Directed by Oz Scott
Written by Rebecca Perry Cutter & Megan Mostyn Brown
Gordon goes on the hunt for evidence to clear his name, while Penguin discovers his stepfamily's dark secret.
- Alone with the Psycho: Grace finds herself alone with a recently evil again Oswald at dinner. He disposed of her children earlier...in his oven. Meanwhile, Gordon goes to Ed for help finding the psycho who framed him for murder, who turns out to be Ed himself.
- Asshole Victim: Penguin's stepmother and stepsiblings after he finally snaps and reverts to his original personality — which they cause, of course.
- Break the Haughty: Surprisingly prominent in all 3 stories in the episode.
- Edward Nygma finally gets exposed as the Ax-Crazy psychopath he really is after Jim outsmarts him and is promptly arrested and sent to Arkham Asylum.
- After spending all their time bullying Penguin, his stepfamily ends up brutally murdered by him.
- Selina Kyle ends up dumped by Bruce and returns to her life of loneliness.
- Break Her Heart to Save Her: Following Alfred's advice, Bruce breaks off with Selina to protect her from the potential dangers of their investigation into who hired Matches Malone to kill his parents.
- Call-Back: When Bruce says that his place is at Wayne Manor, Selina says, "Why, because you're Bruce Wayne and I'm street trash?" Silver had called Selina "street trash" the first time they met; Selina's interaction with Bruce shows that Silver's comment cut much deeper than Selina let on.
- Chronic Back Stabbing Disorder: Lampshaded. When Gordon says he needs the person most likely to betray him in order to leak fake info to Nygma, all heads turn towards Selina.
- Chronic Evidence Retention Syndrome: Oswald points out the stupidity of Grace keeping the bottle of poisoned sherry, sarcastically suggesting that perhaps she didn't want to waste perfectly good poison.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Even when on the run, Gordon can't resist stopping a mugging. Lampshaded by Harvey.
- Crazy-Prepared: Nygma had an electrified chair in his apartment just for situations like Gordon showing up and figuring out he was behind the frame.
- Didn't See That Coming: Grace is very shocked when Oswald reveals that he's evil again and has fed her her own children.
- The Dog Bites Back: After being frequently bullied by his stepfamily, Penguin kills them all in order to avenge his father.
- Engineered Public Confession: Gordon leaks information that leads Nygma to panic and dig up Kringle's body and confronts him there. Nygma then brags about his killing spree and framing Gordon... at which point, Bullock, Barnes, and a dozen other cops reveal themselves and arrest him.
- Event Title: Referring to Gordon's confrontation with Nygma in the woods.
- Double-Meaning Title: It could also be a reference to Into the Woods, in light of Oswald's Cinderella storyline.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: After Penguin reverts to his original personality, he does his hair up to resemble a bird's crest.
- Freak Out: We can see the moment Penguin's conditioning breaks, as he cracks out a psychotic laugh.
- He's Back!: Discovering his father was murdered causes Penguin to snap back to his original personality, and he kills Grace and her children.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: If Grace had just disposed of the poison she used to kill her husband, Penguin would never have found out what she did and turned on her and her children. He even points this out just before he murders her.
- I Am What I Am: Nygma says that his fall to psychosis is merely him accepting who he really is.
- I Ate WHAT?!: Grace's horrified reaction when Penguin tells her the roast he cooked her was made from her children.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Penguin kills his step siblings and serves them up as dinner to his stepmother. Unlike Grace, who is justifiably horrified, Penguin actually appears to enjoy sampling his "roasts".
- Internal Homage: Gordon's outfit when he busts up a mugging and nearly gets caught is very similar to something Bruce wore on an ill-fated pre-Batman case in Batman: Year One.
- Internal Reveal: Nygma's framing of Gordon and murder of Kristin Kringle are revealed.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Alfred convinces Bruce to push Selina away so that she's not dragged into his dangerous investigation into the secrets at Wayne Enterprises. Sadly, she took it the wrong way.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Grace's children point out that keeping Penguin in their house may be a bad idea, but their mother eventually wins them over by suggesting they make him an abused slave to screw with, then kill him later and make it look like suicide, rather than risk him suing them. She should have listened to them the first time.
- Combined with The Reason You Suck, Nygma calls Gordon out for never really being his friend, he and every other cop in the precinct see him as a riddle-speaking weirdo. And for naively believing there's good in everybody, he counters that everyone has a dark side in them and Nygma embraced it.
- Karmic Death:
- Penguin's stepsiblings enjoyed pelting him with food and making fun of him, he ends up chopping them up into little pieces and serving them as food for their mother.
- Grace has spent most of her appearances bullying the Penguin and ends up killed by him when he returns to his old ways.
- Karmic Twist Ending: For Grace and her children. After spending all their screen time relentlessly bullying Oswald and robbing him of his rightfully earned inheritance, they end up getting killed by him after accidentally allowing his evil memories to return.
- Kick the Dog: Penguin's stepfamily relentlessly bully him, after killing his father no less.
- Killed Offscreen: We don't get to see Penguin murder his stepsiblings onscreen.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Penguin's stepfamily take great joy in tormenting him once he's reduced to their servant. He takes greater joy in killing them.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Selina is the street tough fighter while Bruce does the cooking, cleaning, and sewing for her.
- Mummies at the Dinner Table: Oswald enjoys dinner with Grace's corpse in their closing scene.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Thanks to the Penguin's wicked stepfamily treating him badly, making fun of him, and his discovery of the poison that killed his father, he went back to his old, psychopathic self.
- Out-Gambitted: Gordon pulls a Batman Gambit on The Chessmaster Nygma, tricking him into revealing himself.
- Pet the Dog: Alfred, who doesn't have the best relationship with Selina, points out to Bruce that she's been a wonderful, loyal friend to him and that she doesn't deserve to get hurt or killed because of the stuff they're investigating in Wayne Enterprises. Coming from Alfred, that kind of approval of someone is rare.
- Shout-Out:
- Oswald's subplot is very much a dark homage to Cinderella: an orphaned misfit is forced to cook and clean for their wicked stepmother and her stepchildren.
- The latter half could be considered one to Sweeney Todd, with a man recently freed from imprisonment killing and making meals of people who have wronged him.
- Shout-Out to Shakespeare: A mother getting her children served as dinner? Sounds like Titus Andronicus.
- Slashed Throat: Grace ends up getting her throat slit by Oswald.
- Stupid Evil: The events of this episode cement Penguin's stepfamily as this. Not only do they bully a known killer and kingpin, they actually keep the bottle of poisoned sherry intact in an accessible cabinet instead of just disposing of it. Oswald even calls Grace on the latter.
- Too Dumb to Live: Penguin's stepfamily decide to keep an emotionally unstable ex-convict within their house as an abused slave to serve them. Unsurprisingly, they end up pushing him way too far and he eventually strikes back.
- Underestimating Badassery: Penguin's stepfamily actually assume that they could break Oswald's spirit. Well, they broke his good spirit.
- Villain Ball: Grace decides to let Penguin stay in her house as an abused servant the family bullies, instead of doing what her children suggest and get rid of him. Thanks to this mistake, he kills them all and earns back his inheritance.
- Wham Line: As he serves her dinner, Oswald confronts Grace for murdering his father, and prepares to slaughter her. When Grace tries calling her children for help...Grace: Where are they?Oswald: You thought they tasted the same! But Sasha... (tastes the "meat" he cooked) Definitely more tender, in my opinion!
- Wham Shot: At the end of the episode, Gordon hears a knock at his door. Who's waiting for him on the other side? Barbara.
- Would Hit a Girl: Oswald kills his stepmother with a Slashed Throat.
