The episode is more important for who it doesn't show. We get no appearance from young Master Bruce this week, implying that we'll get a double dose of him when we do finally see him. Instead, the kid quota this week is filled by Cat and Ivy, who take housing matters into their own hands. Before getting into the meat of this week's episode, we should remember how these two girls intersected with Jim's personal life this week.
Cat has been staying in what appears to be a discarded, over-sized pet cage in some rain-soaked alley somewhere in Gotham. When she ventures out, maybe for food, she discovers she hasn't been alone in the alley- Ivy, an old buddy, reveals her presence with some well-timed coughing. Cat, realizing that Ivy is too sick to stay huddled under cardboard in the rain, coaxes her up with the promise of real shelter. Which turns out to be Jim and Barb's old apartment.
Movin' on up!
Did Cat know it would be empty? Or, did she hope Jim would be there and amenable to sheltering another homeless kid? Either way, she successfully enters through the balcony door, and opens the main apartment door to Ivy, who somehow just managed to get in from the building lobby. Like Oswald a few episodes ago, who just waltzed right up to greet Jim and Barb at the worst moment. Ivy at least has the good sense to worry about getting caught, but Cat is nonchalant- the dust and smell of rotting food indicate that nobody's going to be here for a while.
I guess it made sense that Jim vacated. He'd never be able to afford the place on his own salary, and probably didn't want to stay if Barb wasn't living there too. But the place is uninhabited, with the old furniture still there. Is Barb still paying rent, thinking Jim's still living there? Did these two break up so badly, they couldn't even coordinate moving out of the apartment?
Jim is clearly not enjoying his new job, which includes breaking up fights that erupt when mentally ill amateur actors try to put on Shakespeare. Gruber, an inmate, is chewing scenery, but another actor's song sends a member of the audience into a fit that Jim breaks up, almost single-handedly. I get that the theme of the show is that Jim is a one-man justice crusade, but does the show have to depict everything he does that way?
Hair by Acme Mop Products, Inc.
Jim's new boss, Director Dr. Lang, is kind of pissy, blaming Jim for unstable people erupting into violence at unfamiliar stimulation. Nurse Duncan tries to deflect the blame onto herself, bemoaning that maybe The Tempest was too much for the inmates. Maybe the play should have been reviewed by... say... the Director of the facility before going forward? This never occurs to Lang, and Jim will only stare in silent, martyred fury at his new boss threatening his job. Really, Lang? Who else will do Jim's job?
I mean, besides the nurse
Lang, who is probably a psychiatrist, sends in another doctor to do the grunt work of treating one of the inmates injured in the fight, and she turns out to be wonderful. Beautiful. Competent. Funny. Compassionate. Not scared of life's ugliness. Seemingly the opposite of Barbara, Dr. Leslie Thompkins does everything but vow eternal loyalty to Jim's cause.
When Jim finds the inmate who started the ruckus in the first place, aka Frogman, the man has been made completely unresponsive. At first, he looks dead, and Dr. Thompkins has to confirm to Jim that Frogman is alive, if completely catatonic. She informs Jim that it would be achieved by repeated electroshocking, literally frying the man's brain. Lang, once again, blames Jim for not being everywhere all at once to solve all the problems. But, he's a fair man. He's willing to give Jim until Friday to tell him who fried Frogman's brain.
Solve this groovy mystery or I'll get rid of the only scapegoat I have
Dr. Thompkins advises Jim that the shock therapist would need keys to the room where the shock equipment is stored, so Jim starts by interviewing the most slovenly guard at Arkham, guessing that he is either a violent criminal or so incompetent someone could steal his keys. The second is the correct guess, and Jim is so angry at Guard Steven for losing keys to valuable stuff and then never reporting it out of fear for his own skin. Lang's right, there is incompetence at Arkham, It's just not Jim.
Jim's next step is to waste precious time interviewing inmates to see if he can deduce who stole Guard Steven's keys. Ostensibly, so he can deduce who then shocked Frogman. The inmates are all in varying degrees of uselessness, either denying they took anything or unable to answer any questions at all. Gruber, after waxing poetic about Jim's dilemma, finally denies taking the keys. Aaron denies taking the keys too, and Nurse Duncan insists that he's an axe murderer, but he'd never lie. Nurse Duncan and her earnest stare and old-fashioned nurse's uniform make a better impression than Aaron.
The case gets more urgent when Jim finds another inmate with a fried brain. This guy at least is capable of slamming his head into a fence repeatedly. When Lang tries taking it out on Jim, Jim launches into a passionate appeal for the city to keep its promises to the mentally ill. Jim then turns to Dr. Thompkins, whose been the only person who's been helpful, and tries to send her away. Thompkins refuses. Jim wants to call the GCPD. Lang wants it to stay in internal investigation so he can keep blaming Jim for everything. Jim informs him that GCPD is already sending its crack detective. Who turns out to be Bullock.
Bullock has the advantage of not being freaked out by anything not related to mob bosses killing him. Hell, he's even over that fear. So, Lang's attitude is quickly neutralized, with Bullock insisting that he's taking over, and treating Lang like a suspect unless Lang cooperates. So, these two will mosey back to Bullock's precinct, so Bullock can question him in a place where Lang has no access to records that might answer Bullock's questions. Which is crackerjack smart.
Let's get you out of the way so Jim can just solve the case
Bullock, returning with Lang to the good ol' precinct for questioning, has the joy of seeing Penguin in lock-up. Penguin got a little ahead of himself today, appearing to Gotham's crusty fishermen, and insisting that their payoffs to Maroni are going up. Before telling Penguin to stuff it, they called the cops who showed up and enforced the law for a change. Penguin will spend the episode nursing his wounds at the precinct.
