Gotham S04E04 "The Demon's Head" Recap

Bruce and Alfred bring the knife purchased from Penguin's auction to antiquist Niles Winthrop and his grandson Alex so they can dig up historical research on it but implore him to keep their custody of the knife secret. Bruce promises to come back the next morning to check on their progress. That night, Niles translates scripture from the knife that speaks of a legend of Ra's al Ghul who is said to be an immortal being with a destiny. Niles shares his findings with Alex and his suspicions that Bruce has stumbled into something far more complex and dangerous than he imagined. When someone knocks on the door, Niles tells Alex that no one should be there so he sends him into his office with the knife before answering the door. Ra's has come to claim the knife and kills Niles when he refuses to give up the location of the knife. Alex remains hidden with the knife and cries quietly at the loss of his grandfather.

The following day, the GCPD are investigating the scene when Bruce arrives and tells Jim about the knife. They have yet to locate Alex or the knife, which Ra's sends an animalistic man called "Anubis" to track down. He also tells Anubis he is free to kill the boy in the process.

Sofia visits Penguin and claims that she has no interest in her father's business and is only in Gotham to help with some charitable causes. Penguin remains firm in his suspicions of her, despite remaining oblivious about Ra's al Ghul's existence.

Jim visits Barbara to question her about the death of Niles and the disappearance of Alex. Bruce arrives to interrupt the line of questioning and asks about Ra's al Ghul but Barbara pretends to be ignorant of who that is. Jim is furious at Bruce and berates him outside for not telling him about Ra's. They eventually decide to work together and are able to track down Alex, who still has the knife. They are attacked by some of Ra's's other-worldly henchmen but are able to fight them off. Bruce and Alex escape together while Jim heads back to the GCPD. There he is visited by Ra's al Ghul who claims to be an academic official from Nanda Parbat. They do a bit of posturing towards each other since Jim is sizing up this new opponent and Ra's has a timid persona to play. Alfred arrives and attacks Ra's, who later slips out while Alfred angrily tells Jim about all that Ra's has done.

Penguin had only set up a meeting with Sofia so that word would get out into the city about her return to Gotham and lure out Falcone loyalists. He arrives with Zsasz when she is meeting with some of them and has Zsasz execute the men. He claims to now trust Sofia's word despite her explanation to him that his strategy was bullish and sloppy when he could've used her to bait those men to be loyal to him instead of just killing them and throwing away what they could've offered him.

Alex and Bruce are back at Niles' museum, which is where Alex had hid the knife but they are forced to hide once more when Ra's' men come back looking of them. Jim shows up and able to kill one while luring the other one away. Ra's arrives shortly afterward and demands the return of the knife while holding Alex at knifepoint. Bruce says the knife is too important and Ra's appears impressed by the statement before slitting Alex's throat. Ra's is arrested and Bruce is left devastated, blaming himself for Alex's death. Alfred and Jim assure him that Ra's is a psychopath.

Ed spends the bulk of the episode trying to come up with clever riddles to send a message to Oswald. This culminates in Ed showing up at the club to confront Oswald, who merely laughs at Ed and points out how Ed's number one fan was right about him losing his intelligence. Ed pleads to be let go without being refrozen, but when he admits he's no longer the Riddler then Oswald says he'll let Ed go because the better revenge is to let Ed live knowing that he's only Ed Nygma now, a regular man and a shell of the genius super villain he once was.

Sofia admits to Jim that she has a takeover plan in store for Gotham, while Ra's is implied to have allowed himself to be arrested as part of a larger plan as well.

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