History NightmareFuel / Gotham

* [[NightmareFuel/GothamSeasonFive Season Five]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/152311682485751612_16_6.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[ComicBook/TheJoker Gotham's greatest villain]] is born.]]

* [[NightmareFuel/GothamSeasonFive Season Five]]
[[/index]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[ComicBook/TheJoker Gotham's greatest villain]] is born.]]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jerome_joker.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Makes you want to laugh, doesn't it?]]

* [[NightmareFuel/GothamSeasonFour Season Four]]

[[foldercontrol]]

!!Season 1

[[folder: [[AC: 1x01 Pilot]]]]
* The POV shot of the killer pointing his gun at Bruce's face after killing his parents.
** The entire scene really. It's one of the most brutal depictions of the Waynes' murder. And it isn't just Bruce who's traumatized, Selina visibly recoils in the shadows as each of the gunshots go off.
** ForegoneConclusion though it may be that Bruce survives, the gunman was clearly considering whether or not to put a couple in Bruce's head. To reiterate: He was about to ''shoot a little boy'' and there wasn't a soul around who could do anything to stop him. (Selina was up on the fire escape and, agile as she is, she probably can't outrun a bullet, so she likely would not have been much help.) It's scenes like this that show just [[WretchedHiveOfScumAndVillainy what kind of place]] Gotham really is.
* The scene where Oswald [[spoiler: kills a fisherman by slashing his throat and [[EnemyEatsYourLunch eating his sandwich]].]] Brings back some memories of Danny [=DeVito=]'s [[Film/BatmanReturns portrayal]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x02 Selina Kyle]]]]
* Selina Kyle advises a young boy to "go for the eyes" if he gets into a fight. When she gets her claws into someone's eyes, [[EyeScream there are none left]].
* Oswald brutally kills one JerkAss college-age preppy and kidnaps the other one to raise a $10,000 ransom. Only the kidnapped preppy's mother refuses [[CryingWolf to believe the kidnapping is real]] and won't even listen to Oswald negotiate down. That terrified look on the victim's beaten face when Oswald affably [[YouHaveFailedMe chides him]] for "being a scamp..."
* The kidnappers. They seem like decent, overly nice people and they never really drop that demeanor. It's just incredibly unsettling especially since a number of real life serial killers act just like that when luring their victims.
* The man Gordon throws down the BottomlessPit. His screams don't stop, they just...fade out.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x03 The Balloonman]]]]
* The way each AssholeVictim is killed off: by being strapped to a helium balloon and carried into the sky while screaming and flailing. Assuming they weren't hit by airplanes first or dropped if the rope loosened enough, the lack of air and increasing cold eventually ''freezes them to death.'' Oh, and the balloon pops and sends the bodies plummeting back downwards (in one case, onto an old woman who was just taking her dog out for a walk).
* The worker at the restaurant who was killed by Cobblepot, simply for having the same shoe size.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x04 Arkham]]]]
* Penguin just gets even scarier in this episode in the final scene when [[spoiler:he hires a group of robbers to rob money from his restaurant, only to kill them by feeding them poisoned cannoli and taking it back]]. Yeah, "Don't fuck with Penguin" is putting it lightly. Penguin's boyish smirks as he watches them eat is even more disturbing.
* The signature go-to move for assassin Gladwell is to [[spoiler: stab his victims through their eyes with a custom-made pop-up blade.]]
* Fish's "final audition" for her new singer/secret weapon is really disturbing. She can't decide between the two candidates, so [[spoiler: she takes the girls to an alley and forces them to fight each other, giving the job to the last one standing.]] All while she watches with cold satisfaction, like a Roman Emperor watching a bloodsport.
** Also, in retrospect, a creepy bit of foreshadowing for "Masks".
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x05 Viper]]]]
* The titular drug is an early form of Venom, ie the stuff that will create Bane. This version gives super strength by pulling the calcium out of people's bones, so that after a few hours they crumble into bags of flesh.
** Which makes the scene where the inventor spreads the drug free of charge to everyone he sees on a busy street with the implication of hundreds having taken the drug even more horrifying as there is no cure.
** What we do see happening to the woman who literally falls to pieces in front of Gordon and Bullock... /shudder
** The horrifying part is how they die; Dissolving your bones won't kill you but it will make it hard for your organs to function without something supporting them, like your heart and lungs. The victims don't die because they no longer have bones; they die because ''they suffocate to death''.
* In the episode, Bruce talks with a woman who's self-described as 'middle management' in Wayne Enterprises, and lets her know that he's found 'irregularities' in the company's accounts in relation to Arkham. [[spoiler: At the end of the episode, the woman is seen spying on Gordon and Bullock, and it's heavily implied that she is complicit in not just the Viper scandal, but whatever's going on with Arkham and the murder of Bruce's parents. The lady has no problems covering up [=WellZyn's=] dealings in pharmaceutical weaponry. Who knows what will happen to Bruce if he asks too many questions?]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x06 Spirit of the Goat]]]]
* Nygma. If you look closely you can see he gives Bullock a DeathGlare when he tells him to stop it with the riddles. Then there's his behavior around Miss Kringle, it comes off as obessive stalking. What's worse Nygma doesn't understand he's doing anything wrong, he think it's normal flirting. He has all the makings of someone who's just gonna ''snap''. It's only a matter of time.
** [[spoiler: As of "Under the Knife", time has run out, and Nygma's fugue-state stabbing of Miss Kringle's abusive boyfriend makes even the Penguin's KnifeNut moments look rational. At least Cobblepot knows when to ''stop''...]]
* How about some good old fashioned AdultFear? While Bruce is asleep on the couch, Selina Kyle walks right in, has a look around, grabs something and then leaves without anybody being the wiser. Sure, Selina isn't all that bad, but just imagine somebody breaking into your house like that, while your children are asleep, without you ever knowing?
** Especially since this Episode was about A SerialKiller going after the kids of Gotham's richest, I.E. Bruce.
* The hypnotherapist has been hypnotizing her patients into becoming killers modeled after a Gotham City urban legend because she thought that the city's rich needed to be scared into submission by having their children murdered.
* Anytime Oswald and his mother are on screen together is ridiculously creepy, especially the bathtub scene.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x07 Penguin's Umbrella]]]]
* Victor Zsasz being able to just walk into a police station filled with cops, call out to Gordon like if he were an old friend and order everyone to leave as to show how far the mob's power stretches and how fearsome his reputation is.
[[/folder]]


[[folder: [[AC: 1x08 Masks]]]]
* The fact that Sionis' employees see nothing wrong with watching potential colleagues fight ''to the death'' on a live feed, or that they're all walking around with various bruises and broken bones (and in one man's case, a ''missing thumb'') like it's a normal thing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x09 Harvey Dent]]]]
* Harvey Dent's confrontation with billionaire Dick Lovecraft. One comment from Lovecraft, and Harvey pretty much snaps, grabbing Lovecraft and warning him not to threaten him or he'll 'rip him open.'
** Even in his non-violent moments, Harvey comes across as a little...off. He's overzealous, fanatical and his obsession with charging Dick Lovecraft is reminiscent of Captain Ahab's obsession with Moby Dick.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x10 Lovecraft]]]]
* He only shows up for the one scene, but Selena's fence, Clyde, is one creepy guy. Plus, he's willing to sell out Selina just to make a buck.
** Not to mention all the other AdultFear throughout the episode.
* Ivy's reintroduction, in which the CreepyChild factor is substantially elevated, to the point where Selina - who's older, has been on the streets longer, and mouths off to both cops and criminals - is disturbed by her.
* The circumstances surrounding Lovecraft's murder. In the previous episode, he's introduced as someone who could very well be at the heart of the conspiracy surrounding the Waynes' murder. Here, he's very clearly a pawn and he knows it, scared out of his mind and aware that he's going to die for whatever he knows. It makes you wonder just how far and how deep the corruption in Gotham goes that a man like Lovecraft - described as one of the richest men in town who owns ''half'' of the city - is just a pawn and loose end to be dealt with.
