Violet recaps Season 1 Episode 17 of Gotham, titled Red Hood, where a gang of bank robbers is led by whoever wears the Red Hood! Following the recap, both Josh and Violet share their thoughts about the episode.
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Episode Recap of Gotham, Season 1 Episode 17: Red Hood
This episode of Gotham begins with 5 guys robbing a bank. Before they go in, one of the guys puts on a red hood over his head. An elderly security guard tries to shoot the guy wearing the red hood, but misses every time. On their way out, the police are heading toward them. The guy in the red hood throws a bunch of money into the street to cause a distraction, and the thieves get away.
Gordon and Bullock question bank personnel and watch back the security footage of the robbery. Gordon realizes that the bank robbers had figured out the police’s response time. A bank teller remembers the alarm being tripped due a prank recently, and Gordon asks to see the footage.
Back at the police station, Gordon watches the footage and sees that the guy responsible for the prank was wearing a shirt with a “Kleg’s Auto” logo on it. Over at Kleg’s Auto, the guy who had worn the red hood attributes his good luck of not getting shot to the red hood being good luck, and that whoever wears the hood should lead. One man shoots and kills the guy holding the red hood, and puts it on himself.
Later, Jim and Harvey investigate Kleg’s Auto, and find the place empty, and the body of the original red hooded man stuffed in the refrigerator.
The red hood gang goes out and robs another bank. The customers in the bank ask the Red Hood to share with them. He gives in and throws a handful of money out as they leave.
A witness, Mr. Chang, shows up at the police station saying that he saw the fat man take his hood off. They bring in some guys for a lineup, and Mr. Chang identifies Clyde Destro as the Red Hood. Jim proposes letting Destro go, and following him.
As Jim and Harvey stake out Destro’s apartment, inside, a member of the Red Hood Gang is waiting for Destro. He asks for the red hood, which he has already ransacked the place looking for. He kills Destro and takes the red hood and runs off. Jim and Harvey hear the gunshots and go inside, where Destro is still alive, but bleeding out. Jim finds loan rejection letters from 3 different banks, and figures out what the gang’s next target is.
The 3 remaining members of the Red Hood Gang show up at the third bank. But the police show up before they can even go inside. The gang opens fire on the cops, and gunfire is exchanged. The guy in the red hood is shot dead.
Meanwhile, an old friend of Alfred’s, Reggie, shows up at Wayne Manor. It’s been 20 years since they’ve seen each other in the military. Bruce walks in and welcomes Reggie, who is down on his luck, to stay with them a few days. The next day, Reggie sees that Bruce is training, and decides to give him a few lessons himself. He gets a little rough with Bruce, and things start to go a little far, when Alfred comes downstairs and stops them. Alfred tells Reggie they should keep their past where it belongs – in the past. That night, Bruce brings out a bottle of wine for Reggie and Alfred to enjoy, and Reggie shares old war stories. Alfred seems uncomfortable with this, and sends Bruce to bed. Alfred tells Reggie he’ll be leaving tomorrow. Later, Alfred finds Reggie stealing from them. Reggie says that he’s in trouble, but he won’t say what kind. Alfred demands that he leaves. After confirming that Alfred doesn’t have a gun, Reggie stabs Alfred in the chest and leaves.
Jim gets the call about Alfred, and visits him in the hospital. Bruce is upset, and says he can’t lose Alfred, because he’s all he has. Jim hugs Bruce as he cries.
At Wayne Enterprises, they’re having a board meeting. It turns out that Reggie was spying for them, and he is reporting his findings. He says Bruce has some theories, but nothing really. He also says that since Alfred is in the hospital, now is the time to make a move on Bruce. The board members pay Reggie, who tries to tell them that Bruce is just a good kid.
Meanwhile, outside of the third bank, a teenager picks up the red hood and puts it on.
As for Fish Mooney, she is taken to see management. On the way, she walks down a hallway and sees people in several rooms missing limbs. She sits down with a man, who says he manages the facility, but that the Doctor owns it. Fish says she will only speak with the Doctor, but the man says Dr. Dulmacher is away. Fish delivers the message that the basement is hers, and no one will leave unless she says so. He has his people bring Fish to his private quarters to take a shower and get her some fresh clothes. When she returns, she asks who they’re stealing body parts for. He says they have clients, and also the Doctor has personal experiments. He then tells Fish they’re taking her eyes. However, she grabs a spoon, digs out her eyeball, and stomps on it.