Bullock and Lang have a bull session where they both proceed to bark at each other. They bark their way to a stalemate, until Lang finally realizes that his staff has a long history with him, except for this one Nurse who just appeared at Arkham with no history and no official credentials. She's just been taking care of the patients. And now she's offering to take care of Jim. Jim, thinking he's maybe found something useful, is poring over some old document when Nurse Duncan earnestly asks if he'd like to peruse older, records in the basement. Because that is not at all a creepy offer to make on a crime show.
Lang is just realizing that he has no idea where Nurse Duncan came from when Dr. Thompkins interrupts Nurse Duncan's clumsy kidnapping attempt. Jim tries to send Thompkins away again, and she refuses as Duncan releases all the male inmates to cover her own escape.
It's a good ploy, because they try to chase down Dr. Thompkins, who holds it together until she reaches a locked fence. But, it's disastrous for Nurse Duncan, who gets trampled in the stampede of crazy people. Thompkins manages to avoid getting killed when Jim appears. At first, they're held back by the power of Jim's impassioned powers of speech. But they try to break out with Jim and Thompkins, who manage to hold them back and relock the fence behind them.
And now, for more of how Cat and Ivy messed with Jim and Barb. Montoya has perhaps realized that Barbara is high maintenance. She's brought coffee with her breakup speech, which Barb takes badly. Whether Montoya is right, it's kind of goofy for the two of them to be on and off again. They don't even seem to like each other at this point. When finally alone, Barb calls her old apartment, thinking that her totally not rich boyfriend is still living in her fancy apartment, and reaches Ivy instead.
Ivy, who I'm sure totally doesn't sound like the pre-teen she is, convinces Barb that Jim's still living there, and with a girlfriend. Barb hangs up and throws her phone away. Hon, you broke up with him.
Back at Bullock's precinct, Essen is congratulating Jim and Bullock for another successful case, and both are already wishing to get Jim back in Homicide. Jim seems resigned to working at Arkham for the time being as Bullock and Essen inform him that Nurse Duncan was never really a nurse. She was a patient for decades. When Arkham closed years ago, she simply moved downstairs into the basement. When it reopened, she appeared as a Nurse, helping with the inmates.
Just as we think the mystery is solved, the ME for the precinct appears, after conducting an autopsy on "Nurse" Duncan, Turns out, she has electroshock marks on her, too. Jim and Bullock realize the electroshock "therapist" is still out there just as Lang does, too. Only, he's too late to save himself from Aaron, who's been shocked into serving Gruber. Aaron, at Gruber's command, kills the guard and Lang, and Gruber leaves a very courteous note for Jim as he and Aaron drive off into the industrial sunset. Gruber explains everything in his note to Jim, just in case he's caught again and Jim needs to have a written confession handy.
Fish Mooney and First Mate Butch spend the episode getting rid of their competition for Falcone's place. Instead of looking loyal to Falcone in front of the other lieutenants, she's now hosting a meeting where she and the other Falcone lieutenants discuss replacing him with one of themselves. Sabiano, a more senior lieutenant, says it's his turn. Mooney says she's got better ideas. Do you really need better ideas in organized crime? You find small businesses. You shake them down for protection money. You sponsor all the drugs and prostitution, and take a cut. Doesn't really need new ideas. Sabiano certainly doesn't think so. He has no patience for Mooney's talk and the meeting breaks up. So, helpful First Mate Butch offers to soften him up for Mooney. When Mooney doesn't intitially trust him to do the job for her, he bristles.
When Butch meets with Sabiano, Mooney's suspicions seem confirmed. Sabiano outright offers Butch Mooney's position and businesses for his support for Sabiano to replace Falcone. Butch judiciously asks for a little time to consider. When Mooney meets up with him later, Butch puts her off, telling her he just needs a little time to work his magic on Sabiano. When Butch meets up later for a private talk with Sabiano, he's waiting to the tune of that song from Dirty Dancing. You know, when Baby decided to finally do the deed with Johnny. Is Butch having his own secret dalliance here?
When they talk, alone in Sabiano's car, it gets properly ominous as the two quietly agree to work together for Sabiano's rise to Falcone's place. But, Butch has something he'd like to get off his chest. They reminisce about a stolen meat heist decades ago, after which Butch hid the best meat for himself and let Sab take home the low-quality stuff. Butch still feels bad about it, since Sabiano was and is a friend. And he wants to make sure Sabiano forgives him. Because they're friends. Really good friends. Which is why Butch suddenly shoots Sabiano in the head, leaves Sabiano's car parked at the pier, and drives away in his own, while "Many A Tear Have To Fall" is playing.
Did Butch kill Sabiano out of loyalty to Mooney? If so, why not tell her? Why keep it to himself? If he's making his own play for Falcone's crime empire, why eliminate his old friend? Does he think Mooney's coattails are better than Sabiano's? Why is Mooney a better boss? Methinks that Butch has some bigger plan, something Mooney doesn't yet know of.
Jim, for some reason, picks today to finally appear at the old apartment. Ivy and Cat have left, leaving behind a few dirty dishes, making Jim wonder if he's missed his love. Who thinks he's living in their apartment with a new girlfriend.
It's not a sand ending for everybody. After being left to cool his heels in lockup for a day, Maroni finally appears to scold Penguin and bring him home. He shakes a finger at Penguin for trying to up the payments from working-class guys busy feeding Gotham, accusing Penguin of hubris. Penguin has stayed alive, even profited, from his ability to be useful to someone powerful at just the right moment. So, his openly shaking up honest working people behind Maroni's back seems a little out of character for him.
One thing that is totally in character is how self-effacing he can be when confronted by someone more powerful. He instantly apologizes, winning back Maroni's affection and his own freedom. It's a happy day.
Get me out of this cell so I can kill you...
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