Season 1 Episode 7 of Gotham has the “Cobblepot” boiling over, with his slippery flippers manipulating all of the seedy Gotham underground. Gordon has plans of his own though. Let’s see how it all plays out! Check out Josh’s recap of Penguin’s Umbrella along with our thoughts after the jump!
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Episode Recap of Gotham, Season 1 Episode 7: Penguin’s Umbrella
On this episode of Gotham, it picks up where the last episode left off, with Harvey and Gordon at each other’s throats. Meanwhile, Moody is really ticked with Gordon as well, and knows Cobblepot is working for Maroni. She tells her men to bring in Gordon.
Harvey pulls his gun on Gordon, and Gordon asks him for help. Bullock declines and pulls his gun on him. Gordon disarms him, and leaves. Barbara has visitors, Moody’s men. They threaten her, but Gordon shows up. Gordon takes the henchmen down and gets Barbara on a bus out of town. Gordon says he is going to stay though, to fix things. Barbara protests but agrees to leave–sort of–more on that later.
Gordon returns to the station, and the other officers are treating him like a black sheep. He asks for some warrants signed by a judge, and the guy hesitantly hands them over.
Moody meets with Falcone, and tells him that Harvey, Cobblepot and Gordon have to die. Falcone tells her to ask Maroni politely to return Cobblepot, and Moody is livid. Falcone does send “Victor” after Gordon though, which turns out to be Zaz, a lesser known Batman villain. Moody, meanwhile, seems to think Falcone has some information, which she is concerned about.
Back at work, Gordon wants to arrest the mayor and Falcone on several charges. His boss refuses to assist though, leaving him alone in his battle. She tells him to get out of town, but he refuses.
Zaz arrives at the station, and tells everyone to leave–except Gordon. Zaz says he will take him alive, but Gordon refuses. A firefight breaks out, and Gordon is wounded. He breaks for the parking garage, and is hit again. He is saved by Major Crimes in the nick of time though, and they speed off with him.
Gordon awakens, and his doctor checks him over. He is being held in a dissection lab to keep him safe, but Gordon wants to get out of there.
Maroni meets with Moody, and Moody makes her case for the return of Cobblepot. Maroni finds the meeting quite humorous though. Cobblepot “apologizes” but clearly it is done in jest. Moody is angered, and threatens war between the clans.
Meanwhile, Moody’s men have blocked Maroni’s trucks, and stop one of his gun runs, and tell the drivers that no trucks will pass until Cobblepot is handed over. Maroni is ticked about it. Maroni’s 2nd in command seems to be distrustful of Cobblepot, but Maroni seems to be drinking the Penguin Kool-Aid. Apparently, Penguin also has a plan to handle Moody.
Montoya apologizes for trying to crucify Gordon, and they make up. Gordon visits Alfred and Bruce Wayne, and Bruce demands to know what is going on. He tells Bruce that Montoya and Allen will take over his case in the event of his death. Alfred asks how he can help, but Gordon says he has to go it alone from here.
Back with Cobblepot, he lets some of Maroni’s men into a hideout where Moody’s men are hanging out. They blow the door off the building and go in with guns blazing. The men are dead. But Maroni’s 2nd in command threatens Cobblepot. But Cobblepot has the tables turn on him–the other henchmen turn on him and Cobblepot shanks him.
Maroni and Falcone meet in the aftermath of their fight. Falcone tells Maroni, Cobblepot will be allowed to live. But Falcone asks for something in return–real estate. Cobblepot has more whispers for Maroni, and offers a piece of land that apparently is covered in toxic waste. The deal is settled and the parties part agreeable it seems.
Gordon gets ready for his grand stand, and Bullock pays him a visit. He is a little tipsy, but Bullock is going offer his help. Gordon tells Bullock the plan–RICO for Falcone and the mayor. Bullock tells Gordon they are dead, but he is still in.
