Gotham S01E02 Recap: Selina Kyle

There is a war coming, the Penguin had warned him, but will Jim Gordon be prepared?

Bruce Wayne tests his tolerance for pain as he holds him hand over a candle. He rushes to hide his acts from Alfred, but he’s a horrible liar. Alfred lashes out over his actions, before pulling him into an embrace.

Patty and Doug feed the homeless, as a part of the Mayor’s food program. They’re creepy and way too smiley. Selina doesn’t bite though, and it’s a good thing, as the pair certainly aren’t what they seem. They drug the children, and kill the older man, while Selina slides back into the shadows. One of the kids also runs for it, and Doug gives chase. And the kid is thrown through the window of a restaurant.

Jim is sent to investigate the death. Selina stalks near, but hides when Harvey arrives. Harvey sees nothing more than a dead bum, but Gordon notes that he’s a military vet. The first cop sent to the scene finally arrives, he was checking out Che Vous, the restaurant that the kid went through the window of, and the one that is paying the cop for protection.

The kid’s story sound unlikely as he talks about a nice lady with a pen that drugged the other street kids. Harvey grills the kid thinking that he killed the kid, but the kid remains adamant that he’s telling the truth and that Cat could confirm his story. Harvey threatens to beat up the kid, and Gordon takes him aside, telling him that his threat is illegal. Harvey doesn’t like Gordon’s squeaky clean ways, and its making him increasingly ill tempered.

Oswald is picked up on the side of the road by some college kids, after they mess with him a bit. They mock him and spray him with air freshener before handing him a beer. It’s all fun and jokes until one of them asks him if anyone has ever told him that he walks like a penguin. Oswald goes all Coco, smashing his beer bottle, and ramming it into the kid’s carotid. So, Penguin isn’t a pet name that Oswald is embracing at the moment.

Harvey and Gordon are sitting before the Captain again. She’s not telling him to break the law, but be flexible. They dive into the runaway case, which Harvey still doesn’t believe. Ed Nygma lurks outside of the office. He’s found that the boy had high levels of ATP in his system, it’s a fast acting knock out drug. Hard to get and no recreational use, previously used at Arkham Asylum, which closed down years ago. The boy’s story just may have some credibility afterall. The Captain orders that the press needs to stay out of it to keep panic down. Harvey notes that the crime was committed on Fish Mooney’s turf, and asks if she’s still mad at them.

Speaking of Fish Mooney, she’s enjoying some music in her club when Falcone pays a visit. He wishes to have a chat, but doesn’t want the place cleared. He toasts about men about to die being honest. Falcone spoke to Cobblepot before his death. The Waynes’ Empire is now in flux due to her actions. Every criminal in the city is looking to make a move. He’s not worried about his enemies, but his friends. Fish assures him that she’s firmly in his corner, and he lets the matter drop, turning his attention to her love life. She claims to not have a lover, snapping his fingers at the waiter Laslo, warning him against breaking her heart. He has Laslo taken out back and beaten as Fish has no choice but to try to keep all emotion from her face. After Falcone leaves, Fish clears out her club, forcing everyone out.

Cobblepot’s mother speaks with Montoya and Allen from the Major Crimes Unit about her son’s disappearance. Is it me, or is that the Poodle Lady from Batman Returns? She tells them that her son would never leave his clothes. They put on a smiling face, but they suspect that the cops killed their snitch. Montoya seems more angered by the fact that they lost a good snitch than him being dead. Cobblepot’s Mother thinks that a lady has him in her clutches.

Butch tells Fish that she started her move too soon. She sees that now, she needs more money, more territory before she makes a move, but she when the time is right she will go after Falcone and kill him. Butch volunteers to hold her shoes when that happens. Fish’s only regret is that Oswald is dead, he didn’t suffer nearly enough, and lucky for her he isn’t.

Oswald pulls up to a house with a trailer for rent. He rents out the trailer without even bothering to look at it.

The runaways awaken, but none of them know where they are. It’s dark, dank and probably underground. The amenities could use some work. One thinks they’re dead. They aren’t but they may wish they were.

