Featuring the reemergence of an old threat and the rejiggering of several relationships, “Anything for You” was a great episode of “Gotham” that had a lot of fun touches.
We begin with the Penguin basking in the afterglow of being elected Gotham’s mayor. But his parade is soon rained upon by the Red Hood Gang, who we haven’t seen since season one. Slightly upgraded since their last appearance (their masks are more elaborate and everyone in the gang gets to wear one. And sidebar – the ringleader is portrayed by Michael Stoyanov, who was the older brother on “Blossom”), Oswald believes they’re challenging his authority, pushing back because they think the rules have changed now that he’s in office. So he gathers his lieutenants (and Barbara, who hilariously reminds those assembled that they’re not invited to Penguin’s victory celebration at her club, while guzzling a martini) and demands that the Red Hood Gang be made an example of. What he doesn’t know is that their secret benefactor is in that very room...Butch. Jockeying for position with Edward Nygma, Butch’s plan is to foil the Red Hood Gang himself and become a hero in Penguin’s eyes.
Unfortunately for him, his scheme is quickly sussed out. First by Barbara and Tabitha, who believe helping Penguin with this matter will keep him from killing the latter (there’s another hilarious Barbara moment here where Tabitha muses about how it would be nice not to have to watch her ass all the time and then Barbara slyly checks it out. I am seriously loving Barbara this season, what is wrong with me!?!?). And then Nygma puts the pieces together by using his position as Mayor Cobblepot’s chief of staff to return to his old stomping grounds at the GCPD and oversee the investigation. This reunites him with several characters he’s wronged, with Lucius’ (coolly observing that he could have laced any of the lab equipment Nygma was sure to touch with a toxin) and Leslie’s (awesomely slugging him on behalf of Kristen Kringle) reactions being the best. To my surprise, though, he never crosses paths with Gordon. In fact, “Gotham” hasn’t shown Gordon having any reaction at all to the fact that the man who ruined his life is now walking free. Weird.
Anyway, with the help of Victor Zsasz, Nygma uses Butch’s soft spot for Tabitha to manipulate him into exposing his guilt to Penguin at the victory party. I was worried that might be the end of my beloved Butch, but he’s arrested instead of killed and, later, Tabitha awesomely – and seemingly with Barbara’s signoff – suits up in her Tigress gear and goes to break him out of custody.
And then, in a scene where Nygma reaffirms his loyalty to Penguin in front of a roaring fire, I was 100% sure they were going to kiss. Thinking about it, while we saw Nygma’s obsessive infatuation with Ms. Kringle play out, I don’t think Oswald has shown a romantic interest in anyone since the show began. A gay or bisexual Penguin would certainly be a different take on the character.
Meanwhile, Bruce hires Gordon to look into Ivy Pepper’s disappearance. They’re both baffled when they learn from Bullock that Ivy’s trademark sweater was found, but that the woman wearing it was in her twenties. Later, at Penguin’s party, Selina encounters the new Ivy for the first time (and the height difference between Camren Bicondova and Maggie Geha is visually startling). Selina is disturbed that this apparent stranger seems to know her, but Ivy declines to share her true identity just yet.
Back to Bruce and Gordon, I really liked their scenes together this week, razzing each other about their romantic lives (Gordon has a great “uh huh, sure” response when Bruce denies having a crush on Selina; Bruce later calls Gordon out on having a new lady in his life given he spotted a coffee cup with lipstick on it at his place). And their conversation gives them both the push they needed to take a chance on love. Gordon seems ready to move on from Leslie (this is after a weird exchange between them where Leslie announces that her fiancé is Falcone’s son, Gordon reveals he already knew (huh?), and then Leslie acts astonished and almost hurt that he didn’t throw a hissy fit) and shows Valerie that by scaring off her creepola dinner date. And Bruce finally tells Selina that he like likes her. Selina takes this in coolly, wondering aloud if it’s because she’s the only girl he knows (no mention of Silver St. Cloud, I noticed), but then kisses him, clearly wanting to take the lead on where things go between them.
Not feeling the love is Captain Barnes. He’s keeping being infected with Alice’s blood in last week’s cliffhanger a secret. Later, Barnes “casually” brings up the case with Leslie, who reveals that early test results on animal subjects were inconclusive – some of them exhibited enhanced strength and stamina, others extreme psychosis. So Barnes is hopeful when he unconsciously walks across his office without his cane. But I can’t imagine it will be as simple as that.
Finally, the Mad Hatter pops back up in this week’s final scene, amidst another tea party tableau with another unwilling Alice. He blames Gordon for his sister’s death and has prepared an invitation to his vengeance Gordon won’t be able to ignore.
Did “Anything for You” do anything for you? Sound off about this week’s “Gotham” in the comments section.
