Maroni, back in his restaurant that is up and running thanks to its new manager, is feasting away while openly demanding that his Number One, Frankie, rob Falcone's local casino. Frankie balks; the security is too tight, and it would be a symbolic gesture instead of a big hit. Maroni tells Frankie that no excuse will do; he wants that casino robbed. Frankie looks up as Maroni is leaving to see that the new manager, a goofy guy in a weird suit and reverse Mullet, is smiling wickedly at him. But dear Paolo/Oswald has nothing to say. Yet.
The street musicians of Gotham leave something to be desired. Here's a tip for them. When an obviously disturbed man (and I don't mean just that he's got a deformed ear) rocks from side to side in front of you, then leaves a strange green vial in your guitar case, don't follow the instructions on the bottle. This guitarist has no doubt been paid in drugs before, and decides he'd like to be like Alice in Wonderland too, following the "Breathe Me" instructions. He goes into an instant seizure, veins turning purple and expanding, and his face contorts in pain before it spreads in ecstasy.
The bodega down the street from him gets the first taste of his euphoria. It involves lots and lots of milk drinking, and the owner is grossed out when the guitarist drinks right from the jug, demanding payment. Our latest junkie dismisses the owner as a mortal, who should refrain from vexing him. When the bodega owner decides to get paid via baseball bat, his milk drinking crazy customer easily yanks the bat away, and proceeds to pound him with it.
Bullock wants to show Jim what a proper burger is. So, they head to a food truck, which we should all know by now is Bullock's grocery store. He and Jim bicker about whether Jim's burger will have pickles. Jim seems hesitant to trust Bullock's food choices, but they're partners, which trumps what Jim actually wants. Who should ruin their lunch break but.... Cat!
Yeah, I can do this in front of cops in broad daylight
Sliding into the scene on top of car hoods, which can't possibly be more quiet than actually sneaking up behind someone, she creeps up behind a pedestrian across the street from the detectives. Jim sees her first. He yells out at her, which alerts her mark that her fingers are already in his pocket. Cat escapes by kicking the mark and running away. Jim tries chasing her, but Bullock demands proper attention be paid to lunch. After all, Jim chased her off, didn't he? She's just a street kid. They'll see her again, preferably when they're on the clock again.
Jim can't decide what to do when a nearby store alarm decides for him. Cat, and any more information on the Wayne murders, has gotten away. But a local store owner needs them now, despite Bullock pointing out that it's still lunch time. It's the same store that saw all the drama over a jug of milk. Only now, it's ransacked and missing the ATM at the front of the store. Jim finds the owner cowering under some debris. He's alive, but shaken up and telling a ridiculous story, that neither Jim nor the just-arrived Bullock believe. After beating the bodega owner with a bat, our milk-chugging-guitarist-guinea-pig then proceeded to jack an ATM. When Jim points out that he didn't see any getaway car lugging the thing away, or any accomplices, the owner looks Jim right in the eyes and declares that the thief literally picked it up with his bare hands and ran away with it.
Sir, have you been drinking?
Bullock barely tries believing it. But when they find the drug vial nearby, Jim is intrigued enough to take the case to their Captain, who tells them to proceed.
Every black 70s car in Gotham has converged on a single, gray, abandoned warehouse. This is either a mob meeting or a really inappropriate funeral. Carmine Falcone, still cool and collected, meets his lieutenants, including Fish Mooney and about five guys, all arguing over whether Falcone needs to be concerned with Maroni. Falcone dismisses their anger over losing part of the Arkham deal, and tosses out all ideas to strike back at Maroni in revenge. Mooney has dressed for the cold weather in a fur wrap that leaves most of her chest exposed but reveals that she's got style and money. And she's got attitude for anyone challenging Falcone. Including one Russian guy, Nikolai. They go at it eventually over a woman's place, which seems like a great way to get Mooney to chop off balls, but Falcone calls them off each other, and sends everyone back to work.
Duh. We all know women belong on top.
Mooney returns to her club to train Liza, who is struggling with Puccini's O Mio Babbino Caro. an Italia aria of a daughter begging her father to let her marry the man the she loves. Mooney is floating along on the melody, but Liza is struggling with the notes. Mooney smacks the girl to get her to focus, and Liza tries to play the daughter-figure card. Mooney's not having it; she tells Liza that you have earn calling her "Mama". She goes back to floating away on Italian opera while Liza goes back to sucking at singing.
Bullock and Jim canvas, with a picture of the guitarist, the streets near where they found the vial. They end up almost precisely where we first saw the guitarist. A hooker who's working the day shift buys their story that the guy just came into some money, takes ten dollars from Jim, and sends them to where he and a lot of empty milk jugs can be found. The guitarist looks awful, and begs the detectives for more drugs. They've already drawn their guns, but look willing to just talk the guy down and into custody. Except for stating that his source had a mangled ear, the guitarist doesn't want help. He wants the drug again. He looks terrible, like he's had a lifetime of cocaine use in one morning, and Jim and Bullock are totally shocked when the guy can still lift the ATM he jacked that's been laying in the corner. He's angry, in pain and struggling with the ATM when his face, and then his whole body, just collapse on him.