** There are several possibilities to who really runs Gotham, if Lovecraft isn't working for Falcone or Maroni - The League of Assassins, Black Glove, or the Court of Owls. Whichever one, the assassins sent to kill him seem to enjoy their work despite their professionalism.
* The leader of the Assassins claims to not want to kill Bruce because he wasn't on the contract. But the gardener she killed wasn't on the contract either. There had to be an easier way to get into the manor, or even an easier way to fake a car accident. Either that Gardener did something to earn a contract, or they need Bruce for something in the future.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x11 Rogue's Gallery]]]]
* Inmate Jack Gruber, or [[spoiler:The Electrocutioner]]. His appearance ''alone'' during the interrogation is unsettling enough with his DissonantSerenity. While his rap sheet alone[[note]]rape and murder[[/note]] is enough to unnerve most, his [[spoiler: reveal as the BigBad of the episode]] turns him into a full-on threat.
** And his ''method'' for [[spoiler: experimenting with the inmates at Arkham? Electroshock therapy. And how he does it? By jamming needles into the frontal lobes of the inmate and shocking them to the point where they can't even speak.]] And with each inmate, ''[[spoiler: his methods improve]]''.
** And he manages to ''escape Arkham'' due to his [[spoiler: most successful experiment]]. And he manages to gloat about his victory in the form of a letter directed specifically to Gordon.
* Dorothy Duncan. At the age of sixteen, she poisoned five kids with poison candy [[ButForMeItWasTuesday claiming it was for homework]]. And we don't even know that [[spoiler: she was an inmate of Arkham Asylum]] until '''the last ten minutes of the show'''. Once Arkham re-opened, she [[spoiler: posed as a member of Arkham's staff]]. She was [[spoiler: thought to be the BigBad until it was revealed that she was also given electroshock therapy by Gruber]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x12 What the Little Bird Told Him]]]]
* Falcone's TranquilFury upon learning the truth about Liza, before ''slowly'' choking the life out of her. He gets so many AffablyEvil moments that it comes as quite a shock.
** At one point during her strangulation, you can actually hear ''the bones in her neck'' crack...
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x13 Welcome Back, Jim Gordon]]]]
* Fish being tortured by having a plastic bag put over her head.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x15 The Scarecrow]]]]
* The episode begins with Gerald and Johnathan Crane attacking an innocent man in his own home. The moment the man enters the room, you can see Gerald's shadow in the background, waiting for the kill.
** We later find out that they not only killed him, [[NauseaFuel they sliced open his side and took out his adrenal glands. There's also a rather graphic scene showing Gerald squeezing the juice out of the glands and mixing it into his fear drug.]]
** Afterwards, he injects himself with a dose of the drug and hallucinates seeing his ([[spoiler:dead]]) wife coming down the stairs ''while a path of flames forms behind her''.
** Gerald injects his son with the drug ''twice'' in order to help him control his fear. After the second dosage, Johnathan looks up to see [[http://media.comicbook.com/uploads1/2015/02/scarecrow1-122057.jpg his own scarecrow peering down at him with a glowing, almost-demonic face]]. [[spoiler: Gordon eventually saves him and he's sent to the hospital immediately, but the drug had left him in a state of constant fear, and at the end of the episode, he imagines seeing a monstrous ([[{{Foreshadowing}} and very familiar-looking]]) scarecrow rising from his bed and lunging at him.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x16 The Blind Fortune Teller]]]]
* [[spoiler: Jerome]] is ''incredibly'' unsettling once his true nature is revealed. Considering [[ComicBook/TheJoker who]] he might end up becoming, it's only appropriate.
** He's "merely" unsettling before the reveal. The way he talks matter-of-factly to Gordon about [[spoiler:his own mother sleeping around]] was a huge red flag.
** The moment his tears turn to laughter is so smooth, yet so sudden... The mask just ''drops''.
** Just the mere fact that he does a near spot-on impression of [[spoiler:Creator/JackNicholson's Joker]] is creepy enough. With [[spoiler:Creator/HeathLedger's laugh]] as inspiration for his own.
* Fish Mooney calling the captors' bluff by [[spoiler:convincing her fellow hostages to deny the captors the next victim for body parts... by '''killing''' the victim before the captors could take him away for harvesting.]]
* As if Zsasz needed to be any more horrifying than he already was, it turns out [[spoiler:Butch]] is still alive, except that he's... changed. Unless it's some kind of ruse, [[spoiler:it seems Viktor has tortured and broke him into complete subserviance and willingness to follow even the most humiliating orders]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x17 Red Hood]]]]
* The ''incredibly'' disturbing scene where Fish Mooney [[spoiler: [[EyeScream pulls her eye out]] with a spoon and stomps on it with her foot. [[NauseaFuel It's one of the most gruesome scenes in the show, to date!]]]]
* The implication that [[spoiler:a simple red hood can give anyone in Gotham the impulse to commit crimes... and that we might not have met [[ComicBook/TheJoker its true owner]] yet.]]
* [[spoiler:Alfred getting stabbed by his old friend Reggie, although more heartbreaking than nightmarish. It's still scary that in Gotham's world, your friends can turn on you like that.]]
** [[spoiler: Then we find out that Reggie is on the payroll of the Board of Wayne Enterprises. He was sent to see how much Bruce dug up, '''and''' stab Alfred. It's clear they aren't taking any chances: they want Bruce - ''a twelve-year old boy'' - out of the picture]].
* Oswald - and the audience - seeing the full effect of Zsasz' brainwashing when he wants to make a toast with Butch to Fish Mooney, only for Butch to turn around and dismissively say that Fish 'got what she deserved.' It's frightening to see and hear such a thing from someone who was so loyal to Fish Mooney that he ''killed his childhood friend'' because he got in her way.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x18 Everyone Has a Cobblepot]]]]
* The scene where Dr. Dulmacher (A.K.A. the Dollmaker) shows Fish an example of his twisted experiments. [[spoiler: [[BodyHorror He surgically removed every part of his manager's body and and stitched on replacement parts, which previously belonged to OTHER VICTIMS. As a result, he turned into a disturbing, Frankenstein-like monstrosity.]] That scene was made worse since the manager was played by Jeffrey Combs, who played Dr. Vannacutt in Film/HouseOnHauntedHill1999. Very unsettling to see him on the other side of the operating table.]]
* The revelation about what happened to [[spoiler: Loeb's wife. Their daughter murdered her because she thought it was her turn to sing and not her mother's. The way it was revealed, with the necklace of dead birds, was spooky.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x19 Beasts of Prey]]]]
* The serial killer in this episode (nicknamed [[TheDreaded 'The Ogre']] amongst the GCPD), who abducts women for weeks or months at a time, keeps them hostage in his loft until they do something he doesn't approve of, and then he slaughters them and dumps their bodies. His last victim was murdered because she [[DisproportionateRetribution overcooked his lamb dinner.]]
** What makes the Ogre so terrifying is that if he gets even a ''hint'' that a GCPD officer is investigating him, he targets their loved ones in the same way. As a result, only a handful of senior detectives know of his existence, the press and the rest of Gotham kept ignorant. That's right: in a city overrun with violence and mob bosses and corruption, it's this guy that ''nobody'' in law enforcement will go after.
*** Then there's the fact that [[spoiler: Commissioner Loeb made sure that Gordon would get the cold case, knowing he would go after the Ogre with his usual gung-ho attitude and probably get Lee killed as a result. Loeb is willing to let an innocent woman be abducted, tortured and ''killed'' just to teach Gordon a lesson.]]
* [[spoiler: Selina killing Reggie when he threatens to tell his employers that Bruce is on to them.]]
