Gotham S01E03 Recap: The Balloonman

Cobblepot returns to his old stomping grounds of Gotham. It’s as crime-filled and corrupt as ever, just like he likes it. Danzer falls over a Ponzi scheme, angry he got caught. A man in a pig’s mask and rickety cart is selling balloons, but Danzer isn’t buying. The ballooman handcuffs Danzer to a string of balloons and off Danzer rises into the air on a giant weather balloon.

The cart was weighed down. Danzer cheated half the city out of their savings, and with no body Harvey hardly calls it a murder, rather justice. Gordon isn’t ready to let it drop yet. No fingerprints to trace, and the carts are too easily stolen. The unsolved “solved” cases keep stacking up to Havey’s dismay. Gordon can’t just let the simple explanation close a case, he needs to get to the root and find the real answer. Selina Kyle is delivered into his custody, and it doesn’t sound like she’s going upstate or anywhere far anytime soon, she has information on the Waynes’s case.

Gordon wants to find the real killer of the Waynes he’s not taking the Pepper set-up. He made a promise to Bruce that he plans to keep. Selina takes Gordon back to the scene of the crime. She claims that she was there, but that’s not concrete proof. Her pickpocket victim did report the crime around the time, so its possible. Selina reluctantly admits that she dumped the wallet in a nearby manhole. Right before she witnessed the Waynes die. Gordon isn’t sure he believes her, but he certainly doesn’t trust her. He hand cuffs her to a railing while he heads down the manhole. Crafty Selina picks the lock while Gordon finds the wallet. She was telling the truth, and now she’s running free.

Laslo doesn’t look too bad after the beating he took. Fish Mooney gives him a rest before she gets a visit from Detectives Montoya and Allen. They’re looking for Oswald Cobblepot. She hasn’t seen him, and she finds it funny that the Major Crime Unit is looking for Cobblepot. She didn’t kill him, but points the finger at Jim Gordon. Rumor has it that he pulled the trigger, but that Falcone gave the order. Allen mentions a rumor of his own that Falcone gave her boytoy a good beating, and she may be looking for revenge. Fish claims she’s only looking out for Oswald.

Oswald contemplates murder for a hotdog, when he’s recognized. Everyone thinks that he’s dead, and the man drags him to Fish. Fish will pay a pretty price for him. The man tells him that he should have stayed away, but Gotham is his home. Oswald guts the man, and the hotdog vendor sells him a hotdog with his newfound wealth.

Alfred tries to get Bruce to spar with him, but Bruce doesn’t want to stick fight. Alfred continues to poke at the boy. He snaps, and really gives his all until Alfred calls it quits. He picks up the Waynes file, and finds the gruesome crime scene photos inside. Money can buy anything, and Bruce didn’t have a hard time getting his hands on the pictures. Alfred worries that they’ll give him nightmares, but he already has those. He’s been looking for clues, but has yet to find anything. Alfred would prefer he leave it in the hands of Gordon to solve the crime.

Gordon is forced to report that Selina Kyle isn’t returning that he lost her. Montoya and Allen confront Gordon about Cobblepot’s death. They want to know if Falcone paid him to kill Cobblepot. They have no proof, only Fish’s rumor. Gordon tells them to come back when they have some proof.

Cobblepot looks for honest work. He tries to get a job at a restaurant, but not only does he not have experience, he doesn’t have the right shoes. Looking at a dishwasher that’s about to change, and the poor man doesn’t even know it yet.

Harvey has found a lead about the weather balloon, and Gordon mentions to him his Major Crime Unit visit. Someone talked, and Gordon isn’t pleased. Harvey knows they have nothing, which is why they came rattling his cage. Gordon did what he had to do, and in the end no one really cares about Cobblepot’s death. This isn’t over for Gordon, he’s not letting anything go until he gets to the bottom, until he finds the Waynes murderer.

Cobblepot stops the dishwasher, asking him his shoe size. Unluckily they wear the same size.

The former owner of the weather balloon sits down with Gordon and Harvey. Once he saw the news he came forward for fear that he would be accused of murder. Harvey didn’t find the lead at all, it was dropped in his lap. The balloon was stolen some time back by a former employee. He stole 4 of them at that time.

Lieutenant Cranston kicks around a drug dealer. He’s just one more heavy handed crooked cop on the force. A man pushes a cart down the street. He stops Cranston, and gets a beating at Cranston’s hand. Cranston gets just deserts though as the downed man handcuffs his ankle to a balloon and away he goes.

Bruce reads about the Ballonman in the paper. Alfred complains about Bruce’s lack of eating lately. Bruce continues his perusing, and Alfred tried to get Bruce to keep his strength up, but he’s not hungry.

Gordon gets ready for another day. He didn’t sleep well. Barbara is worried about him, for his safety because of the Ballonman’s latest victim, a cop. When he targeted a conman, Danzer, few cared, but with a cop being added to the list, the case will get all the attention it needs. It shouldn’t be that way, the lack of faith in justice is what brings on vigilantes, which has Gordon worried. Barbara thinks that his work gives people hope. His first case he caught the Waynes killer, which she thinks bolstered their confidence. That doesn’t lessen the weight on Gordon’s shoulders only makes it worse.

