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“Gotham” recap (1.11): It’s a Mad, Mad World

Welcome back to Gotham, the town where lesbians live in bedrooms and people sleep at work apparently. Does no one ever go home on this show? Does Fish Mooney even have a home or does she sleep under the stage in a feather-lined basket?

We open at Arkham, where Jim Gordon has been demoted to lowly security guard. The inmates are putting on a production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, but I’m too distracted by the performer dressed like Edward Scissorhands. Who gives a criminally insane person scissor hands? I feel like this costume choice is a metaphor for the way Arkham is run.

Anyhoozle, Gordon watches the play as we check in with other Gothamites, specifically Barbara, who is still in bed with Renee (get it girl!) and a spilled bottle of pills (uhoh). And just in case you forgot that Renee is a recovering addict (because the show mentioned it one time) we get a “previously on” clip to remind us.

Back at the Crazytown Playhouse, an inmate called Frogman has had enough of the show. He starts beating up the actors and an all-out brawl breaks out. Everyone’s a critic.

We then go to the infirmary, where the attacked inmate is receiving medical attention while Gordon gets chewed out by his boss Director Dr. Lang. Lang blames Gordon for the fight, despite there being only two guards in charge of a crowd of criminally insane people.

They are joined by Dr. Leslie Thompkins, the only doctor in all of Arkham apparently. Luckily for us, she’s played by Morena Baccarin, who you may remember as Inara from Firefly or Mrs. Brody from Homeland. Dr. Thompkins has no fucks to give, as evidenced by her slapping a patient in the face. Gordon seems to have no problem with her bedside manner, and the two engage in some flirty banter. Even the inmate is like, “Get a room, pervs.”

Meanwhile, Selina is sneaking around the rainy streets when she finds Ivy camped out in some garbage. Since Ivy is sick, Selina takes her to Gordon’s apartment, which is basically abandoned. Does Jim not live there anymore? I’m operating off a theory that basically everyone in Gotham City is homeless by choice.

Over at the waterfront, the Penguin is trying to shake down some fishermen for more money. The fisherman call the cops, who punch out Penguin and arrest him. What is it about the Penguin’s face that is so imminently punchable?

Back at Arkham, Gordon finds the Frogram in a zombified state. Someone gave him crude electroshock therapy that rendered him a vegetable. But who zapped him? Dr. Lang blames Gordon, despite there literally being no one else to help run the asylum. This just in: Dr. Lang is a dick.

Lang charges Gordon with finding the culprit and tells him not to call the cops. Gordon questions another guard who admits to losing his keys during the inmate fight. He also questions as series of inmates, including the Hannibal Lecter-like Jack Gruber who played Prospero, and gentle axe murderer Aaron who Nurse Dorothy dotes on. Shout-out to Nurse Dorothy, who dresses like a 1950’s nurse and looks like Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors.

Over at the Fish Bowl (aka what I’m calling Fish Mooney’s club) Fish has gathered the other capos to discuss getting rid of Falcone. Jimmy (the beefy one) assumes he’ll take over because of seniority, but Fish has other plans. She sends her right hand man Butch to convince Jimmy to take her side. Butch and Jimmy were childhood friends apparently. Will Butch betray Fish for Beefy Jimmy?

Back at Arkham, we see the angel-winged inmate Royston strapped to a table and electrocuted by a mystery figure. Gordon finds the damaged Royston, who is now only capable of speaking in Shakespeare.

Dr. Leslie examines Royston, and she and Gordon try to figure out who would want to keep frying inmates. Gordon tells Dr. Leslie to stay in the women’s wing, because it is too dangerous for her delicate femininity to be there. She tells him to investigate the staff, and wants to know why he doesn’t suspect her. He says she’s not the type, despite arresting a beautiful female doctor like, one episode ago.

Lang refuses to let Gordon investigate the staff, so Gordon calls in Bullock to get Lang off his back. Bullock is, as always, a welcome breath of fresh air. He hauls Lang downtown so Gordon can get to investigating.

Over at Renee’s apartment, Barbara has literally not left the bed. I’m pretty sure she has bed sores by now. Renee brings her coffee and tells her that she can’t continue with their drunk/drugged sexathon. Renee tells Barbara that they are toxic together, and that she wants Barbara to get help. This comes as a shock to all of us, since we haven’t seen any of this toxic behavior in action. Grab your life vests people; the Keatoya ship is going down.

This is a disappointing development on a lot of levels. There’s a very compelling relationship here, and lots of meaty dramatic work in Montoya’s struggle between her sobriety and the woman she loves. I just wish Gotham took some time to explore this instead of just shoe-horning in this exposition so they can expedite Barbara’s reunion with Jim. Renee even suggests that she call Gordon to sort herself out, when it’s Gordon’s job/lack of attention that traumatized Barbara in the first place. What the actual fuck?

Why do we get endless subplots about lower level mafiosos we don’t care about, yet no character development for the two female leads of the show? Thumbs down.

At least Barbara gets to say the most lesbian-ish line ever: “I’m sorry I interfered with your process!”.

Speaking of boring mafiosos, Beefy Jimm and Butch meet and Jimmy tries to convince him to join his team. Butch declines and shoots Jimmy in the face. Apparently they were childhood friends but I don’t care.

Meanwhile, the Penguin is in a holding cell and begs Bullock to release him. Bullock refuses, as the sight of Penguin locked up is relaxing for him, like a bonsai tree. Eventually, Maroni shows up; turns out he locked Penguin up to teach him a lesson about hubris/respecting fishermen. He tells Penguin to check himself and calls him a monkey. Too many animal metaphors, Maroni. He releases Penguin and takes him home.

Gordon pours over files and blueprints for Arkham while Nurse Dorothy brings him a coffee. He asks her to bring him to the closed off basement to investigate.

Bullock questions Lang who, like all Gothamites, is hiding deep dark secrets of corruption. Bullock demands to know who Lang thinks the culprit might be, and he realizes it’s Nurse Dorothy, who is not a nurse but an inmate.

They are about to go into the basement when Dr. Leslie shows up. Gordon tries to get her to leave, but Dorothy snaps and shoves her. It is literally the tiniest shove ever, but it’s enough to distract Gordon and make her escape. Gordon sends Dr. Leslie to sound the alarm, but Dorothy has already opened all the cells and released all the inmates. Dorothy gets trampled by the escaped inmates and dies.

Dr. Leslie and Gordon get chased through the halls of Arkham by a crowd of maniacs, who Gordon manages to distract so they can escape. Afterwards, they discover that Nurse Dorothy was a former patient who hid in the basement and then disguised herself as a nurse. You would think Lang could have figured this out since he has like, four employees.

Meanwhile, Barbara calls Jim’s home where Ivy answers the phone. She pretends to be Jim’s lover and Barbara buys it, despite Ivy’s obvious little girl voice. Oh Barbara.

Gordon and Bullock celebrate the solved case by having a drink with Captain Essen. Everyone wants Gordon back on the GCPD, but they are interrupted when Dororthy’s autopsy reports come in. She has electroshock scars, which means she was just working for the real culprit.

Cue Jack Gruber and his lackey Aaron, who use the stolen keys to kill the guard and beat up Dr. Lang. Gordon rushes back to Arkham to find a dying Lang and a note from the escaped Gruber promising to see him again.

Gordon goes home (finally?) and finds leftover soup and urchin dirt. He calls Barbara’s name, but she’s not there.

What did you think of Gotham‘s winter premiere? Is there still hope for Keatoya? Hit me up @ChelseaProcrast

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