Gordon and Harvey pay Fish a visit. She’s no longer angry with them. She’s fond of Harvey, and Gordon intrigues her. Gordon jumps in, no foreplay, asking about the kids being grabbed on the streets. Fish is almost sad to hear that Gordon is a sinner like the rest of them, having killed Oswald, but she opens up that there is a market for healthy kids no matter how they look. Some mysterious over seas buyer that no one seems to care to know.

Barbara and Gordon sit down and eat Chinese food. He tells her about his case, and how no one seems to know anything, and he can’t even go to the press about it. The whole system is utterly corrupt, she has no clue. Barbara asks him if something is wrong, he’s been different lately, but he doesn’t reveal his demons. Since his hands are tied at work, she suggests that someone leave an anonymous tip to a newspaper, Gordon doesn’t think it’s a good idea, but Barbara is on her feet, placing the call before he can stop her. Gordon tells her that when he talks to her it has to remain between them, even though it was the right thing to do, and Barbara understands.

The story hits the front page, and Captain Essen is not pleased. The Mayor is quick to blame the police department for their sluggish reaction. Harvey and Gordon both claim that they didn’t call it in, and Gordon delivers his lead. Three companies stock the ATP, one has to be the supplier. Harvey tests out Gordon to see if he gave the newspaper the headline, but he’s technically telling the truth about not calling them. Gordon makes a call to a judge to enter the companies.

The drug supplier is not pleased about being involved with a high profile case, he wants some extra cash to assuage his conscience. Patty and Doug don’t have that kind of money, and don’t feel he’s being fair, threatening to renege on them. The Dollmaker doesn’t tolerate failure, they need the children. Patty stabs one of the drug supplier’s men with her pen and down he goes.

Harvey won’t let the newspaper tipoff go. He asks Gordon if Barbara made the call, and Gordon admits that she did. Harvey tells him to get control over his lady, but he likes her how she is. They enter Quillen’s and Patty mans his front. They have a warrant to search the place, and the drug supplier, Quillen is twitchy. The Waynes had been planning to reopen Arkham Asylum by his admission, but their death proves no one is safe. Patty and Doug start shooting and its gunfire all around, but the pair get away. Harvey gives chase. Quillen orders the kids be killed, the room hosed down but Gordon doublebacked and stops him at gunpoint. He’s forced to shoot the lackey, but the kids are safe.

The Mayor makes a big speech about the bravery of Gordon and Harvey, and how the kids will be taken care of, but culprits behind the kidnappings are still at large. He made a call to get the kids off the streets and into juvenile services. The kids are being rounded up, but not in the nice, sweet, humane way he claims. They’re being rounded up, pulled by officers, scared by their dogs and shoved into squad cars, all runaways including Selina.

The Mayor and Captain Essen celebrate with a drink. Gordon asks where the children are being sent, and the Mayor tells him to Foster homes for the undamaged ones, upstate to a correction center for the rest. A prison he notes. The Captain tries to excuse her upstanding detective, but the mayor pulls out his soapbox. He blames most of the petty crime on these children, and Gordon notes that he’s using the child snatchers as a pretense to lock up children without a trial.

Alfred pays Gordon a visit. He asks Gordon to pay them a visit. Neither has ever had a child, but Alfred notes that the boy respects him, and asks him over for tea.

Bruce draws little disturbing pictures while listening to rock music.

Selina is set to go upstate, but she’s refusing. She asks to speak with Jim Gordon, but the woman checking the kids in on the bus refuses to listen, marking her down as Jane Doe. Selina takes a seat next to a crying kid, giving him sound advice for when they get to juvie. Don’t befriend the friendly, and to go for the eyes. Patty boards the bus, and Selina isn’t comforted by her smiling demeanor, she knows the crazy. Selina makes a run for it, and Patty pulls a gun on her, forcing her to sit down. She warns the bus that the next naughty child will get a black mark (bullet) to the forehead.

The Mayor enters Captain Essen’s office in a tizzy. One or two missing children could be explained, but a whole bus load is far more noticeable. He begs her to tell him that it wasn’t he snatchers, but she can’t do that. All she can tell him is that they’re working on it.

