“Whatever Galavan is planning, it’s going down today,” says Gordon (Ben McKenzie). “Stop it,” replies Capt. Barnes (Michael Chiklis). Barnes has changed his mind and put his top detective back on the case right before Galavan (James Frain) is scheduled to go to court for the kidnapping and attempted murder of the Mayor of Gotham in season two episode 10 of FOX’s gritty comic-book crime series Gotham.
The episode begins with a terrified woman running from what seems to be yet another Gotham thug. As he grabs her things and gets ready to shoot her, he’s suddenly pulled down a dark alley and seems to disappear.
Gordon, Capt. Barnes, Bullock (Donal Logue), and other members of the GCPD are dressed in their dress blues to attend the funeral for the young woman officer murdered by the cannibal, Flamingo. After the service, Gordon pays a visit to Galavan in prison to see if the name Catherine Parks means anything to him, but Galavan says it doesn’t. However, Galavan’s attitude and constant smiling have Jim on edge.
Gordon goes home and tells Lee (Morena Baccarin) about his “mistake.” If he had shot Flamingo in the face instead of arresting him, the young officer would be alive now. Lee tries to reassure Jim he did the right thing and that he’s about justice, not vengeance, but Jim is in no mood to hear it.
Selina (Camren Bicondova) has been able to convince Bruce (David Mazouz) that Silver (Natalie Alyn Lind) is a no-good lying backstabber and the two of them work together to set her up to try to get the name of the man who killed Bruce’s parents. It seems Bruce is still convinced she knows the name of the actual killer. While the two of them work out their plan, it’s obvious Selina is happy to be back with her only true friend again – but she still feels threatened by Silver. In setting up Silver, Selina tells Bruce, “The best liars always tell the truth,” right before she quickly climbs up a tree to her perch to listen in on Bruce and Silver’s conversation.
Barnes returns to the precinct and puts Gordon on the new case of the missing thug who tried to attack the woman. Gordon tries to talk Barnes out of it telling him Galavan is up to something but Barnes is tired of Galavan, saying he’s locked up and it will be good for Jim to work on another case.
Meanwhile, Bruce’s manipulation of Silver is going very well. He’s using his “feelings” for the girl to get her to ask Galavan for the name of Bruce’s parents’ murderer and he tells her he’ll pay for her uncle’s legal defense. Silver is reluctant at first but Bruce whispers a few sentences in her ear and she asks him if he really means that. He nods yes and kisses her which starts to get to Selina who’s watching and listening to everything from above.
Later, Bruce gets a message on his phone from Silver saying to meet her in the park and that she has the name he wants. When Bruce gets there a van pulls up and a group of thugs, led by The Knife (Tommy Flanagan), open the side door of the van and reveal a kidnapped Silver. The Knife tells Bruce to get in and he complies.
They take both Bruce and Silver to an old, abandoned warehouse just outside the city and have Silver and Bruce tied to two chairs. The Knife tells the two that he knows someone has been snooping around trying to find out who the killer of Bruce’s parents is and he wants to know what Galavan knows about it. He threatens to cut off their fingers in order to try to get them to talk.
Twice Bruce interrupts The Knife, trying to tell him to back off and let them go. The Knife responds by slapping Bruce hard across the face, telling him to only speak when asked a question. The Knife then begins to drag Bruce into the other room to begin to cut off his fingers, and Bruce yells to Silver to tell them the name and he will still honor the deal with Galavan. Silver says she’s sorry but she doesn’t know it and was told to lie to keep Bruce busy until Galavan was released later that night.
Gordon and Bullock get a tip about a massage parlor (that gives happy endings) that Galavan tried to purchase. They go to check it out and end up confronting a member of the Order of St. Dumas, the last name Galavan once held and hopes to return to Gotham. All they get out of the man dressed as a monk is that “a day of reckoning is at hand and the blood of the nine will wash away the sin and Gotham shall be cleansed.” They find a few dead clients and the monk killer tries to escape and gets hit and killed by an oncoming truck.
After making the connection between the killer monks and Galavan because of the names, Barnes puts Jim and Bullock back on the Galavan/killer monks case. Gordon and Bullock go back to the alley where the thug disappeared with the other killer monk – there seems to be a small army of them – and Jim realizes they are using the sewers. Harvey groans, knowing they are going back into the bowels of Gotham. While searching the sewers the two detectives discover the dead thug and Harvey is attacked by a knife-wielding monk.
Luckily, the killer is no match for the two cops and they are able to knock him out. Harvey wants to apply some force to try to get him to talk but Jim reminds him that the guy is a religious nut not motivated by pain or greed. So Harvey heads up to try to get a cell signal to call for back up and Jim stays with the unconscious monk. Gordon blindfolds the Order member and gives him a blessing of blood by slicing his own hand open with a blade. The killer monk reveals to Jim that the Son of Gotham will die. Could he be talking about Bruce Wayne?!
Speaking of Bruce, The Knife reappears with a blood-soaked towel praising how little Mr. Wayne really manned up and didn’t cry or scream while he cut off all his fingers. Silver begs The Knife to stop and he begins to pull her closer to get at her hands. The real Silver finally emerges telling The Knife her uncle will kill him and everyone he cares about if he touches her. He smiles down at her and says, “There she is,” referring to Silver’s real personality. He pulls out one of her fingers and puts the blade of his big knife to it. Silver quickly reveals the name of the man who murdered the Waynes, naming him as Malone with a first name that begins with M. She swears that’s all she knows.
