Gotham S04E02 "The Fear Reaper" Recap

Jim and Harvey arrive at the Crane house with other GCPD officers in search of Jonathan Crane. They find evidence of the experiments that had taken place and the work Jonathan had been forced to do to make more of the toxin. When they go out back, they find a moving scarecrow tied up and upon removing the mask, see that it's the crew member Grady, show is terrified and yelling that "The Scarecrow" is coming. When Jim return to the station, he finds that Bruce is in the holding cell after being caught at the scene of a robbery. Bruce claims that he simply fell in from the roof because he was looking for Selina, so Jim agrees to release him back over to Alfred despite suspecting that there is more to the story.

Jonathan returns to Arkham Asylum and discovers Warden Reed destroying some files. Jonathan has fully embraced the Scarecrow persona and claims that Jonathan Crane is no more. Reed tries to get a gun to pull on Scarecrow but gets sprayed with fear gas and is quickly overcome by its effects. Scarecrow commands him to face his fears and overcome them. Reed begins to hallucinate clowns and runs out through the halls with his gun, shooting the people he encounters, believing them to be the clowns that he fears. Scarecrow then goes out into the infirmary and sprays other patients, claiming they will be his army to use in the fight against the GCPD for killing his father.

Oswald turns up at the GCPD to confront Jim and claim that their entire office is incompetent for not being able to catch Jonathan, with all the media in attendance to document the showdown. But Oswald is also teased for his cowardly behaviour during his club opening. The two then strike a deal that Jim has 24 hours to catch Jonathan or else he needs to stand down and let Penguin carry on his system of licensing crime.

Selina and Tabitha arrive at the same building after having both received cards bearing the message "An Opportunity Awaits. When they go inside, they are shocked to find that Barbara is still alive and has a proposal for them. She apologises to Tabitha for what she did out of jealousy and stupidity. She wants to start a new criminal empire as a trio and shows them an armory of weapons she has in the building. She wants to be the main suppliers for the criminal low-lives that are going to Penguin for licenses. Tabitha refuses to forgive her for the loss of Butch so she leaves. Barbara asks Selina to talk to Tabitha to convince her that this will be good for all of them.

Harvey informs Jim of what is going on at Arkham Asylum and prepare to head out. Jim asks the other officers to help him but they refuse, wanting simply to go along with Penguin's plan. Even Harvey refuses to go with him, saying if he helps Jim, all the other officers will turn against him too and then the new captain will be someone Penguin chooses, which is an even worse scenario for them. So Jim heads to Arkham alone.

Barbara meets with Penguin, who is bothered that she didn't seek his approval sooner. He is willing to allow her to open her weapons shop but she will have to get a license through him, pay a weapons tax, and is warned that he will have his people keeping a close eye on her for any sign that she plans to betray him again. He also asks who paid for this supply of weapons but she remains tight-lipped on the matter.

Jim is attacked at Arkham by some of the infected patients and is chased down by Jonathan, who sprays him with the toxin to induce fear visions. Jim hallucinates Lee committing suicide and Jonathan tries to use these delusions to make him take his own life but Jim is able to fight it off. Jonathan is shaken by this, demanding to know how Jim could do the impossible and Jim claims he overcame his fear. Jim tries to reason with Jonathan but struggles to reach him through all the trauma and toxin. Jim is again attacked by some of the poisoned patients of Arkham but in the commotion, he accidentally discovers that water dissolves the gas and brings the patients out of their poisoned state. He promptly sets off a ceiling sprayer to help the people effected but Jonathan flees during all of this.

A GCPD staff member, Fox, has been suspicious of Bruce taking on vigilante activities. Bruce goes after the gang that had been involved in the robbery but they know he is following them so they attack him after luring him into their clutches. Bruce has trained enough that he's able to beat them and get away but upon returning home he gets into another argument with Alfred. They disagree about Bruce's approach in doing this vigilantism. But they are visited by Fox, who not only reveals his awareness of Bruce's late-night activities, but has brought a gift - a special suit that he developed for Wayne Enterprises for military purposes.

Tabitha and Selina agree to work with Barbara but first Tabitha demands to chop off Barbara's hand in the same manner that she and Butch had lost their hands because of Oswald. Barbara agrees but then Tabitha reveals that this was only a test of whether she could be trusted so she lets Barbara keep her hand and says she'll start on Monday.

Jim returns to the GCPD where Oswald once again demeans him and this time offers the other officers there the opportunity to come work for him. Later, Harvey reaffirms his loyalty to Jim and the side of good and notes that it would require an army to take down Penguin. Jim decides that he should go visit Falcone, since he would have the manpower needed for their cause. Harvey warns him that doing so is dangerous, particularly since Jim killed his son.

Ivy goes to a shop to retrieve some chemicals and uses her special perfume to interrogate answers out of the man working there, determined to find the right potions that will increase her strength. He implores her not to do so, saying it it too dangerous. She ignores his warnings and takes them, prompting him to flee. Ivy's face beings to morph and mutate.

With the help of Alfred, Bruce begins to train with his new tactical suit and mask.

Gotham airs on Thursdays on FOX at 8/7c.