Gotham recap: Batman in training and ice cream for Penguin

This episode explores the lengths Bruce will go to kill the man who murdered his parents. First, to gather information, Alfred takes on Mr. Cupcake to get a location on Malone, the man who supposedly killed Bruce’s parents. Though Alfred is by no means in Mr. Cupcake’s weight class, he emerges victorious. In fact, he’s “absolutely flipping peachy.” True to his word, Cupcake sends them to Jeri, who knows Malone’s whereabouts.

It’s a rave! At this point, Bruce already has a loaded gun he acquired from Selina. With Alfred in the hospital recovering, Bruce ends up a Goth, punk club and meets Jeri (played by the amazingly versatile Lori Petty). She calls Bruce a “childish hand of fate,” but still provides him with the information he came for and even creates a diversion to keep Gordon from following him. Diversion=Gordon crowd surfing.

Bruce finds Malone without fail and drives the conversation till he has the gun pointed at Malone’s head, the upper hand so it seems. Malone, a killer for hire seems unphased by the victims he’s killed, tells Bruce to shoot him. But Bruce can’t. “I wish you were a monster but you’re just a man.” And as Bruce walks away, encountering Gordon in the hallway, they hear a gun shot. Malone kills himself. Still, this is not justice or closure for Bruce. He doesn’t know who hired Malone to kill his parents.

Batman in training: After the Malone incident, Bruce tells Alfred in a letter that he’s going to live on the streets with Selina. He’s determine that one day, he’s do something to help the people of Gotham, but for now, he has to learn to live in the world the same way others live in it. “You can’t kill murder. You can’t get revenge on evil, you can only begin to fight such things by not doing them.” So insightful, Master Bruce. We are watching him become Batman!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. An ice cream test. Normally, I would be all over this, but a test involving one of my favorite desserts administered by Dr. Strange, I won’t be consuming those calories. Strange’s ice cream test is to gauge Oswald’s ‘progress’ with the therapy (i.e. torture). Later in a word play scenario, Oswald admits he feels remorse and that he “wants to be normal” and “good.” Yet, Strange tells him he still needs more therapy. By the end of the episode, Oswald is face with the inmate who earlier freaked out about his ice cream and showed him mercy and set him free from his restraints. Oswald passed the test. Strange later presents him with an “official” certificate that declares he’s “sane” and free to go. With Oswald back on the streets of Gotham, what are these “deeper plans” Dr. Strange’s has for him and Gotham?

Before his crowd-surfing stint, Gordon agrees to look into the disappearance of Kristen Kringle for Lee, which in turn, sets off Nygma. It seems Nygma’s lies and crimes are starting to catch up with him. Though Gordon sidetracked with trying to save Bruce from himself (you know “real police work,” as Bullock sums it up), Gordon promises to keep Nygma in the loop. Now Nygma’s muttering about making plans of his own, and at the end of the episode, we see him writing on a newspaper article about Gordon. When he pulls back, it shows a green question mark on the newspaper. The Riddler is coming to town!

Best quote of the episode:

“You are a lot less fun than advertised.” Jeri to Gordon

“For a butler, you sure do get beat up a lot.” Harvey haven’t you figured out yet, Alfred is more than just a butler