Gotham Episode 220 Recap: Azrael Has a New Mission

Jim and Bullock serve Strange a warrant to search his office. When they enter, there is a large garbage bag set in the middle of his office, neatly filled to the brim with shredded documents. The guys leave, angry, promising to return with a warrant for the rest of Arkham. Strange isn’t worried. What he is worried about is that Azrael hasn’t returned. That is because Azrael still hasn’t killed Jim Gordon. He has, however, killed a priest in his hunt for a new weapon. (The priest didn’t have any.)

Back at the police department, Bullock speaks to the squad. With Barnes still in critical condition, it looks like Bullock is the de facto captain. He gives them a pep talk, reminding the cops that beneath the mask, Galavan is just a man. If he bleeds, he can be beaten.

Tabitha is leaving Butch; he is begging her to stay. He thinks she is mad because he kicked Barbara out, but it seems like she is just scared of her brother. Jim and Bullock roll in, looking for Tabitha’s help in finding her brother. Jim senses her fear of Theo, but she corrects him. That wasn’t Theo; that was Azrael, a 300-year-old mythical assassin worshipped by the monks who raised Theo. She thinks someone got into Theo’s head, which is “not a safe place to be.” With a little bit of prodding, she admits that the real sword of Azrael belonged to her grandfather, an antiquities collector. He was buried with it.

Jim, Bullock, and Tabitha go to the Dumont crypt at the cemetery. Tabitha points out her grandfather’s coffin and lets the boys do the heavy lifting. Inside, the dusty skeleton is clutching the ancient sword, and Tabitha finishes the story of Azrael. He didn’t die; he just disappeared. He was said to be immortal. Jim removes the sword, and Azrael shows up. Jim hands the sword to Tabitha so he and Bullock can open fire on Azrael, but Azrael’s armor deflects the bullets harmlessly. He beats up Jim and tosses him outside the crypt, at which point Tabitha locks the doors so she can talk to her brother, remind him who he is, who she is. His memories are still scrambled between the real and the implanted, but the real ones are growing more real. Azrael remembers that he and Tabitha were sent to kill Bruce Wayne for dishonoring them. “Death to the son of Gotham!” he cries – then runs Tabitha through on the sword. He takes her whip, thanks her for reminding him about his true task, and leaves. Jim finally makes it back into the crypt, and Tabitha apologizes for making Theo/Azrael remember “the son of Gotham.” Jim commandeers one of the arriving officer’s cars and races towards Wayne manor, calling constantly. No one answers.

Speaking of Bruce Wayne, he has decided he is tired of trusting Jim. He wants to continue his investigation himself, which means finding Selina and reteaming with her. It takes some convincing, but Alfred finally lets him go. He finds Selina feeding the pigeons on the roof and wants her help deciphering the truth behind the dead walking the city. He brings up Bridgit, that she was sent to Arkham – which is something Selina didn’t know. Selina blames herself for what happened to Bridgit and agrees to help. Bruce wants to break into Arkham. Selina will do it – but must go alone. If she is caught, no one cares. If he is caught, the whole place is shut down, and they probably kill him. Bruce agrees to her rules. Selina knows how to get in: she hides in a laundry truck heading into Arkham.

Once inside the gates of Arkham, Selina leaves the truck and makes her stealthy climb to the roof, and into a vent. Moving through the ducts, she is greeted by lots of distractions: something gooey, a rat, and something that makes her sneeze. The biggest distraction comes when she literally run into Ed in the air vents. “Forensic guy” and “street trash girl” greet each other with surprise and suspicion. She is looking for Strange, and Ed warns her not to go into the basement, it is too horrible. They agree to help one another to their desired locations (Selina to the basement; Ed to an exit) and continue on their separate ways.