Harvey questions Quillen while Gordon sits back and watches. Harvey tells him that Gordon is against him beating on people, but Gordon is making an exception for him. The lives of 30 children mean far more than the lives of one scumbag. Quillen admits that there was a logo on the side of the truck. A blue plate and silver fork. He isn’t sure what they do with the children though. Gordon orders him to draw the logo.

Patty and Doug arrive with their precious cargo, but as the children debus they notice that they’re one short. Patty goes to see if they missed one. Selina is hiding on the bus, but she’s too good, and manages to slip by Patty as she searches. Patty chalks it up to an error, and she and Doug celebrate their good haul for the Dollmaker.

Gordon and Harvey come up with nothing on the logo. Captain Essen reports that everyone is looking for the truck, but they have a huge headstart. Looking at the logo Gordon realizes that it isn’t a plate and fork, but a circle and trident.

The children are loaded into a shipping container. Patty gives clear instructions for their transport, when one of the men comes in screaming about his eyes. The cat has struck. The rest go off in search of the scratcher, while Patty stays to see the damage. She scratched his eyes all right, right out of his head. Patty tells him that he’ll be right as rain in no time, and then shoots him in the head. She goes in search of Selina by herself. Selina hides behind some shipping crates, trying to stay one step ahead of Patty, and she does until her locket falls out of her pocket. Patty catches Selina, holding her at gunpoint. Gordon knocks her out from behind, but Selina doesn’t thank her rescuer.

Alfred tells Gordon about his ward. He hasn’t been sleeping and when he does, its fitful, and now he’s hurting himself. Gordon asks if he’s spoken with a psychiatrist, but he hasn’t. It’s against the rules. Mr. Wayne was very adamant should he and his wife die how their son should be raised, to be free to choose his own course. Gordon thinks it’s a recipe for disaster, and asks what he should do. Bruce tells him that Alfred wants him to talk sense into him, and Alfred scolds him for sneaking up on him. Bruce thinks that Alfred is a worrywart and asks if talking has helped Gordon with his memories of war. Gordon tells him that it has, but Bruce doesn’t believe him, calling him a horrible liar. Bruce thinks he’s testing himself, but the petulance in his voice makes me hope that Alfred takes him over his knee. Bruce sits. He’s been following the events of the newspaper, and offers to give him money for the kids. Gordon explains that money won’t solve the problem, the kids need good guardians, like he has. He offers clothes, the kids looked ragged. He wants to help somehow, and they need to figure out a way for him to make a difference.

After everything that has happened, the kids are still headed upstate. Selina or Cat as she prefers to be called wants to be let go. She doesn’t have a guardian, and her mother is deceased so they can’t release her even if she didn’t have warrants. She tells him that her mother isn’t deceased, but it doesn’t matter. Selina asks for Gordon, and the social worker tells her that the police are busy. Selina isn’t taking no for an answer, threatening to scream and say that he touched her if he doesn’t get Gordon. The girl is certainly ballsy, and the man does as she asks.

Cobblepot has made some sort of serial killer map with pictures on the ceiling of everyone from the Mayor to Falcone to the Waynes. He receives a call from the remaining boy’s mother. He tried to ransom the boy, but his mother didn’t believe him, thinking that it was just a joke. Well it certainly isn’t a joke, and Oswald looks like he’s about to go bananas on the poor kid.

Gordon goes to chat with Selina, noting that she didn’t want to talk to him before. He tells the social worker its okay to leave the girl with him. He asks her if she knows the first runaway they had in custody Macky, and notes that she must be a survivor the snatchers tried for her twice. She does, and is, but its down to business. She asks hypothetically what if she had something he really wanted. If she gave it to him, could he get her released? He’s interested. She’s been watching him, knows that he knows the boy. She knows that Pepper was a patsy. Now he’s really interested. He may be able to get her out. She tells him that she saw the Waynes’s murder, saw who killed them clear as day.

I can't believe that crime would be solved so quickly, which begs the questions will Selina tell the truth? Will Jim Gordon really solve the crime?