Over at Cobblepot’s failing night club, they have run out of booze. Butch tells him that it’s because Maroni won’t allow booze to be sold to Cobblepot. That night, Cobblepot tries to steal some booze, but the police show up and confiscate it. However, it turns out the cops are working for Butch. Butch and Cobblepot return to the club with plenty of booze, and drink to no longer being sidekicks. Cobblepot asks Butch if he misses Fish, but Butch says that she got what she deserved.
At Barbara’s place, she’s still letting Selina and Ivy stay there. Barbara tells Selina that she’s turning into a beautiful woman. Barbara brings stuff out of her closet and says the girls can wear whatever they want. She picks out a dress for Selina, and tells her that she can use her appearance as a weapon. However, Selina asks Barbara what good it’s done for her, and leaves.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 1 Episode 17 of Gotham: Red Hood
So we get Barbara this episode, but not Dr. Thompkins? Lame. Well, at least Dr. Thompkins is not forgotten, as Harvey tries to divulge some dirty details from Jim about his relationship with her, but Jim ignores him. I guess we can assume that things are going fine, since they were the last time we saw them. It is a bit odd that we don’t see her at all this episode, considering that she works at the police station as the medical examiner, and there was a dead body this episode. You’d think Jim would run into her at some point at work each episode. But anyway, guess there wasn’t anything interesting to show.
As for Barbara, it’s really weird how she’s just letting these random teenage girls continue to stay at her place. Not only that, but giving them her clothes. I have been wondering what Jim ever saw in Barbara, and I think we kind of got an answer this episode, in the way that she tried to tell Selina that beauty can be used as a weapon, to get what you want. Is that how she got Jim, because of her looks? What else has she used her looks for? Drugs?
The main storyline wasn’t all that exciting. It’s implied that the red hood is magical or something, but in the end, it is proven that that’s not true, as it didn’t protect the last person wearing the hood from being shot and killed. But it looks like this may not be the last we’ve seen of the Red Hood, as that kid at the end picked up the hood and put it on. Which begs the question, why was the hood left behind and not taken in as evidence?
Of course, the most gruesome, surprising part of this episode was Fish digging her eyeball out and stomping on it. Did not see that one coming. Soooo gross. When she brought up an option 3, what she did didn’t even cross my mind as a possibility. Okay, Gotham, you got my attention with this shock factor. But was that really necessary? Shudder.
I guess the next thing we have to worry about is the board of Wayne Enterprises coming after Bruce now that he is in a vulnerable position with Alfred in the hospital. Apparently, he is getting too close to the truth, although Reggie seemed to think Bruce didn’t really have anything. But I guess the board would rather be safe than sorry. But since we know that Bruce Wayne grows up to be Batman, it will be interesting to see how the board’s plans are foiled.
Josh’s Thoughts: Gotham, Season 1 Episode 17: Red Hood
So this was a weird episode of Gotham. I didn’t quite buy the whole red hood thing going on with it. Just because one old security guard, shooting from the floor, who was supposed to be wearing glasses missed his target, doesn’t hit the Red Hood, that doesn’t make me believe this hood has special powers. I would say the Red Hood made people more crazy/jealous of each other, and maybe that is the point of the Hood. But we see obviously the Hood provides no special protection when two guys get shot without too much effort.
I guess the Hood did morph into more of the Robin Hood-esce vibe that we see later in the episode. Maybe all of the crooks wanted their little bit of fame. For some reason, that didn’t really work for me. I also didn’t really like how the episode tried to give the guy a soft side at the end when he says he was doing it because he couldn’t get a loan for his bakery.
I also didn’t really care for Bruce Wayne’s story this episode. It was an attempt to give Alfred some more meaning to the show I think, but it felt a little bit flat to me. The guy does turn out to be a spy in the end, so we will have to see where that goes.
Finally, Fish Mooney had to spend an eye to keep the other. That certainly was a pretty big shock. I am not sure why Fish didn’t see that coming (see what I did there?), but why would she venture up to the manager, with really no move to make at all? She was hoping her collateral would be enough I guess, but turns out it wasn’t. I have a feeling the guard being held in the prison is about to be in for some trouble.
Unfortunately, Gotham is losing me a little bit I feel. I haven’t been real excited to watch it as of lately. Hopefully something turns that around soon.
Scenes from Gotham, Season 1 Episode 18: Everyone Has a Cobblepot
Here are scenes from the next episode of Gotham, titled Everyone Has a Cobblepot:
