Gotham Season 3 Episode 9 Mad City: The Executioner Recap

If you would like to read a recap of last week’s episode, click here. Better late than never I always say. I was busy last night at a screening of The Edge of Seventeen and you can read my review of that here. Back to the show, the last episode was building up Barnes as the virus was bringing out his true self where he would take out his aggression on those who he deemed to be guilty. This episode continues along those lines and not offering much else.

The episode starts off with craziness at the GCPD as they are still reeling from what happened back at the party. Gordon is investigating and Lee apologized for not believing that there was really something going on. He doesn’t share with her his knowledge of Barnes being involved somehow. He approaches Bullock who refuses to think that Barnes could have had anything to do with it. Gordon felt that way too but something just didn’t feel right to him. They want nothing more than him to be innocent and decide to approach it by trying to prove his innocence instead of his guilt.

Meanwhile, Barnes has three supposed criminals stringed up. He tells them that he’s stopped fighting the voice within him and calm has come over him. He then kicks out whatever is holding the criminals up, resulting in them choking to death. Ivy is with an antiquities dealer. She pretends to be into him but she is more interested in his vault. His concern is that he doesn’t know anything about her. She uses some sort of plant to brainwash him and open the vault and then knocks him out so she could steal a necklace. As she exits, she notices the dealer missing. She tries to escape and runs into him near the exit. They struggle and she knocks him out again with a vase and escapes.

Ed is worried about Isabella as he is waiting for a call from her. The phone rings but it’s not her, it’s the GCPD who want to talk to him. He goes to the station only to learn that she’s dead. They tell him that they think she fell asleep at the wheel and got hit by a train (which we know not to be the case). Ed is broken and embraces Penguin, making him happy.

Selina is feeding her stray cats when Ivy comes in. Ivy tries to prove her identity but Selina doesn’t believe it. Gordon is told that Barnes prints are in the bathroom where the incident occurred. Gordon goes into Barnes’ office and notices the Tetch file. Barnes walks in on him and asks what is going on with the investigation but Gordon pretends to know nothing. Barnes tells him about a potential lead involving a mob enforces and asks Gordon to go with him.

Barnes stops and exits the car, giving Gordon the chance to tell Bullock where they are. Barnes comes back with a shotgun. Barnes is disappointed in Gordon because he didn’t collect all the witness statements so he asks Gordon to interview him. Barnes denies everything and Gordon tells him that he’s in the clear. Barnes tells him that he wishes that someone would clean up the streets. Gordon thought he was but he wanted to rejoin the GCPD because he wanted to do it right, just like who Barnes used to be. Gordon tries to remind Barnes of who he once was. Barnes brings him to some other location instead.

Bruce comes in and meets the new Ivy. Selina just wants to know what’s going on. Ivy tells them that they’re in trouble (probably from her stealing the necklace). A group of men with bows show up and try to kill them but they escape. Gordon and Barnes meet the supposed enforcer and Barnes tries to make him out to be guilty but he denies ever being involved. Barnes concedes that he may be innocent in this instance but he’s not innocent so he shoots him.

Selina is mad at Ivy. She and Bruce tell her to give the necklace back. Bruce offers to buy it off of her in exchange. Ivy lowballs him since she doesn’t know much about money. Penguin is getting his own painting. He notices Ed distraught because he still misses her. He gets distracted and then goes to him. Penguin tells him that in order to heal, he has to move on. Ed decides to go where she dies. Penguin tells him that Isabella would have wanted him to be happy.

Gordon drags the enforcer’s body. Barnes knows what’s really going on and is trying to frame Gordon. He then reveals his true nature to him. He says that this has always been him but he needing something to unlock it. Gordon makes the connection to the Tetch virus. Gordon offers him help but Barnes denies being crazy. He wants Gordon to join him but he refuses. He brings up Galavan but Gordon regrets it and that he would take it back if he could. Barnes tells him that it isn’t easy but it’s right. Barnes says that he is drawing a line in the sand and asks Gordon where he stands and he stands against Barnes. Some other gunmen show up and Gordon uses it as a distraction and gets away.

Ed is at the crossing where Isabella died. He says goodbye and leaves flowers. He runs into a homeless man who happened to be there the night of the accident. Ed asks him what happened and being blind, he tells Ed that he heard screaming which goes against Isabella falling asleep at the wheel. Bruce, Selina, and Ivy are at the antiquity dealer’s house. The door is open and when they walk in, they notice he’s dead. Bruce notices that he was killed using the same arrows from earlier. Ivy drops the necklace, revealing that it is really a key. Ivy notices that Bruce and Selina are a couple which she denies.

Back at the GCPD, Barnes calls in that Gordon went crazy (and killed all the people he did). Bullock doesn’t believe it. Gordon calls him and asks him for help. The call is cut short when Barnes find him. Bullock approaches Lee for help with Barnes. He asks her to explain to the rest of the GCPD what was going on because they’d believe her more. Barnes chases Gordon through a building and has him cornered.

Ed investigates Isabella’s car himself and finds cut brake lines. He believes that it was so glaringly obvious that someone paid them off to miss it. Barnes makes a big speech about it being the end of the line. They hear sirens and Barnes tells Gordon that they are going to find his body and Barnes claiming to have stopped him since Gordon is a killer. Barnes thinks he will get away with it because they’ll believe him. Bullock and the GCPD arrive and they all know about Barnes.

Barnes becomes angry and shots break out. They go in while Gordon and Barnes are fighting. Gordon finds a gun and has it pointed at Barnes. Barnes refuses to put the shotgun down. Barnes pleads Gordon to let him go but Gordon won’t. Barnes just wants to save the city but since Gordon won’t let him go, he’s guilty too. Shots break out again. Bullock walks in to find Barnes down.

Selina and Ivy are back to Bruce’s mansion. Bruce thinks that he and Selina are together but she denies that Bruce is her boyfriend. The bad guys from earlier are at Selina’s. They find a hidden box with a newspaper clipping about Bruce’s parents’ death. Lee checks up on Gordon. She tells him that she faked evidence to prove Barnes’ condition but she’s glad she did it. Gordon is thankful for that.

Ed confronts Penguin about Isabella. He shows him the painting which now has both of them. Ed still confronts him but tells him that he thinks Butch is responsible. Penguin is relieved and thinks that it makes perfect sense. He promises Ed that they’ll go after him.

Gordon and Bullock are looking into Barnes’ office. They think it may be cursed. Bullock apologizes to Gordon about doubting him about Barnes. Barnes is now in Arkham.

Overall, unless they have bigger plans for Barnes, this is yet again another episode that goes nowhere. Sure they brought back of Ivy but who cares? The fact that she’s aged now makes it weird alongside Bruce and Selina. Also the only interesting thing that happened here is the beginning of the tension between Ed and Penguin. Right now he thinks Butch is responsible for Isabella but he’s eventually going to figure out that it’s Penguin and when that happens, it may be good.

Score: 6.5/10

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Keith Noakes

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.