Gotham Recap “Everyone Has a Cobblepot”: Skeletons in the Closet

In the latest Gotham recap, Gordon and Bullock try to gather enough evidence to bring corrupt police commissioner Loeb to his knees….

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

One of the bigger issues of the first season of ‘Gotham’ have been the stand alone episodes primarily treated as a procedural hour where there’s a crime of the week with little to no forward movement in the bigger storylines hanging overhead.

The high points for ‘Gotham’ have been the centralized plots with the mob and the rise to power of Oswald Cobblepot, but this week’s episode managed to make a self-contained episode while still being one of the best of the season. There was little in the way of story progression (unless you count Fish Mooney’s weird new job) but the main focus on Jim Gordon and his efforts to take down one more corrupt piece of the Gotham City puzzle was both intriguing and captivating.

Plus unlike the beginning of the season when Gordon was more boy scout than realist, even the most squeaky clean cop in all the land is learning that there’s no such thing as black and white even when it comes to enforcing the law. Everything lies in a grey area — just like when Jim had to call on a nefarious friend to bring down one of Gotham’s most powerful men.

With that, let’s recap the latest episode of Gotham titled ‘Everyone Has a Cobblepot’.

Secrets, Secrets and More Secrets

Our episode this week kicks off with the unfortunate news that corrupt cop Arnold Flass has been freed after the murder charges were dropped against him. Much to Gordon’s chagrin, the legal system in Gotham failed once again and despite efforts by Assistant District Attorney Harvey Dent (who popped up randomly in this episode), Flass was protected by up on high by the prince of darkness.

The prince of darkness in this case is Police Commissioner Loeb, who found the ‘witness’ that testified and helped free Flass from captivity. To make matters worse, Loeb is about to name him the new president of the police union, which will only give the drug dealing murderer more power than he already has and what he had before was a lot. It’s time for Gordon to take action.

He pays Loeb a visit and the commissioner hits him with some rather disturbing news. The person who testified on the record to get Flass free was none other than Harvey Bullock.

When Gordon confronts his partner, Bullock gives him the real lay of the land when it comes to the officials in Gotham (and also gives the title of tonight’s episode). Bullock explains that when he was starting out on the force his sergeant held him at gunpoint while handing him a weapon of his own and gave him a choice — either kill this mob informant/lackey/stooge or catch a bullet yourself. Bullock wanted to live so he killed the other guy and now Loeb is keeping that information as a way to blackmail him into doing his bidding.

As Bullock explains, it’s no different than when Gordon was ordered to kill Oswald Cobblepot when he first joined the force. Everyone in the GCPD has a Cobblepot — the only difference is unlike Gordon, who just couldn’t pull the trigger, the rest of the cops have skeletons in their closets and Loeb knows about everything.

So Gordon sets out on a mission to find out where Loeb is hiding his secret files on the police force so he can hopefully free Bullock from any future misdeeds while also cleaning up the department and getting the cops out from the commissioner’s thumb.

Dent leads them to a man named Griggs, who 20 years ago was the commissioner’s partner on the force. Griggs leads them to a bookie in Chinatown, who quickly learns what the cops are up to and tries to kill them. Bullock comes in with a late save while also telling them that Griggs is just as dirty as anyone and the only way to get him to talk is to apply the right kind of pressure.

Pressure in this case is dangling him out a car door with his face about three inches from the pavement while doing sixty.

Finally, Griggs gives up the goods — Loeb and Carmine Falcone have been working together for years and that’s the only real partner he’s ever trusted. So now Gordon and Bullock are forced to call on some help from a person inside Falcone’s operation.

Hello, Oswald Cobblepot.

Eye for an Eye

Last week while trying to negotiate for better living conditions, Fish Mooney overplayed her hand and almost ended up on Dr. Francis Dulmacher’s (The Dollmaker) operating table. To prevent Dr. Frankenstein from cutting out her eyes and harvesting them for herself, Fish decides to gouge one of them out with a spoon to prevent giving up the perfect pair.

When she awakens this week, Fish comes face to face with Dr. Dulmacher for the first time. He’s been nice enough to replace her old gouged out eye with a new blue one. It seems Dr. Dulmacher is intrigued by Fish, at least enough to hear her out when she comes up with a new plan of attack.

She offers to be his new No. 2 — right hand (wo)man if you will — and she will find a way to procure the good doctor all the body parts he could possibly need. Her first mission is to free Dulmacher’s guard from the basement so she goes down and gets him loose of the prisoners before sicking the doctor’s guards on a few people who were on ‘the list’ and needed for surgery. It seems Fish is all about saving her own ass although she claims this is just the small sacrifice needed to ensure the rest of them get to live.

