(WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD FOR GOTHAM SEASON 5 EPISODE 6!)
Gordon is on the run, but his life is about to change forever. Oswald has a visitor that leads to an unlikely partnership. Another familiar face returns to Gotham and has a major impact! Another week and another crazy episode of Gotham, with a final season that has kept me locked in almost from the beginning. Let's look at some the top moments from this week's "13 Stitches".
Right away we see Gordon on the run from Nygma, after Eduardo Dorrance (guest star Shane West) gives Nygma the order to kill him. All the cards are on the table now, and Gordon knows what he's up against. It's worth noting, that the rest of the GCPD has no idea what's going on with the "help" that has just arrived. Gordon is wounded and cornered by Nygma, but he manages to fight him off. In another bit of good news, he may have shorted out the chip that was controlling Nygma. Question is, what does he do with Nygma now?
They end up at the Sirens club, where Gordon is still trying to come to terms with Barbara being so helpful. After everything that's gone down between the two of them, you have to understand. I think this new side of Barbara is a great character development. She is still unpredictable and tough, but her morality is returning more and that connection with Gordon seems to be at the center of it. Eduardo tracks them down again. Gordon buys time by saying he has evidence that implicates Walker and her team in the Haven bombing, but Eduardo is not buying it. Actually there is a scene where Nygma acts like he is still mind controlled, which was quite funny until the bullets started to fly. There is another narrow escape, and time for a new plan.
While this is going on, Bruce is starting to realize that there is something off about this Delta Force. The GCPD is overrun and there is no sign of supplies or Captain Gordon. The suspicions turns out to be right, when the Delta Force try to take both Bruce and Alfred out. They end up escaping as well, and we fast forward to these two groups meeting up. Add Lucius Fox to the mix, who helps get the chip out of Nygma's head. It turns out the evidence they need IS on the chip, but now they need a way to broadcast it. Can I just say how weird it way seeing Gordon, Nygma, Barbara and Bruce all working together? Gotham is at it's best when it's unpredictable, and this is just another example of that this season.
So it's back to the GCPD, where now everyone knows what's really going on with the Delta Force. Eduardo comes back in a foul mood, and executes a couple of prisoners. Now the cops are prisoners too, and the pretense is over. We see Nygma walk in to the GCPD and go full Riddler with a bomb and a riddle to disarm it. This is the perfect distraction for Bruce to go on the roof (little does he know how much time he'll spend on that roof later) to use the antenna to broadcast their evidence. This whole scene could have been more intense, but actually ended up being a bit funny because of how Nygma was trying to stall. What was also great was seeing Bullock as the one who solves the riddle with some crazy knowledge. See kids, you never know when something you learned in school that you thought meant nothing at the time will come in handy. It all ends up working out, and Eduardo is again screwed.
The biggest surprise of this episode was definitely the return of Lee Thompkins (Morena Baccarin), who has apparently been hidden in the Narrows. Eduardo uses her as bait to draw Gordon out, and of course, it works like a charm. Little does Eduardo know, the damage has been done and making an exchange for the evidence no longer matters. Gordon uses their history together to bait Eduardo into a fight, while Lee is taken off to apparently be executed. Gordon not only gets the best of Eduardo, it looks at the time like he ends up killing him. Lee also gets away somehow, and we would later learn why.
Once they get Lee back to the GCPD, it seems like all is well. I'm not sure I'd say the same for Barbara, who is obviously not happy to see Lee Thompkins after it seemed like she had her shot at reconciling with Gordon herself. My radar was up on Lee this entire time, because something seemed off, and we find out why. She had no idea where she was for like three months? That's when two things happen very quickly. First, we find out that Lee ALSO has a chip in her head and is being controlled by Walker. So now she tries to kill Gordon, but gets quickly taken down by him in the process. Gordon obviously still has feelings for Lee and wants to help her, but things are about to get a lot more complicated. You know that night that Gordon and Barbara spent together not too long ago? Well, Barbara is pregnant and now everyone knows. It was hard to imagine, after everything that happened over the years between them, how baby Batgirl would come into the picture. This was a brilliant job by the writers and producers being able to work this in right at the end. It does create a bit of a late plot twist, so we'll see how much this becomes a focus in the final episodes, especially with Lee now being back.
Not to be lost in all of this is, we get to finally see Walker and she ends up "saving" Eduardo. I say that, because she is the one that has the Bane mask and now Gotham's version of Bane is born. I don't mind this different take on the character, and it makes sense once they tie things back to Hugo Strange. Seeing Walker didn't really have as much impact as I'd hoped, because it was a bit random and right at the end. That won't really matter in the grand scheme of things as long as the Bane storyline pays off. It also seems like we're about to see Jeremiah take center stage after capturing Alfred and getting read to unleash is plans for a "family reunion" for Bruce. My only other worry, which so few precious episodes left, that there will be too much going on at once and the show won't be able to take the time to draw these stories out like they could. They have done a pretty good job balancing things so far, but there has been a lot of building (albeit exciting building) and it feels like we are about to shift to the highest gear for the duration.
On a side note, it was really fun seeing Oswald and Selina team up together in this episode. Oswald catches Magpie (guest star Sarah Schenkkan) stealing from him, and gets Selina to help him track her down. We're also starting to see a bit of the Catwoman come out in Selina. She's trying to barter with Oswald for jewels and some of his other possessions. I really like this slow transition. She's also becoming as smart as the whip in her hand and twice as confident. They really worked well together and actually helped each other out at different points in the story. Magpie was purposely annoying, but didn't last very long. I think if this were not the final season of Gotham we would have seen her more, but after being gunned down by Oswald, not so much. Question is, could Oswald and Selina really leave Gotham together?
What will happen now that Bane has now joined the fight for Gotham? How will things shake out between Gordon, Lee and Barbara? How quickly will Bruce find out what has happened to Alfred? Now that Nygma is no longer being mind controlled, what's next? It's hard to believe that we only have a few episodes to go until it's all over!
What did you think of this week's Gotham?
Photo Credit: ©2019 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: FOX
I wish that you had mentioned another excellent turn at directing by Ben McKenzie, with great pacing, bringing out the best in his fellow actors and adding some unique creative touches, again wearing two hats in his roles of star and director as well as how well he and West play off of one another, timing, drama and action combined.