** [[spoiler: Hell, the fact that Bruce himself was this close to doing it himself, only stopping at the last moment.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x20 Under the Knife]]]]
* [[spoiler: The Ogre's interactions with Barbara. He contacts her so he can kill her, but once he realizes that she's no longer with Gordon and sees just how bitter and lost she is, he begins to...beguile her into his way of thinking. He shows her his dungeon at the end of the episode, and the last shot is of them turning to each other and smiling.]]
* [[spoiler: Edward killing Miss Kringle's abusive boyfriend. He was already on his way to a breakdown, and as he stares at the body, he alternates between muttering 'Oh dear' in horror at what he's done and ''[[LaughingMad giggling]]''.]]
** [[spoiler: The fact he does so beneath some elevated train tracks, as a passing train throws down sparks that illuminate the scene like lightning-flashes, make it all the more surreal. It's like we're looking into Nygma's own reeling brain, neurons short-circuiting erratically from what he's just done and is still doing.]]
* [[spoiler: Penguin [[ShootTheMessenger murders a delivery guy]] ''for no reason at all'' other than to vent his frustration at Maroni.]] I'm pretty sure at this point he has the ''highest'' on-screen body count of all the villains in the show, surpassing serial killers and hardened hitmen.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x21 The Anvil or the Hammer]]]]
* Oswald deciding to jumpstart a gang war by having his goons kill Maroni....excpet he sabotaged the weapons they hid the bar the hit was suppose to take place. And to top it all off they were Falcone's goons. What follows it some of the bloodiest carnage ever seen in Gotham.
* Edward finally developing his dark side. He [[spoiler: chops up Officer Dougherty's body limb by limb, and successfully disposes of it without anyone knowing the wiser. He even gets a hold of his ''skull'' (through the [[EyeScream eye sockets]] no less!) and taunts it, right before stuffing it into a bag and ''smashing it to pieces with a hammer''.]]
* The Ogre [[spoiler: killing Barbara's parents with a knife.]] Also counts as a {{Tearjerker}}.
* After [[spoiler: Barbara's parents are killed]], she appears to have completely mentally ''snapped.''
** Either that, or she's drugged out of her mind after drinking what the Ogre claimed was water, and she '''will''' snap when it wears off and she realizes [[spoiler: her own doped-up suggestion got her parents killed]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 1x22 All Happy Families Are Alike]]]]
* The AloneWithThePsycho scene between Barbara and Leslie. The scene is creepy even '''before''' Barbara goes AxCrazy!
** ''After'' she goes crazy, [[spoiler:Leslie rushes to the restroom to hide, and Barbara manages to break a patch through the door with a fireplace poker. During her following scruffle with Leslie, Barbara even manages to smack her around a few times, nearly killing her before Leslie gets the upperhand and knocks her out.]]
** TheReveal that [[spoiler:Barbara killed her own parents and not the Ogre as originally believed. She had bought into the Ogre's mindset well before Gordon and Bullock showed up to rescue her.]]
* Edward's VillainousBreakdown after Kringle grows suspicious of Dougherty's disappearance. He madly begins talking to himself while the voices of those who badmouthed or disrespected him begin booming in his head. At the end, he shoots an insane, twisted gaze [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou right at the camera.]]
* Is it just me or did Krignle seem a lot more interested in Edward [[spoiler: when she thought that he was involved in Dougherty's disappearance.]]
* Penguin's is just as terrifying, if not more. He's spent a great portion of the finale cowering in fear and begging for forgiveness, and [[spoiler: after Fish kills Maroni]], he disappears before showing back [[spoiler: with a ''machine gun'', mowing down Fish's soldiers before headshotting the last one surviving with a dropped pistol he found right after.]] He's finally snapped and ready to kill Fish once and all.
--> '''Penguin:''' [[SayMyName FIIIIISSSSHHHHH!!!]]
[[/folder]]

!!Season 2

[[folder: [[AC: 2x01 Damned If You Do]]]]
* [[spoiler: Barbara's phone call to both Jim and Lee. She puts on weepy, damsel voice for Jim and tells him it was Lee who attacked her. Then immediately after, she leaves a voicemail on Lee's phone and says she hopes she 'dies screaming.']]
* When Penguin and Zsasz [[spoiler:invade Loeb's home, the commissioner tries calling his security guard to stop them. Cue Zsasz taking out the guard's decapitated head and making it "talk"]].
* Tabitha [[spoiler:stabbing Richard Sionis to death, complete with blood spatter.]] The real kicker? [[spoiler:Jerome isn't the least bit shocked by the incident, he just laughs his ass off.]]
* The revelation that Edward Nygma now has [[spoiler:a split personality, as demonstrated when his]] ''[[spoiler:reflection starts talking to him]]''. At this point, poor, poor Eddie is completely out of his mind.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x02 Knock, Knock]]]]
* Jerome. Nearly everything he does in this episode.
** To be more specific, [[spoiler: when the Maniax massacres the entire GCPD, he has a creepy confrontation with Sarah Essen. She headbutts him defiantly... Cue his head snapping upright, nose broken and blood all over his face... "My turn!" And he starts laughing in an incredibly unnerving way. A few scenes later, it's revealed he shot her.]]
*** His red hair in that moment is sticking up near the edges, like horns. That, combined with everything else, makes Jerome look like the devil incarnate.
*** The video he leaves behind is very similar to the one Creator/HeathLedger's Joker made in Film/TheDarkKnight.
** [[PerpetualSmiler His smile]] in general. Jerome expresses his mood with his smile in the same way Creator/MarkHamill expresses the Joker's mood with his laughter: it varies and changes subtly depending on how he's feeling. His smile might show more teeth when he's menacing someone, or it might [[TheUnsmile tighten around the edges]] in response to another character's slight, or worse, [[SlasherSmile his grin might get bigger]] and more relaxed when he's about to murder someone, etc.
* The site of the [[spoiler: GCPD massacre. Dead bodies ''everywhere.'']]
* Robert Greenwood, the Maniax member [[ImAHumanitarian who ate 12 women]]. The FridgeHorror comes in when you consider that might be ''why'' he's so portly.
* The Maniax taking a schoolbus full of cheerleaders hostage, with the endgame of dowsing them in gasoline and lighting them on fire. [[spoiler: The GCPD massacre]] was just a back-up plan they had to come up with when Gordon stopped them. Their first goal to make waves was to ''burn innocent girls to death.''
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x03 The Last Laugh]]]]
* Jerome tying his helpless father to a chair and menacing him. The darkness of the apartment makes the scene even more unnerving to the audience. For blind Cicero, all he can hear is his son's sadistic voice, and he cannot see [[EyeScream the knife coming at the end]].
* When Jerome attacks Jim in the hallway. Jim hearing Jerome's whistling through the effects of the vapor drug sounds very mindscrewy.
* Jerome's father says Jerome's destiny will be to bring madness and death to Gotham. Although Jerome [[spoiler: apparently dies]], ending speculation that he is [[spoiler: the Joker]], his example has inspired normal people, common criminals [[FridgeHorror and children]] to imitate his madness. Galavan [[spoiler:killed Jerome]] [[FakeUltimateHero to make himself a hero]], but in doing so he immortalized Jerome's legacy of madness and death. He may not be [[spoiler:the Joker]], but Jerome is where the madness began...
** [[spoiler:Jerome's death scene]] is fairly creepy on its own, sharing uncanny similarities with [[spoiler:the Joker's death in ''Film/{{Batman}}'' ([[GoOutWithASmile he dies with a permanent smile on his face]] while creepy music plays in the background)]]. Then there's the ending scene, where we witness [[spoiler:Jerome's chaotic legacy influencing a number of Gothamites into becoming crazed murderers (one of which is a young boy)]]. The final shot is a closeup of [[spoiler:Jerome's dead face smiling towards the camera]].
