The lesson learned from tonight’s Gotham? Don’t bring a gun to a rocket launcher fight. Also: Butch is actually pretty badass now that he’s a mob boss in his own right. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves … so much went down in “Unleashed!” From the Arkham storyline revving up, the return of Firefly, Azrael’s mission, there was a lot going on. Let’s recap it all with a bunch of spoilers, shall we?
The hour began with Gordon and Bullock bulldozing their way through Arkham, ready to crucify Strange for letting both “Azrael” aka dead Theo Galavan and “Mr. Freeze” aka dead Victor Fries out onto the streets of Gotham. Both convicted criminals were sent to Arkham and supposedly cremated, but clearly, since they’ve both been spotted out on the streets of Gotham, something fishy is going on. However, Strange was prepared for the witch hunt, and so he had shredded all his files in his office …for “spring cleaning.” Sure dude. That’s not suspicious at all. And he also gave them crap for causing him trouble when Gordon wasn’t even an officially licensed cop, and for the warrant only giving the GCPD access to Strange’s office and not the entire Arkham facility, so ultimately they had to leave.
Back at the GCPD, Bullock’s righteous anger and control of the Arkham situation made him the de facto Captain in Barnes’ absence (who, as it turns out, wasn’t killed by Azrael, but was laying in the hospital in a coma, so it didn’t look too good). He decided to go after Theo’s sister with Gordon to try and figure out where Galavan was holed up. When they arrived to see Tabitha attempting to flee for her own safety, she told them all about the legend of Azrael, a mythical assassin from 300 years ago. She also knew that “Azrael” would be on the hunt for the real sword after his fake one shattered (which he was), an antique owned by her grandfather and buried with him when he died.
Gordon, Bullock, and Tabitha broke into her grandfather’s crypt to get the sword first, and just when Gordon lifted the sword from the bones and cobwebs, Azrael showed up to take it. He tried to kill Gordon, but Tabitha stepped in to try and get Theo to remember her, and he started to get flashes of his old life. In his confusion, Theo remembered how he was sent to Gotham to kill Bruce Wayne, aka the Son of Gotham, and he stabbed Tabitha through the stomach with his new, authentic sword. Tabitha told Gordon that she made Theo remember “death to the Son of Gotham,” and so he took off to try and protect Bruce.
In the hospital, Butch was trying to profess his feelings for Tabitha while she was unconscious, but Penguin interrupted him. He wanted revenge on Theo for what he did to his mother, and he convinced Butch to help him for what he did to Tabitha. That’s when Butch told him where Theo was headed next: to Wayne Manor.
As for Bruce, he was fed up trying to wait for Gordon to do something about the Philosopher, aka Strange, for having his parents killed. He left Alfred and tried to meet back up with Selina to get revenge on his own. She wasn’t keen about joining Bruce’s revenge team, but when he told her how her friend Bridget Pike was also sent to Arkham—and could be on the same path as Fries and Galavan, cough—she immediately agreed. They decided to break into Arkham to see what’s going on themselves. But Selina knew that Bruce couldn’t go with her, since he was too important and recognizable, so it was up to her to do it on her own.
Bruce went back to Wayne Manor right as Gordon called Alfred to warn them about Theo, which was great timing. They split up to lock all the doors, close all the windows and turn off all the lights, but Azrael got in before they could finish. He fought Alfred—who threw him out a window, go badass Alfred!—and although Bruce ended up running him over with a car, he survived. He almost stabbed Bruce with his sword, but Gordon arrived just in time to pump him full of bullets. But maybe he was as immortal as he thought, since he was still able to get back up.
Luckily (or maybe unluckily?), that’s when Penguin showed up, with a pretty awesome comment about where he was going to stick his umbrella next after shoving the last one down Theo’s throat. In one amazing moment set to some killer, epic music, he stepped aside to reveal Butch holding a rocket launcher, who then aimed at Theo and fired, blowing him up. Immortal no more! That scene was one of the best of the season, if not the entire series, to date, right?!
Meanwhile, Nygma returned to his cell freaked out by what he discovered in Indian Hill, and realized he had to get out of Arkham or else his time would end in something horrible. He actually ran into Selina in the air vents trying to escape while she was trying to break in, and so in return for her telling him the way out, he told her how to get into Indian Hill. Guards noticed Nygma’s cell was empty, so they sounded the alarm right as Selina got inside Indian Hill. Nygma made it out successfully …right as guards with dogs found him. So close! And yet so far.
While roaming the halls of Indian Hill looking for her friend, Selina overheard Strange and Peabody talking about Theo/Azrael and covering their tracks by moving all their test subjects to a new location, so she moved even faster. She finally found Bridget, but her mind had already been warped by Strange and she didn’t remember Selina or even her own name. She also had a super cool new suit and flame thrower—which she fired right at Selina—but we didn’t see if Selina got hurt or killed. Ladies and gents, the new Firefly is badass!
What did you think of tonight’s Gotham? How worried should we be about Selina’s fate? There’s no way Gotham would kill her off offscreen, would they? Tweet me your thoughts at @SydneyBucksbaum!
Images: Fox
Gotham airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on Fox.
