There hasn’t been a flawed episode this season of Gotham and, unlike the beginnings of the previous season, screentime is nicely distributed amongst just about everyone. The latest episode, “Pinewood,†is the first time we get to see Bruce relentlessly pursue the cryptic-project-named files within his father’s secret computer.
After Bruce chose his father’s work over being a career criminal with Selina, you just knew that things were going to come unhinged; I just didn’t think that it was going to happen so quickly. Bruce and Alfred’s investigation takes them to a woman named Karen Jennings, and we learn about her story that certainly further solidifies how we should feel about Bruce’s father.
She has a reptilian like hand and she says that it is Thomas Wayne’s doing, Pinewood Farms anyway. His goal was to help regrow crippled limbs, and as you would expect, someone took advantage of him. So, he was attempting to shutdown the program, and this is what could have lead to his early demise. This fact drove Bruce to further believe that he is on the right track and that his father is the altruistic person he believes him to be.
Jennings’Â story fits right into the Gotham Universe because it is depressingly sad. Her father abused her as a child and made fun of her because of her crippled arm. The one time she stood up for herself, she accidentally hit her father down the steps and he died.
As they further the investigation, they are led to the actual Pinewood Farms, but someone (including the cops) are also in tow. There’s a crazy shootout, and we get to see Jennings use her claws to slash someone’s throat and kill them. I honestly thought that Bruce would be appalled, but he was surprisingly ok with it. The cops do eventually catch up to them, and they are taken straight to the GCPD.
Meanwhile, Barbara and Jim are teaming up. One day she’s in Arkham, and the next she is teaming up with Jim. While he is obviously reluctant about trusting anything she says, she does prove to be worthwhile. Jim is trying to get to the bottom of the Wayne Murders, and his only lead is to a women named “The Lady,†who happens to be at a women’s only club. She tells him to stay out, but Jim being Jim, his curiosity kicks in and he goes barging in. This leads Barabara to tie him up and act like she isn’t with him, so she can get the name of the person that ordered the hit.
The scene is great because you genuinely believe that Barbara has turned on Jim already. It is a bit crazy how well she can twist people’s plans and just how conniving she really is. It’s doubtful that she will stay reformed, especially considering what we saw happen to Cobblepot just an episode before. It will be interesting to see how crazy she does become.
We also get a short, yet awesome scene with none other than Victor Fries. Since they brought him back and essentially have locked him in a freezer, Victor went from a person with some misplaced ideals, to one hellbent individual. Hugo frees him for the sole fact of getting rid of Karen Jennings, and boy does he ever. Their group breaks Karen out of a prison transport only to be faced with a much more serious foe. Fries has a revamped suit and freeze Karen solid. Then he goes on to brutally smash her to pieces and gets a good look at who it was that is helping her.
As you could surmise, “The Philosopher†is none other than Hugo Strange. Lucius discovers this when going through old photos he found during the early years of Pinewood Farm. This idea makes Bruce extremely emotional because, as you should already know, he is to become someone that protects those that cannot protect themselves. The fact that Karen and his father were taken advantage of doesn’t sit well with him and thus broadens his soon to be vigilantism. One last bombshell that was revealed for us was Hugo’s experiment with Patient 44. His goal is reanimation, and it does succeed. It is certainly someone we are all too familiar with. But, it appears it has similar side effects to Fries’ second chance at life, hulking out would be putting it lightly. I won’t spoil who it was that was reanimated, but he certainly got the last laugh…