In the end, Fish cozies up next to Dulmacher after he reveals that his old office manager has been fired considering he couldn’t handle the basement uprising on his own. His punishment? Dr. Dulmacher has lopped his head off and sewn him back on a woman’s body with random parts.

Dulmacher will give Fish a chance to earn her new spot, but she better not try to betray him and he knows she won run. Why can’t she run? Because they are on a giant freaking island in the middle of nowhere.

Side Piece

There were two other side stories to this week’s episode and neither of them will take long to delve into.

First off, Selina comes to visit Bruce while he’s sitting by Alfred’s bedside in the hospital. Bruce and Alfred have already decided to lie to the police about Reggie’s attack and instead do the investigation themselves. Alfred says no mate would ever turn another over to the cops, even in these dire circumstances. Selina’s visit (and hug) comes at a time when Bruce needs it, but his mind is already churning on other subjects.

Like the face that he knows Reggie took some of his files regarding the Wayne Enterprises board of directors. Sure, he tried to cover it up by stealing some other valuables, but Bruce figured it out quick that Reggie must be working for whoever is corrupting his father’s company. Now Bruce needs to find Reggie and see who hired him so he can get to the bottom of this conspiracy. A small part, but a good follow up to last week’s episode.

Meanwhile back at the Gotham Police Department, Edward continues to stalk Ms. Kringle, but she’s still brushing him off. He tries to warn her away from going back to Arnold Flass now that he’s out of prison and just as he’s about to ask her to dinner, she reveals she’s already moved onto another cop in the precinct. This chick gets around.

Birds in the Attic

Gordon visits Oswald to ask him about Loeb and Falcone’s partnership and thankfully The Penguin has all the information he needs, but in exchange for what he needs to know, Gotham’s fledgling crime lord needs something in return. Oswald wants Gordon to owe him a favor — no questions asked — whenever he needs it. Bullock tries to talk Gordon out of it, but he’s resolute about what he needs to do so he agrees and Penguin gives up the goods.

He leads them to a house he once heard Falcone talking about with Loeb and saying that security was good and everything was safe. Gordon, Bullock and Oswald believe this is the place where Loeb is storing all his files on the officers and other prominent members of Gotham’s government.

Once inside, Gordon and the rest encounter a strange old couple who have been living in the house purchased by Loeb for the last 20 years. The time they’ve been there also happens to coincide with the exact period where Loeb’s wife died after falling down the stairs. Once they are inside, Gordon and Bullock start to believe that Loeb killed his wife and maybe the evidence is somewhere in this house.

Unfortunately before they get too far, the kindly old couple realizes what’s happening and they try to gun down Gordon and his pals. Thankfully, Jim and Bullock are quicker on the trigger than the 80-year old couple and they continue their investigation of the house.

Upstairs, Jim and Harvey discover Loeb’s big secret and it’s not files or photos or computers filled with information on Gotham’s elite. No, it’s a woman named Miriam, who happens to be Loeb’s daughter and after a brief conversation with the troubled lady, they realize she was the one who killed her mother/Loeb’s wife and he’s been hiding her here ever since.

Gordon finally confronts Loeb with what he knows and the for the first time in a long time the commissioner has someone to fear. He offers to step down and resign his position, but Jim realizes that he’s probably better off with the devil he knows. So Jim keeps Loeb in place in exchange for a few favors — he gets Bullocks’ file so there’s no longer evidence hanging over his head, he gets Flass prosecuted again and finally Gordon becomes the new president of the police union. Loeb grants his wish and now Gordon is finally in a position of power to start to clean up the mess inside the police department.

Back at Oswalds, The Penguin is finishing up his duties by eliminating the elderly couple who were protecting Miriam. He can’t allow them to report back to Falcone that he was involved so he ends up coercing the old lady to turn on the old man with a promise of a plane ticket to get out of town so she kills him. Then he turns the shotgun on her. Why didn’t he just kill them both?

Because he only had one bullet left so he needed some help.

Oswald’s move to eliminate the old couple harkens back to Bullock’s final warning to Jim about the deal he struck. One day soon, Oswald is going to come calling for that favor Jim owes him and paying up might just cost him more than he’s willing to give.

Yet another clue of Oswald’s devious and diabolical mind at work.

Gotham goes off the air for the next month (why I have no clue) but when the show returns in April, it’s the final four episodes of season one.