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"Barbara... I know what it's like... to be one person on the inside, and have the world see another. I lived like that. And it almost destroyed me. I can see it destroying you."
Jason Skolimski to Barbara Kean


"Under the Knife" is the twentieth episode of the first season of Gotham. It first aired on April 20, 2015.

Synopsis[]

Gordon and Bullock continue to investigate the Ogre, who begins to make his move on someone close to Gordon. Meanwhile, Bruce and Selina team up to expose a corrupt Wayne Enterprises employee and Nygma comes to Kristin Kringle’s defense.[1]

Plot[]

Bruce and Selina meet under a bridge after Selina pushed Reggie Payne out of the window. When asked about this by Bruce, Selina confirms his death and explains that the police had already arrived at the scene. Bruce is furious with her for doing so, but Selina explains that she had to kill Reggie to prevent him from telling the people at Wayne Enterprises on them. Soon after, Bruce remembered that every top executive of Wayne Enterprises had a safe in his office, and that could be opened with a key. Selina tells Bruce that if he could get her close enough to Bunderslaw she could steal it for him. Before the two departed ways, Selina warned Bruce not to tell anyone about what happened, including Alfred and Detective Gordon.

At the GCPD, Nygma is trying different methods of stabbing using watermelon to determine how the murderer manipulated the knife when Gordon enters looking for Leslie Thompkins. Nygma then tells him that she went home. At her apartment, Leslie hears a strange sound in the middle of her bath. After exploring she discovers that the intruder was actually a cat, but she quickly turning around and accidentally hits Jim, in the spur of the moment. Later, after being tended to, Jim tells Leslie the truth about the Ogre and how this case came into his hands. Thanks to Bullock he found out that the first detective who investigated the Ogre came home one night and found his wife murdered. Trapped by the desire to stop the serial killer and protect Leslie, Jim asks his girlfriend to leave town, but she refuses knowing that Gordon could catch him. He then confesses his love for her and the two kiss.

Meanwhile at a club, Barbara meets Jason and the two later go back to her penthouse. There he asks about her boyfriend but she denies having one, saying that if she were to die the next day no one would care. The Ogre, who was then about to kill her with a knife, stopped when Barbara confessed that when anyone saw her true self they quickly departed from her. Jason manages to quickly identify with her, but before he could proceed with his intentions, Barbara asks him to leave. At his nightclub, Penguin, met with Connor, a hitman, for help with his plan for Don Maroni and all of his lieutenants. Connor immediately rejects the plan, and Oswald manages to convince him otherwise when he brings up the fact that Don Falcone gave Victor Zsasz first dibs on all contracts.

At the GCPD, Detectives Gordon and Bullock met with Detective Ben Mueller the first officer to ever investigate the Ogre. However, Mueller is reluctant to help since he still had a daughter, but Jim managed to persuade him to reveal the contents of the lost evidence. Mueller reveals that the first victim was a nurse at a cosmetic surgery clinic. In the archive room, Nygma visits Kristin Kringle, but finds her kissing Officer Dougherty. When he leaves, Edward notes that she had bruises on her arms and quickly asks if Dougherty gave them to her. She confirms that he did so, but asks Nygma to stay out of it as it wasn't his concern.

At Wayne Manor, Bruce prepares to attend the Wayne Enterprises charity ball where he hopes to meet Sid Bunderslaw. To the surprise of Alfred, Bruce asks him to send shoes and dresses to the address where Selina is staying, who would be his date. At the plastic surgery clinic, Gordon and Bullock meet with Dr. Cushman to find out about the first victim of the Ogre which, according to the doctor, was recommended to them by a client. To find out the client's name they would need a court order. Outside passing by an alley, Gordon saw a car he had recognized from outside the GCPD earlier that day. When he begins to approach him, the car starts and tries to run him over but he fails. Back at the GCPD, Gordon reports to Captain Essen what happened, when he suddenly receives a phone call from the Ogre ordering him to stop investigating him. He warned Gordon not to fall into his own press aura, and that if Gordon kept on his current path, he'd kill someone that Gordon loved.

