‘Gotham’ Season 3 Episode 19 Recap: All Will Be Judged

Gotham Season 3 Episode 19
David Mazouz and Raymond J. Barry in ‘Gotham’ season 3 episode 19 (Photo by Jeff Neumann / FOX)

Fox’s Gotham season three episode 19 finds two villains teaming up, another one losing a body part, the death of a key supporting player, and the possible emergence of a new villain. Episode 19 titled ‘All Will Be Judged’ begins with Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) and Edward Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) held prisoner in cages mere inches apart. Nygma can’t believe Oswald survived being shot so he slaps him in the face, mistakenly believing he’s not really there. Ed then demands to be called The Riddler, but of course Oswald doesn’t obey. He’s back from the dead to kill Ed and he doesn’t view their temporary imprisonment as much of an obstacle in obtaining his revenge.

There’s another back-from-the-dead encounter going on over at Wayne Manor. Selina (Camren Bicondova) attacks Fake Bruce (David Mazouz) with a knife and as he’s fighting her off, he says he’s glad she didn’t die in the fall. He only pushed her to keep her from telling Alfred. Fake Bruce grabs a fireplace poker and takes a swing, but Selina’s too fast. She stabs him in the side before taking a blow to the face herself. They continue to fight and Alfred (Sean Pertwee) finally comes in to break it up. Selina screams, “He’s not Bruce!” as Alfred restrains her, and then Fake Bruce delivers the knock-out blow.

Alfred commands Fake Bruce to put the fireplace poker down and then sees blood on his shirt where Selina stabbed him. Alfred realizes this Bruce doesn’t feel pain and demands to know where the real Bruce is. Fake Bruce gives him a cryptic answer and then he and Alfred go at it. Fake Bruce gets the upper hand and uses the poker to knock out Alfred.

Mario wakes Lee (Morena Baccarin) and she tells him about her horrible dream. She describes the virus and how it brings out a person’s dark side, and he asks what it brought out in him. She replies that it brought out his jealousy toward Jim and then recalls Jim shot Mario on their wedding night. Mario hands her a wine glass and tells her to take her medicine. He drains his blood into the glass and commands her to drink. It’s then that she really wakes up and, disturbed, knocks her glass of red wine off the table.

Over at the GCPD, Jim (Ben McKenzie) has discovered safe houses that are probably housing the virus. He’s even found one tenement building that’s actually 2,000 square feet larger than the blueprints. Harvey (Donal Logue) points out the virus bomb could be in any one of dozens of secret rooms throughout the city and suggests Jim just wait until Kathryn calls him to find out more information. However, Jim wants to search now without alerting the Court of Owls.

Jim and Harvey check out the secret room in the tenement building by the port and find a crystal owl. When they shine a light on it, a map of Gotham is projected onto the wall. Unfortunately, their investigation ends abruptly when Captain Barnes (now completely transformed into The Executioner) arrives and knocks them out.

Alfred and Selina come to and Fake Bruce has disappeared. Even though at this particular time they’re on the same side, Alfred and Selina still can’t get along. She reminds him she warned him not to poke the tiger (the Court of Owls) and Alfred gets angry when Selina admits she believes Bruce is dead. Selina refuses to help Alfred find Bruce and Alfred is furious, telling her Bruce has always been her friend. He compares her to her mother and tells her to never come back to Wayne Manor.

A witness reports Barnes (Michael Chiklis) drove off in a meat truck, and Harvey tells the officers they have to find him because he’s taken Jim.

Oswald sharpens a piece of metal into a blade, continuing to call The Riddler Edward after being warned to never use that name. Edward tells Oswald he’s there because he wanted to know who runs Gotham while Oswald’s there because he was looking for revenge over unrequited love. Oswald denies that’s the reason and instead he’s there because Ed destroyed his criminal empire. After they argue some more and Oswald warns he’ll tell the guards if Ed tries to escape, Ed shoots Oswald with a dart. Ed picks the lock on his cage and has barely stepped out when Oswald starts slamming his food tray to get attention. It works and Ed’s put back in his cage.

