Directed by Danny Cannon
Written by John Stephens
Three months after the Tetch Virus epidemic, life has returned to normal in Gotham — well, by Gotham's standards. Penguin may no longer be mayor, but he still rules the underworld, "licensing" crime to bring the city to order, much to Gordon's chagrin. Some new-in-town crooks break Jonathan Crane out of Arkham in a foolhardy attempt to go toe-to-toe with Penguin.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Gordon asks his fellow cops what they'd do if Penguin started licensing murder. They don't care, they want to beat him up to vent their frustration with him.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Penguin claims he's doing this to keep Gotham stable.
- Batman Gambit: Gordon tries one to restore the public's faith in the GCPD. It doesn't work.
- The Bus Came Back: Jonathan Crane, not seen since Season 1.
- Fingore: Zsasz shot the Merton gang leader's pointing finger.
- Forced into Evil: Jonathan is forced to re-create his father's fear serums by Merton's gang, who terrorize him with an actual scarecrow.
- Insistent Terminology: In spite of all they put poor Jonathan through in the episode, the Merton gang states that they're "outlaws", not criminals, and have a code.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Penguin may avoid jail time, but he's utterly humiliated publicly by the end of the episode.
- Grady, too. After spending the episode tormenting Jonathan and (along with the rest of the Merton gang) forcing him to produce the fear serum, guess what he gets sprayed in the face with at the very end, and by whom?
- Literal-Minded: When Penguin tells Nygma (encased in ice) that he has banished his own emotions and wonders which one of them is frozen, Ivy answers that Nygma is (due to the ice).
- The Masochism Tango: Bruce and Selina. He finally apologizes for blowing up at her when she tried to comfort him while Alfred was in the hospital, while she is typically indifferent... until he compliments her dress. While both are balancing on a rooftop ledge. Lampshaded by Alfred."Honestly, you two! Why can't you just go to cinema like normal teenagers."
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: After Penguin tells her to shut up one too many times, Ivy turns off the lights in the Iceberg Lounge, allowing Merton's crew to get the drop on Penguin. Of course, this being Ivy, the intention is less of a grand-scale sabotage and more of a petulant prank.
- Mythology Gag:
- Bruce Wayne disappears while Gordon is talking to him, a common trick Batman pulls on him in the comics.
- The charcoal sketch of his "bogeyman" that Jonathan scrawls on the floor of his cell at Arkham looks just like Scarecrow's appearance in Batman: The Animated Series.
- Penguin mentions to the press at the opening of the Iceberg Lounge that Ed Nygma is ensconced in Ice due to having a rare brain disease, and as such has been frozen until a cure can be found in the future. This is a clear reference to Nora Fries from the comics and her traditional status as a frozen Living Macguffin, with Mr. Freeze doing crime to pay for her cures and treatment, as well as her continued freezing. Bruce mentions this to Penguin later on too. Nora in this continuity was already killed off when Freeze was introduced as she could suffer no more, and wanted Victor to be free of her suffering.
- Never My Fault: The warden acts like he doesn't know what Gordon and Bullock are talking about when they question him about Jonathan, then when he realizes the police have proof the younger Crane was taken by the Merton gang, he instantly switches to claiming the gang threatened him.
- Shout-Out: Penguin's idea of "licensing crime" to stabilize the city is something straight out of Ankh-Morpork's Guild of Thieves.
- Start of Darkness: Crane's started in his last appearance when he was driven insane. Now, being forced to confront his hallucination of the Scarecrow leaves him adopting it as an identity.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: While Bruce's ability to quietly appear unexpectedly has been noted before in the show, this is the first time he pulls the entire "appear, talk business, disappear while Gordon is still talking" routine.
- That Man Is Dead: According to Scarecrow in his debut, "Jonathan Crane isn't here anymore".
- Title Drop: By Penguin, while talking to the press about the Iceberg Lounge.
- Wedding Smashers: The bride and (especially) groom just can't get a break. Merton and Grady bust in and start robbing them and their guests, only to be foiled by Zsasz because they don't have a crime license from the Penguin. Unfortunately for the couple, another gang does.
- Weird Trade Union: Penguin has licensed crime in Gotham, so criminals can only work on his say-so, with him getting a cut.
