Lesson to learn from this week’s episode of Gotham: Barbara Kean is effin’ crazy.

Her particular brand of crazy may have been bubbling underneath the surface her entire life, but it wasn’t until she put on her wedding dress and tried to marry Jim Gordon (while also trying to kill him maybe?) that she reached peak crazy. Oh Stabby Babs, what would we do without you?

“Rise of the Villains: Tonight’s the Night” was one hilariously twisted ride, and it kicked off with Gordon trying to put Theo Galavan behind bars… that is, until he hit a roadblock. He brought all his information, all his research and all his hunches that Theo has been behind all the madness in Gotham recently to Captain Barnes, but Barnes told Gordon he needs an ironclad case before arresting the new mayor. Because, of course, he is the mayor, people! Gordon’s plans were cut short, however, when Barbara waltzed right into the GCPD to meet with him. When you’re the most wanted woman in the city, why not just walk right into the heart of police headquarters? Seems like a foolproof plan. Right?

Gordon decided to play along with her manic craziness to try to get her to confess everything about Theo. You know, like him breaking her out of Arkham Asylum along with a whole crew of homicidal maniacs (or is that Maniax?). While Gordon’s new squeeze Lee was, obviously, not as into that plan since it involved Gordon kissing her and pretending to have feelings for her, Captain Barnes agreed to it. But before Barbara would say anything about Theo, she wanted to take Gordon to see some “surprise.” Unit Alpha of the GCPD strike force suited up to go with Gordon and Bullock, but they were ambushed on the way to their destination. Once again, because of course, Barbara and her new squeeze Tabitha knocked out Gordon and kidnapped him.

Barbara brought Gordon to a church, where she tied up a priest and witnesses, put on her old wedding dress, and revealed she’s going to marry him and then kill him. Every girl’s dream! She also kidnapped Lee so she could witness it all. Now that’s just cruel. But when Barbara tried to expose who Gordon “really” is to Lee, like how he killed a man for Penguin, the joke was on Barbara: Gordon already told Lee everything. That was a nice twist on an old TV trope. Also, Barbara revealed to Gordon the location of the missing mayor James, because she didn’t think that would matter. Spoiler alert: it totally did.

Despite Bullock getting sent home for disobeying orders earlier, he stayed behind at the GCPD and figured out exactly where Barbara took Gordon. The strike force infiltrated the church, and Gordon got off a shot on Tabitha while Barbara escaped to the attic of the church.

Gordon followed her, and he and Barbara fight, crashing through a stained glass window. Gordon tried to pull Barbara back up but she let go, and fell to the ground. Bushes broke her fall, so she survived, but she sustained a ton of injuries. Gordon told Captain Barnes what Barbara told him about the location of the missing mayor James, and they rescue him, finally giving Gordon the testimony and proof he needed to arrest Theo Galavan. Chalk that up as a win for the heroes!

And now for your weekly Riddler update: now that he’s a bona fide murderer, Edward Nygma drove out to the middle of the woods to bury Kristen Kringle’s body. But before he does, he also had a romantic picnic beside her body, while also talking to her as if she’s still alive. That’s totally normal, right? Right. Totally.

While Nygma was in the middle of a romantic (?) goodbye eulogy, a hunter interrupted him, and he was forced to kill him too. Shovel to the head, now that’s a horrible way to go. But someone else stole the food from Nygma’s picnic after that, and so he went off to search for his next victim. It was a very busy day for him. But when he finally found the mysterious food thief, it turned out to be none other than the wounded Penguin himself! Something tells us this Riddler/Penguin dynamic is going to be even more epic than it was in that short season one scene. This is going to be so good.

Meanwhile, against all odds, Galavan actually thought up of a way to get Bruce to sign over his father’s company to him. He exposed all of Wayne Enterprises’ illegal dealings to Bruce and made him realize that a young child has no chance at cleaning up a multi-billion dollar conglomerate with a board willing to kill to protect itself, all on his own. Instead, Galavan offered to pay cash for all of Bruce’s shares to “clean up” the company himself, and as a “signing bonus” he would give Bruce the name of the man who killed his parents. But honestly: why wouldn’t Bruce ask him to just hand over the information if he’s supposed to be an altruistic man who only wants to help Gotham?

Alfred tried to make Bruce see that fact, but Bruce is way too anxious to avenge his parents as soon as humanly possible. Bruce almost put his pen to paper, giving away his father’s company … but at the last second, he changed his mind, and just in time too! Gordon and the rest of Unit Alpha stormed the Galavan manor to arrest Theo, but not before Theo tossed the file containing the murderer’s name into the fire. Ahhh, so close!

What did you think of tonight’s episode of Gotham? Did Stabby Babs live out her last crazy day, or will she somehow find her way back onto the streets of Gotham to continue harassing Gordon? Be honest, you totally want her to.

—

Images: Fox

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