In response to this threat, Gordon held a press conference outside GCPD HQ to make the Ogre's killings known. At her penthouse, Barbara tells Selina that she's going to attend the Wayne Enterprise charity ball, which was boring though good for business. Selina manages to surprise Barbara when she reveals that she'd be attending the ball with Bruce Wayne. At that moment, the dress and shoes sent by Bruce arrived, with Barbara commenting that they had a lot of work to do. With the court order from Judge Harkness, Bullock discovers that the nurse was recommended to them by a lady named Constance van Groot, a member of one of the oldest families in Gotham. As they begin theorize the Ogre being the son of van Groot, Penguin is visited by Don Maroni and his men at his club. Maroni sat next to Ms. Kapelput and, to the chagrin of her son, he continues flirting with her. At Barbara's penthouse, Bruce arrives to pickup Selina, and is surprised by how nice she looks in the clothes.

The Detectives arrive at the van Groot home, and quickly find a man trying to hang himself. Once he was safe, Bullock cases the manor until he finally finds the body of Constance van Groot, who had been dead for more than a decade. At the Wayne Enterprises charitable ball, Bruce and Selina dance awkwardly while the rest of the attendees stare at them. Bullock and Gordon interrogate Jacob Skolimski, and find out that the Ogre was actually his son, and not van Groot's and denied all accusations being made against his son, as he wouldn't be capable of murder. At the Wayne Enterprises ball, Bruce told Selina that what had happened with Reggie the night before, could never happen again. Bruce swears that he will not doing this again, while Selina tells him that she'd do it and it wouldn't bother her one bit. The conversation between the two ended when they manage to spot Bunderslaw. At the GCPD, Nygma confronts Officer Dougherty for hurting Kringle, demanding that he never do so again. Dougherty asks him what he'd do about it, and walks and passes him.

At the ball, Barbara is surprised to see Jason there. Meanwhile at Constance van Groot's mansion, Skolimski informs them that his son Jason, being treated affectionately by Mrs. Van Groot, became convinced that she was his biological mother. When she refused to recognize it and give her his surname, he killed her and devoted himself to finding a woman that would love him unconditionally. He scoffs at the idea that Jason could be a woman seducer since he had been born with the brutally disfigured face, causing his actual mother to leave them. With that information, Gordon returned to the cosmetic surgery clinic where he confirmed there that they had indeed operated on Jason. At Oswald's, after a few drinks, Don Maroni takes Gertrud's face in his hands and questions her to whether she acted as if she didn't really know about Cobblepot's true nature, or whether she was really that stupid. He then tells her of all the horrible acts Penguin had committed, and soon after left, paying his bill and remarking that the place was looking good. Though before he left, Penguin promised that he would pay for what he had done.

At the Wayne Enterprises charitable ball, Jason reveals to donating $10,000 to charity solely to see Barbara again. He then offers her a chance to reinvent herself as he had. Meanwhile, Bruce distracted Bunderslaw, while Selina steals his key out his pocket. Once she was done, Selina saw Barbara leave the ball with Jason. Elsewhere in Gotham, Nygma goes to Kristin Kringle's home to await Dougherty's arrival. After seeing him, and demanding that he leave Gotham, Dougherty assaulted Nygma, though Nygma eventually retaliated by stabbing Dougherty in the stomach. At her apartment, Oswald dismissed everything Maroni had said, marking it off as his sense of humor. Appalled by the revelations, she tells him that she'd continue loving him no matter what, but if he lied to her it would break her heart. She asks if what Maroni said was true, but Oswald denies it all. She looks at him sadly, and decides to go to bed. After, a delivery arrives with flowers from Maroni to Gertrud. Oswald, overwhelmed by anger breaks the vase and kills the delivery man with the glass.

At the GCPD, Gordon, Bullock, and Captain Essen all gather leads on the case to try to find out who the Ogre was. Despite not having a picture in the file "Jason Van Groot" of the clinic, they manage to get a sketch of him. Delving into the information, Gordon realizes that the press article cited by the Ogre during their conversation included a photo of him with Barbara Kean. Jim quickly goes to her penthouse, and asks Selina if the sketch looked like the man Barbara had left the ball with. At Jason Skolimski's apartment Babara asked what he behind the door. He then gives her permission to enter, and she finds a room full of torture weapons. Jason then entered behind her and they both stare at each other with delight.

Trivia[]

  • In the first few minutes of the episode a newspaper can be seen with a headline about a 'Fledermaus gallery'. As Fledermaus means bat in German - it's most likely a Batman reference.
  • Despite Jason showing himself to be very intelligent, he shows some sloppiness in studying officers that oppose him. He relied on an out-of-date newspaper article to find out who Jim Gordon loved, rather than do better investigation beforehand.
  • Bruce Wayne and Barbara Kean meet each other for the first time.

References[]

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