Meanwhile, the real Bruce has almost completed his training and has one final step to take before he’s free. The Temple Shaman wants to remove the pain from the night Bruce’s mom and dad were killed. Bruce has a vision in which he’s holding his mother’s pearls and is told by the Shaman to lock them away. “Become strong. Become the protector Gotham needs,” says the Shaman. Bruce’s hand shakes as he approaches the safe, but he’s unable to let go of the pearls. The Shaman says it’s now time for Bruce to learn the truth.

It’s time to check in on Jim and we find him in a desperate situation. The Executioner has brought Jim to see Kathryn and he’s incapable of escape as he’s chained to a chair. Kathryn knows he’s been lying about his commitment to the Court of Owls and knows that Jim’s been working against the Court. She keeps demanding to know who he’s spoken to and Jim tells her to go to hell. Kathryn calls Jim an enemy of Gotham and turns him over to Captain Barnes. Barnes brings his one-man court to order, ready to put Jim on trial.

Lee pays a visit to Jervis Tetch (Benedict Samuel) at Arkham and he asks if she’s plagued by nightmares. She admits she blamed Jim and not him for infecting Mario, and wonders why he selected Mario as his victim. Tetch admits he did it because Lee looked at Jim with love and so he infected Mario. She fell right into his trap by blaming Jim for what happened to Mario. Tetch tells her she’s actually the one to blame.

Oswald finally wakes up from being drugged by Ed and Ed’s pissed the guards took away his lockpick. Neither men know why they’re being kept locked up, but Ed has heard the Court is planning to attack the city. Oswald finally comes to the conclusion they both have to escape and that means they must work together. They lay down a set of rules that includes no murder on the premises. Plus, Ed wants a six-hour window after the escape in which they can’t murder each other. They shake on it, deal struck.

Gotham Season 3 Episode 19
Cory Michael Smith and Robin Lord Taylor in ‘Gotham’ season 3 episode 19 (Photo by Jessica Miglio / FOX)

The Temple Shaman reveals “his truth” to Bruce, showing him one of his own memories from the time of the murder. The Shaman was a leader of the Court of Owls and he didn’t approve of the killing of the Waynes. He respected the Waynes and believed they were important to Gotham. He then explains the Court of Owls was a way to maintain order in Gotham, but now their days are over. They need to pay for their crimes, including the murder of Bruce’s parents.

Trial over, The Executioner delivers a death by beheading verdict. Before he can deliver the blow, Jim tells him the Court is about to infect the innocent and the guilty with the virus. Barnes doesn’t believe the virus is a curse and he asks Jim if he has a last request. Jim wants his badge so he can die wearing it and Barnes agrees. As Barnes pins it on Jim’s chest, Jim removes the pin from a grenade on Barnes’ belt. Barnes is able to throw it out the window but he’s distracted when Harvey and his men bust in the room. They shoot at him as he flees, and the officers give chase.

Back at the station, Harvey’s upset no one’s been able to track down Barnes. But the good news is, the strike force is bringing in Kathryn. Alfred arrives just then to reveal Bruce has been abducted. “Why can’t anything be easy?!” asks a frustrated Harvey. When Alfred starts to explain a shady organization took Bruce, Jim cuts him off by acknowledging it’s the Court of Owls. Harvey and Jim fill Alfred in on the Court of Owls and Alfred confesses they had a run-in earlier in the year. Alfred also tells them he’s not even sure how long Bruce has been missing.

Jim wants to know what Alfred and Bruce did to make the Court notice them, and Alfred admits they found a crystal owl which he broke. Jim and Harvey also found an owl, and Jim asks if Alfred’s owl can be reassembled. They think the map leads to secret hiding places, but the owl Jim and Harvey found was blown up by Barnes. Alfred still has the owl pieces and heads out to retrieve them.

