Barnes is running out of time to fight the virus making him violent on Gotham season 3, episode 8, “Blood Rush.”
‘Gotham’ season 3, episode 8 recap:
It’s just another night in Gotham as Barnes walks home and witnesses a rather sketchy man loading up a van in the middle of the night. The police captain decides to follow him and finds that the man, Polly Penny, is trying to get rid of a dead body. Penny tells Barnes that he’s not the one that actually did the crime, he’s just the one cleaning up the mess. That doesn’t earn any sympathy from Barnes who attacks him instead of bringing him into the GCPD.
Once the crime scene is located by the GCPD, Gordon and Bullock discover that Penny’s body was ripped apart. Meanwhile, Barnes goes to see Jervis for help with his problem so he can beat the virus. But first, Jervis wants to know his weakness because that’s what the virus will bring out in him. Barnes admits to Jervis that his weakness is a hatred for criminals and the guilty. Instead of offering advice on how to beat the virus, Jervis says that once Barnes hears the voices he will know the battle is over and the virus has won.
Gordon goes to see Lee and says that he belongs at the GCPD, for better or worse. With how well Lee knows him, she’s not surprised at all. They both want to be able to work together but it’s still pretty awkward, especially when she lets him know her engagement party is tonight. His day gets a little bit worse when Barnes reveals that he’s taking point on the case.
Barnes goes to see a felon that goes by the name of the Toad and asks him to come to the GCPD to answer questions about Penny. Toad admits that the was the one that hired Penny but that he was just the middle man. When Barnes goes into another rage, Toad gives up information on the surgeon that hired him. Barnes nearly kills him, but pulls back on his rage in time so that Toad can lead him to the surgeon.
The surgeon is just about to cut into another victim when Barnes arrives and stops him. He’s ready to arrest him, when Barnes sees a face ready for transplant and the voices start to take over his mind. Somehow, Barnes manages to overpower the voices and brings the surgeon into the GCPD.
At the engagement party, Mario makes a toast to Lee saying that she is the best decision that he ever made. The building is full of influential people from the city, and Lee is shocked when Barbara shows up. Barbara just can’t seem to believe that Lee is over Gordon and doesn’t miss being near the heat of his internal battle.
Lee is relieved when Barnes shows up to congratulate her even though he says that he can’t stay long. She’s able to convince him to stay for a drink when he sees the surgeon walk into the party. Since the girl Barnes saved didn’t press charges, and the surgeon was able to pull some of his connections the GCPD had to set him free.
Gordon and Bullock show up at the party to look for the surgeon and Mario is not happy about it. While Bullock goes to look for their suspect, Mario wants a word alone with Gordon. He accuses Gordon of still loving Lee. To this, Gordon advises that Mario loose the jealousy because it makes him look weak. Mario lashes out and punches Gordon, but the detective decides to let it slide for Lee.
Meanwhile, Barnes corners the surgeon in the bathroom and attacks him. When the surgeon tries to tell him that he can’t act that way because he’s a cop, Barnes says that he’s not the judge, jury, and executioner. Afterwards, Barnes goes downstairs to tell Gordon that he saw the surgeon earlier at the party but that his lead on Penny’s killer was a dead end. Gordon goes to leave the party and is stopped by the sight of the surgeon on top of a car as though he was thrown out a window. with his last breath, the surgeon is able to say “Barnes” when Gordon asks who did it.
On the other side of Gotham, Isabella is preparing to leave for a conference when she freaks Nygma out by wearing glasses that look just like Kristen’s. It makes him see a vision of Kristen in the bathroom mirror, as she taunts him for the inevitable pain he’ll cause her. Nygma goes to see Penguin for advice, worried that something about Isabella will unlock the dark side in him. Penguin mentions breaking up with her in order to save her, and Nygma pleads for Penguin to do it for him.
Penguin goes to see Isabella and tells her that it’s over with Nygma and not to contact him again. Isabella agrees that she doesn’t deserve Nygma but doesn’t want to give up on their love. She also knows that Penguin loves him too, despite his denials.
Nygma goes to see Isabella himself to try and end things, but is shocked to find that she’s transformed herself to look just like Kristen. She wants him to face his fear and prove that he won’t hurt her. Later, Nygma excitedly tells Penguin that he doesn’t have anything to fear thanks to Isabella. What he doesn’t know is that Penguin’s already had his cronies mess with her car and she crashes into a train on the way to her conference.