*** In the scene where [[spoiler:the little boy goes crazy]], you can see [[spoiler:his parents arguing in the background]]. It's quite obvious what he's planning to do with them [[spoiler:now that he's insane...]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x04 Strike Force]]]]
* Ed's little slip-up during his dinner with Miss Kringle. The dimness of their surroundings and the scare chord don't help matters.
** Galavan blackmailing Penguin to commit a few murders by keeping his mother imprisoned shows how dangerous having loved ones is, when you are a key person. And the murders themselves qualify he stabbed poor Mrs Caulfield in the neck to the point of drowning in her blood while he sent Zsasz to deal with the other candidate.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x05 Scarification]]]]
* Tabitha tortures and tears out Bunderslaw's eye in a moment so brutal than even Theo finds it slightly cringeworthy.
** Oswald goes completely bonkers in this episode and beats a man to death with a fire poker for bringing him bad news. He seems to have a thing for messengers, no?
** The history of [[spoiler: the Waynes and the Dumas which had Jonathan Wayne severing Caleb Duma's hand after being falsely accused of raping Celestine Wayne]].
** Which gives Oswald a great idea about making Butch a convincing spy.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: [[AC: 2x06 By Fire]]]]
* [[spoiler: Edward murders Kristen, accidentally strangling her while trying to keep her quiet. And all while telling her earnestly that he would never hurt her and that he loves her.]]
** Leading up to it, [[spoiler: Edward confesses to murdering Tom Doherty, right after he and Kristen have finally made love, as a way to reassure her that she's safe from Tom. She doesn't believe him at first, and her growing discomfort and horror makes the scene even worse, because the audience knows what's coming. The cheerful smile as he holds up Tom's badge (that he stole from his corpse) is what really sells it: "Do you believe me now?" And then Kristen's terror and anger and her attempts to escape his apartment, the whole scene is just... [[TearJerker Ugh.]]]]
** [[spoiler: Kristen's terror deserves an extra mention. To put it in context: she was abused by her last boyfriend. She got a creepy vibe from Ed from the very start. And now, seconds before her death, she learns that she was right, and that her current boyfriend is just as disturbed and dangerous as the last two. Just knowing that Kristen dies being abused, after having experienced so much abuse already at the hands of her previous boyfriends, is a domestic abuse survivor's worst nightmare come true.]]
* When Gordon and Bullock go to the Pikes' hideout, the first things they see are the [[spoiler:charred corpses of Joe and Cale, freshly-burnt after Bridget roasted them alive. [[NotQuiteDead Then one of them grabs Harvey before expiring for good]]]].
* Bridget [[spoiler:accidentally burning herself alive is pretty damn disturbing, especially when you start hearing her agonizing screams as she falls to the floor in flames.]] She manages to [[spoiler:survive, but is left horribly scarred from head to toe (like her comic book counterpart), and ends up becoming a guinea pig for the disturbing experiments at Indian Hill]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x07 Mommy's Little Monster]]]]
* [[spoiler: Oswald's tearful, blinding ''rage'' right after Tabitha kills his mother.]]
* [[spoiler: Silver showing her true colours to Selina in Wayne Manor. She switches from angel-faced 'proper' schoolgirl to a sociopath in the blink of an eye, and Selina's clumsy attempts to show Bruce what she is backfires horribly.]]
* [[spoiler: Edward's complete breakdown after Kristen's death, manifesting in his Riddler personality hiding her body as a game that he eventually admits to ''enjoying'' before cheerfully carving her up.]]
* [[spoiler: This episode was a nightmare for Gordon. He begins to have suspicions about how...easy Galavan's rise to power was, and by the time the pieces fall into place, Galavan is the new mayor with power to turn Gotham into a literal police state as he sees fit. And he can't do anything to stop him.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x08 Tonight's The Night]]]]
* [[spoiler: Barbara Keane going full-blown Yandere, leading Jim into a trap all so she can force him to marry her and embrace his 'true' feelings. The icing on the cake is her in her wedding dress, holding a knife to Lee's throat and telling both her and Jim that she's going to carve her face off.]]
* [[spoiler: Seeing Nygma going from completely horror-stricken at accidentally killing Kristen to having no trouble burying her in the woods, and killing a hunter who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.]]
** If you're a survivor of domestic abuse, [[spoiler: Ed cutting up Kristen's body and burying her in the woods where no one will find her can hit terrifyingly close to home]].
* [[spoiler: Galavan showing his true colors to Bruce after he refuses to sell him his controlling shares in Wayne Enterprises. He does this by burning the ''only'' evidence of the identity of the Wayne killer in front of a shocked and horrified Bruce and Alfred.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x09 A Bitter Pill To Swallow]]]]
* [[spoiler: Eduardo Flamingo, the [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalistic hitman]] so psychotic that his membership to Gotham's underground hitman's club was ''revoked''.]]
* [[spoiler: The look on Jim's face as he beats Eduardo to a bloody pulp, then shoves a gun in his mouth to kill him. He only manages to pull himself back from the brink at the last minute.]]
* [[spoiler:Flamingo brutally murdering Officer Parks by biting into her neck. She ends up spending her final moments laying down in a puddle of her own blood]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x10 The Son of Gotham]]]]
* Tom, the sadistic crook who kidnaps [[spoiler:Bruce and Silver]], [[spoiler:[[WouldHurtAChild hits Bruce a few times]]]], [[spoiler:[[WouldHurtAChild then drags him into a room to slice off all his fingers]]]]. Well, he's pretty scary until you found out that [[spoiler:[[BatmanGambit he was hired by Bruce and Selina to scare Silver into spilling the beans about her uncle]]]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x11 Worse Than A Crime]]]]
* [[spoiler: As much as he deserved it, Theo Galavan's death is still hard to watch: beaten to a bloody pulp by an enraged Penguin, shot point-blank by Gordon (who doesn't even flinch at killing him), and then ''has Penguin's umbrella shoved down his throat'']].
** [[spoiler: What's more, it's not clear that Gordon's shot killed Galavan on the spot or stunned him unconscious. If the latter, then it would mean that the umbrella was rammed down his throat ''while still alive'']].
* [[spoiler: The way the Dumas remnants are so convinced that killing an innocent little boy - who knows ''nothing'' of the part his family played in their downfall - will bring about their salvation.]]
* [[spoiler: Theo almost killing Silver for stopping Bruce's ritualistic sacrifice. He's that far gone that he'll not only get his hands dirty, but will gladly strangle a young girl to death, a line even his psychotic sister won't even cross.]]
* [[spoiler: The ending scene. A man in a fedora frantically runs down a parking lot, finds out all the cars are locked, then chooses to hide behind a dumpster. We then see an equally mysterious (if not more so) man in a parka-like gunmetal suit similar to Bridgit Pike's, but with a large rifle connected to a coolant tank on his back, and arctic goggles along with the hood. The ice-themed man turns a corner to see the cowering man in the fedora, whom he decides to freeze over expressionlessly. What a ([[IncrediblyLamePun chilling]]) way to end the first half of the season.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x12 Mr. Freeze]]]]
* Test subject A-14's body ''[[BodyHorror liquefying]]'' on the table before ending up on the floor as a puddle of [[Film/AustinPowers human effluence]].
* The cop being frozen at the beginning. The sight of her eyes, now hardened and blue, almost corpselike... *shudders* [[AndThatsTerrible And then of course she dies]].
** All of Victor Fries's victims in general are frozen slowly enough (half a minute instead of instantly) to imagine that it must have caused them horrible agony.
* "He told me they were mice."
* Nora coughing up blood. Makes for a particularly powerful AdultFear of your loved one dying in your arms, and you being powerless to stop it. Doubles as a TearJerker.
* Doubles as ParanoiaFuel: just '''what the hell''' [[VideoGames/BatmanArkhamCity was in that tea]] that Penguin drank in Hugo Strange's office?