The people have a long list of people that should be the Balloonman’s next target. Captain Essen isn’t happy that one of her men fell prey to the Balloonman. She wants the man caught now. There are two more balloons out there. The next target is likely public and corrupt, which is a lengthy list. Harvey tells her they’ll find him. That almost sounds like Harvey is ready to do actual work.

Harvey’s tactics may not be Gordon’s but at least he’s doing something, which may or may not be good as he takes a man’s burrito.

Cobblepot is hard at work. He’s got the job. The boss warns him to work hard, and to be deaf, dumb and blind to everything else. Don Maloney arrives, opportunity knocks.

Harvey and Gordon follow up on a lead. They found the location of their potential Balloonman, but the man’s girlfriend puts up a fight kicking Harvey around. Gordon gets him handcuffed while the girl beats the hell out of Harvey. Gordon pulls his gun and save Harvey before she can smash him beneath a television, and Harvey knocks her out.

Laslo worries about Fish’s safety. She put the Major Crimes Unit after Gordon, and if Falcone finds out he may go after her. Fish reminds him that Falcone beat him to hurt her, and she’ll be fine. Fish talks to her muscle about getting rid of a pretty girl, Falcone’s girl and tells him to get rid of Laslo as well. He’s killing her mood.

Montoya frightens Barbara. They were close enough that Montoya still has a key to her place. She gets the key back from her. She was worried about her, worried about Barbara’s drug use. Barbara isn’t using anything. Montoya tells her that Gordon murdered someone on Falcone’s orders. Barbara doesn’t believe her. She wonders if Montoya is working so hard to bring down Gordon because she loves him. Their past may have been full of lies, but Barbara always knew when she was lying. She’s not lying now, or atleast she doesn’t believe she is. Montoya kisses Barbara, and she doesn’t return the kiss, telling her to leave. Montoya tells her to ask Gordon where he was the night Cobblepot was murdered.

The balloon thief get interrogated. He’s not responsible for the murders, he has no motivation to do it. He sold the balloons, but he never saw the buyer’s face. Harvey thinks that it’s the perfect crime, with no bodies. The man explains how weather balloons work, eventually the bodies will come back down.

Cranston’s body falls back to earth. Inside of his pocket is Jim Gordon’s name. Gordon knows who the Balloonman is.

Falcone is only the boss of Gotham, because people believe he is, Maloney muses. Arkham is going to change everything. Maloney notices Cobblepot noticing him. He gives him some money, he was once like him. And Cobblepot is smart enough to not have “heard” any of his Falcone speech. News comes in on the next Balloonman victim, a corrupt priest. Maloney knows that the vigilante act isn’t good for the city. He tells Cobblepot to go home and take care of his mother.

Gordon presents who he believes is the Ballonman. Davis Lamont works for children services. There was a form that Gordon gave to him that Cranston had in his pocket. He guesses that Lamont and Cranston scuffled, and Cranston took the form from Lamont stuffing it into his pocket before he was hooked to the balloon. Captain Essen wonders what made him snap. He was described as sweet. With one balloon left, and a long list of potential victims, they have to work fast. Harvey’s leads come up short. They brainstorm where the balloon could be stored, and Gordon has an idea.

Both Lamont, and Selina Kyle mentioned that there was a new juvie building, so they head to the old one that is about to be demolished. Harvey and Gordon spot the last balloon, and they go in to investigate. Lamont grabs Harvey. They should be on the same side he tells Gordon, they want the same thing. The law is failing the city, but he knows Gordon is different. He risked his life to save the kids that everyone else was willing to throw away. His job isn’t done. The men that he killed wouldn’t have seen justice done any other way. Harvey gets tired of waiting, and makes a move. Gordon neutralizes Lamont, but Harvey straps him to his own balloon for a little taste of his own medicine. Gordon tries to grab him, but both are lifted away. Harvey tells him to let go, but Gordon refuses, telling him to shoot the balloon. Reluctantly Harvey shoots down the balloon.

Falcone pays Fish a visit, to make sure that there is no hard feelings. Fish claims that there are none. Falcone’s girl met an accident via mugging. He plans to deal with the culprit and anyone who had a hand in it. He asks her to keep her ear to the ground about Maloney and Arkham. Seems he doesn’t have it as firmly locked down as he had implied.

Lamont is taken away on a stretcher. He warns that there will be more vigilantes. Gordon will clean up the city he says, but Lamont tells him that he had his chance.

Bruce watches the news. Lamont may have had good intentions, but he killed people too, which made him a bad as the people he was trying to stop. Gotham needs a hero, but not a corrupt one.

Barbara rushes to Gordon’s side, glad to see he’s okay. He survived, but he’s not okay. The city is sick, sick in a way that Gordon never realized. When he asked the last target, Lamont had said that it doesn’t matter. The mayor, judges, they’re all corrupt. Barbara tells him that it isn’t true. It isn’t, but it feels that way. There are cops who do the same thing that the Balloonman did. Barbara asks if he does. He asks if she thinks that he could, she doesn’t. She knows he’s a good man. There’s a knock at the door, its Cobblepot and he’s looking particularly dapper and penguinish.