Jim is horrified and hoping they've caught the drug before it can be all over Gotham. Too bad for him, the disturbed guy missing part of his ear is already just handing the stuff out like candy, including to the helpful hooker we just met.
Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce has turned the study into a mess, resembling that awful scene from A Beautiful Mind when the wife finds the garden shed is conspiracy central. Alfred is pissed, but manages to remind Bruce that Wayne Enterprises is hosting a charity luncheon, and his employees might like to see their boy king. Bruce calmly agrees to go. He thinks he knows how his company transferred land and deals to the crime families through dummy companies. He has a valiant plan to confront the board and tell them that this isn't how his parents did business. After shooing Alfred away so he can't burn his research, Bruce can only stare in horror at the breaking news of the new street drug, Viper.
Edward Nygma, back at the precinct, can only stare in admiration for the effect of the drug on Gotham, as cops can barely shove users high on it into holding cells. He's been studying it for Jim and Bullock, and gives them the details- it works by making the body use the bones' calcium as fuel. It produces an effect like adrenaline, but it's fatal. Users will want to replenish the calcium that's burned by guzzling dairy, but eventually that's not enough. When the body finally burns through all its bones, it simply collapses like a skyscraper with no columns, and the user dies almost immediately from choking.
Nygma is impressed by the drug, stating that it's a highly refined and sophisticated design, and could not have come from an amateur lab. The only lab in Gotham that could have produced this is named Wellzyn, but the Captain is hesitant about going after a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises. Until, that is, a victim, the hooker we saw before, dies right in front of them. Bullock sees Viper as a chance to clean Gotham's streets. Jim is horrified, and even their cynical, jaded captain nixes the idea right away.
Oswald can no longer keep his ambition in check or his mouth shut, and when he offers to help Maroni rob Falcone's casino, his new boss is too curious about how Oswald knows the operation and someone there. Maroni made him a manager after not even remembering his name, so Oswald just says people have been calling him Penguin, which he still hates. Maroni advises him to own it. When Oswald spills the beans on who he really is, Maroni sees trouble and slams Oswald into the table.
Wellzyn sends one of its attorneys, Taylor Reese, to the precinct, where she at first pretends Wayne Enterprises had nothing to do with anything. Then she conveniently remembers they had an employee matching the killer's description. She gives them a name, Stan Potolsky, and a sad story of a shampoo developer who lost it, cut off his ear during a verbal warning, and disappeared after Wellzyn fired him. Reese denies that Wellzyn helped him develop Viper, stating that he must have started his own lab. Jim and Bullock tell her they're starting paperwork on warrants to search Wellzyn; Reese seems unconcerned as Jim stalks off.
Jim, maybe trying to get back to work at his desk, is met by Frankie, Maroni's hench man. Who, apparently, is just allowed to wander around the precinct. He talks Jim into coming with him by threatening to send Oswald's head to Falcone, revealing that Oswald was alive and Jim didn't kill him. Jim objects to being hooded in the car, but he can't stop them. It gets worse at Maroni's restaurant, where Oswald is roughed up and bleeding from the nose, but awake enough to instruct Jim to just tell the truth. Maroni tries offering Jim wine, but Jim asks only for water, to remind Maroni that he's a cop on duty. Frankie is ordered to bring some water for their newest diner.
En vino es veritas
Maroni wants to know how Jim and Oswald know each other, because he can't believe the story Oswald has told him. He sends Oswald to the back, so the boy's face is ready for the meat slicer when Jim's version doesn't match. However, Jim launches into the whole thing starting with the Waynes' murder, Oswald's snitching, and his fake death. Maroni is floored. He's ecstatic that a former Falcone associate is now one of his loyal men. Oswald is dragged from the meat slicer and literally embraced by his boss. Jim looks like he's ready to never see any of them again, but Maroni reminds him that they're not done. Jim says nothing.
Liza has apparently gotten her Italian aria as good as she's going to get it, because she's moved on to telling Fish Mooney she loves her, in subtly different tones, again and again. Mooney wants it simpler, and she coaches Liza on the kind of girl Falcone wants. And the kind of hair Falcone likes.
Bullock tries getting Jim's recent trip out of him, but Jim just calls it personal business, and chases Bullock out of his disappearance. Bullock seems legitimately concerned about his partner, wondering if it's about Barbara. Jim agrees, as it's partly true and part likely explanation to get Bullock of his case and back on Stan Potolsky. Their suspect was a loner, except for one convenient photo that leads to a philosophy professor at Gotham University.
