'Gotham' season 3, episode 1 recap: Fish Mooney's back in power as Jim Gordon turns bounty hunter
After the Indian Hill incident unleashed a slew of genetically enhanced villains on the streets of Gotham, the now badge-less Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) set out to rid his city of its filth as a heartbroken bounty hunter.
The premiere episode of "Gotham" season 3 titled "Better to Reign in Hell" ended Jim's search for his estranged ex-flame Lee Thompson (Morena Baccarin) rather quickly after the disgraced ex-cop, who even dressed up for the occasion, saw Lee kissing another man. Lee didn't even know he was there and Jim didn't feel like it mattered either way.
Six months later, Jim was back in Gotham, beating up on one of the Indian Hill escapees referred to as Ridgeback Monster in the credits. He was hunting down criminals and drowning himself in booze, which was a rather huge departure from the straight-shooting cop that he once was.
In another part of the city, his other former flame, Barbara Kean (Erin Richards) was now running a nightclub named The Siren with Tabitha Galavan (Jessica Lucas). Tabitha escaped death in the vengeful hands of Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) only because Oswald did not want to hurt his right-hand man Butch Gilzean's (Drew Powell) feelings.
Lucius Fox (Chris Chalk) had been recruited by the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) and Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) was back in a position of power with her army of Indian Hill monsters.
The biggest change that viewers would see this season was set in motion in one of the final scenes of the episode: the unappealing Ivy Pepper (Clare Foley) encountered an Indian Hill escapee with the ability to age people simply by touching them, before falling off into a hole in the ground. This was apparently the reason behind Ivy's transformation into a voluptuous 20-year-old woman this season which would be played by Maggie Geha.
One familiar thing about the episode though was the sight of Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova) still tending to the pigeons that her friend, Bridgit Pike (Michelle Veintimilla) left behind. There was also the young Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) getting kidnapped yet again, this time by a Talon sent by the Court of Owls.
More madness is afoot as the third season of the pre-Batman superhero series continues. The Wrap speculated that Barbara could quite possibly become Harley Quinn or someone akin to the infamous mad villainess this season.
IGN posed the question of how Jim would return to the GCPD and for what reason. Would the death of either police captain Nathaniel Barnes (Michael Chiklis) or his partner and most trusted ally Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) be reason enough for him to pick up his badge once again?
"Gotham" season 3 episode 2 titled, "Burn the Witch," will find Bruce face to face with the Court of Owls, while Oswald and Fish get caught in a standoff. It airs on Monday, Sept. 26, at 8 p.m. EDT on FOX.