** It must be ''something'' bad since that, or whatever Strange did, left Nigel the Asylum patient clawing out his own eyes [[LaughingMad while cackling]] similarly to another [[ComicBook/TheJoker infamous loon]].
-->'''Nigel''': ''See no evil! Do no evil! '''EHEHEHEHEHEHEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!'''''
* Eddie's SuppressedRage at Bullock's insults. [[IncrediblyLamePun Slow burn]] [[WordOfGod indeed]]. He's never shown his anger visibly before; the cracking of the frozen rose in his hand [[SanitySlippage alarms]] both Gordon and Bullock. Also, the last time he tried to talk through his feelings and someone ignored him, well... Ask Doherty.
* For some untold reason, Butch drills a hole through a hapless mook's ''skull''. Presumably the Mook had done something disloyal, but we don't see what: for the audience, it comes completely out of nowhere.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x13 A Dead Man Feels No Cold]]]]
* The horrific [[MindRape mental torture]] Oswald gets subjected to at the beginning of the episode. Whatever he was made to see was enough for him to start acting like the other inmates. And while he regained some sense of self briefly, who knows how long until he permanently breaks?
** The Duck, Duck, Goose game immediately after Oswald's "therapy" session. It sounds like it should be funny, but instead it's disturbing. Oswald is so utterly confused and bewildered and seems unsure even of who he is.
--> '''Inmate:''' You're the goose.
--> '''Oswald:''' No, I'm- I'm a penguin.
* [[spoiler: Bruce being so coldly determined to find the man who killed his parents...and kill the person in return. Even Selina is horrified at how far he's willing to go.]]
* Victor's modification to his freeze ray. He develops an ice grenade, casually tosses it into the river and it spreads ''all over the city.''
* What Victor, Nora, and Leslie must have gone through this episode:
** Nora realizes [[spoiler: that she will not be reunited with her husband ever again, and decides to end her life right then. She must have been so terrified and so, so sad.]]
** Victor [[spoiler: loses his wife, the only person who mattered to him, and very probably blames herself for her death, even though she switched the cartridges. The horror of seeing his wife's frozen body crack, and realizing that she was ''dead''...]]
** Leslie in retrospect. She sees [[spoiler: not one but TWO people die, both taking their own lives, and she is probably blaming herself for not being able to stop them somehow, even though there is nothing she could have done]].
* The true purpose of Indian Hill being revealed: [[spoiler: Hugo Strange wants to use Fries' research to bring back to life every arc villain since the second series began. That not only includes Galavan, but also ''Jerome.'']]
* Strange's disturbing grin all throughout the episode. He looks like a delighted child, enjoying a very entertaining game as he plays with the prison doors and plays with the lives of Nora Fries, Victor Fries, Gordon, Leslie, the police, his own patients, Oswald, his experiments down in Indian Hill...
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x14 This Ball of Mud and Meanness]]]]
* Bruce's entrance into the Celestial Garden. It's a club full of [[NightmareFetishist NightmareFetishists]] who idolize the Maniax and Jerome in particular... Didn't Jerome hold Bruce at knifepoint just before he died? On citywide television? Scary to think of what could have happened if someone in the club had decided to finish what Jerome started.
** Or even kidnap him so they can cruelly interrogate Bruce about what it was like to ''meet'' Jerome.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x15 Mad Grey Dawn]]]]
* Four words: ''Barbara Kean is awake.''
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x16 Prisoners]]]]
* The stepdaughter's AttemptedRape of Oswald. Oswald looks ''terrified''.
* The [[FacialHorror beating]] the inmates inflict on Puck.
* Elijah's family tampering with his medication and his drinks. Serves as a very large dose of ParanoiaFuel, especially seeing [[spoiler: [[DiedInYourArmsTonight what happens to Elijah]] [[DownerEnding in the end]].]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x17 Into the Woods]]]]
* The second half of Penguin's arc in the story - he [[KickTheDog poisons the dog upon finding the poison used to kill his father]] and then [[spoiler: kills Elijah's stepchildren before [[ImAHumanitarian feeding them to Elijah's widow]] and slashing her throat.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x18 Pinewood]]]]
* ''Just'' as our heroes are about to make it out okay, suddenly a familiar face arrives: ''Victor Fries'', in a new suit reminiscient of his '60's suit and still armed with his icicle grenades and ice gun. Needless to say, everything goes south from the moment he appears.
* The very end of the episode - [[spoiler: Theo Galavan is alive, and clearly out of his mind]].
* Although it's PlayedForLaughs, the scene where Bullock sees Barbara leaving Jim's apartment, then starts calling for Jim while fumbling with a pile of pizza boxes, has some Fridge Nightmare Fuel in it: for all he knew, she'd just ''murdered'' Jim and blithely strode away.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x19 Azrael]]]]
* Galavan's resurrection manages to get even ''more'' horrifying, as we get to see his violent psychosis play out over the course of the episode. Getting a focus as Azrael actually makes it worse.
* Strange [[AdmiringTheAbomination adoring Galavan's change]], and expertly manipulating him, all while planning to do this to more test subjects.
* Barbara has slipped back into insanity, and while it's played for laughs, even a professional mobster like Butch is terrified of her.
* Remember when Penguin killed his stepmother a few episodes back? Turns out, he's just left her corpse sitting right where she fell.
** And his reaction to finding out that Galavan is alive? He starts ''laughing hysterically''.
* Strange succeeding in resurrecting Galavan might cause some additional nightmares when one remembers that back in "Worse Than a Crime", when it was seen that Strange had Galavan's body, one of the other stored corpses looked like it was probably Jerome. And if Strange succeeded once and produced an axe-crazy psychopath, what happens if he tries again with someone who already was?
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x20 Unleashed]]]]
* While Selina is sneaking around the halls of Arkham, she spots the guards struggling against a particularly vicious inmate. [[spoiler: When we get a closer look at him, we can see he has green, scaly skin and bright yellow eyes.]] That's right, folks. You just got a glimpse at ''Gotham'''s version of [[spoiler: Killer Croc]], and he's just as terrifying as he usually is. The fact that he's a normal human size and not a hulking titan like he normally is doesn't really do anything to diminish the effect.
** What's worse is that he actually spots Selina, and his first instinct was to try and lunge at her. If the guards had lost control for ''just'' a second...
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x21 A Legion of Horribles]]]]
* Strange's backers are revealed: [[spoiler: THE FRIGGING COURT OF OWLS.]]
** Their first onscreen order for him is to ''[[KillEmAll burn Arkham Asylum]]'' to the ground in order to cover their tracks.
* You thought Fish was scary before? Now she's gained the power to make people obey her just by touching them.
** And from the security guard's reaction, it's clear that Fish's mind control powers can leave anyone [[AndIMustScream completely aware and yet unable to stop their bodies from following her commands.]]
* When Nygma holds Bruce and Lucius Fox in a DeathTrap, it brings back a lot of memories of his role in [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity Arkham City]] due to utilizing his ''Saw''-esque challenges. But this time, an innocent civilian and an inexperienced Batman are caught in it.
* This episode introduces us to one of Strange's latest experiments: Basil, AKA ''Clayface''. Unlike his monstrous comic book counterpart, Clayface is depicted as a normal man with eerie-looking eyes that lack ''irises'', along with [[BodyHorror rubbery skin that can stretch off his face like elastic]]. The worst part? At the end, he ends up [[spoiler:stealing Gordon's face and identity]].
* Brigit Pyke aka [[FromNobodyToNightmare Firefly]] is scary on her own, the way she mercilessly stalks Selina. Factor in that unlike every other Indian Hill experiment, she was brought in ''alive'' and more than likely fully conscious of what Arkham had in store for her. God knows what sort of [[MindRape psychological torture]] Strange inflicted on her...
