Gotham Episode 2.07 Recap and Preview for Next Week

Penguin and Butch finally find Mrs. Kapelput in a cell in a warehouse on the docks. Theo and Tabitha are there, waiting. Penguin instructs Butch to kill them; instead, he kills the two thugs Penguin brought with them. Butch reveals that Tabitha has “fixed” him. Realizing that he is backed into a corner, Penguin drops to his knees and begs the Galavans for mercy, promising to be of use. Theo isn’t backing down, so Penguin offers himself up in exchange for his mother. Theo lets Mrs. Kapelput out of the cell, and she hugs her son. Suddenly, mom goes limp – there is a knife sticking out of her back, and she dies in Penguin’s arms. Penguin is enraged. “No wonder your family was run out of town. You come from a long line of cowards,” he baits. Theo steps up and cocks his gun at Penguin, but Penguin grabs the knife from his mother’s back and swipes at Theo. Tabitha shoots, chaos ensues, but no one is mortally wounded.

Jim doesn’t trust Theo, but figures if he gives the police department what they need, he’s okay with him. Barnes alerts Jim that Penguin tried to kill Theo. He comes in to give a statement, saying that Penguin wanted to form an alliance. Dent is there with search and arrest warrants for Penguin, and Theo announces that as soon as he is sworn in as mayor, he is instituting a curfew and wants the police to do door to door searches for Penguin. He is essentially instituting martial law. In theory, Jim doesn’t have a problem with that – he wants Penguin gone, too – but he doesn’t want to police through fear; that would make them no better than Penguin.

Word on the street is that there was a falling out between Butch and Penguin, and Butch has started his own crew. Bullock and Jim stake out the bar where Butch is allegedly holed up, and Jim shares his fears with Bullock that Theo has orchestrated the fires and all the other excessive criminal activity that has gone down in the last couple months. They wait until a pizza man arrives with a delivery and sneak in behind him. Butch doesn’t know where Penguin is; he isn’t his “lap dog” anymore. They don’t get any further into the questioning before a voice outside announces he is there for Butch. It is Zsasz, and he promises anyone who wants to live can leave right now. Butch’s goonies waste no time in leaving. Jim handcuffs Butch to a pipe and demands to know what is going on with Penguin. With Zsasz’s threat looming, he finally spills: Theo was pulling the strings with Penguin by holding Mrs. Kapelput hostage; he just “didn’t think he would go through with it.” Zsasz and his cronies open fire on the bar; Bullock and Jim return, with some of Butch’s cartoonishly enormous automatic rifles. Zsasz retreats, and when they return to Butch, they see he has escaped as well – they cuffed his missing hand. All that is left is a wooden prosthetic. 

Theo is going through with his victory celebration tonight, which means the entire police force is on security. The Galavan mansion is crawling with cops. Bullock mentions to Jim that Mrs. Kapelput is missing; Jim admits he believe Theo killed her. After the balloon drop and the not-so-humble speech, Theo takes Jim aside to mention the shootout. Jim didn’t get anything out of Butch before he escaped, which calms Theo. 

Martinez, in sniper position, radios to Jim to warn him of the approach, on foot, by Penguin and his thugs. Jim instructs him to hold his fire (he wants to take Penguin alive) but suddenly Penguin drops – there is another shooter on the roof. Tabitha. But it wasn’t Penguin who died. Penguin dressed a couple dozen cronies like him, and had them limp to the party. Jim gives Martinez the go-ahead to engage, but it is too late. The flock of Penguins has stormed the castle, and a massive shootout ensues. Up on the roof, Tabitha whips Martinez to the floor, then impales him through the neck with her stiletto heel.

Jim protects Theo as he rushes him to a car, all to keep up appearances. Penguin appears, and it is a standoff between Penguin and Jim, with Theo hiding behind Jim. Jim knows Theo killed Penguin’s mom, which surprises Theo, but he still orders Jim to put Penguin down. Bullock soon joins the standoff, and Penguin vows that one of them will die tonight – but if Penguin dies, the cops will never know what Theo’s endgame is, and it involves someone Jim cares about. Tabitha shoots Penguin from above, but she just clips his shoulder, allowing him to escape in Theo’s car.

Bullock assures Jim that Penguin shouldn’t be hard to find. Jim is more concerned with finding Penguin alive. Theo and Jim then face off, and Jim vows that he is going to continue to rid the city of monsters, starting with Theo. “Dangerous words,” Theo warns. “Desperate times,” retorts Jim.

Meanwhile, Ed wakes up in his apartment to find Kristen’s body is gone, but the egomaniacal side of him is there, taunting. While Ed “napped,” Evil Ed hid Kristen’s body and left clues to lead Ed to her. After a couple near-misses, he finally gets time alone with Kristen – and Evil Ed – when he finds her in the medical examiner’s freezer drawer. Evil Ed reminds him of the rush he felt when he was nearly caught, and Ed’s two sides merge into one, devious psychopath. I have really enjoyed Ed’s journey from dorky, awkward tech to The Riddler. While a lot of his early appearances didn’t pay off (they could have been handled better, giving him more than one minor scene crammed into an episode here and there) it has probably been the most satisfying character development thus far.

Also: Selina visits Bruce, only to find Silver is over for lunch. Pouring on the charm, Silver insists Selina stay for lunch and sends Bruce to inform Alfred. When the girls are left alone, Silver turns Mean Girl and threatens Selina to stay away from Bruce (this is at Theo’s behest). They have an awkward luncheon that turns downright uncomfortable when Selina asks Bruce what he sees in this “slut.” Bruce is offended; Silver starts to cry and leaves. Selina tries to warn Bruce against Silver, but Bruce is furious with Selina and wants her out. Later that night, after Bruce apologizes to Silver, they share a kiss – one that Selina sees through a window. She is not happy about this.

Check out a preview for next week’s episode of Gotham, entitled “Tonight’s the Night.”

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