Welcome back Gothamites!!! If you thought last season really got us going wait till you see this. We begin where we last left Bruce and Alfred exploring the underground level of Wayne Manor. I know what you’re thinking…Bat Cave right? Well, we’ll find out later.

The story takes place a month after the events of the Finale. Jim now lives with Dr. Leslie Thompkins, Harvey Bullock now decommissioned is working at a bar, Oswald Cobblepot is now the city’s biggest crime lord in charge, Nygma still going crazy after his first man he killed, and Barbara is just entering Arkham Asylum, the same prison where the Jerome is. We cut to the streets where Gordon is doing traffic patrol when a lunatic with swords starts making a fuss. When all was said and done he took care of the portraiture Zardon. That is until Commissioner Loeb starts questioning his actions after the incident. Immediately he was let go by poor judgement from Loeb.

Back at Arkham, Jerome starts making conversations with Barbara…about their connections. Barbara seemed uninterested that is until Jerome lets her in on someone willing to help her. Whatever it is, probably not good. Back to Gordon, he makes the unwise decision of turning back to Oswald for help getting his job back. But of course there is a small fee in which Gordon must help Oswald take care of a little business transaction. By then Jim declines.

He meets with Harvey and starts drinking his troubles away as they catch up. Gordon then walks all the way to Wayne Manor to give Bruce and Alfred the bad news of his termination. This leads to Bruce almost having a moment of anger against Jim but he backed down and let him off. He then opens the vault back to the underground level to try the combination again but fails and destroys the keypad. After consideration Jim takes on Oswald’s proposal and goes after his partner for the money.

The job pays off as he not only got e money but he got his job back after Oswald invade’s Comissioner Loeb’s house and bribes him to get Gordon back to the game. He does and Loeb is fired but not before a prison break at Arkham has everyone on high alert. Finally back at Wayne Manor, Bruce and Alfred decide they are going to bomb the door leading to his dad’s secret room. Inside he finds all of his dad’s belongings and a letter from him that the time will come when he too will have to help the city. What does this mean for Bruce and what does the future hold for  the GCPD now that Gordon is back on the force? More to come this season on Gotham!

So remember when Penguin said in the Pilot that there is a war coming? Well, he was right about it as the gang war in Gotham intensifies. The episode begins with  Cat is warming her hands over a trash can fire with some others when she sees a boat approaching the shore with Fish Mooney standing at the bow. She comes ashore and warms her hands tells her of a new day dawning. This convinces her to join her bandit team to take down Falcone.

We jump to two weeks later with Bruce still reveling about the mysterious goings on inside Wayne Enterprises and his father keeping secrets. Alfred says if his dad had a secret life then he would know about it. He says he worked hard right in this room. Bruce says he remembers he wasn’t allowed to come in, and the door was always locked. Bruce asks why. He starts getting agitated and he says he knows his father’s secret is in his office.

Meanwhile, Falcone shows up to the docks in a limo. He opens a nearby chicken cage and takes out the chicken, and he greets Fish and says he likes her style. A motorcycle roars up and a man with a shoulder RPG blows up Falcone’s limo. Word of this gets around back at GCPD as the jail cells are filling up. Jim goes to see Lee and Barbara in the morgue as she is recovering from her traumatic moments in last week’s episode. Lee says Barbara needs to do trauma counseling. Barbara wants Lee to do it since she likes her and can talk to her. After some reluctance Lee agrees. This makes Jim uncomfortable as it should be considering past colliding with present girlfriend.

Across town, Falcone wakes up in the hospital cuffed to his bed. Penguin and Butch arrive with flowers and a machine gun. He tells Falcone that Maroni’s men will be there soon and he comes to kill him before they get to him. He admits it was him that started the war and that he wants complete control. He pulls out a scalpel and prepares to slice him but not before Gordon shows up and arrest both Penguin and Butch.

Penguin asks to be released and to be on the winning side. Falcone says if he dies now, Gotham will fall apart. Jim asks if he can pull Gotham back together. Falcone says he can, he just needs to two days in his safe house. Jim calls Harvey and floats the plan of getting Falcone out of there and asks for help. Harvey says he’s not thinking straight because of Barbara. Jim says he’s done in this town anyway so what does he have to lose. A big thug arrives and wonders why Jim is there since he thought the fix was in with the cops. Jim tells Falcone he’s doing this for the city and if he didn’t think he’s going to take back control he’d let him die. Falcone understands. Penguin reminds Jim he owes him a favor. Seriously…drop it Penguin!!!!