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 2x22 Transference]]]]
* Penguin [[DeadGuyOnDisplay displaying the rotting, decapitated head of his dead stepmother as a bust]]. It falls into BlackComedy territory when he and Barbara casually treat it like a fine work of art.
-->'''Penguin''' ''(placing the "bust" in the center of the room)'': Here?
-->'''Barbara''': A little too central, maybe? You don't want one piece to overpower the room. Try over there.
* During the climax, Fish manages to [[spoiler:escape Arkham by stealing a bus, which just so happens to hold all of Strange's test subjects as passengers]]. At the end of the episode, when [[spoiler:the bus crashes]], an unknowing old lady hears the [[spoiler:subjects' cry for help and unwittingly frees them, and watches in horror as the freaks exit the bus and head to city. Keep in mind, Hugo Strange had mentioned several times that if they were to be released, all hell would break loose, and now they're free to roam about the city...]]
** Also, listen closely during the scene. You can hear a familiar EvilLaugh amongst the experiments, followed by a ''very'' brief glimpse of [[spoiler:a certain redheaded maniac]]. It makes you think, ''' oh no[[spoiler:Jerome is back!]]'''
[[/folder]]

!!Season 3

[[folder: [[AC: 3X1 Better To Reign In Hell]]]]
* Fish's powered underling who, with a touch, ages a man from his twenties to old age, causing him to drop dead on the spot.
* Despite [[spoiler: her]] being a villain, it is still horrifying when he kills [[spoiler: Ethel Peabody]]. From the look on Selina's face, you can tell she's going to have nightmares in-universe.
** He does it at the end to Ivy, turning her from a teenager to her 20s.
* Barbara's grin and manical laughter as she beats a would-be gang leader down in her bar would do the Joker proud. She even starts it out by fake-crying before breaking into laughter, much like Jerome did in Season One.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3X2 Burn The Witch]]]]
* Penguin rallying an angry mob, which beats two of Fish's minions to death. And perhaps what's worse, is that Penguin is now seen as some kind of hero by the people of Gotham.
* The adult Ivy coldly murders a man, who was only trying to help her, merely because he didn't properly take care of his plants.
** [[spoiler: A later episode mentioning the man survived doesn't make this any less nightmare fuel.]]
* Kathryn, the Court of Owls spokeswoman, and her total coldness. She shows no fear of Bruce, removing her mask almost immediately so he can see her face and her hard eyes. The way she effortlessly threatens the lives of Bruce and his loved ones shows ''just how much power'' she and the Court has. By the end, she has forced Bruce to give up his quest for the truth, without even breaking a sweat.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3X3 Look Into My Eyes]]]]
* This show has managed to make The Mad Hatter, perhaps Batman's most ridiculous foe, absolutely ''terrifying''. The way he calmly hypnotizes people and plants subliminal messages for later use... Like making it so that a man will obey his every order instantly, including murdering his wife and committing suicide. He later uses those same abilities on Gordon... and just about convinces him to walk off a roof. And in his case, [[spoiler:''not even breaking out of the trance cancels the impulse'']].
** Also, the one time it backfires on him: at his show he hypnotizes [[{{Yandere}} Barbara]] into believing she loves him, but then he tells her he doesn't love her back. The only reason Barbara didn't kill him on the spot was Tabitha getting to her just as she was about to slit his throat...
* Alice's strange powers. She's like a poison dart frog, able to kill (or worse) by just a touch. And she apparently had these powers ''before'' being dragged to Indian Hill.
* Penguin is running for mayor. He's a great politician, able to turn the people to his side. And convince them to beat people (or at least Indian Hill escapees) to death. Not to mention he's ax crazy and perfectly willing to murder anyone who gets in his way. Seriously, this guy running Gotham, from a legitimate position? ''That's'' scary.
** It gets worse. The guy he wants to have help him run is none other than Edward Nygma [[spoiler: ,who he gets released from Arkham.]] Remember, this is the guy who convinced Penguin to take up crime again after Galavan killed his mom. And sent him packing when he was turned into a normal human being. If anyone is worse than Penguin, it's Ed.
* Subject 514A, one of Hugo Strange's experiments: he has no memory of his past before Indian Hill, he somehow knows how to box well enough to surprise Alfred (doing so with quick, unnatural reflexes), can't feel any pain, has multiple scars from Strange's experiments and a burn from ''putting his arm on the fire'' out of curiosity, and looks just like Gotham's richest boy, Bruce Wayne. [[spoiler:And now he wants to impersonate him.]]
** [[spoiler:Ultimately subverted, as it's later shown in the next episode that 514A simply wanted to know what it felt like to live without having people who see him as a freak.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3X4 New Day Rising]]]]
* The shot of [[spoiler: Alice's dead and impaled body, suspended in the air]]. You will never look at a certain scene from ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' the same way again.
** And before that, it's not-so-subtly implied that Jervis Tetch used to torture his sister by planting his own incestuous thoughts in her head. When he does get his hands on her, he forces her to wear a dress just like the character from ''Alice in Wonderland'' and, moments before [[spoiler: her death]], insists that it can just be the two of them together again, forever... [[spoiler: Poor Alice never manages to escape from the nightmare that is her brother, never gets to have a normal life]]. The tears that begin to fall from her eyes, her utter raw ''terror'' towards her brother, makes the scene even more horrifying.
* Tetch very nearly manages to convince Gordon to kill himself, twice this episode. The first time, Gordon has a horrified look on his face as his own hand moves the gun to his own head.
* Barnes being [[spoiler:infected by Alice's blood]]. [[OhCrap Even he realizes the horror of what just happened]].
* Bruce's clone being recruited by the Court of Owls.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3X5 Anything for You]]]]
* Tetch's '''serious''' sanity slippage at the end of the episode: [[spoiler: he's taken a girl, put her in a blonde wig and a blue dress a la Alice in Wonderland, and is talking to her as if she's ''his dead sister'', right before ''slitting her throat''. Oh, and he writes James Gordon's name ''in the girl's blood''.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3X6 Follow the White Rabbit]]]]
* The vacant smiles on the faces of the hypnotized bride and groom which stay even when [[spoiler: they jump off a bridge into traffic on Tetch's ccommand, just to screw with Jim.]]
* Jervis Tetch forces SadisticChoice after sadistic choice upon Gordon, [[spoiler: ALL of which end up with someone either critically wounded or dead]]. The final choice involves Jim choosing between Lee and Valerie. [[spoiler:Jim tells Tetch to kill Lee. Tetch then shoots Valerie.]]
** More so, [[spoiler:the way Jim ultimately chooses. No sincerity, nor emotion expressed in the way he says it. Just a quick, cold "Kill Lee"]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3X7 Red Queen]]]]
* Jervis steals his dead sister's body from the morgue to drain out all her blood. When he first reunites with her, he plants a kiss on her cheek. NightmareFuel in that he [[BrotherSisterIncest sexually]] [[MindRape abused]] her for years.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3X8 Blood Rush]]]]
* Barnes DrunkOntheDarkSide - he's now Batman without his ThouShaltNotKill rule, and he now has voices repeating "Guilty", not to mention him seeing hellish faces of assorted "guilty" people.
** His first murder is horrifying, attacking a criminal and using his bare strength to ''remove his head clean off his shoulders'', before he literally tears him limb from limb. Even Bullock is speechless when he and Jim first see the crime scene.
* Isabella making herself look like Kristen Kringle, as well as putting Ed's hand around her neck to push him past his fears, seems unnervingly intense, especially considering they just met a few days ago. One wonders if Isabella might be a bit of a DeathSeeker, or whether she might become a {{Yandere}} down the line.
