Gotham – Mad City: Ghosts

By starrymag | January 21, 2017

By: MaryBeth McMahon

 

 

The episode opens with a bleak funeral, where Lee (Morena Baccarin) and Carmine Falcone (John Doman) are mourning Mario Falcone’s (James Carpinello) death. Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) watches the event from afar and is approached by Harvey (Donal Logue), who warns him about being there considering Jim was responsible for the death of Carmine’s son and, in turn, Lee’s husband. Before Jim leaves, Carmine sees him in the distance and a look of hatred appears on his face.

 

Oswald (Robin Lord Taylor) opens up his seemingly ancient flip phone to call Ed (Cory Michael Smith), who does not pick up on the other end – not surprising in the least. At a press meeting, Oswald enjoys the glory of being a successful Mayor who has brought crime down and the economy up. His staff member (Jeannine Kaspar) tells him to enjoy the moment, which does not last very long as he is reminded of Ed’s absence when his new second in command, Tarquin (Dave Quay), takes over. Tarquin convinces him that an interview with Margaret Hearst (Jan Maxwell) will let the mayor take himself to national levels. He is eager for the interview at first; however, Hearst is not fond of the mayor and lets it be known.

 

Jim is greeted by Victor Zsasz (Anthony Carrigan) who has broken into his home, drank his milk and brought a message that Falcone is beside himself over his son’s death. Thus, why Victor will soon be sent to kill him. Victor warns Jim that although he won’t see him coming when his orders come in, he wants Jim to know that he is a “good egg” and nonchalantly compliments him for killing Mario.

 

At Selina’s (Camren Bicondova), she and Maria Kyle (Ivana Milicevic) have an emotional discussion about her mother’s reason for leaving. Selina is bitter over Maria waiting eleven years to finally come back to see her, failing to even check up on her. Selina finds out that Maria was abandoned at the same orphanage her mother left her at eleven years prior. Maria evades Selina’s question about who her father is and urgently explains that he was on the run from the cops and couldn’t bring her along. She tells Selina that she loves her and is sorry, but Selina keeps a strong poker face when telling her to leave.

 

Harvey and Jim walk through the GCPD station and are greeted by a distraught and angry Lee who orders Harvey to arrest Jim for the “murder of my husband.” She states that Jim spared Barnes’ (Michael Chiklis) life, which had also been changed by the virus yet he chose to kill Mario. She calls Jim the virus and says he “seeps into people’s lives until he destroys them.”

 

Oswald is asleep at home until he is awakened by the sound of broken glass, creaking floorboards and the ghostly image of his father, Elijah (Paul Reubens), saying, “Help me.” He warns Oswald that someone cannot be trusted. Elijah disappears just before the cops arrive at the house to tell Oswald that someone has dug up his father’s remains.

 

While Bruce (David Mazouz) and Alfred (Sean Pertwee) discuss the Court of Owls artifact they retrieved, Maria knocks on the door. Bruce puts the glass owl on a table and as he walks away, sunlight shines through the owl and projects a map of Gotham onto the nearby wall. She drops off a box to be left behind for Selina as she plans to leave town again. Bruce convinces her to stick around a little bit longer as he offers to talk to Selina and get her to come around to see her mother off. He later delivers the box to Selina and offers support, telling her that this might be her only chance to “reach back” because she may never see her mother again after all of this time. As Selina emotionally looks through the box with old toys, baby shoes and photographs, her mother walks in and is surprisingly greeted with a tearful hug from her daughter.

 

Lee and Carmine discuss a shared fondness and hatred towards Jim. Carmine exclaims that because Jim took the life of his son, it is his right to offer Jim the same fate – “blood for blood.” Lee, beginning to look and act more like a Falcone with each passing day, expresses how much she hates Jim and blames him for all of the misfortune in her life. Carmine emphasizes that he will kill Jim because he doesn’t want her to feel the weight of that burden; Lee shows little to no remorse at the thought of Jim dying.

 

The investigation of a deceased, electrocuted woman in the morgue brings Jim and Harvey to Indian Hill, in pursuit of information about Dwight Pollard (David Dastmalchian). They trail him to an abandoned theater where a large crowd of people are huddling and waiting for Dwight’s speech. He takes the stage and projects a video of Jerome Valeska (Cameron Monaghan), to which the crowd cheers and in unison and repeats back the message that the young Joker said: “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” Jim interrupts their fun and the crowd scatters, some going after Jim and Harvey. The duo is met by gunfire from Victor and two women when they exit the building; Falcone’s hit has been made. They corner him inside a building and Jim holds his own in a fight against Victor, knocking the villain out cold.

