Legend of the Dark Knight: I Am Bane

Season 5
01 "Year Zero"	07 "Ace Chemicals"
02 "Trespassers"	08 "Nothing's Shocking"
03 "Penguin, Our Hero"	09 "The Trial of Jim Gordon"
04 "Ruin"	10 "I Am Bane"
05 "Pena Dura"	11 "They Did What?"
06 "13 Stitches"	12 "The Beginning..."

Episode

Cast

Crew

"Legend of the Dark Knight: I Am Bane"
Information
Director	Kenneth Fink
Writer	James Stoteraux & Chad Fiveash
Season	5
Airdate	March 21, 2019
Episode	10
Chronology
←  Previous "Legend of the Dark Knight: The Trial of Jim Gordon"
Next  → "Legend of the Dark Knight: They Did What?"

"You're going to be reborn. And then you'll be the bane of the unjust. The bane of the corrupt. The bane of anyone who opposes us."

—Nyssa al Ghul to Eduardo Dorrance

"Legend of the Dark Knight: I Am Bane" is the tenth episode of the fifth season of Gotham. It aired on March 21, 2019.

Synopsis

On the precipice of Gotham’s reunification, Gordon and Bruce find themselves face-to-face with a newly transformed Eduardo, and discover the real mastermind behind the city’s current chaos. Meanwhile, a pregnant Barbara turns to Lee for help.

Quotes

"When I was in Peña Dura prison, Jim, the guards played a game. They'd choose one of us... and they buried us alive. They'd take bets on whether you could dig your way out. But then they'd bury you deeper. And play again. I was the champion. To survive that... I had to stop being human. I had to become... something else. I became Bane. Only I didn't know it yet. But she knew and she showed me the way. If the world is full of monsters, the only way to defeat them... is to become one yourself."

- Bane to Jim Gordon, revealing how he became a monster

"The League of Shadows is everywhere. Did you think my father's mission would die with him? Humankind will be purged of weakness. I'm just starting with you and yours."

- Nyssa al Ghul to Bruce Wayne and Jim Gordon

"Barbara Kean, your time is up. There's no place for you to hide. No one will save you. Nor mercy that will spare you. You simply cannot run from your sins. And you cannot run from me."

- Bane to Barbara Kean, announcing his arrival via the hospital's intercom

Notes

• This was the 96th episode to be produced (production code T40.10058) and the 98th to be aired.
• The episode shares its name with the comic book storyline Batman: I Am Bane.
• Eduardo Dorrance becomes the supervillain Bane, who is most infamous for having broken Batman and taken over the criminal underworld in Batman: Knightfall. He currently serves as the main antagonist in Tom King's run on Batman.
• Theresa Walker is revealed to be Nyssa al Ghul.
• Jim Gordon and Barbara Kean's daughter makes her debut in this episode. In the comics she goes onto becoming Batgirl, and later Oracle.
• Final appearance of BD Wong as Hugo Strange.
• This episode takes place several months after the events of "Legend of the Dark Knight: The Trial of Jim Gordon", as demonstrated by a variety of indicators:
  • Barbara Kean is in the final stages of her pregnancy and gives birth to her child, even though her belly was considerably smaller at the end of the previous episode.
  • Nygma has finally completed the submarine, which he began to construct only two episodes prior in "Legend of the Dark Knight: Nothing's Shocking".
  • It is established that the Green Zone now reaches to every corner of Gotham City. The GCPD was therefore able to defeat Scarecrow, Firefly, Mr. Freeze, the Lo Boyz, the Street Demonz and several other gangs since the state of the city territories was last shown on a map in the episode "Legend of the Dark Knight: Pena Dura". This is a task that is unlikely to have been achieved within a short period of time, indicating that months have passed since then.
  • Bruce mentions that the filter system Lucius Fox installed at the Gotham Water Filtration Plant in the previous episode was able to reduce the toxicity levels in the Gotham River below the threshold set by the government. Filtering the water in the Gotham River and all of its tributaries would likely take a few months as well.
  • The episode "The Trial of Jim Gordon" appeared to have taken place during the winter months; in real life the episode was actually filmed during late November and early December 2018. In contrast, "I Am Bane" was filmed in October 2018 and therefore appears to take place during a transition season. In-universe, it is indicated that spring has arrived in the months since "The Trial of Jim Gordon".
• The opening scene in which Eduardo is transformed into Bane by Hugo Strange takes place between the events of "13 Stitches" and "Ace Chemicals". At the end of "13 Stitches", Nyssa had told Eduardo that Professor Strange would have him "fixed up in no time".
• Wayne Manor was destroyed in the episode "Legend of the Dark Knight: Ace Chemicals". After filming for "Ace Chemicals" had wrapped, the Wayne Manor set was partially demolished and redressed to depict the abandoned mansion in North Side Park where Bruce and Jim are interrogated by Nyssa and Bane in "I Am Bane". However, on closer inspection, the basic architecture and structure of the room at the abandoned mansion still gives it away as the former Wayne Manor set.
• The end credits do not display any actor credits at all, recurring or otherwise. This is perhaps the only episode to opt for such an angle.
• The opening scene in which Eduardo is transformed into Bane by Hugo Strange is very similar to the Bane creation scene depicted in the origin comic Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1. In the comic, Bane's body is also connected to a life support system while he is lying in front of scientists who then start to pump the Venom drug into his veins.
• Nyssa al Ghul's revenge scheme as well as her relationship with Bane is similar to Talia al Ghul from the 2012 movie The Dark Knight Rises.
• At the hospital, Penguin and Nygma use explosives in an attempt to stop Bane from coming after Barbara. After the explosion, Nygma and Oswald initially think that they have defeated Bane. However, Bane then slowly emerges from the flames while ominous music plays. He then stops and looks around. Realizing that they have failed to stop him, Oswald and Riddler then run away in horror. This appears to be a reference to the 1984 science fiction film The Terminator. Near the end of the movie, it appears that the Terminator was finally stopped by the explosion of a pipe bomb that blew up a tanker. Believing that they have defeated the Terminator, the characters Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor are also relieved at first. However, ominous music then begins to play as the Terminator slowly emerges from the fire in a way similar to Gotham's Bane. He stops and looks around. Horrified, Kyle and Sarah run away in order to escape the deadly android from the future.
• When Bane fights Alfred, he picks up the beaten butler and proceeds to break Pennyworth's back before letting him fall to the ground. This is an allusion to a now iconic panel from the comic Batman #497 of the Knightfall storyline, in which Bane beats Batman, picks him up to shatter his spine and then lets the broken Dark Knight fall to the ground.
• The attack on Gotham is called Protocol 386. This seems to be a homage to the game Arkham City which featured a contingency plan named Protocol 10 designed to wipe out the criminal element from Gotham City. In similar fashion, Protocol 386 seems to act in a very similar destructive manner.