Gordon – The episode opens with Carmine Falcone having dinner with Mario and Lee, discussing the Barnes situation as the conversation turns toward if there is a cure for the Tetch blood.  Lee informs him that fits of rage and strength are all that have been seen and that there is not yet a cure.  As they are leaving, the car the group was going to leave in explodes!  Gordon arrives at the scene and Carmine tells him that he has one day to figure out who was behind the explosion before he takes matters into his own hands.  As Gordon and Harvey are searching for the suspect who blew up the car they find that Carmine isn’t the target, but Mario is! Bruce comes to suspect that Mario is involved in the same type of business his father was in.  Carmine denies the accusation. Mario tries to lure his killers by using himself as bait.  Gordon comes to save him, and they are attacked. Mario displays an uncharacteristic fit of rage where he stabs one of the attackers in the eye with a pin, and strangles him asking why they are coming after him.  The attacker’s dying words are, “You know why…”  Upon interrogating the living attacker, Gordon doesn’t get anywhere so Carmine comes into the room to try and get information and pulls out a tooth revealing an owl on it!  Carmine says that the attacker works for a former associate of his and that he will take care of it.  He then tells Gordon to stay out of it.

Falcone meets with Kathryn and we find that he had worked closely with The Court even giving them Indian Hill when Maroni wouldn’t sell it to them.  He wants to know why they are after Mario.  Kathryn and Carmine exchange threats and leave with her telling him that his son is safe from them as long as he falls in line with what they say.

The ending holds another twist!  Lee goes to Gordon to tell him an official good-bye, kissing him.  As she leaves, Mario was outside his apartment!  As two thugs come to jump Mario he holds one up by the throat and breaks the others arm screaming that Lee loves him while his eyes turn red and his forehead bulges with veins…much like Barnes!  This would explain why Carmine was asking Lee about Barnes at the beginning and asked if there was a cure!

Predictions – I wish the writers would have skipped the Barnes story line and gone straight from Jervis Tetch to this plot. Yes, I get that Mario somehow has the Tetch blood that made Barnes the way he was, but it seemed too drawn out. I loved to back-and-forth threats between Carmine and Kathryn, both working to establish their dominance.  I also think this is the right direction for the show if they do it correctly.  This is reminiscent of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s take on the mob vs. freaks in their classic Batman: The Long Halloween.  Between the revelation of The Court, Mario having the virus, Barbara finding out about Penguin, watch for everything you thought you knew about these relationships to completely change.  

Cobblepot and Nygma– Penguin meets with the head families of the Gotham Underground talking about what to do now that the GCPD is without a commissioner.  Barbara enters demanding to know where Butch and Tabitha are, holding them at gunpoint.  Barbara finds a better way to find where Tabitha and Butch are.  She uses her manipulative ways to speak to Penguin’s maid in order to find where her friends are being held.  Once she finds the bondage store Nygma has been ordering his supplies from, she seduces the individual working at the establishment in order to find information leading to Nygma’s whereabouts.

Nygma is contacted by Penguin telling him to hurry with his plans.  He has Butch and Tabitha in an abandoned house and is set on torturing them for what he believes they did to Isabella.  Nygma sets up a torture device reflective of a Saw movie.  His device will either chop off Tabitha’s hand, or she can press a button to stop it, yet it will send a fatal shock to Butch’s brain!  Nygma then promises that if Tabitha truly loves Butch enough to lose her hand for him, then he will let them both go.  Tabitha doesn’t seem keen on the ultimatum.  Two twists occurred simultaneously next!  Butch confesses his love for Tabitha and while doing so tells Nygma that he did kill Isabella by putting a bullet in her head.  At this time two revelations occur.  Tabitha calls Butch sweet while Nygma realizes that Butch didn’t kill Isabella because she wasn’t shot in the head.  While Nygma is processing the information, Tabitha drops the button with the device falling and cutting her hand off!  This was one of the better pieces of writing this season of Gotham!  As Barbara takes Butch and Tabitha to the hospital she comes to the realization that Penguin is behind the death of Isabella.  She then says that they don’t need to be in a war to take over, they just need to start one!

Predictions – I had called that Barbara and Tabitha would make a push for control of Gotham, and I am glad they have!  Teaming with Butch, and knowing Penguin was behind Isabella’s death, is going to lead to the disconnect in Nygma and Cobblepot’s relationship.  Watch for a huge backlash from both sides.

Bruce and Selina – Bruce continues his research in order to find out more about the key they found in the previous episode.  There is some tension between Selina and Bruce as she wants to leave the house, but Alfred refuses.  Ivy is staying at the mansion as well.  She wants Alfred to turn off the alarm, but he refuses.  She uses her perfume to seduce Alfred into turning off the system.

Selina cleans the key and finds an owl engraving on it.  A seeming member of The Court of Owls calls Alfred telling him that they will trade the escaped Ivy for the key.  As they meet in the sewers, Bruce demands to speak with Kathryn from The Court, but we find that this group is not actually The Court, but against them!  Viewers then learn that the group is called The Whisper Gang, who were once a gang of smugglers partnering with The Court of Owls until they were betrayed.  The key opens a safe owned by The Court.  There are two keys; one which the court has and the other one Bruce has.  As The Whisper Gang is leaving, they are attacked, and killed, by Talon from the Court of Owls!

Predictions – It is great to finally see the story line with the Court of Owls taking center stage. The connections between them, Bruce, and the Falcone’s are beginning to truly show just how much power they have.  Watch for The Court to begin having a hand in all of the story lines, eventually bringing them all together in the second half of the season.

 

What’d you think of Gotham: Season 3 “Time Bomb”?  Did the episode restore any of your faith in the series?  May it be taking an upward swing, or is this merely a one-off?  Leave your thoughts in the usual spot, and thanks for reading!