Penguin took over as mayor on Gotham season 3, episode 5, “Anything For You,” but things don’t go as smoothly as he had hoped!

‘Gotham’ season 3, episode 5 recap:

The city is in full swings of celebration as Penguin takes over the mayor’s office. Despite all the festivities, there’s still a twinge of sadness in him. He’s gotten everything he’s wanted, all the power he’ll ever need, and yet he still feels alone. Without his mother by his side, Penguin seems unsure who is really there for him.

Then matters take a dark turn when a statue dedication to Penguin’s mother is interrupted by the Red Hood Gang looking to show that the city isn’t so safe after all. They were thought to be wiped out, and now Penguin wants the leader of the group found and killed.

At his chief of staff, Nygma takes the issue very seriously and orders the GCPD to include him in the investigation. Nygma wants to make sure that everything goes through him and he even checks out he forensics himself. He also manages to get punched in the face by Lee who is still furious for what he did to Kristen Kringle.

Penguin also has his allies on the case, and it doesn’t take Tabitha and Barbara very long to find a member of the gang and torture him for information. When they figure out that it’s Butch that’s leading the group he explains that he only did it to try and get back in Penguin’s good graces.

The plan was to turn on the Red Hood Gang in the end and look like the hero. Tabitha decides to keep the information hidden from Penguin but makes sure Butch knows that he owes her. She may not want to admit it, but it’s pretty obvious that Tabitha still has some feelings for him.

Just as Butch goes to leave, he gets a call from Penguin. Nygma cracked the forensics and figured out where the Red Hood Gang was hiding out. Butch manages to get there first and kills all the members, much to Penguin’s delight.

Nygma isn’t fooled though, he can tell that something is up just by the scene of the crime. Why did only one of the gang members pull a gun on Butch when he attacked, Nygma wonders. On top of that Nygma finds the suits that were meant to wear that night to Penguin’s party. He easily figures out that it was Butch behind it all when he ties the suits to Butch and lets him know that he’s onto him. All that Nygma asks in return is that Butch shoots Penguin, that way Nygma can take over the city.

Too bad Nygma actually gave Butch a gun with blanks in it. So when Butch goes to shoot Penguin, Victor Zsasz has no problem taking him down. Butch is unmasked and Penguin is shocked to learn that one of his closest friends had turned on him. Tabitha is able to help Butch and he goes after Nygma, but Penguin saves him.

Once again, Nygma kept his plans a secret from Penguin in order to help him. He knew that by keeping the trap a secret, Penguin would be genuinely surprised to see Butch unmasked and the citizens would still see him as the hero. Nygma seems sincere when he tells Penguin that he would do anything for him, and they have a very intimate hug.

It looks like Penguin isn’t so alone after all, but it’s not clear where this is going. Fans of Penguin and Nygma have been hoping these two would become more than friends and there are definitely tones of that are coming across on the screen. Wether the writers are just teasing shippers or if they are really going to make them a couple remains to be seen. I’m definitely team NygmaCobblepot!

Meanwhile, Gordon and Bruce are reunited when they start to look into what happened to Ivy Pepper. Bruce hires Gordon so that he can help Selina find her friend again. Even though he insists that he’s just doing it as a good friend, Gordon knows Bruce’s real reason.

Bullock is able to give them the hint about the man that was attacked by a red head and she was wearing Ivy’s sweater. However, the age isn’t a match for Ivy so they think it’s a dead end. Gordon advices that Bruce just tell Selina how he really feels. When Bruce sees Selina later at Penguin’s party, he does just that. She thoroughly confuses him by saying he doesn’t actually like her and they have nothing in common, only to kiss him.

Neither of them realized that the redhead that talked to Selina was actually Ivy. Of course she no longer looks like the old Ivy at all, except for the hair. She’s also dressed like money is no object and doesn’t seem to be having a hard time getting men to buy things for her.

Gordon also decides to take his own advice and goes to see Valerie. They’ve kept things very casual and he’s tried not to get involved with her reporter lifestyle. He isn’t cool with her going out with one of the guys testing Alice’s blood for information though, so he crashes the date. Instead he promises to give Valerie the information she needs if she buys him dinner.

This episode turned out to be my favorite of the season so far. There was enough action and surprised to keep me on the edge of my seat, while still having touching moments between characters to soften the mood. It was the perfect balance and it helped that some of my favorite ships got closer.

Extra’s from ‘Gotham’ season 3, episode 5:

What did you think of ‘Gotham’ season 3, episode 5, ‘Anything For You’?