GOTHAM Recap: Loves Lost

Love in Gotham often leads to heartache. Remember how James Gordon and Barbara started out in love, and how that ended in tragedy and madness? Well,  Harvey Bulloch was engaged to Scottie Mullen, and that relationship went bye-bye too. Then James and Lee hooked up, fell in love and got pregnant. That ended when James went to prison, and Lee lost the baby. And now there’s Valerie Vale, the headstrong reporter. Well in this episode, Jervis Tetch, aka The Mad Hatter, shoots her. It’s a revenge thing. Tetch blames Jim for his sister’s death. I think Vale will recover, but this is bound to cause some friction in that relationship. And Oswald Cobblepot is in love with Edward Nygma, The Riddler. Now they would be a power couple. ‘Penguin and Riddler sitting in a tree, k.i.l.l.i.n.g..’ But even the bad guys can’t catch a break. Penguin spends the entire episode trying to muster up the courage to proclaim his love. But Nygma meets a woman that looks just like Miss Kringle, the babe he loved and then killed. But this lady is very much alive, AND she likes riddles. So it’s looking like Oswald’s hopes are destined to be dashed. Ain’t Love Grand?

When the episode begins, we see The Mad Hatter kidnap a couple of newlyweds. And he uses them to try and break Jim. Tetch gives him an impossible choice to make. The couple is about to leap to their deaths, and Jim thinks he can save them. Until Tetch adds another piece to the puzzle. A small boy is standing in the street, mesmerized, and he’s about to be hit by a big truck. Now James only has time to intervene in one scenario. So he saves the boy and allows the couple to fall to their deaths. Bummer for them, they didn’t even make it to their own reception. And just to refresh your memory; James Gordon didn’t kill Alice, Tetch’s sister. She died trying to run away from her big brother. Tetch abused her as a child and Alice didn’t want anything to do with him. He’s a monster.

Alice’s blood creates monsters. And unfortunately, Captain Barnes got infected last episode, when a drop caught him in the eye.   So now he’s beginning to show signs of infection. The first sign is increased strength. Barnes can walk without a cane now, AND he can bend steel with his bare hands. Nothing wrong with that, until the infection causes violent insanity, and therein is the problem. If Barnes is destined to go berserk, who will put him down? And then who will run the GCPD?  There is no cure in sight. So is Captain Barnes living on borrowed time? It looks like it.

The Mad Hatter kidnaps Lee and Vale, forcing Jim to come face him alone, sans police. He’s having a tea party and he tells Jim that he plans on killing the woman Jim loves most. And if Jim doesn’t tell him who to kill, Tetch will just kill them both. Yikes!!! So after a little soul-searching, Jim tells him to kill Lee, and let Vale live. But Tetch, believes that this means he loves Vale most, since Jim wants her to live. And he shoots Vale in the torso, as he escapes into the night. STAY TUNED!!!!

LAST WORDS: I believe that Jim is a smart man, and that he knew that by fingering Lee, he was actually saving her life.  And if that’s true, it’s kind of a bummer for Vale… And speaking of love; Butch loves Tabitha, who may be in love with Barbara.  And Bruce has a thing for Selina.  But those guys weren’t in this episode…