Selina makes it out of the vents in time to see the guards discover Ed is missing and set off the alarms. She manages to stay just out of sight, gets into the elevator, and heads down into the basement. She is hiding on the ceiling when the elevator lands, so as not to be spotted by the guard patrolling the hall. Selina starts moving down the hall, but hides when she sees Strange and Peabody. Peabody thinks Azrael has gone rogue, but Strange isn’t too worried. GCPD won’t be able to catch him, so they will have to kill him. And if they kill him, Azrael can’t lead them back to Indian Hill. In the meantime, though, this facility must be shut down, and the patients moved. Peabody promises this is already happening. The two go their separate ways, and Selina continues down the halls, looking for Bridgit. She is startled to see a huge, monster of a man with glowing eyes being wrestled down the hall by ill-equipped staff.

Butch visits Tabitha in the hospital. He is really broken up about her condition. He tries to tell her he loves her, but instead starts crying. Penguin comes in to “pay his respects,” which Butch answers with a gun to his head. But Penguin isn’t interested in revenge against Butch as much as he is interested in revenge against Galavan, who he doesn’t believe is “Azrael.” “If he wanted to wear leather, he should just wear leather. This is Gotham; no one cares!” He reiterates that Galavan must die, and the two enter into an uneasy partnership.

Jim finally gets someone on the phone at Wayne Manor: Alfred. Jim warns him that Galavan is coming for Bruce, and warns Alfred to stay at the manor in case Bruce comes home. He will go look for him at Selina’s crash pad. Alfred senses someone in the house, and turns, ready to stab the intruder – but it is just Master Bruce. Alfred alerts Jim, and Jim turns around and heads to Wayne Manor.

Alfred instructs Bruce to lock all the doors and windows and shut off all the lights. Bruce handles upstairs while Alfred handles downstairs. While upstairs, Bruce sees a broken window and calls out to Alfred to warn him. He grabs a decorative sword off the wall as he runs back to the study.

Azrael has already found Alfred in the study, and demands to be shown to the boy. Alfred refuses and threatens to shoot him. Azrael claims he is immortal. Bruce enters and tosses Alfred the sword, and the two men engage in a sword fight while Bruce tries to stay out of the way. Azrael ends up throwing Alfred out the window. Then he comes for Bruce – who runs.

Bruce makes it to the garage and rushes around. There are a dozen cars, but none of them seem to have keys. He hides when he hears Azrael coming. Azrael takes a few moments to preach to Bruce about his arrogant family, then creeps towards Bruce when he sees his shoes peeking out from behind a car. Bruce is too smart for him: he abandoned his shoes, and hopped into the car. As soon as Azrael is positioned in front of him, he floors it and drives Azrael out into the driveway. Bruce stops the car and Azrael disappears. Bruce gets out to check, but he is nowhere to be found. Suddenly Azrael steps out of nowhere, flicks Tabitha’s whip around the boy’s throat, and drags him down the driveway a bit. He is about to kill the son of Gotham with his sword when Jim shows up and pumps him full of bullets. “Unexpected,” Azrael murmurs as he faces his new challenge. A few more bullets, and Azrael drops. Jim rushes to check on Bruce, and is joined by Alfred.

Azrael, of course, isn’t dead. He stands up and Jim shoots at him again – but he is out of bullets. Suddenly Penguin shows up. “You should know that bullets don’t work on this one,” he tells Jim. Behind him, Butch rolls up, with a friggin’ rocket launcher on his shoulder. Like a badass in an action flick, Butch blows up Azrael, leaving nothing more than a flaming pile of ash. “You’re welcome!” Penguin calls out to them and the two leave. Their work here is done.

Back at Arkham, Ed finally makes it out of the vent, the same one Selina entered through. He is relieved – but is caught immediately.

Selina is having her own trouble. She ducks into a room with several leather costumes. Firefly comes in, in her own fancy new costume. She thinks Selina is her human test subject, but Selina tries to remind her that they are friends, and she has come here to save her. “That’s what he said you’d say,” Firefly says in response to everything Selina tells her. She unleashes her flamethrower on Selina. From an inconspicuous observation window, Strange and Peabody watch.

You can watch a preview for next week’s episode, titled “A Legion of Horribles,” in the player below.

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