Gotham 2×16, “Prisoners,” might be the most intense, dark episode we’ve seen yet, and it looks like it’s going to be an uphill battle for Gordon.
Gotham has always been a dark and gritty TV show, but “Prisoners” really takes the cake. As Gordon is sent to live in the general population, fans get to see just how the low-life inhabitants of the city end up in the corrupt system that allows them to continue crime even while doing time.
Gordon has always tried to do what’s right, not really caring about the consequences and that comes to bite him in the butt. It just so happens that his new warden is also a friend of former commissioner Loeb, who Gordon got out of office. Just to make things even better, general population is filled with criminals he put there and others that know criminals he killed while on duty. It doesn’t look like it will be that hard for them to kill Gordon, especially when the warden wants him dead, too.
Even more bad news comes for Gordon when Bullock visits. He doesn’t have good news about an appeal, but he does have news about Leslie. Sadly, after she stopped writing to Gordon, she lost the baby and moved down south to get out of Gotham.
Right after learning this, Gordon gets jumped but is saved by another inmate named Puck. Gordon later learns he saved Puck’s sister from abductors. Gordon tells Puck he’d be smart to stay away from him, and he’s right. Later, the other inmates beat Puck so he can’t help Gordon anymore.
Luckily, Gordon has other friends on the inside, as guard Wilson Bishop warns him to be ready for movie night and everyone will be together in one room with the lights out. The same inmate that’s been giving Gordon trouble tries to kill him, but not before someone else can jump on Gordon. Even though it looks like he’s being killed, he’s told to stay down and act dead. After being zipped up in a body bag, Bishop brings Gordon outside to where Bullock is waiting. Bullock explains to him that he asked Falcone for help get Gordon out.
A drive out of the city brings Gordon to meet Falcone, who says he did it as a favor for an old friend and doesn’t want anything in return. Saving Falcone from Mooney is paying off after all. Falcone also offers to help Gordon run or find a safe place within the city. Even though Gordon says he’d love to leave, he wants to clear his name so he can find Leslie. Plus, Morena Baccarin is probably on maternity leave right now.
It was great to see such a large portion of the episode focusing on Gordon because fans got to follow the storyline, rather than it being broken up and only getting to see small portions of his time in prison. Whatever happens after this, I feel like I understand what Gordon went through rather than having to guess. Even though he was only in prison for one episode, it still felt fulfilling.
The other character that was focused on in the episode was Penguin and his continuing saga with the new family. We learned that his step family is up to no good, which is no surprise. They have been playing Elijah the whole time, apparently. Since he had no blood relatives, they were to inherit his fortune, but now that it’s to go to Penguin, they have to scramble with a new plan.
First they try to out Penguin as a criminal, but he had already told Elijah. Then they try to seduce him, but he gets creeped out. Lastly, they try to poison him but accidentally kill Elijah instead. Per the next episode synopsis, it looks like Penguin will be upset enough about the truth of his step family to revert to his old ways. Does that mean Hugo Strange will be coming back into Penguin’s life? I can’t wait to find out!