Gotham Recap ‘The Anvil or the Hammer’: Wicked Game

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

It’s starting to become clear as we reach the last couple of episodes of ‘Gotham’ that the show runners are already planning for season two next fall. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that because most series that are lucky enough to get an early renewal have to begin the strategy for what comes next before ending what’s already in front of them.

The perfect example of this was in tonight’s episode titled ‘The Anvil and the Hammer’ where Bruce Wayne finally confronts evil Sid Bunderslaw (that name along had to catch him a few beatings as a kid) looking for answers as to why he sent Alfred’s old Army buddy Reggie after them to steal information into his investigation of Wayne Enterprises.

It actually cost Reggie his life after Selina Kyle tossed him out a window so they could eventually steal Bunderslaw’s keys to break into his safe and see what kind of dirty laundry he had ready to air. Unfortunately when Bruce broke in to see what he was hiding, there was nothing in the safe and Bunderslaw was already one step ahead of him. He explained to Bruce how every so often a Wayne family member gets curious about the activities of the board and then they are forced to explain to them the reality of doing hard-nosed business.

Bruce’s father was the last person to have questions and once they were answered, he went along for the ride. Bruce doesn’t buy it but he’s quickly ushered out of the room by junior executive Lucius Fox (not Morgan Freeman). Lucius confusingly tells Bruce that his father was a good man while telling him there are cameras everywhere and people are watching so get in the elevator and get out of the building.

Bruce slinks back home before telling Alfred about his dead Army buddy. He also has to be re-assured once again that his dad was a good man. So Bruce cuts out a picture of his father, tacks it on the wall and begins phase two of his investigation. In other words, to be continued in season two.

It’s not a bad thing that Bruce didn’t get answers about Wayne Enterprises or his father just yet, but it seems almost like a buzz kill that he didn’t find out much of anything other than the members of the board are sinister and I think we already figured that out when Reggie stabbed Alfred several episodes ago. It just screams of planning ahead instead of giving some resolution, but then again there’s still one more episode to go this year so anything’s possible.

With that, let’s recap the latest episode of ‘Gotham’ titled ‘The Anvil and the Hammer’:

Love Sick

The hunt is on for the maniacal Ogre after Gordon figures out that he targeted Barbara and not Leslie as his victim. After shaking a few trees and beating up a few witnesses, Gordon and Bullock figure out that at one time or another the Ogre frequented a brothel in Gotham called the Fox Glove.

Gordon knows he’s too emotionally invested to approach this case with logic, so he sends Bullock in on the job after paying a visit to his old pal Oswald Cobblepot to get an invite to the Fox Glove — because it’s an exclusive type of brothel. When Gordon demands information, the Penguin eventually gives it up but says his cop buddy is going to owe him a really BIG favor now and that’s considering he already owed him one for helping to expose Commissioner Loeb earlier this season.

Harvey goes to the brothel dressed in his best suit, but two minutes into the club’s S&M show and he’s had enough. He pulls out a badge and puts everybody under arrest. You’d think Bullock was a swinging kind of guy, but apparently he’s a square.

Regardless, Jim shows up and questions the Madame who eventually sends him to a girl who might have information on the guy they are calling The Ogre. The girl in question shows him the scars on one side of her face courtesy of going home with The Ogre one night nine years ago. It was just a few months later that he killed for the first time.

Oh and one side note — the girl went to the cops but they ignored her because she’s a hooker and he’s some rich guy named Jason.

She also remembers after getting out of his weird sex dungeon that his apartment overlooked the biggest buildings in Gotham so she knew it was midtown and outside his window she recollects a neon sign with the letters OYAL. It takes Jim a moment but he realizes that the psycho’s apartment is across from the Gotham Royal hotel so they book it across town to try and bust this guy before he does harm to Barbara.

While all this is happening, Barbara is getting to know the real Jason after they wake up the next morning and insinuate that they spent the entire night in the bedroom and they weren’t sleeping if you catch my drift! But after that one night where Barbara didn’t freak at his medieval sex room, Jason believes he’s finally found the one.

The one woman he’s been searching for the past nine years while killing every other person he’s ever been on a date with during that time. He realizes that Barbara shares a similar personality with him, but once he hits her with the ‘I love you’ after one date, she’s ready to run for the hills. Jason has other ideas so he ties her up, more or less tells her that if she doesn’t love him back she’ll die, and then he says that instead of killing her he’ll kill someone of her choosing.

