Directed by Ben McKenzie
Written by Seth Boston & Bruno Heller
Gordon assembles an unlikely team to protect Gotham from Eduardo Dorrance and his Delta Force; Barbara reveals shocking news that will change Gordon's life forever; Selina and Penguin team up to outsmart fellow villain Magpie.
Tropes
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Bruce and Alfred have a moment like this when they beat up Eduardo's Mooks.
- Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Eduardo claims that being left in Pena Dura has left him much more ruthless and callous.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: It turns out that Walker put a mind control chip in Lee's head as well, and later orders her to kill Gordon. Thankfully, Gordon disables it the moment he finds out about it.
- The Bus Came Back: Lee Thompkins returns after last being seen at the end of Season 4.
- Cloudcuckoolander:
- Magpie is an extremely bizarre individual who names her diamonds and has an unhealthy obsession with explosives.
- Jeremiah kidnaps Alfred so... he can help clean up Wayne Manor (where Jeremiah has been squatting) for starters.
- Creepy Monotone: Both Nygma and Lee lapse into this whenever being mind controlled by Walker's chip.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Before his Mooks intervene, Eduardo is barely able to put up a fight against Gordon and goes down fairly easily.
- Damsel in Distress: Walker and Eduardo hold Lee hostage as leverage for Gordon and Nygma. She ultimately gets free and manages to kill one of Eduardo's Mooks while Gordon is dealing with Eduardo himself.
- Dirty Coward: Eduardo brutally beats and nearly kills Gordon only after one of his soldiers incapacitates him.
- Disposable Vagrant: A homeless man assumes Eduardo is dead and tries to help himself to his boots, only to be shot in the back by Walker.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Both Riddler and Barbara are disgusted by Eduardo's mass murder of innocent civilians and firmly side with Gordon against him.
- Everyone Has Standards: Selina is shocked and mildly horrified when Penguin murders an already wounded Magpie in cold blood.
- Evil Is Petty: Even though he already has Jim at his mercy, Eduardo decides to have Lee killed anyway just to make Gordon suffer a little more before he dies.
- Evil Laugh: Jeremiah lets out a very Joker-like laugh when Alfred threatens to kill him.
- Fingore: Selina takes a few fingers off the goons who attacked her right before Penguin showed up.
- Harmless Villain: Magpie is mostly a non-violent, Laughably Evil thief who provides comic relief to an otherwise serious episode.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Selina doesn't want to be known as the person who killed Jeremiah Valeska, since it has put a large target on her back and prompted other people into wanting to kill her.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Gordon does this to Eduardo. He gets better.
- In the Back: Non-lethal example. Jeremiah suddenly pops up at the end of the episode to stab Alfred from behind with a sedative in order to kidnap him.
- Ironic Echo: Penguin mocks Magpie's catchphrase ("Boom Boom") right before he shoots her.Penguin: "Bang Bang."
- Knight Templar: It's revealed that both Eduardo and Walker see almost everyone in Gotham as a criminal who needs to be killed.
- Large Ham: Riddler practically acts like a deranged game show host when he threatens to blow up the GCPD with a "bomb". Well, he did run that quiz show in the Narrows...
- Let Me Get This Straight...:Barbara: So the government is behind Haven and the supply helicopter and they did it with a chip in Eddie's head?
Ed: Is that really the craziest thing you've ever heard, Barbara? - Mood Whiplash: The humorous Magpie subplot ends with her getting murdered in cold blood by Penguin.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Eduardo and Walker plan to kill all criminals in Gotham without trial, with Eduardo as Judge, Jury, and Executioner. He is also completely fine with murdering innocent civilians if it means getting the job done.
- Mythology Gag:
- Oswald and Selina's playful frenemy relationship is very similar to Penguin and Catwoman's flirtations in Batman Returns.
- An obscure and minor comics rogue, Magpie has many of the same characteristics in the comics, and was also once killed (though indirectly) by Penguin. Also a bit of Foreshadowing, as she's regarded as a worthless one-note character, the comics nearly always just kill Magpie whenever they bother to even feature her.
- Never My Fault: Eduardo refuses any responsibility for the attack on Haven and instead blames it on Jim for creating it in the first place, which created an obstacle to Walker's plan.
- Not Quite Dead: Gordon rams Eduardo onto a piece of rebar, fatally wounding him. Before he dies, though, Walker finds him and attaches a familiar looking mask on his face, healing him instantly.
- The Reveal: Barbara is pregnant with Jim Gordon's child.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Penguin points out that with Eduardo's military occupation, there's nothing left for him in Gotham now and plans to escape as soon as possible. Selina agrees with him and demands that he take her with him, due to every killer in the city wanting to kill her after she seemingly killed Jeremiah.
- Skewed Priorities: Bruce notes that the civilians in Gotham need food and medicine more than they need Eduardo's death squads.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Alfred recognizes the tattoo on Dorrance's soldiers and notes that they have a reputation for being particularly homicidal and specializing in assassinations.
- Spanner in the Works:
- An unintentional example. Bullock nearly ruins Nygma's plan to distract the soldiers when he provides a correct answer to his riddle.
- Gordon turned out to be one for Walker's plans. She had been close to convincing the government to let her send Eduardo and his team into Gotham to eliminate all criminal threats, when Gordon set up Haven. Thinking that Walker had exaggerated the threat level, the government was set to finally send in supplies, leading her to order Nygma to destroy Haven.
- Trailers Always Lie: The promo showed Hugo Strange operating on Eduardo in order to turn him into Bane. The actual episode does not show this, though Walker says that it will take place soon.
- Wham Line: From Barbara, near the end of the episode.Barbara: I'm pregnant.
