way. Turns out that Biff's call for ransom money wasn't all that convincing; Biff's mom thinks the whole thing is a fake. Oswald takes it well, thinking maybe he can still get something out of her, when she hangs up. Biff, hearing the call, sits in an open closet. He's bound, gagged, and practically naked, while Oswald now wears his clothes. Oh, and Biff is already bleeding and crying. Oswald hangs up, calls Biff a scamp, and I guess gets to work poking Biff's eyes out. A promise is a promise.
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