Follow TV Tropes

Following

Recap / Gotham S2 E11 "Worse Than a Crime"

Go To

Directed by Jeffrey G Hunt

Written by Bruno Heller & Megan Mostyn Brown

Galavan takes Bruce to be sacrificed by the Order of Saint-Dumas. Meanwhile, Gordon wakes up in the hideout shared by Cobblepot and Nygma, and forms an alliance with them to bring down Galavan.


  • And This Is for...: Right before beating a defenseless Galavan, Penguin tells him that it's for his mother.
  • Back for the Finale: Technically the mid-season, but Lucius Fox makes a much needed return this week. His emerging from the fireplace tunnel is rather symbolic.
  • Batter Up!: Penguin beats the ever loving tar out of Galavan with a baseball bat after capturing him.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Gordon, Penguin, Bullock, Alfred, and Selina band together and take out the entire Dumas clan to save Bruce.
  • Becoming the Mask: Silver has come to genuinely care for Bruce, and tries to help him escape, though Bruce assumes it was staged to play with him further.
  • Blatant Lies: After his rescue, Bruce claims that he had everything under control and was ready to make his escape. Alfred and Selina don't buy it for a second.
  • Brick Joke: For a given value of joke - after Jim leaves Galavan for dead, Penguin still felt the need to grab an umbrella from his car. At the end, the coroner gets a look at Galavan's body with half the umbrella still outside his throat.
  • Defiant to the End/Face Death with Dignity: Bruce doesn't fear death, since he'll see his parents again, and when Father Creel is about to kill him, merely tells him that he's a "delusional old fool".
  • Disc-One Final Boss: Theo Galavan, apparent Big Bad of the season, is Killed Off for Real.
  • Dramatic Irony: The Penguin (and Nygma, in a small way) end up helping save the life of the boy who will become their nemesis.
  • Enemy Mine: Gordon, Bullock, and Alfred team up with Penguin's crew to rescue Bruce.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Tabitha turns on Theo and abandons him out of disgust when he tries to kill Silver.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Silver, who saves Bruce's life by shouting just before he's about to be executed, which distracts the rest of the Order of St. Dumas just long enough for the cavalry to arrive.
  • I'm Standing Right Here: Lee objects to Gordon's plan to "attack the mayor with the help of a depraved sociopath". Penguin interjects "I can hear you."
  • Jerkass Has a Point: When Gordon insists they arrest Galavan, Penguin says that won't work. Given how Galavan walked free the last time he was arrested, he's right to believe the guy can slip through just as easily.
  • Last Episode, New Character: The very last scene in the fall finale apparently introduces Victor Fries, AKA Mr. Freeze.
  • Literary Allusion Title: From a quote by the French statesman Talleyrand: "This is worse than a crime, it's a mistake."
  • Mythology Gag:
    • Nygma's journey to become The Riddler is almost complete, including The Riddler's characteristic of being put off balance when someone figures out his riddles without effort (as Lucius does).
    • Galavan's body arrives at the morgue with an umbrella jammed in its mouth, finally associating the Penguin with one of his traditional trademarks (weaponized umbrellas).
    • Nygma reveals that his address is 805 Grundy. Solomon Grundy is an undead zombie and villain in the DC universe. For bonus points, the riddle itself is, "Is your leading man alive? Go to Grundy 805."
    • Bruce says that his favorite animal is "owls". The "Court of Owls" storyline in the comics revolves around an ancient secret society stretching back into Gotham City's early history, and several alternate-history Batman stories have depicted his alt-counterpart as Owlman.
  • Never Bring A Knife To A Gunfight: The monks might have stood a slightly better chance if they'd considered using firearms.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Penguin gives one to Galavan with a baseball bat, ended when Gordon finishes him off with a shot to the chest.
  • Only Sane Man: Lucius points out that the rescue team has utterly no plan what to do if their assault on Galavan's office to rescue Bruce doesn't work.
  • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: A police detective currently wanted by his own department, his cynical partner, a former Royal Marine now Butler with multiple serious wounds, a teenage burglar, a deposed crime boss and a few of his remaining mooks versus a platoon of highly trained, lethal, and dedicated religious fanatics. No guesses on how that turns out.
  • The Reveal: It turns out that Hugo Strange is the one behind the experiments at Indian Hill.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Tabitha and Silver abandon Theo, and leave him to be arrested.
  • Sequel Hook: Two of them:
    • The final scene has Galavan's stolen body being taken by the illegal Wayne Enterprises lab for experimentation with Professor Strange working there.
    • The Stinger gives us our first apparent look at Mr. Freeze.
  • Stealth Hi/Bye: When Gordon, Bullock, Alfred and Fox are strategizing their attack on Galavan, Cat surprises them from the window to say she knows a way in.
  • Storming the Castle: Gordon, Bullock, Alfred, and Penguin's gang (including Selina) storm Galavan's penthouse in order to save Bruce and take Galavan down for good.
  • Team Power Walk: Gordon, Penguin, and the others form one as they make their way to fight the Order of St. Dumas.
  • The Bus Came Back (sort-of): Fish Mooney's corpse is glimpsed floating in one of the glass tanks at the lab.
    • One of the actors confirms that the red-haired figure beside her is Jerome Valeska.
  • Truth in Television / Real Life Writes the Plot: This episode sees Lee telling Jim that she's pregnant, and Jim proposing to Lee in response. In real life, Morena Baccarin (Lee's actress) is pregnant by Ben Mckenzie (Gordon's actor), and has mentioned that she plans to marry him.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Played With. Bruce does thank Alfred and Selina for coming to his rescue, but says if they hadn't he already had an escape plan. They stop and trade a look of incredulity.
  • Vigilante Execution: One full episode after Theo got out of jail to commit more mayhem; Jim finishes the job of killing Galavan after Penguin has had his way with him with a baseball bat.
  • Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Tabitha and Silver are last seen parachuting out of Theo's penthouse.
  • Villain Has a Point: Penguin prevents Galavan from being arrested, telling Gordon that he controls the courts and will get off scot-free if they do take him in. Gordon therefore allows Penguin to brutalize Galavan before finishing the man off personally.
  • What He Said: Gordon's response, when Penguin cheerfully tells Fox that "failure is not an option!"

Top