Bruce and Selina come walking out from the other room and, yes, it’s all been a big con to get Silver to reveal what she really knew. It’s obvious that this marks the beginning of Bruce slowly turning into the man and the Bat who he is destined to become. He reveals to Silver that Selina found the file she had on him and it was obvious now that she was never his friend and was only interested in manipulating him for her uncle, Galavan. Silver tries to convince Bruce that it’s not true but it’s way too late. She begs him not to leave her and that her uncle will kill her. She tells him he would never let that happen because it’s not who he is. Bruce stops walking away and turns to Silver and says, “That’s exactly who I am.” Bruce and Selina then leave together after paying The Knife for his excellent performance and assistance.
Meanwhile, Alfred (Sean Pertwee) is of course looking for Bruce and goes to Galavan’s penthouse apartment and comes across Tabitha (Jessica Lucas) who’s looking for something thrown into the fireplace. The two taunt each other and fling insults and it finally escalates into a fight. It turns out the two are an equal match for each other with Tabitha pulling a knife to try to gain an advantage. Alfred knocks Tabitha out for a bit after getting stabbed but ends up taking a knife to the back during his escape.
Jim and Barnes attend the court hearing of Galavan to discover that the mayor has recanted and now says that the Penguin was responsible for his kidnapping. Galavan is released and turns and smiles big at Jim who loses it and punches Theo in the face. Gordon is then taken out of the courtroom by two officers who taser him and take him to the docks. Obviously, the two crooked cops work for Galavan.
Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce and Selina have arrived with Bruce looking for Alfred. Figuring he must be out looking for him, Bruce thanks Selina for her help and she asks him what he’s going to do with the information. Is he going to give it to Detective Gordon or follow up on it himself? Bruce admits he hasn’t thought that far ahead yet. Selina asks Bruce what he whispered into Silver’s ear to get her to trust him. Bruce tells Selina that he told Silver that he trusted her with his life and felt tied to her in a way he had never felt before. “Was that true?” asks Selina, obviously hoping it wasn’t. “Yes, but not about her,” replies Bruce revealing that’s how he feels towards Selina. Blushing, smiling, and looking a little embarrassed, Selina goes to exit out her favorite window but turns and says to Bruce, “It’s good you’re changing, but don’t change too much.”
Back at the docks, Gordon is tied up and Galavan confronts Jim revealing that it was his family that really built Gotham and how his forefathers were betrayed by the Wayne family. Galavan thanks Gordon for all his help saying he couldn’t have done it without him. He then changes his mind and tells his men to release Gordon so he and Jim can fight. Letting his anger get the better of him and underestimating Theo, Gordon gets his ass kicked by Galavan and ends up passed out on the ground. As he leaves, Galavan tells his men to kill him but not quickly. The two corrupt cops begin to beat Jim to what looks like his death when they are both shot by Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) who had been told by Gabe that Galavan was released earlier in the evening. Penguin tries to get Jim to tell him where Galavan is but Jim is unconscious.
Speaking of Penguin, throughout the episode are sprinkled scenes of Penguin and Ed Nygma bothering each other on the phone. It’s an entertaining dynamic developing between the two Gotham villains, which unfortunately is cut short by Galavan’s release from prison.
The episode ends with Galavan invading Wayne Manor and praising Bruce for his ingenuity, but that’s not going to stop Theo’s plans. He pulls out a blade and tells Bruce he wants his life.
Review of Gotham Season 2 Episode 10:
Dark, intense, and violent, season two episode 10 titled “Son of Gotham” sets up and brings to a head all the major characters involved in Galavan’s revenge plans. It seems to be a dark time for the heroes as Jim has just been saved by the villain Penguin rather than his partner, Bullock, and poor Bruce is at the mercy of Galavan and his big knife and killer monks.
The stand-out performance in this episode once again goes to David Mazouz as young Bruce Wayne who for the first time since the series began shows a glimmer of the man and the Caped Crusader he is destined to become. The scene where he explains to Silver what has been really going on and how he knows now that she was never his friend is almost chilling…besides being completely awesome. His matter-of-fact cold demeanor makes the scene even that much more powerful.
Another strong performance in this episode is delivered by Camren Bicondova as Selina. Her character has really been down and hurting this season after losing an old friend, her trust and faith in Gordon, and almost losing Bruce, her only true friend. She displays subtlety in her jealousy and concern for Bruce who she’s not sure isn’t still smitten with Silver. The scene where Bruce tells Selina, who just can’t shake the great performance he gave in convincing Silver he really cared for her, what he said and that it was true but about Selina is one of the episode’s best because of Camren’s reaction to it as Selina. The way she looks so happy yet a little embarrassed to know that her first love still loves her back is perfect.
With Jim out cold, Bruce in the hands of Galavan and his Order, and Alfred off somewhere with a knife in his back, here’s hoping our heroes’ luck greatly improves in the mid-season finale.
GRADE: B