The criminal team of Oswald and Edward initiate their planned escape. Ed holds Oswald at knifepoint as the guards rush in. Ed pretends to cut Oswald’s throat and Oswald falls to the floor. The guards figure out pretty quickly the blood is Jello, but not in time to stop Oswald and Ed’s plan. The dastardly duo incapacitate the guards and make their escape.

Kathryn’s brought into the station where she sees a very much alive Jim Gordon. Jim interrogates her, asking about the bomb and about kidnapping Bruce Wayne. When Jim asks what the Court will think about their leader behind bars, Kathryn reveals she’s not the leader.

Alfred delivers the pieces of the owl to Harvey who admits he can’t even do a jigsaw puzzle. He’ll call one of his men who makes molds to see if he can help. As he jumps on the phone, Alfred asks about Jim and Harvey tells him he’s currently interrogating Kathryn. Alfred doesn’t even pause, storming out of the room to find Jim.

Alfred barges into the interrogation and demands to know where Bruce is being held. Kathryn isn’t fazed, believing they’re playing good cop/bad cop. Alfred confesses he’s a butler and then stabs Kathryn throw her hand, pinning it to the table.

Captain Barnes arrives and tosses knock-out gas into the GCPD, declaring, “Court is now in session.”

Alfred promises to gut Kathryn if she doesn’t reveal Bruce’s location. They feel the building shake as Barnes continues his attack. Harvey checks it out and then tells them they need to leave ASAP. Alfred grabs Kathryn as Harvey and Jim lead the way. Kathryn yells for help as Barnes falls onto Jim from the ceiling. Harvey, Jim, and Alfred all attack but Kathryn gets in the middle of it. She demands Barnes stop this nonsense and take her out of the building now, but Barnes doesn’t appreciate her labeling his form of justice as nonsense. He slices her throat and Kathryn falls to the ground, dead.

Harvey’s unconscious and Jim is Barnes’ next target. Jim grabs a shotgun and blows off Barnes’ arm which had the executioner’s blade attached. He then uses the butt of the gun to knock Barnes out.

Edward and Oswald emerge from the building and drop their makeshift weapons. They agree to stick with their deal, but Ed taunts Oswald saying Barbara runs the underworld now and has all the gangs under her control while Oswald has no one. Oswald corrects him, revealing he has Hugo Strange’s monsters on his side.

Lee arrives at the station but she’s not there to help. She’s totally done with this place and believes there’s no justice in Gotham. She confesses she’s ready to pay for what she did, which totally confuses Jim.

Jim tells Harvey that with Catherine dead, the Court of Owls’ leader will be forced to act. Harvey didn’t realize Kathryn wasn’t in charge and Jim admits he has no idea who is.

Bruce and the Shaman are once again back in the vision world, with Bruce still holding his mother’s pearls in front of the open safe. “The Court of Owls must pay for what they did. It’s the only way,” says the Shaman. This time Bruce can let go of the pearls, although he does so with a shaking hand.

Coming to, the Shaman asks him how he feels when he thinks about the murder of his mom and dad. Bruce replies, “I feel nothing.” The Shaman then explains Bruce just went through the same training as the Court of Owls’ Talons, proving his point by asking a Talon to cut off his own finger which he does without hesitation. The Shaman reveals that since he’s taken away the painful memory, Bruce will now be under his control and do whatever he says. Bruce agrees.

Back at the GCPD, the owl’s been put back together and the map is projected onto a screen. Of course, that means there’s bad news on the way to balance the good, and the bad news this time is that Barnes has escaped. Plus, the virus sample is now missing and Jim suspects Lee took it.

Lee’s at home and she definitely has the sample. She injects herself and smiles.

More on Gotham:
Gotham Season 3 Episode 17 The Primal Riddle Recap
Gotham Season 3 Episode 16 These Delicate and Dark Obsessions Recap
Gotham Season 3 Episode 15 How the Riddler Got His Name Recap
Gotham Season 3 Episode 14 Jerome’s on the Loose Recap