Gotham S01E05 Recap: Viper

Bruce continues to look for answers, now with a full wall of newspaper cutouts. Alfred tries to get him to go outside, but he’s too busy. Alfred ponders the reality that it may all be for nothing, that he may never find his parent’s killers and get revenge. His research goes deeper than revenge, than just his parents’ death, he’s looking at the big picture: Gotham.

Malroney wants to mess with Falcone, even though Frankie thinks there’s a better route than hitting one of his casinos. Malroney plans to take Gotham inch by inch, and won’t be deterred from the casino angle. Oswald listens to everything.

A musician gets a different kind of donation. A man places a vial with a twin pair of snakes in the guitar case, and the musician gives it a try. It says breathe here and he does, the high instantly setting in. He heads to a nearby store, walking over and grabbing a large jug of milk. He chugs it down. The store owner tries to stop him, bat in hand, and the musician grabs the bat, veins popping out all over his face.

Gordon and Harvey try to get a bite to eat during lunch when Selena makes a move. He spots her picking someone’s pocket, and stops her, but cannot catch her. Harvey just wants to enjoy his lunch, but an alarm sounds nearby. It’s the shop where the musician struck. The owner is stuffed in a wall, where his ATM use to be. He tells them that the guy came in drinking milk like there were no more cow, then stole the ATM with his bare hands. The musician runs down the street, holding the ATM on his back like a light weight backpack.

 Fish enjoys her protégé’s singing along to a cd. The girl is bored, she wants a little excitement. She needs the girl to learn the tune so that she can help her help her. She may be Fish’s baby girl, but Fish is not her mama yet, and the girl goes back to singing.

Captain Essen cannot believe the ATM story, it just sounds too unbelievable. Harvey thinks that the vial they found have something to do about his abilities. Nygma is already processing the trace amount found in the vial, and they should have more information soon.

Falcone meets with some of associates. Everyone got a piece of the Arkham project, it was a business decision. No one won, but Malroney thinks that he won. Nico thinks that they should hit Malroney so that he knows his place. Fish tells him that they aren’t in his old country, and Falcone has a plan. Fish continues to taunt Nico, when Falcone steps in. They need eachother, they’re family.

Gordon and Harvey canvas the area looking for anyone who recognizes the musician from surveillance footage. No one seems to recognize him, except one girl. She identifies him as a strung out guitar player named Benny. She asks what he did, and they claim he came into an inheritance, and they’re there to notify him. For $20.00, she’ll tell his location. Harvey talks her down to $10, and Gordon pays up. The pair head to Benny’s spot, the trail leading up is covered in milk jugs. They find Benny. He’s begging for help. Something is wrong he says, he needs more of the drug from the man with the mangled ear. Benny gets hostile, when they get closer trying to help and he’s super strong, knocking both men back with a shove. He lifts an ATM over his head to throw at them. Before Harvey or Gordon need to shoot, Benny’s body starts to break down, and the ATM smashes him.

The mangled ear man is out walking around in the night. He approaches the girl who gave up Benny’s location, and hands her a vial. Didn’t her parents ever teach her not to accept things from strangers!

Bruce sleeps the day away. Alfred is fed up. He wants to burn all the papers down, but Bruce says no fires. Alfred mentions an awards dinner for Waynes Enterprises that he’d like Bruce to attend, and Bruce accepts. The gangsters are likely getting their shares of Arkham through the company and he’d like to question some people about it. What’s done is done though. But Bruce doesn’t think its so cut and dry. His parents didn’t do business that way, and there may still be a way to turn it around. Alfred is up against a wall. Bruce hears about the new drug Viper on the news that his hitting the streets at an alarming rate.

The Gotham PD is full of Viper users, all wreaking havoc. Nygma finds amusement in the chaos. Viper works by going after unused DNA in the body. It burns calcium, hence the dairy cravings. If they don’t consume enough then the bones crumble and they suffocate. The culprit is giving the drug away, to create a demand, but its killing people quickly. Harvey thinks it could be a good thing. If they keep the decent citizens indoors for a couple of weeks, then it’ll be bye bye crime. Captain Essen isn’t onboard with the plan. A state of the art lab made the drug. WellZyn labs is likely responsible, and they’re a subsidiary of Waynes Enterprises.

Malroney is still on the casino kick, wanting it to be taken over. Frankie continues to strategize, with a long list of items they have to think about. Cobblepot has an idea. Frankie isn’t interested, but Malroney wants to listen to the kid. He knows a janitor, who could get them into the hidden access tunnels. Malroney pulls up a seat, and asks his name. Everyone calls him penguin, which he doesn’t like, but works for him. Frankie thinks he’s just a dishwasher, but Malroney sees something more in him. Cobblepot tells him his real name, and goes over the bold point in his story. He use to work for Fish Mooney, before she tried to kill him. Malroney’s attitude changes as he slams his head against the table.

