Gotham will never be the same, all thanks to “The Maniax.”

The crew of villains completely proved they have what it takes to drag the city of Gotham down into the pits of hell after tonight’s bloody episode, “Knock, Knock.” Not only did Jerome and his henchmen infiltrate what was supposed to be the safest place in the city, they completely massacred everyone inside. And the Maniax’ beneficiary Theo Galavan has the mayor of the city under his thumb, so who is going to save the city from the monsters controlling it? That’s a question for next week.

The episode begins with Theo threatening the Gotham mayor to abandon his post and let Theo make all the decisions via proxy. His end game? A “cleansing” of the city, since “monsters are coming who will cleanse the city with blood and fire.” He’s definitely talking about the five Arkham asylum criminals he set loose upon Gotham, since Jerome tossed innocent people off the roof of a high rise housing the Gotham Gazette with “M-A-N-I-A-X!” spray painted on their chests. All for a headline, just to introduce the name of their criminal crew to the city.

Theo is proud of his Maniax for their introduction to Gotham, but he wants to train them in the art of stagecraft before they make their next move. Meanwhile, Barbara and her new BFF Tabitha bond over whipping the trapped mayor, and Theo pumps Barbara for information on her ex Jim Gordon, which is a nice juxtaposition to the fact that Gordon is now in charge of the investigation into who busted the five convicts out of Arkham. The first face-to-face meeting between Gordon and Theo is going to be intense, we just know it.

When the Maniax start fighting amongst themselves – because of course they do – Theo makes them play a game of Russian Roulette to find out who’s the boss. Jerome gleefully pulls the trigger four times, proving he’s got the stones, brains and most importantly, insanity, for the job.

Down in The Cave (we’re just going to start capitalizing that name from here on out), Bruce Wayne finds a computer system likely holding all the answers he’s looking for about his father and Wayne Enterprises, which is super convenient. But just as he’s booting it up, Alfred takes a hammer to the whole thing, destroying any information it might have revealed. He says he did it out of protection, but it’s a real dick move. Bruce rightly fires Alfred, but before he can get on his train to go somewhere, anywhere else, Bruce runs after him to tell him not to go. But the only condition: if Alfred stays, he has to help train Bruce to become a man who can carry out his father’s work, as well as fix the computer he broke. Fair is fair.

Alfred tracks Lucious Fox down to confide in him over Bruce’s plans, but threatens him all the same if he ever betrays Alfred’s trust. He enlists Lucious to fix the computer, and thus, a beautiful new bromance is born.

One bromance that’s still suffering? Gordon and his former partner Bullock. Gordon tries to woo Bullock back to the force, but his new fiancée won’t hear of it (although we’ll see how long that lasts). He does give Gordon a tip that leads him to discover that the Maniax stole a tank filled with gasoline. The Maniax next target: using that gas tank to burn a school bus full of GCHS cheerleaders alive.

Luckily Gordon’s squad arrives right before Jerome can set the school spirit on fire, and he saves the bus and captures one of the Maniax. Before he can rat out Theo Galavan to Gordon, Tabitha uses a sniper rifle to take him out. And the good guys are back to square one.

But the episode didn’t end in a draw. Far from it. Barbara calls Gordon at the GCPD, and lures him out of the building, while the rest of the Maniax invade and tear up the station with machine guns. Outside, Barbara has her pet member of the Maniax beat up Gordon while she just watches. She tells him that this is who she is and who she’s always been, and he needs to accept it.

In the shootout, Edward Nygma saves his crush Kristen Kringle, but no one is able to save the new Commissioner. Jerome ends up killing her on camera for all of Gotham to see, making her tenure only a week long. After the horrific massacre, Bullock returns to the job just in time to watch, along with the rest of the horrified city, Jerome’s recorded message as it plays on the news: he wants all of Gotham city to wake up from their “sanity.” Oh, this is going to be good.

What did you think of the Maniax latest move? How will the GCPD recover from losing all their men? Hit the comments section below with your thoughts and predictions.

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Gotham airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on Fox.

IMAGES: Fox