 

Oswald is sitting up at night, fearful and riddled with anxiety. He hears voices singing “Happy Birthday” and sees his father’s figure again. Again, he mentions that someone can’t be trusted and the man he needs to be worried about is the “birthday boy.”

 

Lee visits Barnes in prison and questions him about the virus. He’s even more disillusioned than before and Lee believes that in Barnes’ self-proclaimed state of “clarity,” Mario could have lived a “normal life” and found a cure for the disease that would have negated Jim’s need to kill him. Barnes is offended by the word “disease” and says that the virus is an antidote. He continues talking about all of the thieves, rapists and murderers he wants to kill, including Jim’s name in the mix of people he targets. Lee hastily exits the room when Barnes begins yelling that he will “purge Gotham,” claiming to be their savior and executioner.

 

The mother-daughter tone changes to from broken to pleasant at a family dinner in Wayne Manor with Selina, Bruce, Maria and Alfred present. Bruce urges Maria to stay the night and let Alfred drive her to her hotel in the morning. Selina looks pleased to see her mother stick around for a while longer.

 

Oswald enters his office and sees the entire staff singing “Happy Birthday” to Tarquin. His face shows a mix of fear, instability and anger. Inside Oswald’s office are bloody footprints leading to a bag, which contains the dug-up remains of his father, Elijah. Tarquin’s timing is impeccable when he walks into the office and is met by Oswald bludgeoning him to death with a trophy.

 

Lee returns from her own dark side and urges Carmine to call off the hit on Jim because Barnes is “insane.” Carmine calls Lee’s bluff when she continues to emotionally fight for Jim’s life. He says that she still loves him and wouldn’t try to change his hand on the matter if she did, in fact, hate Jim Gordon. The look on her face appears to show disbelief upon hearing Carmine’s correct intuition.

 

Oswald is late to arrive to his interview with Hearst. She is visibly agitated and skeptical of Oswald’s claim to fame. His growing paranoia and stress is breaking through his reserved exterior with shaky hands and telling looks.

 

Victor arrives at Jim’s apartment with bullets blazing. He pulls a gun on Harvey, but not without Jim jumping out from the shadows to put his own gun on Victor. Carmine surprisingly followed Lee’s plea and enters to tell Victor that his orders are done and he must leave. Upon hearing Jim’s apology, Carmine says, “If it was up to me, you’d be dead.”

 

The eyes of the city are all tuning in to the important interview with the “King of Gotham,” during which Hearst states that many had to die in order for him to rise to power. She brings up his murderous past that put him in Arkham, most importantly being the death of Theo Galavan (James Frain). He tries to brush it off as a “public service.” When she brings up the suspicious deaths surrounding Elijah and his family, Oswald sees the image of his late father walk into the interview room with the bloody trophy in his hands. Oswald frantically gets out of his chair stating, “To Hell with the people,” and leaves the interview. When he returns to his office, the bloody footprints are gone as well as his father’s corpse and Tarquin’s lifeless body.

 

Oswald runs out of the building and is being watched by Ed from across the street. Ed is standing next to a car that contains both of the missing bodies in the trunk. Beside him is a man who has the power to shape shift and alter his appearance. Ed used this man and his ability to make himself look like Elijah and even had worked behind the scenes to make Tarquin say comments about Elijah to increases Oswald’s paranoia. Tabitha (Jessica Lucas) and Barbara (Erin Richards) walk up and congratulate the men for their successful scheme. He tells Tabitha that leaving the bodies for the cops would make Oswald’s punishment too easy; Ed wants him to experience a “slow, painful death.” In order to do that, they plan to take his mind, his empire and then when he is entirely broken and alone, they will “put him out of his misery.”

 

Selina follows Maria to her hotel room where a man (P.J. Marshall) is looking for the money that she owes him. He pulls a gun on them and asks about the “rich guy” that dropped them off outside. The man questions who Selina is and when Selina addresses Maria by “Mom,” he hints that Maria is lying and hiding something further from. The man, Cole, leaves and Maria says, “That was my past coming back to punish me.”

 

Dwight walks into a lab where it appears a scientist is using electricity to reanimate corpses. The next body on their list is that of Jerome Valeska (Cameron Monaghan) or the Joker, whose return to Gotham seems to be inevitable.