As the title perfectly describes in “Welcome Back, Jim Gordon,†we get to see Jim Gordon back in full capacity at GCPD. With the return of Jim Gordon, we get another look at just how insanely corrupt Gotham’s police department really is and how he is really a one man oathkeeper.
A key witness voluntarily goes to GCPD to explain what he saw at the homicide scene, and of course, he is killed in the interrogation room. Gordon finds out that he was not only killed but that someone conveniently cut the camera during the murder; therefore, it has to be someone on the inside. If you have watched even a single episode of Gotham, you’d realize that this is one of the most obvious answers ever, as the police department is run by the mafia and generally isn’t out to actually rid Gotham of its menaces. Gordon finds the same drug at both crime scenes, but since he doesn’t have evidence actually linking them together, Flass’ excuse of it being an undercover sting are enough for the Captain. So, another Gotham episode that hinges on extraordinarily lame police work, right? Well sort of, but this episode does do a great job of, once again, shining the light on Detective Gordon always putting his man away. But, this time he makes a deal he may soon come to regret.
If Gotham has done a stellar job at anything throughout its first season, it’s the portrayal of Penguin. He’s cunning and easily outwits anyone on the show, and since Fish Moony is, shall we say, tied up at the moment, Penguin has a dashing time at Fish’s expense. The scene where he throws a party, with his drunk mom, really hammers down how weird it is to be in the Cobblepot household. But, it’s what happens at the end of the party that is key. Gordon walks in and asks for a favor, and since Cobblepot says they’re friends, consider it done. No questions asked and nothing needed in return. So, one of Cobblepot’s men gets the murder weapon (icepick) and a damning recording that will put Flass away. And a spark of craziness ensued as the Captain actually signed off on the arrest. It was nice to see some competences within GCPD, although one good deed, is hardly enough to label them as more than poor. While Gordon did help catch Flass, he found the darker side to justice. Cobblepot promised no one would be hurt, but we know there’s only one way he knows how to get the information. One of his men holds the wife of one of Flass’ accomplices face first in the tub until he confesses to where the murder weapon is. While this can easily be construed as someone getting hurt, he did get the job done. Derek Delaware, the accomplice, runs up and literally gets down on his hands and knees and pleads for mercy from Gordon. I love the look on Gordon’s face because, as he probably knows, some force was necessary to get anywhere on this case. It does show that his hands are dirty, and the character must come to a crossroads as to how far he is willing to go to get answers in Gotham.
The Flass case was the main attraction in this episode, but Fish being “tortured†was also suppose to be an important part of the episode. But, the whole Fish and Butch scenes fell pretty flat. The incompetence of Falcone and his men to actually dole out any punishment is astounding. Butch gets the drop on two guys and kills the one who’s supposed to torture Fish. Simple as that. And then, after the fact, they bring in Zsasz. Why he isn’t number one on the speed dial is beyond me. A short shootout ensues and Zsasz can easily dodge bullets but can’t shoot to save his life. Butch is dying, Fish gets away and says farewell to a long time friend, none other than Harvey. Yeah, that kind of came straight out of left-field, which is a bit par for the show at this point.
As with each episode, we get some scenes with a few characters, and the Edward Nygma and Bruce Wayne scenes were pretty well done this week. Nygma’s scenes revolved around him writing a poem in a greeting card to Ms. Kringle and the rest of the guys finding it and mocking him. She later apologizes to him as he is conducting surgery on his food, aka getting the onions out, and you see his demeanor instantly change from a maniac look to one of hope. He explains that there’s still a chance. His obsession with Ms. Kringle is equal parts awesome and weird, and I can’t wait for that storyline to come to a head and watch the fireworks. Bruce’s scene was with him trying to find Selina. With the help of Ivy, and a 20 dollar bill, she makes her way to Wayne Manor. Bruce explains that he just wanted to give her a gift he got her from his trip to Switzerland. She appears to be in awe of the snowglobe that is until he says she can live in a better place like in Wayne Manor, she takes offense and leaves. Then, we see the smashed snow globe and the first love of Bruce being gone as quickly as it had come. The way Alfred consoles him, basically saying we can sit and cry or clean up the mess is great as that’s the way Batman would come to deal with problems in the future.