The elderly, disabled man looks like he's been waiting for them, and reveals almost all in a straight-forward way. Stan took philosophy as a hobby, and over time, developed moral problems with his real project at work: a drug to turn ordinary people into super soldiers. The first batch, Viper, was horrible, but the next, Venom, had some success. Stan, horrified at what he was making, went directly to the Waynes to kill the program. But when they were murdered, it was re-started.
So, Stan is going to expose the drug in an effort to get it banned for use by the military, and no longer on Wayne Enterprise's product list. The Prof is part of the plan, as he whisks out a vial and breathes in the vapor before either detective can stop him. He transforms, tearing up his walker and using one of the torn legs to hold Bullock's throat against a wall. He rants on about altruism not making up for one's misdeeds when Jim shoots the Professor.
Bullock recovers from his choking enough to wonder what altruism is. Jim has to both explain that it's a fancy word for charity while wondering what that clue could have to do with Wayne Enterprises. Hmm.. bet Alfred knew a couple days ago when he gave Bruce a certain invite.
Bruce soaks in the atmosphere at Wayne Enterprise's charity luncheon as Alfred gives his name to the hostess and points out someone his parents used to work with, a lady in a blue dress named Molly Mathis. Purple flower centerpieces are carted to and from the kitchen, while a guy, with a mangled ear, who is definitely not here to serve lunch, walks around with a concealed barrel of Viper.
She's polite and happy to share a table with Bruce, but tries to put off his questions about the Arkham land deal, mistaking Bruce for a normal twelve-year-old boy. Here's a hint, Ms. Mathis- this kid doesn't play video games. Mathis is firm that Wayne Enterprises would never do business with criminals, but says there are no board members here for him to talk to. Would he like a meeting? Wouldn't that be nice?
Yeah, sure, I'm a stupid kid. Just keep thinking that, lady
Jim enters the luncheon just as Stan comes on the television screens around the luncheon to announce that Wayne Enterprise's middle management is dying of Viper, so it's effects won't be ignored and the company can pay for it's wrong-doing. Jim immediately tries to find the main air conditioning units, while Alfred throws a coat over Bruce's head and Bullock yells at the lunch-goers to flee as if they're children.
You have to die to get some attention here
Warehouse 39 turns out to be recently deserted, only lab tables and plastic sheets left behind. Jim is disappointed. Bullock shrugs it off. Whoever developed Viper had plenty of warning to clear out. Molly Mathis watches from a totally not-noticeable fancy car about 200 feet away. She phones in her report, telling whoever she's reporting to that the cops found nothing. So, they can live for now.
The night after and day after go badly for Falcone. Oswald's friend at his casino comes through, and Maroni is still threatening Oswald with death when Frankie and his accomplices run into their vehicle, loaded with bags of cash. Maroni is once again exultant. Oswald has come through. Oswald is on his way up, and he knows it.
Falcone's lieutenant Nikolai isn't so tough once you get his clothes off and tie him to a bed, which Fish Mooney already knew. No wonder they know how to fight- they're having an affair. Before untying him with her mouth, Mooney reminds Nikolai that Falcone has to be brought down slowly, so they can slide easily and quietly into power. Wonder if she's going to teach Liza that trick.
Liza's singing lessons pay off. Not that she can actually sing. But she can do a more than adequate job of distracting an old man from feeding the pigeons in the park. Falcone, maybe having a moment when he wonders if it's falling apart, can't help being reminded of happier times and his mother's singing to the very song Liza is butchering. Liza, with a new, white, business casual outfit, and blonde highlights, is intrigued by this older gentleman who speaks so lovingly of his mother. Touched, she offers to share Puccini with this wonderful stranger she's met, and Falcone can forget about Maroni and Arkham for a while, while we are treated to a site of Gotham from its main park.
Mathis' attempt to fend of the boy king of Wayne Enterprise backfired. Bruce is going through old documents like never before. And Alfred has finally realized that something is seriously wrong with his employer's company. Does he sit down and start helping for the memory of the employer he lost, or the future of the employer who shyly smiles at him, relieved that he's not alone in his quest for the first time?
The show is definitely tightening its focus. While the first three episodes made a point of getting almost all the cast on camera, the last two have been focusing on Bruce, Oswald, and Jim. Bruce is trying to cope with his sleuthing, Oswald is trying to turn Gotham into his empire. Jim is trying to hold Gotham together. This episode also doesn't include a visit with Jim, even though it would have been relevant to do so. Jim was directly involved in an investigation that ended at Wayne Enterprises. So, why no epilogue at Wayne Manor? Is Bruce maybe deciding that he's done waiting for information from Jim? Instead, we see the beginning of the end for Falcone.
So far, Gotham delivers on its premise. The audience was promised a long story of how actual people living in Gotham, either feeding off its corruption or tying to fight it, developed into characters. The show's whole premise is character development, and it's taking its time to show us a wide, varied cast and their motivations. All the while, never skimping on the show's main character, Gotham itself.
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