The next day, Gordon and Bullock head in armed, and arrest the mayor. The mayor oddly enough heads to talk with Falcone, but it turns out that Gordon and Bullock had him drive there. Gordon walks the mayor into Falcone’s office, and Bullock arrests his henchmen. Falcone is not impressed. Unfortunately, Falcone has the upper hand still–he has Barbara. Victor Zaz to be specific. Falcone won’t provide proof, but Gordon believes him. It is true too, we see Zaz holding her in Falcone’s kitchen. Falcone decides to let them go though, as he believes Gotham needs them.
At home Barbara apologizes for screwing up his plan, but Gordon is just happy she lived.
So we learn even more about how deep the Penguin goes– a flashback shows Falcone talking with Penguin just before Falcone orders his death. Cobblepot tells Falcone about the relationship between Moody and one of his men. Cobblepot asks James Gordon to be the person to kill him, as he hopes that Gordon will be merciful. He promises to snitch for Falcone, by sneaking into the Maroni family. It looks like he got his request. Apparently it was also Penguin’s idea to spare Gordon as well.
Josh’s Thoughts: Gotham, Season 1 Episode 7: Penguin’s Umbrella
So I guess we have Barbara to both thank for continuing the plot of the story, and to hate because she royally screwed up Gordon’s great plan. Gordon is the forgiving type though, and was just happy to see her live.
But Penguin sure has gotten his fingers into every little part the mob though. He seems to have played the situations absolutely perfectly. It seems a little too perfect for me, but I guess that is an attest to how good Cobblepot is at his game. Well played Penguin–so far. I am a little surprised how easily Maroni has taken Cobblepot in though, considering he knows what Cobblepot has done. If it were me, I would keep him on a short leash. But I guess it is better off that I am not a mobster in Gotham.
At first I didn’t enjoy this episode a whole lot, but the 2nd time around actually made it a lot more enjoyable. I am not sure what was missing the first time, but I really was happy with Gordon this episode. I liked his resolve to do what is right, even though it would cost him his life.
I also really liked Zaz being introduced. I actually was hoping he would be a character that would show up, since he is a very “grounded” yet still very scary Batman villain. I think that he will be a perfect fit.
I felt like this episode was a season finale, so I am curious to see where the show goes from here. Gordon is pretty wounded, so doing cop-ly stuff seems hazardous right now. Maroni and Falcone have a cease fire, so I don’t think much will be going on there . I guess it is time for a new villain this week. Let’s see who the show brings in!
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 1 Episode 7 of Gotham: Penguin’s Umbrella
Now this, THIS, is finally the game-changing episode that we’ve been waiting on for Gotham! After last week’s episode, which ended with Cobblepot showing up at the police station, exposing the fact that he is still alive, that Gordon did not kill him, it seemed like things were about to get good — and they did! While last week’s episode felt uneven in tone, what with the insertion of the awkward Ed Nigma storyline, this episode had one steady tone throughout, that of a mobster type show. Let’s see if they actually stick with it, or decide to bounce around again. That’s not exactly a genre that I’m typically interested in, but I can be interested in anything if they make it interesting enough.
The big reveal at the end, that Penguin is the mastermind behind all of this, was pretty awesome. I knew there was something special about Penguin, but I didn’t realize he was in this deep. Although it took a long time to get this this point, it was worth the payoff. Let’s see if the show can continue to keep things interesting now that they have revealed such a big secret.
One thing that was annoying though, was how dumb Barbara was! Really, she’s going to come back to town and beg to Falcone, thinking that she’ll actually accomplish something (other than getting herself almost killed)?? How stupid can you get? Ugh. I wonder how far Gordon would have gotten in his plan, had Barbara not screwed up everything, but I guess we’ll never know now. I hate when female characters are portrayed as not only weak, but dumb.
Anyway, I am definitely curious to see what happens next on Gotham!
Scenes from Gotham, Season 1 Episode 8: The Mask
Here are scenes from the next episode of Gotham, titled The Mask:
