Gotham Episode 1.19 Recap and Preview for Next Week

Gotham Episode 1.19 Recap: Beasts of Prey

A young uniform, Moore, brings a case to Jim. He was the first responder at the murder of a young woman, Grace Fairchild, but the detectives who were assigned the case did a half-assed job and deemed the case “cold” after only a couple of weeks. Moore flatters Jim, telling him that he wants to be just like him, help clean up Gotham, yadda yadda yadda. Jim is flattered and promises to look into the case. Bullock, naturally, doesn’t want to take on any additional work, but Jim strong-arms him into checking up on the case. Acting on a suggestion from Lee to check into local speakeasies, the detectives find a bartender who remembers seeing Grace there with a handsome date.

A piece of evidence in the Fairchild case seems to be missing. Nygma digs up a photocopy of what it was: a hand-painted picture of a broken heart. This shakes Bullock severely. He explains that this is the calling card of a serial killer. Some call him the Don Juan Killer; others just call him the Ogre. He abducts young, single women and keeps them for weeks or months, hoping that each one will live up to his impossible standards and be “the one.” They never are. He has killed at least a dozen, but he is GPD’s dirty little secret. Only a few senior detectives know about him, because the Ogre kills the loved ones of any cop who dares investigate him. Bullock becomes suspicious: “How did you get this case?” He shakes down Moore, who finally admits Loeb put him up to it. When Loeb happens into the police department, Jim confronts him violently, accusing him of setting him up. Jim vows to put the Ogre behind bars, then he is coming after Loeb. “You are done.”

I am not familiar with this killer from Batman cannon, so I looked it up. The Ogre seems a terrible nickname to give to a Lothario. After checking out who the Ogre was in the Batman mythos (a genetically altered man who, paired with a genetically altered ape, makes up a sort of Frankenstein allegory) I am still a bit flummoxed. Clearly, the Ogre (real name: Jason Lennon) is not the comic book Ogre; but could he one day become the comic book Ogre? Maybe he is eventually captured, sent to Arkham, and turned into the comic book Ogre? It seems a long way to go for such an obscure character, but I can’t think of any other reason this killer would be called the Ogre.

Anyway, there is more going on this week. Fish sneaks out of the asylum, discovering both a boat and a helicopter as possible escapes from the island. Of course, a bevy of obstacles stand between her and freedom: bolts, alarms, a team of mercenaries led by the Catcher. She devises a plan and enlists in the help of a half-dozen big, burly killer inmates to help. She next sneaks into Dulmacher’s office to steal his keys for the boat (because no one knows how to fly a helicopter) but is caught by the doctor, who threatens to shoot her when she lies and says she wasn’t trying to escape. She finally “admits” that she is so terrified of becoming one of Dulmacher’s Frankenstein creations that she wanted to kill herself. Dulmacher accepts this and lets her go.

Fish collects her killers from the basement and leads them out through a door, directing them to get the boat started while she goes back in for Kelly. But it was all a lie. The killers get down to the dock and find the gate that was supposed to be left open is bolted shut. They are caught by the mercenaries and slaughtered. Back inside, Fish returns to the basement, but Dulmacher is waiting for her, and he is ready to destroy her. The inmates move in on the gullible Dulmacher, who thought they were locked up, and they beat the hell out of him. They are short on time, so they don’t finish Dulmacher off. Instead, they rush to the helicopter and use the cover of gunfire to take off. (Fish lied – of course she can fly the helicopter.) The Catcher arrives as the helicopter takes off, but he lands one well-placed shot that pierces the vehicle and lands in Fish’s gut. She continues to fly, but she is bleeding pretty severely.

Alfred is planning on hunting down Reggie, and Bruce insists on going. Alfred’s stitches open, so he’s down for the count. He had mentioned that Reggie, being an addict, would spend a couple of days in a shooting gallery before leaving town, so Bruce goes looking for him. But Bruce doesn’t understand what a shooting gallery is – he thinks it is a gun range, which is just about the most adorable thing I have ever heard. Selina bumps into him and clues him in. She then escorts him to the scuzziest corners of Gotham and they find Reggie in an abandoned warehouse. Selina takes his stash while Bruce interrogates him. When he won’t reveal who hired him, Selina dangles his drugs out the window. Reggie finally spills, and gives the names of Matthis and Bunderslaw. They wanted to know how far into the investigation Bruce had gotten. He was only supposed to steal a few documents, but then Alfred mucked it up. Despite giving up what they want, Selina drops his drugs out the window. Reggie sees them dangling off the edge and leans out to grab them. Bruce’s instinct is to push him out the window, but Selina stops him – then pushes him out herself.

And finally, in a somewhat pointless series of scenes that seem designed to give Penguin something to do and fill out a short episode, Penguin goes through a whole lot of effort to buy out a family-owned Italian restaurant. He finally reveals to Gabe that he is not doing it for the money: he is doing it so he can kill Maroni in a place that he loves.

Below, you can watch a preview of next week’s episode, titled “Under the Knife.” In the episode, Gordon and Bullock continue their investigation of the Ogre (guest star Milo Ventimiglia), who begins to make his move on someone close to Gordon. Meanwhile, Bruce and Selina team up to expose a corrupt Wayne Enterprises employee and Nygma comes to Kristin Kringle’s defense.