He knows deep down inside she wants to kill someone just like he did long ago. She whispers something into his ear and off they go to find the next victim. But who did she target?

Louis’ Restaurant

Oswald’s somewhat predictable plan finally came together on tonight’s episode where he sent hitmen to a restaurant under the idea that they were there to assassinate Sal Maroni.

But as the gunmen found out when the grab the hidden guns left by Butch earlier in the day, the firing pins had been removed and the only thing they actually did was deliver a message to Maroni as planted by Oswald before the hit even took place.

He instructed the hitmen to tell Maroni that this was coming from Don Carmine Falcone and of course when the guns don’t go off, they get shot to death and now the No. 2 mobster in Gotham loses his focus on getting revenge on Oswald and instead goes after the other mafia don in town.

Maroni ends up hitting several of Falcone’s establishments at the end of the episode while Falcone gets a present of Connor the hitman’s head in a box as a warning that Maroni is coming for him.

Oswald finally reveals that this was his plan all along. Now Falcone and Maroni will go to war with each other while he quietly picks up the pieces left in their wake. Again, kind of saw this coming, but good to see Oswald finally putting together the puzzle so he can one day soon become the new power in Gotham’s underworld.

Enigma

A quick follow up on Edward Nygma’s first murder last week where he got rid of the dastardly Officer Daugherty, who was quietly abusing his favorite crush Ms. Kringle.

He decides to dispose of the body at police headquarters, which is kind of ingenious if think about it because who is really going to believe a dead person wouldn’t be hanging around at the Gotham morgue. Edward gets rid of the body one piece at a time before sending Ms. Kringle a forged ‘Dear John’ letter from the dearly departed Officer Daugherty.

She’s ready to give up on men all together after this latest incident although she misses the riddle left in the note from her real secret admirer. Edward quietly started each sentence with a letter from his name so when you look closely it spells NYGMA. He gets a laugh as he continues on his journey towards one day becoming The Riddler.

Case Closed

Back on the police investigation, Gordon and Bullock track down the Ogre’s apartment but he’s already gone. He even calls them at his place to let the detectives know that he’s well aware of their investigation and how far they’ve made it. Still, he has to retire with the new love of his life after they complete one last murder together.

It turns out the names Barbara told him where her parents.

Remember Mr. and Mrs. Keane — the ice cold parents who would have made Cameron Frye long for days where could steal his dad’s Ferrari. Well, Barbara wants them dead — or at least those are the names she came up with when Jason demanded she give him somebody.

Before long, Gordon and Bullock track down the Ogre and Barbara at her parent’s house. When they walk in, the parents are already dead and Jim finds Barbara walking towards him, covered in blood and barely conscious. Bullock starts the search for the Ogre, but he gets found first and tossed down a flight of stairs.

The Ogre attacks Gordon and after a back and forth fight, Gotham’s favorite detective finally gets the upper hand. The Ogre responds by grabbing Barbara and threatening to slit her throat. So much for true love.

He never gets the chance to carry out his threat because Bullock has recovered and puts him down with a bullet in his back before he even know what hit him. Gordon rescues Barbara, the Ogre is dead, hooray!

Except once again, Barbara is a pawn in the grand scheme of things and what looked like a way ‘Gotham’ writers were finally going to re-introduce her into an interesting story ended up floundering and failing like a fish who decides to go for a walk in the Sahara. Barbara might be one of the most poorly written characters on all of television and I’m not even sure where they go with her from here.

As for Jim, he’s hailed as the victor and conqueror back at the GCPD. He even gets a kiss from his lady Leslie before ensuring her that she’s the only woman he loves and rescuing Barbara was just part of his job. It appears like they might try to create a love triangle down the road but unless Barbara develops a personality and character of her own, it’s going to be a pretty one sided fight.

Before the episode ends, the captain tells Jim and the rest of the squad room that there’s a mob war breaking out on the streets of Gotham after Maroni hit a bunch of Falcone’s places and they are on red alert because the bodies are going to start stacking up. The mob twists and turns and Gordon’s involvement with them have been the strongest points of story telling of the entire show so hopefully that’s how season one will come to an end next week

Jim versus the mob.

Next week.

Gotham season one finale at 8pm ET on FOX.