* It's disturbing to contrast Oswald's [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes love for Ed]] with his [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas love for his mother]]. While his love for his mother was arguably one of his few redeeming qualities, his love for Nygma is so twisted that he'll murder a woman out of jealousy, thinking it'll bring the two of them together.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3X9 The Executioner]]]]
* Isabella's face. [[spoiler: It's horrifically maimed by the train that took her life. It's very graphic, even by Gotham's standards.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3X10 Time Bomb]]]]
* The reveal that [[spoiler: Mario Calvi is infected by the Tetch Virus. And the trigger? Fearing that Lee might still love Gordon. Which, of course, is true.]]
* The scene where Ed is torturing Butch and Tabitha. So close to the midseason finale, one wouldn't have been terribly surprised [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt if Ed had really managed to kill]] one of them off.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3X11 Beware the Green-Eyed Monster]]]]
* Mario's increasing descent into insanity. [[spoiler: By the end of the episode, the Tetch virus has completely taken over, including him HulkingOut, leading him to come within a hair of killing Lee. Good thing Gordon showed up when he did... Or not, considering that at the episode's end, he made Lee a ''very'' early widow. Couldn't he have non-fatally shot Mario?]]
** [[spoiler: Probably not, considering Mario was standing behind Lee, and Gordon needed to shoot Mario without hitting Lee. The majority of Mario's non-fatal areas weren't in Gordon's line of sight (and he's not Deadshot, so he can't bounce his projectiles) and with Mario's increased strength/resilience from hulking out, Mario still could have killed Lee if he were shot non-fatally (like in the shoulder). With only a split-second to react, Gordon's lucky he got there in time at all.]]
*** [[spoiler: Plus, everything in Gordon's training as both a soldier and a cop agrees: shooting "non-fatally" is not a realistic option. If you have to fire to save a life, you ''absolutely must'' put the attacker down.]]
** Also the scene where [[spoiler:Mario crushes a scientist's head open with a sickening pop.]] It doesn't help that the audience gets to see the gorey aftermath.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3X12 Ghost]]]]
* Jerome's actions have inspired an entire movement of lunatics, who see him as a DarkMessiah teaching them how to be TheUnfettered. And they're working to bring him BackFromTheDead.
* Oswald discovering [[spoiler:his father's]] rotting corpse in Tarquin's office. Led to believe that Tarquin was the one that dug up the body, he [[spoiler:violently bludgeons the guy to death with a golf trophy, ''on his birthday'']].
* A subtler one than the others: Barnes's bloodthirsty smile and declaration that Alice's blood has set him free to act on his true desires. He all but guarantees that when he gets out of Arkham ("and I ''will'' get out!" he promises), he'll be Gordon's judge, jury, and executioner.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3x13 Smile Like You Mean It]]]]
* Jerome's FacialHorror. First, Dwight cuts it off and then wears it over his own face [[FaceStealer like a mask]]. Then we get a ''lovely'' view of Jerome's corpse (and later resurrected self) with a [[TearOffYourFace pit of bloody flesh]] left over for a face. Then finally, Jerome ''staples his own face back on'', leaving him with a horrifying, stitched-together appearance. It is clearly a reference to ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'' when Joker went around wearing his own rotting face as a removable mask, but it honestly brings to mind Scarecrow's reconstructed face in ''VideoGames/BatmanArkhamKnight'', or possibly Frankenstein's monster.
* Jerome's cult, as always. Their maniacal zeal and chants of "We are Jerome!" just adds to it, almost giving them a Fight Club vibe (think, "His name is Robert Paulson!"). Their mad hyena laughter makes one wonder if Joker will later get his inspiration for Joker Venom from them.
** And then there's the reveal that there's ''more'' of them in Gotham, hiding under a veneer of badly concealed sanity. Which makes it more terrifying when Jerome broadcasts his resurrection and tells them to 'do what they will' - murder, stealing, ''worse'' - before blowing up the power plant (with Dwight tied to the dynamite), and plunging Gotham into literal darkness.
* Lee's total coldness in this episode. While she's understandably still grieving her husband's death, her anger and blame toward Gordon show a darker side, especially since she ''knew'' Mario was dangerous to her and yet still treats Gordon's shooting of him as cold-blooded murder rather than his protection of her. Her abrupt injection of a perp with truth serum and total apathy with regards to Jerome threatening her life also hints that Lee is changing, and not in ways for the better.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3x14 The Gentle Art of Making Enemies]]]]
* The CircusOfFear that Jerome sets up, with his followers turning all the games into means of torturing villains.
** For that matter, the neo-Maniax terrorizing the city. The GCPD station is quickly overrun with trying to take them all down.
* Bruce beating Jerome so hard that ''his face sags off'', causing him to bleed through the cuts. With how pale and deformed his face becomes, combined with his grotesque, bloody smile, Jerome looks eerily like [[ComicBook/TheJoker you-know-who]] for a brief second.
** Later, when Jerome attempts to attack Bruce with a mirror shard, Jim intervenes and punches his face '''clean off!'''
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3x15 How the Riddler Got His Name]]]]
* The fact that, several weeks later, the GCPD is ''still'' finding corpses from the night of Jerome's riots.
* Nygma becoming a full on ''SerialKiller'', murdering Gotham's most intelligent elites in the hopes of finding a mind as equally brilliant as his. The episode opens with him taking care of his sixth victim, the chair of the chemistry department; when the professor gets his riddle wrong, Ed proceeds to lock him in the room and '''blow the place up'''.
** Later in the episode, he crashes the GCPD graduation and [[spoiler:gasses ''everyone'' in the room, officers, graduates, and all]]. It's later revealed that [[spoiler:it was merely knockout gas and that everyone actually survived]], but the scene was downright chilling nonetheless.
* The ending reveals that [[spoiler:Penguin managed to survive getting shot by Ed, and is now under the care of Ivy Pepper. Gone are his strong romantic feelings and buddy-buddy relationship with Ed; now, the Penguin's out for blood, and he wants his revenge...]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3x17 The Primal Riddle]]]]
* So clone!Bruce, still nursing a soft spot for Selina, goes to her in her darkened apartment and winds up confiding his secret in her. When she calls him out on knowing about the Court's evil plans and only trying to save her instead of saving everyone (which real!Bruce would have done), he gets noticeably more unhinged, before pushing her out of a window mid-sentence. Worse yet, her wide-open eyes and contorted bodily position make it clear that she ''did not'' survive the fall. It honestly brings to mind a domestic abuse situation, combined with AloneWithThePsycho. [[spoiler: Luckily Selina has those cats, who clearly are working some sort of resurrection magic on her]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3x20 Pretty Hate Machine]]]]
* [[spoiler: Jim Gordon]] has been infected with the Alice Tetch Virus. [[spoiler: The LawfulGood BadassNormal protector of all that is right and good in Gotham City]] is now a monster, and there's no known cure. Only PlotArmor can save [[spoiler: him]] now.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 3x21/22 Destiny Calling/Heavydirtysoul]]]]
* [[spoiler:Jim Gordon]] under the effects of the Tetch virus. Throughout the entire episode [[spoiler:he]] tries to keep the virus from infecting him, but begins to succumb, killing [[spoiler:Fish]], almost [[spoiler:killing Jervis when Barbara, Butch and Tabitha corner them in a warehouse, putting the whole of Gotham in danger]] and [[spoiler:attacks Bullock]].
[[/folder]]

!!Season 4

[[folder: [[AC: 4x01 Pax Penguina]]]]
* The Crane fear-gas hallucinations, natch.
* Jonathan's ThroughTheEyesOfMadness views of his "bogeyman", when the thugs harass him with an actual scarecrow. The more so in the final scene, which reveals that [[spoiler: having been left locked up alone with his personal terror, an actual scarecrow, the young man has effectively ''been possessed'' by his own embodied Nightmare Fuel]].