A representative of WellZyn labs pays the precinct a visit. She isn’t goes to the defensive, threatening legal action should the company be dragged through the mud, right up until Gordon mentions a Scientist with a mangled ear. That rings a bell with her. She recognizes the man, Stan Pultowsky, he worked for years in personal care projects. He wanted to work in more meaningful lines, and became unstable. There was an incident where he tried to cut off his own ear. They had to let him go, and he never even cleared off his desk. When they saw reports, they knew Stan Pultowsky could be involved, he’s a brilliant man, but they claim he’s capable of building his own lab. They plan to get the paperwork started to search the labs.

Gordon wants to start looking for Stan. Harvey goes to put out and APB first. Gordon gets stopped by an associate of Oswald Cobblepot, Frankie, asking him to come with him. They’re threatening to put his head in a bag and send it to Falcone if he doesn’t come. Gordon comes, but he’s not happy about it. Gordon joins Malroney at his table. Cobblepot advises Gordon to just tell the truth. Cobblepot told Malroney a story, and he wants it verified. If the stories don’t match up they both get whacked. Gordon begins, and Cobblepot tries to embellish, and Malroney has him taken away for be sliced up if Gordon strays. Gordon tells the story simply, but truthfully. Malroney is happy to hear the confirmation. Falconey, Mooney, the GCPD, none of them know that Cobblepot is still alive. Malroney embraces Cobblepot gleefully, happy to have a new weapon. Gordon goes to leave, with Malroney telling him he’ll call on him if he needs him.

Fish continues to instruct the new girl, having her tone down the sex in her voice. She needs her sweet, sultry, sexy, but not overly so.

Harvey asks for Gordon’s whereabouts, but Gordon doesn’t tell him, and Harvey thinks maybe its for the best. If he’s in trouble he doesn’t want to be involved. Stan Pultowsky has been hard to track, with no friends. Harvey asks if its Barbara, and Gordon lets him believe it is, so they can move on. One of the pictures they have of Pultowsky is with another man, one they assume was taken at Gotham University based on background items.

The elderly professor did know Stan Pultowsky. He was a brilliant student, and they have kept in touch. Harvey asks about WellZyn. And the professor notes that WellZyn took Stan into some dark places. Harvey doesn’t understand how shampoo would be a gateway to high crime. WellZyne lied. Pultowsky designed chemical weapons for military applications. They wanted to make a bunch of supersoldiers who could rip apart their enemies with their bare hands. The first batch called venom had some heinous side effects. Venom, as in the drug that gives Bane his super strength? Stan asked for the project to be stopped, and when his supervisors refused he went to the Waynes. They did end the project, but with their death the project was reopened. Gordon notes that the professor is lacking a sense of moral outrage over Pultowsky spreading the drug among the population now. But not only is he not outraged, he helped him plan the spread. They wanted to make a statement that the world could no longer ignore. The first step is enlightenment. The professor takes a whiff of his own drug, and goes ape shit. He throws Gordon aside and pins Harvey. Gordon takes aim and shoots the drug filled old man. Pultowsky plans on making WellZyn and Wayne Industries pay. Gordon knows where he’s headed, to the charity function.

Bruce arrives at the charity function with Alfred by his side. Its all hoity toity, and Stan Pultowsky is already inside. He doesn’t plan on distributing tiny vials of his drug. He’s brought a large keg of it. Alfred points out some of the power players in the group. Pultowsky hooks his keg up for distribution into the airways. Board members are not in attendance. Bruce wanted to speak with them over irregularities he found in the Arkham project. She assures him that Waynes Industries would never having dealings with criminals. He wishes to have a meetings, and she’ll do her best to set one up, even though the board usually deals with minors through another avenue. Pultowsky interrupts on the big screen. He confesses that he’s been releasing the drug Viper, and he made it for WellZyn and Waynes Enterprises. Bruce asks in horror if its true, and he’s told its just madman chatter. He hoped that using street people as an example would be enough, but apparently it wasn’t so he’s going to take out the heart of the problem. Alfred covers Bruce up with his coat as everyone begins to realize what is happening. Harvey arrives, yelling for the room to be cleared. Gordon heads to the roof. He spots Pultowsky, telling him to give it up, but his work is done, his life means little now. Gordon takes aim, not at Pultowsky, but the canister. Pultowsky gets a huge dose of his own medicine. Harvey arrives, but Gordon tells him not to shoot. Pultowsky thanks him for what he’s done, he’s free to go anywhere now. Pultowsky gives Gordon a location to check out before he jumps from the rooftop.

Gordon heads to the building. It was Pultowsky’s lab, but nothing is left. The lab is empty, which he should have known, its Gotham. Mathis is watching from her car. She tells her caller they should do nothing since there’s nothing to find.

Alfred now believes Bruce’s wild theories, and sits with him pouring through files.

Penguin, Frankie and Malroney sit waiting for Penguin’s plan to work or fail. Malroney warns if his boys don’t make it, neither will he. The men make it out safe.

Fish Mooney has Niko beneath her tied up. They’re both plotting against Falcone, multitasking in bed. He’s ready for Falcone to be taken out.

Falcone feeds the pigeons, as Fish’s girl comes humming by dressed all in white. Falcone takes an interest in the girl’s aria she was humming. His mother sang it to him his whole life, and her look brings a smile to his face. She charms him, asking to sit with him, and together they listen to the aria on her music player. Step one of  Fish’s plan went off flawlessly.