[Warning: this post contains spoilers from tonight’s midseason finale of Gotham, “Rise of the Villains: Worse Than a Crime.” Read at your own risk!]

It’s fall finale time, and you know what that means: it’s time to say goodbye to all the big arcs from the first half of the season and look ahead to what’s coming next. When Gotham returns for the second half of season two, it’s going to get downright chilly … since Mr. Freeze is coming to town! But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s get to recappin’ the game-changing fall finale, “Rise of the Villains: Worse Than a Crime,” shall we?

The hour starts right where last week’s episode left off: with Tabitha chasing after Alfred. Alfred’s down but not out – he came to in a garbage dump with Tabitha and her goons right on his tail. He hid in a old fridge, which was a good idea … until a crane dumped a ton of trash right on top of it. He finally caught a break when he almost carjacked someone but then a cop tased him … right in the face, no less. Ouch!

At Wayne Manor, Lucius Fox emerged from The Cave with news that he fixed the hard drive Alfred broke in the beginning of this season, but the place is empty since Theo had his men drag Bruce to his penthouse. That’s where Theo explained his whole family saga to Bruce while Father Creel anointed him in preparation for his ceremonial death. Bruce seemed a little too resigned to his fate, don’t you think? We would have been freaking out, but this kid was calmer than ever!

Silver wasn’t calm at all, though, and she tried to get out of watching the ceremony because she didn’t want to watch Bruce die. Wait, did she actually fall for Bruce after all? But Theo pushed her to deny her compassion. He challenged her to make Bruce fall in love with her before he was killed or else he would kill her, so obviously she accepted. That made the next few scenes with her acting contrite and sweet to Bruce all the more difficult to watch. But when she seemed to actually care about Bruce, she decided to break him out of his cell and help him escape! Is she for real?

Either way, they’re caught by Theo and his henchmen and tossed back into a cell. Silver tearfully told Bruce that she really does love him, and was shocked when he told her he doesn’t feel for her at all, and knows she’s still playing him. He finally got her to confess that Theo was making her do all those things, and she’s done even worse things in the past that make it impossible for her to ever go back to “normal.” But Bruce gave her a second chance and kissed her in front of Theo, helping her get back into her family’s good graces.

Meanwhile, after getting saved by Penguin from getting killed by Theo’s henchmen, Jim Gordon woke up in Nygma’s apartment with him and Penguin … and he was understandably confused at the company he’s keeping. Penguin wanted Bruce to work with him to take down Theo, and since Gordon is now a fugitive after attacking Theo in public, he might actually be considering it.

After Nygma used a riddle to clue Lee in to where Gordon was, she was shocked to find out what Captain Barnes thought was true was actually true: Gordon was working with Penguin, plotting to take down Theo. But she had a shocking revelation of her own: she’s pregnant! At once, Gordon agreed to leave town with her and even Penguin understood that he had to go. Even murderous gangsters know that family comes first!

At the GCPD, Lucius Fox tracked down Captain Barnes to file a missing persons report on Bruce and Alfred, when they learned just in time that Alfred was brought into the cells on a count of attempted grand theft auto! Alfred filled Barnes, Fox, and Bullock in on what happened between him and Tabitha, but Barnes was adamant that they can’t go after the Galavans without any actual proof of a crime. Alfred, Bullock, and Fox all decided that they wouldn’t wait for any legal warrant, and planned to storm Theo’s penthouse that night. But they knew they needed Gordon, so Nygma once again spilled the beans on where he is.

They arrived right in the nick of time, as Gordon was about to skip town with Lee. When Alfred told Gordon about Bruce’s kidnapping, he knew he had to stay, so Lee left town without him. The boys suited up with weapons and Selina appeared to help them get inside Theo’s fortress.

Inside the ceremony, Silver cried out “Stop!” right before Father Creel could slash Bruce’s throat. Maybe she did have some feelings after all? But that will have to wait for later, since Gordon and Penguin and their army storm the room immediately after. They killed all of Father Creel’s men, and just as Father Creel was about to make his big move with the knife, Bullock shot him … after finally making it up all the flights of stairs. Gotta work on that cardio endurance, Bullock! Maybe take a spin class or something. Bruce and Alfred were finally reunited, but Gordon was more fixated on where Theo ran off to.

Theo and Tabitha had escaped with Silver up to the penthouse, and just when Theo was about to kill Silver for disobeying the family plan, Tabitha knocked him out. Turns out she got fed up with Theo’s treatment of her and his plans for Gotham. Thank goodness! She and Silver parachuted out of the building, leaving Theo alone with Gordon. Gordon was only going to arrest Theo, but after Theo pushed him, Gordon was about to shoot him to get his revenge before Theo could weasel his way free again. However, he was interrupted before he could pull the trigger by Barnes, who had been tipped off by Lucius on where Gordon was and what he was planning.

Barnes was going to take in both Gordon and Theo, but Penguin also arrived on the scene just then and knocked out Barnes. He convinced Gordon that since Theo had the courts in his pockets, there was no way a legal sentencing would ever stick, so instead they did the unthinkable: they tortured and killed Theo together. We definitely did not see that one coming, although it was a nice callback to the pilot when Gordon shot Penguin on the docks. This time, they’re both on the other end of the gun. This should be sending Gordon off the deep end since it’s probably one of the coldest, cruelest, most brutal things we’ve ever seen him do. However, we see him next reuniting with Lee, asking her to marry him. We don’t get to see her answer, though. Did she say yes?! Or can she recognized that Gordon is on the edge right now?

But this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Theo: his body was carted off from the morgue to Indian Hill, since “Dr. Strange” has “high hopes” for him. First order of business: dislodging the umbrella from Theo’s throat, after Penguin drove it all the way down there. Whoa. Not cool, Penguin, not cool.

And you all stayed for that surprise end tag, right? Well, we sure didn’t the first time we watched this episode because Gotham never has end tags! But sure enough, the Gotham logo froze over before we were treated to a scene of a random man fleeing from some assailant, only to then learn that the mysterious man chasing him was none other than a fully-formed Mr. Freeze! We knew Victor Fries was going to be introduced this season, but this guy had a freeze ray and goggles and everything, so are we seeing a flash forward to the future Mr. Freeze, or is this origin story going to be way more than just an origin story? So many questions!

Were you glad to see the Father Creel/Dumas brotherhood storyline come a close? How psyched are you to see Tabitha and Silver create their own females-only villain duo? Are we going to see a wedding this season before the baby comes for Gordon and Lee? Hit the comments section below with your speculation now!

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Images: Fox

Gotham airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on Fox.