If you would like to read a recap of last week’s episode, click here. A lot has happened since the last episode, Ivy has changed perhaps for the better, Lee is back in Gotham just to confuse things for Gordon, and Penguin has a growing sense of civic duty. How will all of these play out? Read more below.
The episode starts off with a group of hypnotized people doing what most hypnotized people do which is make animal sounds. We see that this takes place in Barbara and Tabitha’s bar and they have hired The “Great” Jervis Tetch (Benedict Samuel), also known as The Mad Hatter to Batman fans, to perform a show. After he is done with those people, the Hatter chooses a seemingly rich guy from the crowd and hypnotizes him and gets him to stand on a chair. Afterwards, as the man is going back to his wife, the Hatter whispers something in his ear, implying that he has plans for him later.
Next we see clone Bruce eating frantically at the table. Alfred and Bruce ask him questions about who he is and where he came from but he can’t seem to remember anything. We learn that he is named 514A, or “Five,”for short. Alfred is weirded out by the creepy double claiming that they have to get rid of that thing.
Now we see Gordon in his apartment with Vale. He wants to make her breakfast but she is in a rush to leave for work. We then see Lee talking to Barnes about getting her job back at the GCPD just as Gordon arrives to pick up his bounty check. Bullock sees Lee and then sees Gordon so he tries to keep them away from each other but Lee spots Gordon anyway. Lee is moving back to Gotham permanently with her new fiancee. She leaves but Gordon doesn’t seem to care because he just wants his money.
The rich guy from before gets a call from the Hatter convincing him that his house belongs to the Hatter and that he should let him in. His wife wakes up soon after and realizes that he is gone. She stumbles upon him and then her husband kills her. The Hatter then orders him to dispose of the body and then to kill himself. We see that he is looking at a picture of his sister Alice (Naian Gonzalez Norvind) and that he misses her.
We then see Alice who is arguing with what looks to be her landlord. He wants her to pay but she is having a hard time since she lost her job. He tries to get her to pay in another way but he ends up infected by some sort of disease which may have come from her blood.
Former Mayor James is having a press conference announcing that the city council has designated him mayor until proper elections are held. Penguin interrupts James claiming that this move would mean going back to the same institutional corruption that led to all of this. Penguin declares himself a candidate for mayor of Gotham.
Clone Bruce interrupts Alfred and Bruce’s boxing practice. They stop and then Alfred begins to box with clone Bruce who is much better than he expected. He must have received some prior training but he can’t seem to remember anything about it. Alfred and Bruce notice a strange scar on the back of his neck.
The Hatter shows up at Gordon’s apartment, asking for his help in finding Alice. He offers to pay him quite handsomely so he agrees to do it. He tells him that she was one of Hugo Strange’s subjects who may escaped with the others.
Butch is with Penguin and he is worried about him after he decides to run for mayor as he think politicians are scary. Penguin just wants to create a legacy in which his deceased father would be proud of.
Bruce is doing some research and trying to find the origin of Clone Bruce’s scar. Selina shows up and Bruce hides Clone Bruce. She is worried about Ivy and asks Bruce for help. Bruce claims that it is a bad time and that he can’t help her, probably because he was busy dealing with Clone Bruce. She storms off and then we see Clone Bruce just outside the door, trying to mimic Bruce’s voice.
Gordon runs into Selina walking down the street. She asks him to keep an eye out for Ivy and he asks her for information about Alice. She points him to a place she worked. It was a bar that she somehow set on fire. There, Gordon finds some gangsters who want Alice too, they get into a fight.
Gordon is at the hospital which meant that the previous fight didn’t end too well. He needs stitches and the doctor helping him happens to be Lee’s new fiance Mario (James Carpinello). He takes the opportunity to introduce himself and to see whether or not they are okay. Gordon says they’re fine but they probably aren’t.
Penguin meets Mayor James at a restaurant. They argue and James tells him that he doesn’t have a chance because he’s psychotic and unstable and all the people he has backing him. A lot of the people in the restaurant are armed men working for James. This doesn’t phase Penguin since the rest are his.
Gordon finds Alice’s apartment and also her landlord who is locked in a room. He has gone crazy and attacks Gordon. Alice comes back and shoots him and sets him on fire before running away. She tells him that her brother is crazy and she doesn’t want anything to do with him.
Clone Bruce is looming over Bruce with a pair of scissors while he is asleep. He then starts cutting his hair, making him look more like the real Bruce. It’s the next day and one of the Bruces is gone along with some of his clothes and one of his cars. Alfred and one of the Bruces finds the scissors and some hair and figure out that clone Bruce cut his hair and ran away and that they should go and look for him. Clone Bruce probably switched with regular Bruce somehow.
Penguin is touring Arkham with the new warden and he offers him a political favor in exchange for releasing Ed but he is conflicted.
The Hatter hypnotizes Barbara by making her think that she was in love with him but things go wrong as he tells her that he doesn’t love her back. We all know that Barbara can;t handle rejection. Gordon confronts the Hatter about Alice and he takes him to the roof. The Hatter hypnotizes Gordon and gets him to go to the ledge. Alice stops them with a gun and starts shooting frantically. The Hatter escapes during the gunfire and Gordon wakes up as he is about to go off the ledge. Alice saves him before he can go over.
Ed has been released but he’s surprised as to why. A car rolls up with Penguin inside and it now suddenly makes sense.
Lee and Mario are having a dinner. Mario is skeptical of Lee and Gordon’s current relationship and that there still may be something there. Falcone shows up and we learn that Mario is related to Falcone. He is not in the mob though as he was raised by his mother away from it, apparently. Falcone is worried about Lee as she is too beautiful.
Clone Bruce meets Selina at her hideout and offers to help. She is suspicious as his behavior seems different but she hops in his car anyway.
Overall, this was a better episode as the Hatter made an interesting addition while the Penguin and Bruce subplots were kind of fun too and Gordon as the lone wolf was great but the story still isn’t going anywhere as it being slowed down by all these characters.
Score: 7.5/10
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.