Commissioner Loeb comes to the hospital as he tells Jim to disarm himself. Jim tells Loeb he is a disgrace and he hopes to see him behind bars or dead soon. Loeb gives his men the order to kill him and Falcone. That’s when ths shooting starts and the escape begins for them. They arrive at Falcone’s warehouse, when Cat and Fish and her army show up. She has no intention of helping them  now that she struck a deal with Maroni stating that she could have all her territories back if she gave him the head of Falcone. Yeah good luck with that…Maroni is hell bent on taking out his rival.

While we see that the gang is almost strung up Maroni lets go of everyone but Falcone in a testament to his rivalry with him. It wasn’t till later that Maroni is shot to death and Jim, Falcone, and Harvey  make a break for it and head for 7th Ave. Although they were previous in agreement that he was the best worst option, Falcone now says he wants to leave the business and has a place down south where he can hide. He apologizes to a once again incredulous Jim. He says he knows he is letting Jim and the city down but he’s got to go. They make a run for it and get themselves inside a truck. Harvey asks if Falcone has any work for some beat up old cops at his beach house. Falcone says he does.

While all of that was going on, Barbara meets with Lee for their session as she talks about the Ogre. She talks about him and her parents as well as many other issues. It leads to a disturbing revelation for Barbara as she thinks she killer her parents. That’s when she pulls a knife on Lee who takes off running. She locks herself in the bathroom and tries to call Jim as Barbara bust through the door like Jack Nicholson in the Shining. Lee breaks the mirror to have a weapon with a glass shard. This doesn’t work and they have a crazy, amazing, hilarious fight that ends with Barbara choking and banging her head against the floor until she’s dead just as Jim, Harvey, and Falcone walk in. Awkward…and kinda terrifying.

Meanwhile, on the roof of Falcone’s warehouse, Penguin goes after Fish and they get into their own battle. That’s when Butch shows up but he doesn’t know who to shoot and they both ask him to shoot the other. He shoots them both. Butch immediately apologizes to Fish but Penguin rises up and throws Fish over the side of the building in to the water as Butch looks on. Penguin looks at the city lights and begins shouting “I’m the king of Gotham!!”

Jim chats with Falcone and says he will miss Gotham. Jim asks if he will change his mind since Gotham needs him. Falcone says no, what Gotham needs is a powerful lawman who will grab the city by the neck and shake it and he knows in his bones that that man is Jim. He pulls out his switchblade and tells him that his father gave it to him. Jim is surprised they were that close. Falcone says, at one time. He says Jim’s father was the most honest man he ever met, but he carried a knife.

Back in the library Bruce and Alfred have found nothing. Alfred says his father was a good man and he had no secret life. Alfred quotes Marcus Aurelius and Bruce realizes that’s it, Aurelius was a stoic which is what Lucious called his dad. He grabs a copy of a book about Marcus Aurelius and finds a little device with a button on it. Alfred tells him not to press the button. Bruce does. At first they think it’s just the stereo turning on his dad’s beloved classical music. But then suddenly the fireplace moves backward from the wall. Bruce and Alfred peer at the opening and see a stairway built into the wall leading down. Batcave anyone? Or at least the start of something? We’ll have to wait till next season to find out.

In recent weeks Gotham has grown darker with every historic villain taking over the city. With Oswald “Penguin” Cobblepot wanting Maroni dead and the Maroni Gang at a shoot out war with Falcone. Now it’s become a turf war between two factions wanting complete control.

Also for Bruce the horrible realization that his father and grandfather were about to expose the companies wrong doings and were killed for what they know. Alfred also hearing that Selina Kyle was the one who killed his old friend Reggie Payne after working with Mr. Bunderslaw and god knows who else in a chances to stop Bruce from exposing the truth.

Finally for Jim, Harvey and the entire GCPD after killing the Ogre now their job is to stop the shootings in their city and stop the two crime families.

Tonight one person will fall at the end of this and what will become of Gotham at the end of all of this? What will become of our characters once this night is out? Don’t miss the season finale tonight and my finale recap later this week.