* Even discounting the ThroughTheEyesOfMadness, Jonathan's situation in this episode contains a nasty dose of AdultFear. Viewers who have mentally ill loved ones in mental hospitals or nursing homes probably won't like watching the warden literally ''sell'' the kid to his kidnappers for a roll of bills.
** And that's on top of just how disturbing the asylum itself is. Of course, it's Arkham, so that's to be expected, but seeing it up close is shiver worthy.
** Not to mention the warden's casual mention to Merton that ''he'd'' been using Jonathan's terror of scarecrows to intimidate the fear-hounded teen into complying with the Arkham staff's orders. For ''years''. '''Damn''', this nascent villain's StartOfDarkness is on par with ''Firefly's'', it's so ugly.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4x02 The Fear Reaper]]]]
* While without the fear gas Scarecrow looks anything but scary, looking more like a muppet than a monster, the [[{{Narm}} narm]] of it fades pretty much immediately when he gasses Arkham's warden and Reed hallucinates an IT-like monster clown with a gaping fang-filled gesticulating mouth. Try sleeping after THAT scene.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4x04 The Demon's Head]]]]
* '''Anubis''', the terrifying dog man that Ra's al Ghul recruits to hunt down Bruce and Alex. Everything about is him is just freaky, from his lanky, feral appearance to his unsettling, inhuman screeches. Even the ''first shot of him'' is something of a JumpScare!
* Ra's al Ghul [[spoiler:slitting Alex's throat]] at the end. That's right, a [[spoiler:teenage boy no younger than Bruce is killed at the hands of the Demon's Head]]. This scene alone shows us just how cold-blooded and unpredictable this version of Ra's really is.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4X05 The Blade's Path]]]]
* When he's explaining to Bruce why he wants to die, Ra's shows a special pool that reveals his true reflection: A centuries old...''thing'' that barely looks human anymore, the skin grey and cracked, eyes hollow and glazed and barely holding together. This is what Ra's truly is as he says that every moment is nothing but sheer agony and that he longs to finally be released to death. It's stunning as it shows that while the Lazarus Pit is good at healing the physical wounds, the price it inflicts on a spirit is terrible.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4X06 Hog Day Afternoon]]]]
* ''Everything'' about Professor Pyg. From the [[UncannyValley Uncanny Valley]] effect of his mask, to the entire scene with Jim ending in [[spoiler:Harvey ''getting his throat slit'']], Pyg definitely sets himself up as [[TheDreaded Gotham's deadliest villain yet]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4X07 A Day in the Narrows]]]]
* Pyg's [[spoiler:slaughter of half of the GCPD]].
* The [[ParanoiaFuel Paranoia Fuel]] of Pyg's [[spoiler:[[MasterOfDisguise Master of Disguise]] ability]].
* Headhunter's ''brutal'' method of interrogation. [[spoiler:Dragging an ill man out of his home and taking out his oxygen tank until his daughter tells them where Pyg is.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4x08 Stop Hitting Yourself]]]]
* Grundy's killing of the other wrestlers. ''[[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Holy shit.]]''
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4x09 Let Them Eat Pie]]]]
* Pyg [[spoiler:killing the homeless people and [[ImAHumanitarian baking them into pies]] for the orphanage fundraiser. [[NightmareRetardant Song and dance number notwithstanding.]]]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4x10 Things That Go Boom]]]]
* Pyg killing the inmate with [[ImprovisedWeapon a vinyl record.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4X11 Queen Takes Knight]]]]
* Welcome back, [[spoiler:[[HesBack Jerome]]]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4X13 A Beautiful Darkness]]]]
* Ivy shows she's let go of her childlike persona big time. She uses her perfume to make a man, wife and their kids love her. She orders them all to freeze in place and then uses her toxin on the man. Selina is horrified to see his skin go green and vines burst from within his body. Even as she's frozen in place, [[AndIMustScream it's clear the wife also can't stand the sight she's forced to endure]].
* Jerome tells Oswald that the last person who annoyed him, Jerome jacked up the juice on his shock therapy, leaving him a drooling mess other inmates "play" with.
* Bruce's nightmare:
** Ra's slices off his face, leaving a massive gaping hole that ''moves when Bruce talks''.
** Bruce brought to the alley his parents died and finds himself with a terrifying sight: [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} A caped figure that is his own future self]].
-->'''Bruce''': This is where my parents died!
-->'''Batman''': No. This is where I was born.
* Ivy using her new pollen, blowing some at the couple whose house she broke into. Within seconds, they're dead with more of the plants tearing out of their bodies.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4X14 Reunion]]]]
* Penguin rather easily manipulates Ed into having a breakdown which lets Riddler take over again. The most effective VillainTeamUp in Gotham is now posed to strike again.
* Sofia absolutely ''[[{{Fingore}} shattering]]'' [[{{Fingore}} one of Lee's hands]] with a hammer.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4X15 The Sinking Ship, the Grand Applause]]]]
* The sheer amount of blood seeping out of [[TheToothHurts Riddler's mouth]] as the Dentist works on him. Yeech.
* Lee getting her revenge on Samson for his part in her disfigurement in the previous episode by returning the favor.
** Along with that just seeing how much she’s ''enjoying'' it. Sofia and Sampson have definitely awakened something new in Lee and it’s something dark.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4x16 One of My Three Soups]]]]
* Jerome's childhood. You steal a cookie, so your uncle sticks your hand in a pot of boiling chicken broth. Yikes! [[spoiler: Makes you glad when the [[AssholeVictim son of a bitch uncle]] [[KickTheSonOfABitch gets his comeuppance]]]].
* Just to really sell his abusiveness, Jerome's uncle heats up a bowl of soup to the point that it's literally boiling and the microwave is shorting out. Then he dumps the soup down Jerome's throat, scalding him across the mouth. Which [[FacialHorror already]] looks terrible.
* What Jervis does to that poor married couple. No one deserves to die that way.
** Keep in mind that, throughout most of this, Jervis, normally [[SoftSpokenSadist calm and soft-spoken]] is actually yelling, something he's only done on rare, separate occasions. It just proves how far off the deep end he's fallen, and how serious he's being.
* The fate of the poor guard at the beginning of the episode: "Tortuga... [[OhCrap Where the hell are your headphones]]?" *SHINK!*
* Jervis hypnotizing [[spoiler: hundreds of Gotham citizens into jumping off the roofs of buildings across the city]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4x17 Mandatory Brunch Meeting]]]]
* With a commission between Jerome and Scarecrow, the infamous Joker Toxin is created in its deadly LaughingMad horror.
* Just consider the extreme lengths Jeremiah has gone to, making sure Jerome can't ever find him. Poor guy has been living like a hermit, locked away in a bunker/fortress, for ''years'', even before Jerome's original arrest. Yet it only took ''minutes'' for Tetch and Crane to bypass all those defenses and free the psychopathic twin Jeremiah has known would come after him for revenge, all this time.
* FridgeHorror: Remember back in Season One when we first met Jerome, and he seemed meek and soft-spoken? He could well have been channeling his brother back then, meaning he likely watched Jeremiah when they were kids and learned how to fake his normalcy from observing him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4x18 That's Entertainment]]]]
* [[spoiler: THE JOKER HAS ARRIVED ON GOTHAM!]]
* Jerome puts exploding collars on his hostages. He manages to kill two of them before the end of the episode.
* The laughing toxin continues to be horrifying. We see two victims of it this episode: Mother of the Year, and [[spoiler: Jeremiah. The latter gets a special variant, and thus, the Joker is born.]]
** To add to it, [[spoiler: prior to his painful transformation, we haven't seen Jeremiah smile even once. Now he ''can't stop'' smiling!]]
* Jeremiah looks absolutely terrified when the snipers are killed and he is forced to be a hostage for his brother.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: [[AC: 4x19 "To Our Deaths and Beyond"]]]]
* [[spoiler: Zombie Ra's]] looking more like the Mouth of Sauron.
[[/folder]]