Gotham review brought to you by the lovely @luckynerdgirl! This week’s Gotham was quite dark and revealing. And speaking of revealing, this article is full of spoilers! You have been warned!

The episode opened up with Penguin undergoing another brutal “therapy” session while being monitored by Hugo Strange and his assistant Ms. Peabody. It’s at this moment that Doctor Strange mentions something that caught my attention, “The Crane Formula”. I’m seeing some foreshadowing going on here. If you have some Batman knowledge, you might recognize the name Crane and be reminded of a certain individual named Dr. Jonathon Crane who we later come to know as “Scarecrow”. That will be interesting.

Next we see Bruce meeting up with Selina and she gives him the gun he requested of her from last weeks episode. She’s not thrilled that Bruce wants to kill “Matches” Malone himself, but she doesn’t stop him. She’s very honest about that this isn’t a game.

Later back at the GCPD, Lee comes to Gordon with some worries about Kristen Kringle. Yeah, that Kristen, the one Edward Nygma killed earlier in the season. She hasn’t been cashing any of her paychecks and never left a forwarding address. Kind of hard to do when you’re dead! Jim tells her that he’ll look into it. He asks Nygma if he’s heard from her at all, but of course, he shrugs it off. She did leave him after all. But you could tell by the look on Jim’s face that there were some red flags going up.

On with the show; Alfred and Bruce start looking into leads on “Matches” Malone. They find themselves having to talk to a man named “Cupcake”. Alfred says that he will do the talking, but as usual, Master Bruce doesn’t listen and gets them into trouble. “Cupcake” says he will give them the information they seek, as long as Bruce gives him $50,000 and Alfred fights him. Alfred steps up and of course, just like a guardian, turns this situation into a lesson. I was laughing out loud at this scene because Alfred was giving out pointers on how to take down a bigger opponent. Apparently you just have to outlast them!

Jumping back to Arkham Asylum, we see Penguin and Doctor Strange playing a word association game. Strange seems to like the progress that Cobblepot is making. He mentions though that he will have to have a few more therapy sessions and that definitely put the fear of God into Oswald. It seems that the “Crane Formula” uses fear stimulation to root out the bad in people. Note to self: Don’t tell the cops you’re insane or you’ll end up at Arkham and who knows what you’ll be when or if you come out.

Apparently Alfred had a few of his bells rung, because we next see him and Bruce at the hospital. Right before he passes out, Alfred makes Bruce promise him that he won’t go after Malone himself. Of course, we all knew that little Brucey wasn’t going to listen. “Cupcake” told Bruce to ask Jerry about Malone. So Wayne goes to this seedy looking bar where he is greeted by none other than Jerry who was played by the oh so wonderful Lori Petty! She knows who he is, so obviously “Cupcake” informed her that he was coming. After some convincing, on Wayne’s part, Jerry tells him where he can find “Matches”. On his way out of the club, Jim shows up and finds Bruce and tries to stop him. Jerry though isn’t having it and helps the little dude out by distracting Gordon so he can get away. She of course is arrested and questioned by Jim and their exchange was awesome. I absolutely love Lori Petty!

Bruce shows up at Malone’s apartment and under the ruse of “hiring” him for his assassin skills, is able to enter. After a few words, Bruce finally reveals to Malone who he is and what he did. But Malone doesn’t react like you would have thought. Instead, he begs Bruce to kill him. He wants to die because he’s tired of essentially getting away with it. Bruce almost pulls the trigger, but just at the last second changes his mind. I think he realized that there was more than revenge. He leaves the gun on the table and walks out of the apartment. Jim walks up and then we hear a gunshot go off. Apparently, Malone couldn’t live with himself anymore. Good riddance I say! But that still begs the question. Who hired Malone to kill the Wayne’s?

Bruce has decided that he’s going to live on the streets with Selina Kyle’s help so that he can better understand where the injustice comes from. We have begun to really see the transformation of scared little boy Bruce Wayne into the Batman that he will become!

In the end, I think there are more mysteries to be solved on the show. There were more hints into what Hugo Strange is up to, but only that it goes deeper than even Ms. Peabody is aware of. I think the true nature of some of our villains (and possibly heroes?) is going to come creeping out!