Fox’s Gotham season three episode one ended with Alfred knocked out and Bruce Wayne kidnapped. Episode two titled ‘Burn the Witch’ and airing on September 26, 2016 begins with Bruce (David Mazouz) coming to and discovering he’s been taken to the woman in charge of the secret Wayne Enterprises group. Bruce tells the woman, Kathryn (Leslie Hendrix), he knows her. She’s been in his home and he knows she’s been the mastermind behind Indian Hill and Hugo Strange. He also tells her he thinks she’s tried to kill him. He asks what they call themselves (we all know they’re the Court of Owls), but she won’t tell him. Instead, she wants to know what evidence he has of their existence. He tells her he didn’t really have any…until now. He considers her organization responsible for the murder of his parents. She believes he’s there to make a deal, and he offers up Wayne Enterprises. He also says if he dies his shares will go to the federal government which will then comb through all of the company’s assets. He thinks the name Wayne means a lot and he’s offering her that protection. She demands he cease all of his investigations or else. He agrees and she tells him he’ll never see her again.
Valerie Vale (Jamie Chung) shows up at Jim Gordon’s and he’s not happy to see her. After she slams his apartment, she tells Jim (Ben McKenzie) she can help him get Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) and collect the $1 million bounty. All she wants is a story. She needs Jim’s help getting in touch with her source and thinks he can do it for her. Jim’s still not into the idea of working with Valerie but reluctantly shakes on it. Valerie reveals Selina (Camren Bicondova) is her source and Jim doesn’t tell her they’re ‘friends’. He only reveals he knows someone who might know where to find her.
Jim and Valerie pay a visit to Barbara (Erin Richards) at the club and she has a snarky response when Jim says he’s not with Lee anymore. Valerie introduces herself and Barbara’s claws come out, telling Valerie she and Jim were engaged until she called it off. Valerie wants to know why Barbara’s not in Arkham and Barbara says she’s totally sane now, according to Hugo Strange. For a kiss she’ll tell Jim where Selina is. Jim says, “Never mind,” and Barbara gives away the info anyway. Before he leaves Barbara tells him she had a dream he lost his legs and she had to push him in a baby carriage. Freaky!
Getting into her car, Valerie says she’s going to call the GCPD and tell them where Fish’s hideout is, cutting Jim out of the deal. She drives off, reminding him he should have let her come with him when he went to visit Peabody.
And now we get our first look at the grown-up Ivy (Maggie Geha). She emerges from the bay, goes to a nearby truck, and looks at herself in its mirror. She’s confused and doesn’t understand what’s up and when the truck driver approaches, she asks him for something to drink. She remembers her name is Ivy.
Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) and the GCPD arrive at what’s supposedly Fish’s hideout, and Valerie reminds him she gets first crack at an interview once Fish is captured. Bullock gives the men a pep talk and in they go to try and reel in Fish. Fish and her fiends are actually inside the building but they attack rather than surrender. Officers and escapees clash as Fish makes her getaway.
Outside, Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) holds a press conference where he reminds everyone he’s been trying to get the police to pay attention to Hugo Strange’s freaks and Fish Mooney. He says the GCPD just let Fish escape, calling the escapees “monsters” and saying they’re attacking innocent Gotham citizens. He calls on everyone to kill the monsters!
At Wayne Manor, Alfred (Sean Pertwee) gently wakes up Bruce who has no idea how he got back home after meeting Kathryn. He hugs Alfred and tells him he saw “them” and that, “It worked. They agreed.” Bruce confesses he had to promise not to investigate them anymore. He’s broken up over that and tells Alfred it was the only way. Alfred realizes Bruce wasn’t the only one they threatened. He then asks if Bruce is going to keep his word, and Bruce says yes. “How do you know they’ll keep theirs?” asks Alfred.
Jim turns up at GCPD where Valerie wants them to be even. He’s not interested in further deals with her and follows Lucius (Chris Chalk) to his laboratory. Lucius shows him Ethel Peabody’s dead body, and as we saw in episode one she’s now an old woman. Lucius bets Peabody didn’t have the cure and so Fish killed her. That means Fish will now be after Hugo Strange.
Harvey Bullock’s grabbed by two of Fish’s minions but manages to drop his badge to show he’s in trouble. Bullock’s tossed into the back of a van and comes face-to-face with Fish. He’s pretty cool considering the circumstances, telling Fish he can’t help her find Hugo Strange. She gives him a kiss, using her power to make him obey.
