Directed by Kenneth Fink
Written by Ben McKenzie
Gordon is dragged into Bruce's conflict with Ra's Al-Ghul. Penguin holds his ground against Sofia and deals with the unhinged Nygma.
Tropes
- Ambiguous Situation: Is Nygma's mind still recovering or is it permanently damaged?
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Gordon finds the idea of Alfred having died and come back to life unbelievable, despite the number of other characters that's happened to.
- Batman Gambit: Penguin lets himself be seen with Sofia, knowing it will draw out the Falcone loyalists, who he can then eliminate.
- Brought Down to Normal: The brain damage he's apparently suffered has robbed Nygma of his genius intellect.
- Cruel Mercy: Seeing how far Nygma's fallen strikes Penguin as a greater punishment than merely killing or re-freezing him, so he spares him.
- Fate Worse than Death: Nygma would rather be frozen again than live knowing he's no longer smart enough to come up with complex riddles in seconds.
- Get Out!: Penguin screams this when Riddler's messengers deliver the first awful riddle.
- He Knows Too Much: Why Ra's killed Alex and his grandfather.
- Internal Reveal: Gordon learns about Bruce's ongoing struggle with Ra's Al-Ghul.
- It's All My Fault: Bruce blames himself for what happens to Alex and his grandfather, for dragging them into his investigation of the knife.
- It's Personal: Sofia's enmity towards Penguin becomes this when she finds out Penguin used her to draw out her father's loyalists.
- Meaningful Name: Anubis, named after the jackal-headed Egyptian God of the Dead, acts like a dog.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: Well, city. Sofia hates her family's business, but loves Gotham too much to walk away from it.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Bruce, because he refused to give the knife back to Ra's which could have saved Alex's life, but didn't want it to fall into his hands. Doesn't help that Ra's tells Bruce that he "finally begin[s] to see things clearly. The question is, are you strong enough?".
- Mythology Gag: An interesting variant, Ra's is posing as an ambassador from Nanda Parbat; in Arrow that is the headquarters for the League of Assassins. In the rest of DC lore, it's home to one of Bruce Wayne's original trainers in martial arts, as well as where Deadman spends most of his time.
- Neck Snap: Ra's kills Professor Winthrop by giving his neck one hard twist.
- No Name Given: The big henchman accompanying Anubis is credited only as "the hunter."
- Not So Above It All: Zsasz bobs his head to the beat of the first rap/riddle delivered by Riddler's messengers. He still wants to torture them, though.
- One-Steve Limit: The aversion is lampshaded, as Penguin points out that he's got two Victors working for him (Zsasz and Freeze).
- Play-Along Prisoner: Ra's lets himself be arrested, though why remains to be seen.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Penguin gives this to Nygma, telling him that the pre-frozen Riddler wouldn't have come up with such bad riddles, much less taken hours to do so.
- Refuge in Audacity: After Bruce tells Gordon that Ra's Al-Ghul killed the professor, Ra's himself shows up in the station under his real name, posing as Minister of Antiquities for Nanda Parbat. Or possibly just as a Minister of Antiquities, if that's his current public identity.
- Sadistic Choice: Bruce is torn between keeping Alex safe, and stopping whatever plans Ra's has for the knife. Unfortunately his choice not to give Ra's the knife results in Alex being killed.
- Shoot the Messenger: Penguin eventually gets so annoyed with the poor quality of Nygma's riddles that he gives in to Zsasz's repeated requests to just torture the people he hired as his messengers.
- Slashed Throat: How Ra's kills Alex.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Ra's disappears from the GCPD Captain's office the second Gordon and Alfred have their backs to him. And note that they're blocking the only exit.
- Too Dumb to Live: Anubis jumped after the bone out the the window two stories up.
- Unwitting Pawn: Sofia realizes that Penguin allowed her to meet him so he could follow her and take out her father's loyalists.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gordon calls out Alfred and Bruce for keeping him Locked Out of the Loop regarding their investigation into Ra's.
- What Would X Do?: Sofia points out to Oswald that he's wasted the opportunity to win over some very capable underbosses by eliminating her father's surviving supporters. Her father would never have squandered potential assets on picquish revenge.
- Would Hurt a Child: Twofold; for Ra's Al-Ghul. He slits Alex's throat right in front of Bruce to teach him a lesson.
- Written-In Absence: Bullock is on leave.
- You Wouldn't Believe Me If I Told You: Bruce and Alfred withheld information regarding Ra's al Ghul from Gordon because it was so out there that they knew he would never believe them.
