Last time we were in Gotham, Ed’s murderous side was making a return, Bruce seemed ready to give up his drunken nights, and Sophia was having tea with Lee.
We learn this week Sophia doesn’t just want to make good with her sister-in-law. She wants the Narrows to submit, along with a tax. Lee’s willing to kiss the ring, but she knows the people in the Narrows can’t afford a tax. Sophia gives her until the end of the day to give an answer.
Bruce has made his way into the city to reconnect with Alfred, asking him for help. But Alfred doesn’t want anything to do with Bruce. He’s still hurting from being fired like he was just the help.
Elsewhere in the city, Ivy attacks the bar Harvey’s working. He’s not there, but that doesn’t change the fate of the patrons that are there. Jim realizes that Harvey was the target because he was the one to kill her father. They find him at his apartment, but even the threat of Ivy isn’t enough to convince Harvey to work Jim again. He heads off on his own to find her. Using the footage from tapes Ivy sent to news outlets, Jim figures out where Ivy’s been staying. There, he runs into Selina. She was hoping to talk Ivy down. Jim warns her not to engage with her, which means Selina is certainly going to engage with her before the end of the episode.
Lee and Ed are brainstorming to figure out their Sophia problem. Lee’s willing to submit to her, but Ed doesn’t want to give in so easily. He knows there’s something Sophia must want from Lee and they just need to figure out what that is. So he enlists a crackpot team of Gotham’s finest spies, i.e. a bunch of street kids.
Bruce goes to the Siren’s club looking for Selina. After Alfred’s rejection he needs someone to talk to. Selina doesn’t have the time for him, as she’s too busy worrying about Ivy. But she does give him the signature ‘Selina Kyle’ kick in the behind he needs to pull his head out his ass.
Harvey calls Jim with a lead on Ivy, which isn’t suspicious at all considering how resistant he’d been to working with Jim only a short time before. Sure enough, it’s a trap. Ivy has Harvey under her control. She orders Harvey to kill Jim, then himself before she leaves to attend to her other plans.
Jim manages to stall Harvey long enough with some low blow comments to get close enough to knock him out. When he awakes, the toxin has worn off. He remembers enough of what she said to figure out she’s targeting Gotham’s wealthy at an event. Back at the GCPD, they learn the Wayne foundation is having an event that evening. Jim gears up with his force, but Harvey stays behind, still raw from Ivy controlling him.
At the event, Bruce is giving the opening remarks when Alfred walks in. Bruce stops reading the prepared speech in front of him and starts speaking from the heart. His speech becomes one to Alfred, an apology and admittance to what he means to him. It’s the start of a reconciliation. But when he speaks to Alfred directly, he reminds Bruce he’s more than the darkness he sees in himself. It’s still not the thing Bruce is ready to hear and he walks off, leaving Alfred. As he does, Ivy takes the stage with some armed thugs under her control in tow. Alfred, ever the hero, tries to take her out, but he gets knocked out instead.
Jim arrives just moments after she’s taken her first victim. He and the GCPD get into a firefight with Ivy’s intoxicated thugs. Bruce sees Alfred in danger and grabs the tactical gear of a passed out thug to get to him. When Bruce gets to him Alfred implores him, he can do more than just help him.
Bruce does dispatch some of the attackers, but he and Jim cross paths. He’s wearing the gear of Ivy’s men and he has a gun he just took from an attacker. Jim takes the small leap to assume he’s with the others and shoots him. The bullet hits his bulletproof vest and Bruce flees from Gordon, vanishing by the time Jim gets to the rooftop.
Back at Ivy’s, Selina has been waiting for her. She’s not there to reason anymore. Selina destroys the last of the Lazarus water. Their fight comes to a stalemate with Selina ready to kill Ivy if she tries to kill her. Ivy cuts her losses and leaves with one last warning to Selina, don’t get in the way again.
While trying to deal their Sophia problem, Ed’s also been getting more visits from the Riddler. His hallucinations have progressed outside his reflections. The Riddler now follows him around, taunting him with Lee’s death. He almost tells Lee at one point, but instead, he tries to deal with it himself. The only way he knows how to silence the Riddler is by silencing himself, permanently. He gets as far as having a noose around his neck before the Riddler offers an alternative that doesn’t involve them dying. So, he turns himself over to Arkham, preferring being imprisoned there than risk hurting Lee. But the Riddler has one more riddle for Ed. The real reason he wanted to end up in Arkham was to get close to Oswald. He calls Ed ‘Riddler’ and it’s enough to bring the personality to the surface.
Sophia and Lee meet in the Narrows. Lee tries to bargain with the dirt she has on Jim but Sophia isn’t having it. They aren’t having a meeting; it’s an ambush. Sophia’s men kill Lee’s and Sophia smashes Lee’s hand with a hammer herself. Sophia’s now the uncontested Queen of all of Gotham.
Back at the manor, Alfred is treating Bruce’s wounds, just like old times. Bruce’s actions at the fundraiser proved what his words couldn’t. He has changed and he is truly ready for help. And Alfred’s back to stay.
At the GCPD Jim does the thing he’s been trying to do for weeks. He comes clean to Harvey. He admits Sophia used him and she’s behind the Pyg. He’s also resolved to take her down.
All the Dynamic Duos are Back
Reunion brings back some of Gotham’s best pairings while establishing new rivalries. Bruce and Alfred reconciling was enviable. But I do appreciate Bruce still had a little bit of resistance in him when Alfred told him he was more than his darkness. Bruce has been trying to drown himself for the best part of the season. One fever induced future vision quest isn’t going to completely rid him the trauma of killing Ra’s Al Ghul. It was ultimately his own actions that proved Alfred’s words. Bruce chooses to put himself in danger for the sake of protecting others. It didn’t erase his darkness, just proved he could still move forward in spite of it.
Jim and Harvey’s reunion is a wake-up call for both men. Harvey realizes his lone wolf act will get him killed faster than anything else. Jim, on the other hand finally admits he betrayed Harvey for the position of Captain.
The Riddler and the Penguin’s reunion may have been the briefest of the episode but it holds so much promise. Their partnership the first time around was one of the most interesting times for both characters. They’ve always played off each other better as allies than enemies.
In a reverse of Ed and Oswald, Ivy and Selina facing off against each other as former friends brought out interesting dynamics for them both. Ivy’s villainy still feels a bit generic compared to what I’m used to on Gotham. Killing Gotham’s wealthy because they’re not eco-friendly is a bit hard to get behind. Gotham, in general, doesn’t seem like the greenest city so where is she going to stop? But her encounter with Selina did give me shades of what I’ve been wanting from her. A reconnection to her former self, even if they’re enemies now.
It also shows Selina’s genuinely good heart. She cares deeply, even if she has a coarse way of showing it. She’s been a dealt a shit hand by the city most of her life, but she destroys the Lazarus water because it’s too dangerous.
It’s clear at this point Sophia has become Jim’s opponent for this season. It feels like she could be the main antagonist for the season, but Ivy and Jerome prevent that from being a certainty right now. She was horrifically ruthless this episode, and this is after she orchestrated the murder of her father. It was hard seeing Lee get knocked down so far. Especially after she’d come into her own as the leader of Narrows. She tried to play by Gotham’s rules, just a little too late.
Next time promises more fun with duos, a Cat and Bat team up, some antics with the Riddler and Penguin, and a Jim and Sophia confrontation.
