Or, the new arc "Jim Gordon: Security Guard".
We start at Arkham Asylum, and I'm really glad to see the inside of such an iconic building, and how it will be in this show with its art direction.
And.... he gets to watch a play being put on. It's cool (in theory) that they're giving creative outlet to the mentally ill, but then it all goes horribly wrong as it of course does in a place like Arkham. And he's back where he started, getting his ass chewed out by people on power trips. During the play, we're cutting to shots of Harvey alone in the police station, and Barbara in bed with Montoya beside a bottle of pill, and Selina sleeping in a cage on the streets.
We're getting a look at a new character who's actually quite important to the Batman universe - Dr. Leslie Tompkins.There's some exposition of her admiring that he's not quitting, and the patient just wants them to shut up so he can sleep his meds off. Man, I've been there...
Selina gets out of her sleeping cage and hears coughing, It's Ivy, and she's pretty sick. So Selina busts into Jim and Barbara's old apartment so they can sleep it off.
We get our first glimpse of THE Penguin (as he makes sure they're well aware), and he wants to raise prices at the waterfront. The men are less than enthusiastic about this, but Penguin points out that he owns the cops on the waterfront... who then wind up punching him out. 2015 isn't off to a good start for our beleaguered mob boss wannabe.
Back on duty, Gordon checks on a patient, and it turns out he's been essentially lobotomized by too much electroshock treatment. Gordon's pissed that they don't have enough staff to cover this many patients in an old maze of a building. One of the buildings' guards' keys went missing during the fight at the play. So now he gets to ask each patient if they have the keys, with varying degrees of psychosis. Gordon's definitely up shit's creek so far in this investigation.
Fish is planning to get rid of the next guy in line (generic Italian dude), since he thinks he should succeed Falcone, being the next in line. Butch wants to talk to the guy since they go way back, and then he starts seeming as shifty as the inmates that Gordon's questioning. "No, I didn't take your keys, Fish."
Another patient, this time the dude who got beat up in the play brawl, is electrocuted. He's not a vegetable, but all he can do is recite lines from the play. Jim now thinks that it's a member of the staff who's doing this, because a patient wouldn't have much to gain, and the missing keys seems like a red herring to him. Warden McComplainyPants (Dr. Lang) hates the idea of an investigation and police coming into the Asylum. All he seems to want to do is bust Gordon's balls.
Bullock comes to the asylum, and he's so overjoyed to see Gordon that he gives him a big kiss (Awwwwwww), and he takes over the whole thing and takes Dr. Lang in for questioning so Gordon can go through the staff records. He gets back to the station with Lang in tow, and is happy to see Penguin with a big black shiner pacing in jail. Bullock won't call Maroni for him, and wants to just stare at him, because he's soothing like a bonsai tree. Poor Penguin. It's like anything that can go wrong for him does go wrong for him.
Butch talks to Generic Italian Dude about the city changing, and if he really wants Falcone's job. Generic Italian Dude wants Butch to jump ship, and Butch says he'll think about it. He lies to Fish about the conversation, but it's still unsure on what side he's actually playing. Maybe he wants to take power for himself? Generic Italian Mafia Power Struggle!
Oh yeah, Barbara and Montoya break up in the meantime. Montoya 'realizes' that they're toxic together (so why did she let Barbara come back to her, and keep trying to get into the middle of their relationship?) Barbara gets pissed, and Montoya wants her to call Jim to help get herself straightened out. I guess Montoya's growing a conscience. Everyone's changing their desires in this substory real damn quick.
Bullock is questioning Lang, and it turns out that he's afraid of authority because there's more going on behind the scenes than people are led to believe (REALLY? I NEVER WOULD HAVE GUESSED THAT ABOUT A PLACE IN GOTHAM!!). Lang assures Bullock that it has nothing to do with the case at hand, though. Turns out that the nurse is actually a patient, and then she unlocks the whole asylum. All she gets for it though is trampled to death... and the rest of the patients running rampant. The mentally ill don't really think things through all the time (Trust me, I know).
Turns out that Penguin's been stuck in jail because Maroni wanted him in there because he got too big for his britches, wanting to tax the fishermen. Maroni points out that he's a smart monkey so he should learn his lesson from this, but a monkey nonetheless. Penguin grins and nods, but there's murder in his eyes.
With the Captain, Bullock, and Gordon celebrating with some booze, the ME comes in and ruins their fun by pointing out that Dorothy the nurse had the burn marks too. And that it would be impossible to do that to herself. They're all like "oh shit, and we're drunk too", except Bullock, who's like "Let's go, but I'm not drunk enough yet." It turns out that it was Gruber (one of the patients that they'd focused on through the episode). By the time that Gordon shows up, there's only a note and a promise that Gruber will meet him again. There's no rogue by the name of Gruber in Batman's lexicon, but there's still plenty of room for Gordon to have his own set of rogues.
Butch is back with Generic Italian Dude, and says that he's in, but apologizes for not giving GID the good cuts of meat when they stole a bunch when they were kids. He ends up shooting him in the side of the head and drives away. With the old 50's doo-wop music in the background and the older style cars, it really makes me think of the X-Files episode "Home" - minus the inbred hillbillies, of course.
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