‘Gotham’ Recap: ‘Mad City: Blood Rush’

This week, things continue to be a little ‘mad’ in Gotham. Not only do we have Captain Barnes going out of his mind because of his blood poisoning, we also have Edward Nygma to worry about this week.

The episode kicked off with Captain Barnes stumbling upon a criminal while off-duty, which turned violent extremely quick. After he stumbled upon the criminal ‘cleaning’ up a body, he grew so enraged that he brutally murdered the criminal, unable to contain his rage.

Back at the GCPD, everyone celebrated Jim Gordon’s return. His partner, Harvey, was not shy about how excited he was about his best friend returning to duty. He immediately rallied Jim to come with him on a fresh case. However, their first case was no walk in the ball-park, run of the mill case. The stumbled upon the same crime scene Captain Barnes had earlier that day (Barnes being there off duty unknownst to them), and the scene was incredibly brutal and gruesome. Welcome back, Jim. After surveying the scene Jim states that this murder ‘wasn’t just business’ and he suggests that they call Captain Barnes.

We journey over to Edward Nygma, who is having dinner with his girlfriend Isabella. The dinner was anything but sweet. As soon as Isabella put on a pair of glasses similar to the kind that his ex, Kristen Kringle, used to wear caused Ed to temporarily lose it. He isolates himself in his bedroom, and then he hallucinates while talking to himself and sees Kristen appear in the mirror behind him. He realizes, in his madness, that the only way he can keep Isabelle safe is to break up with her; otherwise he will hurt her just like he hurt Kristen.

 

Out of  pure desperation, Captain Barnes heads to prison to meet with Jervis Tetch; to see if there was any possible cure for Alice’s blood. Tetch delivers him a pretty epic monologue about how it’s not the anger he sees, it is the rage. He tells Barnes to ‘let go’ and let his ‘sister’ take control. Disgruntled and enraged, Barnes leaves the prison and heads back to the GCPD.

Jim meets up with Lee and asks her for whatever information she has on the two John Doe’s that were found at the crime scene. It was really hard to not ignore the googly eyes the two of them were making at each other. Lee tells Jim that Carmine Falcone is holding an engagement party for her and Mario later, and that she won’t be around for the rest of the night. She also tells him that one of the victims had their faces ripped off. Jim left, and headed up to meet with Harvey and Captain Barnes. Jim handed over the information that Lee gathered to Captain Barnes, who immediately insisted that he take point on the case. As an audience, we clearly know what is going on in Barnes’ head and even though he may not be able to lay a finger on it, the look that appeared on Jim’s face when Barnes immediately demanded to take point on the case led me to believe that Jim knows there is something extremely off with Captain Barnes.

Edward met with Oswald and disclosed the events that occurred earlier in the night between him and Isabella. Penguin appeared extremely happy to hear the news, and was even more ecstatic when Edward came to the conclusion that he needed to break up with Isabella. He asked Oswald to break up with Isabella for him, which Oswald agreed to without hesitation. (and a huge grin on his face).

Captain Barnes tracked down a lead to a bar in downtown Gotham, searching for a man nicknamed ‘The Toad’. After finding ‘the toad’, he held a gun to his face and demanded he tell him the name of the criminal who was running around and slicing people’s faces off. The Toad eventually caved, and gave him the name of a doctor; a plastic surgeon in Gotham.

Barnes tracks down the plastic surgeon, who has a young woman as his ‘patient’ on the table. Barnes draws his gun on the man, and demands to know how many people (and how many faces) the surgeon has taken. The surgeon, Dr. Simon, tells Barnes that he invokes his right to an attorney. Barnes begins hearing the voices in his head saying ‘Guilty, Guilty’, and he beats the doctor to the ground. He then brings the doctor into GCPD.

Oswald visits Isabella at her home to deliver the breakup news. His attempt fails as Isabella goes from a weak, broken flower to a wicked temptress in about sixty seconds. She states that she’s not going to let Edward go, and that is when she realizes Oswald is in love with Edward also.  She smirks and says “I’m not even jealous.” When he leaves, she picks up the glasses similar to the ones that Ms. Kringle has and she smirks wickedly.

Lucius brings the news to Jim that the anesthetic that Dr. Simon was using was also found in the John Doe from the earlier crime scene. During their conversation, Harvey comes in to deliver the bad news that Simon was connected to the judge, and has been released.

At Lee and Mario’s engagement party, Lee is confronted by Barbara; who shows up to offer her congratulations. She slyly asks if Lee misses being with Jim and if she ‘misses that heat’. Lee denies Barbara’s statement, saying she is in love with Mario. Yeah, she didn’t sound too convincing if you ask me.

Barnes and Carmine Falcone have a discussion at the party, which ends with Barnes making a call on a cell phone saying he is bringing in the murderer of Paulie. (The cleaner who Barnes killed in the opening scene). It would seem as though Barnes is attempting to gain control of all the crazy going on inside his head. However, when Dr. Simon enters the party, Barnes hears the ‘guilty’ chant in his head once more. He grits his teeth, and beelines after Dr. Simon.

Edward arrives at Isabella’s place, and says that he got her note. She speaks to him from the other room, saying that they are not breaking up. She comes out of the room, dressed exactly like Ms. Kringle. She tells him that he won’t hurt her, she believes in him. She put his hand on her throat, and he starts to choke her. She whispers his name and catches his attention, and this causes him to stop. He pulls her in and kisses her, telling her to keep the glasses on.

Jim and Harvey arrive at the engagement party. While Harvey goes off to search for Dr. Simon, Mario asks to have a private word with Jim. He takes Jim into a different room and after a few minutes of bickering, Mario punches Jim across the face. Typical.

Captain Barnes confronts Simon in the bathroom, and after exchanging a few words, throws him around. He states that:

“It’s not just you that’s guilty, it’s this whole city that’s guilty. I am the law. I am judge, jury and executioner.”

He then he throws Simon through the wall, and he falls down two stories and lands ontop of a car. Barnes smirks and mutters: “Sentence served.”

Edward returns to Oswald’s mansion and tells him everything is amazing with Isabella. Penguin puts on an amazing front, and after Edward leaves, one of Oswald’s thugs enters the room with a pair of pliers. Oswald asks his thug if ‘it has been done’, to which the thug nods.

Isabella begins driving, and when a train is about to cross her path, she cannot use her brakes. She collides head on with the train, and for the moment, her fate is unknown.

Back at the party, Barnes meets up with Jim. He lies to Jim about not being able to find Paulie’s murderer. He then tells Jim “things are gonna change. We’re gonna clean up this city,”. After Jim walks away, he looks around at the faces of all the guests at the party, and he begins to hear the ‘guilty, guilty, guilty’ chant once more.

Jim walks outside, and sees a bunch of people screaming and standing around a car. Jim heads over and sees Simon ontop of the car, almost dead. Jim asks him who did it to him. Dr. Simon lifts his head slightly and whispers “Barnes”. Dun Dun DUUUUUN!!