Fox’s Gotham season four episode six introduces a bizarre killer who has an affinity for pigs and brings Lee Thompkins back into the fold. The episode begins with Lee (Morena Baccarin) employed as the doctor in an underground fight club that Ed Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) and Solomon Grundy (Drew Powell) happen to wander into. Nygma wonders if Lee’s still mad at him, and she sarcastically tells him she’s over the fact he killed Kristen Kringle and framed Jim so he’d be in jail when she miscarried their child. Solomon stops her from punching Ed in the face, and she calls him by his real name, Butch.
Ed doesn’t know what happened to Butch, but he’s happy the guy’s his friend/protector. More importantly, Ed’s there rooting for Solomon to fight and make money so that Ed can fix his brain and be smart again. He wants Lee to help him out and says if she helps him, he’ll help her. Lee turns him down.
Sofia Falcone (Crystal Reed) and Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) have dinner again for the third night in a row, and she wants to know where their relationship stands. The city now knows that he has the support of the Falcone family, and Penguin can’t believe he has someone he can trust. She suggests lunch the following day, and Penguin is all smiles.
Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) has been eavesdropping and wants to know her real plans for Oswald. He threatens to send her home if she doesn’t tell him, and she promises she’ll have Oswald in the palm of her hand in a few days.
Seven minutes in and we finally get our first killing of the episode. A man in a pig’s head butchers a cop.
The next morning Jim and Harvey (Donal Logue) show up at the crime scene and learn the victim had a pig’s face covering his own. The dead cop is Dave Metzger, a dirty officer known as the Candyman – Penguin’s bag man who delivered payoffs to cops in the precinct.
Jim pays a visit to Penguin to see what he knows about Metzger’s murder. Penguin doesn’t recognize the name, and Jim says the killer might be trying to send Penguin a message. Penguin has no idea who would do that but he asks Mr. Penn if he knows anything that could help Jim find the killer. Mr. Penn reveals Wally Clarke applied for a burglary permit for a butcher shop called the Pork Barrel.
Our introduction to Professor Pyg (Michael Cerveris) is a disturbing scene in which he touches up a pig’s face, applying makeup to make it look more feminine.
Jim and Harvey haul Wally into the station and accuse him of sticking a pig’s head on Dave Metzger. Apparently, the rest of the pig body was in a dumpster behind Wally’s apartment. Wally swears it wasn’t him and says it must have been the professor. Wally doesn’t know the man’s real name, but he received payment from him for four pigs’ heads.
Jim and Harvey think Penguin must have three more bagmen working for him who are going to be killed.
Oswald waits for his lunch date, but Sofia is a no-show. Victor Zsasz (Anthony Carrigan) breaks the news that something came up, not sounding in the least bit sympathetic. Oswald wants Victor to follow Sofia and see who she’s with.
Back at the fight club, Hammer takes on Solomon Grundy. The crowd cheers and Grundy takes multiple blows from Hammer’s hammer to his head and body. He doesn’t fight back until Ed, frustrated, tells him to. Solomon grabs Hammer’s hammer and punches the man, knocking him down. He then uses the hammer to finish him off as the crowd roars. The owner of the club, Cherry (Maria Benedict), tells Lee to take good care of her new cash cow, Solomon Grundy.
Jim and Harvey talk to other cops, trying to figure out who else is a bagman for Penguin. No one wants to talk to Jim and Harvey, but finally they lock one man in a car’s trunk and threaten to leave him there in the hot sun. He finally gives in and gives up Chris Whitlock, adding that they can find Chris in court.
Harvey learns the name of another bagman – make that bagwoman – and it’s Ginny Butler. Before heading out to find her, they stop at the court to find Chris Whitlock. Unfortunately for the bagpeople, Jim and Harvey are too late. Both are dead with pigs’ heads covering their real faces.
Jim thinks the killer is going after dirty cops, specifically the ones who work for Penguin – and he may not stop with just the bagmen. They still don’t know the identity of the fourth bagman.
Jim asks a talented musician playing in front of the courthouse if he saw anything unusual. He says he saw an old van with a plumbing company logo on the side. He didn’t see the driver’s face.
Lee takes care of Solomon Grundy’s wounds, astonished that his hand grew back. Plus, he’s not bleeding real blood; he’s bleeding swamp water. He also doesn’t have a heartbeat. She tells him Ed’s not really his friend and that he’ll discard him when he doesn’t need him anymore. Solomon’s sure they’re best buddies and says so as Ed walks up with a wad of cash Solomon won in the ring.
Ed reminds Lee they’d leave if she fixed his brain and she wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore. Lee once again refuses.
Lee leaves the club and heads to what looks like a clinic for low-income families. Ed follows her there and secretly watches as she examines a child.
Victor follows Sofia, snapping photos of her on the sly.
Harvey tells Jim things are heating up fast, and Jim shows him a list of names of cops who haven’t called in. Jim wants to take the list to Penguin and have him point out a name, but Harvey has it figured out. He’s heard one cop on the list is dirty, and officers are already on the way to his apartment. Harvey closes the door and lays out his theory that the killer is one of their own since he knew where each cop would be. They’re interrupted with the news there’s a lead on the plumbing van the musician identified as being near the crime scene.
Professor Pyg already has his next victim bound, gagged, and held in the back of a van.
Solomon Grundy is back in the ring and once again he doesn’t fight back right away. However, once he does the fight ends quickly with Solomon smashing his opponent in the head. Solomon’s the new champion of the club, and the crowd goes wild cheering for him.
Victor reports back to Penguin that Sofia had lunch with the mayor. His report is so thorough that he even lists off what each ate. Following the lunch, Sofia went to the Gotham Heritage Hotel. Mr. Penn says the old hotel was purchased recently by a secret buyer, and it was probably Sofia Falcone. Victor continues his report, saying Sofia then met with the zoning commissioner. That meeting probably had to do with the wall and gate she built around the place. Penguin deduces Sofia is planning a war. He tells Victor they’ll be having a chat with Sofia…a chat that involves a shovel and a trunk.
Ed bothers Lee at the club, and she tells him once again to bug off. Ed’s convinced it must be her who operates on his brain because she knows what he’s capable of. She refuses again, and Ed reveals he knows about the clinic she’s running. Lee doesn’t seem to care that he has this information, and Ed’s defective brain can’t articulate why he believes that information gives him power. He finally says, “If you don’t help me, I am going to do something to that clinic!” Lee just laughs and says, “Oh my god, you really aren’t smart.” (Cory Michael Smith is nailing the confused, intellectually impaired Ed Nygma!)
Harvey and Jim find the fourth cop, and he’s wearing a pig’s head but not yet dead. As Jim slowly removes the head, he sees there’s a wire attached and a hole in the cop’s stomach. Harvey and Jim barely escape as the plug is pulled from the grenade that’s been inserted in the cop’s body. He explodes and Jim and Harvey are sent flying from the blast.
Jim comes to taped to a chair. He yells for Harvey but it’s Professor Pyg who answers, introducing himself as a big fan of the detective. Jim wants to know where Harvey is, and Professor Pyg calls Harvey a dirty pig. He does, however, reveal Harvey’s still alive. Professor Pyg tells Jim he’s safe, and Jim asks him if he’s a cop. Professor Pyg believes they have something in common in that they see the corruption inside the GCPD. The city can’t survive unless the cancer is cut out. Jim doesn’t think killing Penguin’s bagmen will change anything, and Professor Pyg says he’s going to kill everyone on Penguin’s payroll. Jim admits that could be half the department. Professor Pyg says he suffered a great loss at the hands of the greedy pigs in power, and Jim offers to help make it right.
They’re interrupted by Harvey screaming from another room. Professor Pyg runs to the other room and Jim has no option other than to throw himself off a ledge in order to free himself from the chair. Jim escapes his bonds as Professor Pyg has a knife to Harvey’s throat. Professor Pyg slices Harvey and leaves him hanging in a noose as he runs away. Jim frees his partner and tends to his neck wound, promising Harvey he’ll be all right.
Lee’s back at the clinic and frustrated she doesn’t have enough drugs to help her patients.
Oswald pays an unexpected visit to Sofia at her home, and she apologizes for missing their lunch. She says she’s on her way out and doesn’t have time to talk to him, and Oswald screams at her that he knows she’s making the old Heritage Hotel into a fortress and then she’ll attack him. Sofia looks confused and says that’s not true.
Oswald’s angry she pretended to be his friend and Sofia says he’s making a huge mistake. Oswald demands to see what she’s building.
Ed’s drinking at the fight club when Lee asks him to hand over the money Solomon made. She can’t promise Ed she’ll fix him, and he wonders what changed her mind. Lee admits she doesn’t want to be doing this kind of work in the club or even in Gotham, but she couldn’t stay away. The Tetch virus hit The Narrows harder than anywhere else and she thinks that’s her fault. She has to help those people. As she walks away, she tells Ed to come by the clinic tomorrow.
Sofia brings Oswald and Victor to the hotel and shows him it’s been turned into an orphanage. She wanted to surprise Oswald with it after it was finished, and for once he’s nearly speechless. She tells him she understands he’s forced to see everyone as a potential threat, and he asks for her forgiveness. She grants it and tells him he owes her lunch.
Harvey’s in bad shape but he’ll be okay, according to the doctors. Harvey knows Professor Pyg could have killed him but instead he only cut him deep enough to leave Jim with a choice: chase the killer or help his friend. Harvey says he owes Jim and Jim asks him to pay him back now by telling him how long he’s been taking money from Penguin. Jim doesn’t know why he didn’t figure this out before, and Harvey says it’s only been since Penguin started doing these licenses. He had to comply, and then Metzger had envelopes stuffed with cash. Harvey says he has a lot of bills and debts, and Jim tells him that taking the payoffs must stop now.
The news reports Professor Pyg is still at large and people should report suspicious activity to the GCPD.
The episode’s final scene is Professor Pyg walking through a pigsty, reciting “Two Mother Pigs.” He tells them to sleep well because tomorrow the axe shall fall.
More on Gotham:
– Recap of Gotham Season 4 Episode 1
– Recap of Gotham Season 4 Episode 2
– Recap of Gotham Season 4 Episode 4
– Recap of Gotham Season 4 Episode 7
– Erin Richards Interview
– Cory Michael Smith Interview
– Jessica Lucas Interview
– John Stephens Interview
– Alexander Siddig Interview
