In the Gotham recap, Barbara finally springs her revenge on Jim while Galavan draws Bruce closer before revealing his true agenda…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
It really was a pity during Gotham season one that Erin Richards wasted away for nearly 20 episodes as a bump in the road dressed as Barbara Kean, better known as girlfriend and hanger on of Jim Gordon.
Thankfully, the ill reaction from the fans and critics like myself hopefully forced the writers behind the show to make a few changes and what’s resulted has been a much more fascinating character in season two.
Lately, Barbara has been shacking up and shagging both Galavan kids — Theo and Tabitha — while dreaming about her wedding day with Jim that turns into a nightmare when she finds him at the alter with Leslie Thompkins instead of her.
And now after waking up in a cold sweat from that dream for months, Barbara is finally being unleashed to go after him with the end result being Jim Gordon’s untimely death. Barbara may not know karate but she sure knows crazy and no one has played it as well as her on the show so far. Not Nygma, not Penguin and certainly not Jerome.
Barbara has embraced her insanity and I’m sticking with my original call that she will eventually become the new version of Harley Quinn for the Gotham age. It’s safe to say she’s not coming back from crazy land any time soon to get Gordon back into her clutches but maybe she meets a nice sociopath with a smile when she returns to prison?
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of Gotham titled ‘Tonight’s the Night’
Crazy Comes to Town
When Barbara wakes up from her latest night terror, she’s rejoiced with the news that it’s time to finally go after Jim Gordon. See, Galavan no longer has a need for him, especially after Gordon confronted him for all his misdeeds since coming to Gotham City and claiming to be a white knight trying to stop all the crime and corruption when he was really behind it all.
Barbara begins her journey into madness by showing up at the police station and handing herself in on the condition that only Jim can question her in the interrogation room. Once Gordon arrives, Barbara begs him to hit her and take out his violent anger on her directly but he obviously refuses. With Lee and his captain in the next room behind double glass, Gordon tries another approach instead — showing Barbara kindness instead of cruelty.
He share a kiss with his ex much to everyone’s surprise before she unveils the next stage of her plan — Barbara will come clean about everything that Jim wants to know but only after he takes her to some unknown destination where she will give him something he will love.
Of course everyone at the GCPD knows this is a trap but Gordon wants to see this through to the end, despite a plea from Leslie telling him to just let this go and put her in psych ward where she belongs. He refuses and Leslie finally admits that one thing Barbara said about him might be true. There is a darkness that lives inside of Jim Gordon, but it’s not because he’s evil — it’s because he can’t stop running towards those black holes in the abyss where it looks like he has no chance to survive but still charges forward head first.
Gordon will deal with this later, but for now it’s off to parts unknown with Barbara!
One Final Picnic
Nygma shuffles off to the deepest part of the woods with Ms. Kringle stuffed in a trunk where he plans to bury her after one final picnic together.
After digging the hole and enjoying a glass of wine for the both of them, Edward is ready to pile on the dirt but out of nowhere a hunter happens upon his site and wonders what he’s doing out here so far into the woods. When the hunter begins to examine the box and sees blood trickling out, he’s curious but not for long after Edward smashes his head in with a shovel.
So now Ed has to go back to town to find his bone saw to chop this big bastard up so he’ll fit in the same hole as Ms. Kringle. The only problem is when he returns, he finds that someone else showed up and ate his picnic lunch while he was gone.
So Nygma grabs the bone saw and heads out into the woods to find the culprit. He eventually finds a small trailer in the middle of nowhere with the lights on. He peaks at the door, but just then it swings open and out walks Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin.
He’s still bleeding and now apparently dying from the gunshot would he took last week courtesy of Tabitha and he needs serious help. Maybe his (future friend) Nygma is willing to assist?
Negotiation vs. Extortion
Bruce shows up to see Galavan this week after eyeballing his niece for a few moments but there’s business to be handled.
See, Galavan knows the kind of shady business practices that have been going on at Wayne Enterprises and he wants to help end the corruption that’s been infecting the company for years, even when the great Thomas Wayne was in charge.
Galavan offers to buy Bruce’s 51-percent share for billions of dollars and in exchange he can start living his life but as an added bonus he will throw in the identities of the men responsible for his parents’ deaths.
Bruce is riddled with guilt over what to do and when he asks Alfred for advice, his guardian/butler tells him that his father’s legacy wasn’t Wayne Enterprises — his legacy is standing directly in front of him. Bruce was always Thomas Wayne’s greatest legacy.
Regardless of that heartfelt outpouring, Bruce decides to sell the company because all he wants at this point is closure. He wants to find out who killed his parents and why and that’s the only thing that matters anymore.
Bruce shows up to Galavan’s and begins to put pen to paper before he finally withdraws and tells the new Mayor of Gotham that his company is no longer for sale. Not for any price. Surely, Galavan would have offered more but he gets interrupted….
Truth or Consequences
Bruce and Harvey transport Barbara to her destination so she can give him whatever package she’s promised while a caravan of heavily armed cops trail behind them. The entire time Jim knew this was all a trap and sure enough it springs when a semi-truck comes out of nowhere and smashes their car to smithereens.
A gang of thugs opens fire on the cops and in the melee, Gordon is kidnapped and taken away by Barbara.
He wakes up in a church with Barbara in her wedding dress and it looks like they are getting married. There’s a priest tied to a chair and even a few witnesses but the best addition is Leslie Thompkins, who Barbara somehow captured and brought here for the proceedings.
Barbara is convinced that Jim has been lying to his new girlfriend and hiding the darkest parts of his job — like how he got put back on the force after he was unceremoniously fired. Well, Leslie surprises her by explaining how Jim shot and killed a man for Penguin. It seems they do tell each other everything!
Jim eventually wiggles free and tackles Barbara just as the cavalry arrives thanks to Bullock figuring out that this entire time, his partner’s whacked out ex-girlfriend was teasing a wedding this entire day and now she planned to have one.
Inside the church, Tabitha catches a bullet, which forces her to retreat and Gordon chases Barbara all the way to the top of the building. She does give him one piece of vital information — that Mayor James is alive and well and being kept captive nearby. She then gets into a struggle with Jim before she falls through a window and down several stories to the bottom. When we next see Barbara, she’s strapped to a gurney and being taken to the hospital because some shrubbery broke her fall on the way down (of course it did).
Gordon rushes off to find Mayor James, who is indeed alive and well and he immediately points the finger at Galavan.
Now Gordon finally has his evidence and he shows up at Galavan’s place just as Bruce tells him that his company is not for sale. Gordon commands Bruce back away but it gives Galavan just enough time to toss the records about the Wayne family murders into the fire. Gordon places Galavan under arrest on several charges thanks to Mayor James being found alive and immediately pointing the finger at him. Galavan is going down or is that just what he wants us to think?
Gotham returns next Monday night at 8pm ET on FOX.
