Legend of the Dark Knight: The Trial of Jim Gordon

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: The Trial of Jim Gordon"
Information
Director	Erin Richards
Writer	Ben McKenzie
Season	5
Airdate	March 7, 2019
Episode	9
Chronology
←  Previous "Legend of the Dark Knight: Nothing's Shocking"
Next  → "Legend of the Dark Knight: I Am Bane"

"The issue here is not how many people have died because of Jim Gordon, but how many more must die in order to satisfy his need to be a hero. Therefore we pose one simple question: are the people in Jim Gordon's life better off with him alive or dead?"

—Jim Gordon's Nightmare Prosecutor

"Legend of the Dark Knight: The Trial of Jim Gordon" is the ninth episode of the fifth season of Gotham. It aired on March 7, 2019.

Synopsis

After Gordon is shot in an attempt to establish a cease-fire, he hallucinates a trial for his life that could have deadly real consequences. Meanwhile, Ivy returns and puts her spell on Bruce, leaving Selina to defend herself. Lee has a life-changing moment as Barbara and Penguin consider their next moves.

Trivia

• Produced as the 100th and final episode (production code T40.10062), but not the last to air. While "The Trial of Jim Gordon" is aired as the 97th episode, the last episode chronologically is "Legend of the Dark Knight: The Beginning...".
  • When filming for the episode wrapped on December 11, 2018, the cast and crew of Gotham celebrated the 100th filmed episode of the show with an anniversary cake. Previous cast members like Andrew Sellon were also invited to Steiner Studios to attend the celebrations.
• Final appearances of Anthony Carrigan as Victor Zsasz, and Peyton List as Ivy Pepper.
• Erin Richards makes her first directional debut in this episode.
• This episode features five major gangs during the gathering at City Hall and later also at the Sirens nightclub. All of these gangs are either directly derived from the Batman mythos or represent an allusion to a minor Batman villain from the comics:
  • The Street Demonz were one of the major gangs during the No Man's Land event in the comics and also portrayed as mortal enemies of the Ventriloquist and Scarface in previous storylines. They were created by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle and first appeared in Detective Comics #614 (1990).
  • The LoBoys also have a direct counterpart in the original Batman comics. During the No Man's Land event, they were another major gang operating in Gotham City.
  • The Soothsayers, that previously also appeared in "Legend of the Dark Knight: Trespassers" and "Ruin", are a visual nod to the Batman villain Ratcatcher, who wears a similar gas mask and is also often seen wearing dungarees. The long cattle prods carried by the Soothsayers are reminiscent of the Ratcatcher's walking staff, which was one of his signatures in the original comics.
  • The Undead that were first seen in "Legend of the Dark Knight: Trespassers" are a gang that uses face paint that glows in the dark to make themselves look like skeletons. This is an allusion to the 1995 film Batman Forever that featured an unnamed gang that also paints their bodies to make them look like glowing skeletons in the dark. While the gang was not given a name in the Batman Forever film, they are often referred to as the 'Neon Gang' within fan communities. A similar street gang known as the 'Golums' also appeared in the 1997 movie Batman & Robin.
  • The Leopards introduced in the episode "Legend of the Dark Knight: Ace Chemicals" reappear. They are a visual nod to the Tigress, who often wore a similar costume with a tiger pattern in the comics. Gotham had featured its own version of the Tigress starting with season 2 in the form of Tabitha Galavan. In fact, it was originally planned to fully transform Tabitha into the Tigress during season 5, making her one of the main villains during No Man's Land. However, when Gotham was cancelled and only given a shortened season 5 to wrap things up, the Tigress arc had to be abandoned and Tabitha was killed off in the season premiere. The Leopards appear to be a nod to the original plan. Additionally, the leader of the Leopards is also seen using a crossbow, which was the Tigress' signature weapon in the comics and previously also used by Tabitha in the episode "Legend of the Dark Knight: Year Zero".
• When Oswald welcomes Jim to his base at City Hall, he uses the phrase "Mi casa, su casa" to greet the GCPD captain. This phrase was also used by Fish Mooney in the "Pilot" when she welcomed Jim at her nightclub.
  • This was the final line Robin Lord Taylor ever said as the Penguin in Gotham, as he previously revealed in an interview. The episodes "Nothing's Shocking" and "The Trial of Jim Gordon" were filmed after the series finale. The scenes were often shot out of order, with the scene at city hall being the last in which Robin Lord Taylor appeared. The final scene ever filmed for the show was the wedding of Lee Thompkins and Jim Gordon.
• This episode marks the final time Theo Galavan is ever referenced on the show. It is the first time he was mentioned since "Heroes Rise: Destiny Calling".
• It is revealed that the Mutant Leader now has a long scar on his left cheek following his fight with Selina in "Legend of the Dark Knight: Penguin, Our Hero", during which she scratched his face repeatedly with her Clawed Gloves. This is similar to the comics, where Catwoman's claws are infamous for leaving permanent scarring on the people she scratches. On one occasion in the comics, she used her claws to scratch three scars into the right cheek of Carmine Falcone.
• Even though this was the final episode to be filmed, Cory Michael Smith only had one brief cameo appearance as Edward Nygma during Gordon's nightmare, in which Nygma is seen celebrating Jim's death along with Penguin.
  • The scene in which Nygma plays the piano during the vision while Oswald sings along is a callback to the episode "Rise of the Villains: Worse Than A Crime", in which Gordon wakes up at Nygma's apartment confused and sees Nygma and Oswald singing while the former one is playing the piano. As seen in "The Blind Fortune Teller", Oswald himself is also able to play the piano.
• Jonathan Crane, Mother, Kathryn Monroe and Lazlo Valentin make cameo appearances during Jim Gordon's dream sequence in which they attend his imaginary wake. During their appearances all four are in their costumes, with Crane as the Scarecrow, Mother in her doll mask, Kathryn in her owl mask, and Valentin dressed as Professor Pyg. This allowed the use of uncredited stand-ins for these brief appearances instead of having to bring back the real actors David W. Thompson, Susannah Rogers, Leslie Hendrix and Michael Cerveris for non-speaking cameos that only lasted a few seconds.