Murderous Monks overrun Gotham, but thank goodness they are only killing bad guys. They are the Order of St. Dumas, and they’ve been conditioned not to feel pain. Their mission is to cleanse Gotham with blood. They are fond of saying, “The blood of the nine shall wash away the sin.” It’s a long mantra, but it works for them. The first eight to die are just your average thieves and illicit massage parlor patrons. But the last on the hit list is “The Son of Gotham.” They’re referring to Bruce Wayne, in case it’s not painfully obvious.

Theo Galavan is in league with the Order of St. Dumas. And as he sits smug in jail awaiting his arraignment, Jim Gordon knows that something’s up. But he doesn’t have a clue, until the bodies start showing up. That’s when the pieces of the puzzle start to fall into place. But Jim is a troubled man. He’s just come from the rainy funeral of young Officer Parks. Flamingo, the perp Jim collared instead of killed, got free and took a bite out of Officer Parks’ jugular last week. And Jim is all-regretful that he didn’t disregard the law and murder the man when he had the chance. Gordon had his gun in the guy’s mouth, and Flamingo was begging for him to pull the trigger. That would have made it okay, right? Lee doesn’t think so.

Bruce Wayne, the son of Gotham,  has no idea he’s in so much danger. Otherwise he wouldn’t have ditched Alfred to go off sleuthing on his own. Bruce and Selina team up to Scam Silver, Galavan niece. Bruce is desperate to know what she knows about the man that killed his parents. It’s kind of his obsession.  Bruce and Selina some up with an elaborate scam that involves a fake kidnapping and insinuated torture. But as obvious as it is, it works on Silver, and she spills her guts. The Killer’s name is M. Malone. But that could very well be a red herring. I guess we’ll find out some day, but not today. Because at the end of the episode, Bruce is snatched up and taken off to be killed as part of the cleansing ritual.

But who grabs him? It’s Theo Galavan of course. At his arraignment, the former Mayor recants, telling the judge that Theo Galavan was not holding him hostage. It was the Penguin. And he also confesses that the Penguin forced him to lie about Galavan. This Clears Theo, and he’s released, all charges dropped. Jim Gordon is a little miffed by these events, as he should be,  and he slugs him. But Galavan gets his revenge. He has Jim kidnapped and beaten half to death. But instead of just killing Gordon, like he claims he wants to.   He orders his men to kill him slowly.  Then he leaves to go get Bruce.  This gives Jim Gordon time to get himself rescued. (He’s the star of the show so he can’t die.)  A little crazed, Penguin shows up looking for Galavan, kills the thugs, and saves Jim’s life.  I guess they’ll be teaming up against Galavan in the finale.

But what about Alfred? Why isn’t he at Wayne Manor protecting Bruce? Good question. Alfred went looking for Bruce when he snuck off with Selena. He goes to Thea Galavan’s place, because he thinks Bruce might be with Silver. But he runs into trouble instead. Alfred throws down with the whip-wielding Tabitha Galavan. And the fight is pretty epic. If you were taking score, Alfred would come out on top. Until he gets stabbed of course. He seems to get shanked every season. Alfred stubbles out and escapes in the back of a trash truck, but not before getting a knife in the back as well. If he doesn’t die in that pile of trash, Master Bruce is going to get such a talking to.

So, summing it all up for the mid season finale, here’s what we got. Bruce Wayne has been kidnapped by a murder cult, and Thea Galavan is about to kill him in a blood sacrifice. Alfred has been stabbed twice, and is lying close to death in the back of a trash truck. Jim Gordon has been beaten senseless but has been rescued by the Penguin. And Thea Galavan has been cleared of all charges. Stay tuned….