And now we get to catch up with the grown-up Ivy once again. The stranger takes her to his place and all she wants is water. He has lots of houseplants and she feels a leaf of one that’s not looking so healthy and says, “So sad. Poor things.” He wonders why a beautiful girl like her doesn’t want to call anyone to let them know where she is, and she’s floored that he calls her beautiful. She’s still not sure how or why she changed. When he goes to throw out a dying plant, Ivy gets upset…
Jim and Lucius tell Captain Barnes (Michael Chiklis) they’re worried that Harvey is missing and Fish has him. Barnes isn’t happy to see Jim and tells him Harvey’s probably at some bar. When Jim produces Harvey’s badge, Barnes starts to take things seriously. They all realize Fish has Harvey and she’s looking for Hugo Strange. Barnes – and Harvey – both know the Feds took Hugo to an old mansion/high-tech research facility outside of town. Barnes offers to take Jim to Hugo’s hiding place.
Harvey takes Fish and her gang to the old mansion but the guards won’t let him in without ID. Problem solved as Fish’s people kill the guards. Hugo’s busy working on some project inside a glass cage when Fish tells him they have unfinished business. She tells him she needs to be ‘fixed’ and wants his help creating an army. Hugo says he can’t fix her as sirens are heard getting closer.
As GCPD officers arrive outside the building, Fish uses Harvey’s phone to call Barnes. Barnes threatens her and she doesn’t care. If a cop enters the building, Harvey will die. Barnes orders the officers to surround the building but not go inside. Just then Valerie Vale and the press corps arrive.
Penguin and Butch (Drew Powell) watch the live news and Penguin thinks Fish is finally cornered. Penguin is going to round up Gotham citizens to take Fish down.
Hugo (BD Wong) continues to tell Fish he can’t heal her but says she’s the first of a new generation. Fish threatens him with death as citizens with weapons, led by Penguin and Butch, rally outside the building. Barnes tries to keep things under control. The mob doesn’t listen to Barnes and Penguin incites the crowd to charge the building. Jim sneaks away to a side door during the commotion. Two of Fish’s minions get the drop on him but Fish calls them off. Jim tells her he just wants Bullock and he’s not with the cops. Jim says if he gets her out of there, she has to give him Bullock. Fish wants to take Hugo with her and Jim agrees to her terms.
Jim steps away and calls Penguin and offers him Fish, if he’ll get the townspeople to rush the front door and keep the cops occupied. The back exit is clear and Fish, Hugo, and the monsters leave as the citizens pour in the front door. Fish keeps her end of the deal and leaves Harvey with Jim. Two of the monsters are beaten by the mob, but Fish and Hugo make it outside. Penguin confronts them at gunpoint but before he shoots her, he wants to know why she let him leave that night under the bridge. He can’t figure it out. She says, “Because you’re mine. You were my umbrella boy, remember? You rubbed my feet when they were tired.” Fish says possibly the best thing she’s ever done in her life was turn Oswald Cobblepot into The Penguin. He’s speechless and seems overcome with emotion. Fish says he is a part of her forever. Penguin collects himself and says, “Goodbye, Fish. Don’t come back,” and lets her leave.
Two of the escapees’ dead bodies are tossed into a bonfire by the Gotham citizens who also lift Penguin up and cheer him. Jim and Harvey stand by shaking their heads in disbelief.
Ivy’s now slipped into much more grown-up attire, with the stranger dead on the floor after what appears to have been a blow to the head from a flowerpot. He definitely should not have let his plants die.
Catching up with Bruce and Alfred, the two are in the kitchen talking about what they won’t have to do anymore…stare at bulletin boards, visit the cave, etc. Alfred wants to know how Bruce will fill his spare time. Alfred suggests dancing lessons, showing off his own skills. Their peaceful little chat is interrupted by the sound of breaking glass and an alarm going off. Alfred grabs a gun and they go to check it out. A window’s broken and it’s Bruce’s doppelgänger! Bruce and his double stare at each other and the doppelgänger says, “Please don’t hurt me.”
Valerie visits Jim’s place and tells him her story will be about how Fish got away, but it won’t be the truth. She knows what Jim did to save Harvey but it won’t be in the papers. She knows Jim offered Penguin to Fish, and she’s also figured out Penguin didn’t kill Fish. Valerie doesn’t know why Penguin didn’t kill Fish, and now Jim can’t collect the bounty. “Who the hell are you, Jim Gordon?” she asks. And then there it is…they kiss.
Uh-oh. The next brief scene is Lee (Morena Baccarin) arriving at the train station.
