It wouldnt evenbea race without the Penguin.
Penguin has his slogan down, at least.
(How many episodes must we wait until Make Gotham Safe Again shows up on a hat?)
Credit: Jeff Neumann/FOX
Unlike Butchs last boss, Penguin is a lone wolf.
He certainly wont be intimidated out of pursuing it.
James asks Penguin what qualifications he has to take this post.
I have me, he answers, confidently.
This isnt supposed to be a documentary!
Penguins stance on issues is unlikely to be very complex.
Oswald calls them monsters in public; internally, the more accurate word would be competition.
Will Jervis Tetch fall into that category?
This episode introduces Benedict Samuel as Tetch, a.k.a.
the Mad Hatter from DC lore.
In the comics, Mad Hatter controls minds through science.
Later, Tetch shows up at the couples home to claim his prize.
After securing his lodgings, Tetch endeavors to engage the services of the best bounty hunter in town.
Dr. Stranges lab).
Tetch tells Gordon his sister carries a rare poison in her bloodstream.
And though the scientist promised to cure his sibling, he essentially imprisoned her instead.
Her brother offers double the standard GCPD rate for her discovery and Gordon gets to work.
Her pushy slumlord threatens that they could work out a solution together, if Alice is a nice girl.
He advances on her.
And though she warns him to stay away, he makes it to her lips.
The second he touches them, the landlord begins to seize and then collapses.
Im sorry, Alice says.
You shouldnt have done that.
Digging deeper, Gordon finds out Alice lost her last job because she burned that mother down.
He runs into the owner and some friends while he investigates the chargrilled bar.
Alice cut herself during a shift, the owner says.
When a few drops of her blood hit the counter, she freaked and set fire to the building.
To his credit, Dr. Mario makes the stand-up guy move.
Nothing, that is, unless Mario hurts Lee.
In that case, Gordon will take him out without hesitation or remorse.
And if hes trying to convince Mario hes over his fiancee, then he kind of blew it.
He wants to be legit.
I wonder, then, if Mario is the opposite.
The big reveal on his origin comes when dad shows up to dinner.
Lee is dating the son of Carmine Falcone.
And he cant escape that connection, even if his mother insisted on raising him away from the business.
Falcone drops a light warning on Lee, buried underneath a layer of compliments.
Mario either doesnt pick up on the threat or thinks its necessary.
Either way, I doubt hes really as clean as he comes off as.
NEXT: Late for a very important date
All sewed up, Gordon eventually locates Alices apartment.
The landlord is locked in the closet and theres no better way to say this zombified.
He leaps on Gordon when he lets him out.
Alice arrives and shoots Gordons attacker before he can infect him.
Did any of his blood get on you?
Gordon says no, and tells her that her brother is looking for her.
He cant find me, she says, agitated.
Then Alice drops a match onto the landlords body and makes a run for it.
Meanwhile at the club, Tetch is using Barbara as a prop.
Gordon shows up to tell his client he found his sister.
He also indicates that she seemed terrified of Tetch findingher.
He asks whats going on and why her blood is so toxic.
Shes not sick, shes powerful, sir, Tetch answers.
Again, Alice arrives to save Gordon in the nick of time.
She obviously doesnt want anyone else hurt by her condition.
Youre evil, she yells at Tetch.
Leave me alone or Ill kill you.
Guys, Im starting to suspect Alice is not Tetchs sister after all.
She shoots and hits him, and the spell is broken.
Gordon falls anyway, but catches the ledge at the very last moment; Alice pulls him back up.
Gordon thanks her and then cuffs her.
The GCPD doesnt pay as handsomely as the Hatter, but they still pay.
Bruces doppelganger is called 514A, he tells Alfred and Bruce.
Or Five, for short.
(Not as cute as El for Eleven onStranger Things, but Ill let it slide.)
Alfred is weirded out by the creepy double (We have to get rid of that thing.
), but Bruce insists its their duty to care for him.
Five plays confusion and wretchedness quite well…when his hosts are looking.
Hes gone the next day, along with some of Bruces clothes and his car.
Wayne Manor wasnotharboring an innocent.
Was the Court of Owls breeding a mind-controlled replacement for the Wayne heir?
If so, contact will need to be made soon if their plan is to survive the breakout.
Five might be working under orders, but his capture of Selina suggests hes gone completely rogue.
Bruce Wayne may be a child, but theres still only room for one of him in this town.
Odds and Ends:
Gordon: pours scotch into it
