'Gotham' Season 2, Episode 4 recap: Highlights of 'The Strike Force'

This week’s episode of “Gotham” finally reveals Theo Galavan’s real plans for Gotham City. As he continues to wreak havoc, things begin to look up in the Gotham City Police Department, thanks to the arrival of Capt. Nathaniel Barnes.

After the massacre in the GCPD, the force has been left without a commissioner. Capt. Nathaniel Barnes (Michael Chiklis) arrives and assumes leadership of the badly demotivated force. His first move is to fire several dirty cops.

Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) likes his move, but he’s afraid that losing more officers, after the deaths of so many, has left the GCPD extremely short-handed. Barnes appoints Gordon as his second in command and assures him that he has a plan. The two of them head out to the Police Academy to hire the fresh graduates who are at the top of their class.

After some profiling, Barnes and Gordon manage to choose a group of young, fresh-faced and eager new cops. Barnes calls them Unit Alpha of the new GCPD Strike Force. Almost as soon as they are hired, the Strike Force is faced with the challenging mission to take down Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor).

Penguin ends up as Theo Galavan’s (James Frain) hired assassin after Galavan and his sister, Tabitha (Jessica Lucas), kidnap Penguin’s mother and blackmail him into doing their dirty work for them. Galavan reveals that he wants to take over Gotham’s Mayor’s office. In order to do this, he needs to continue to appear to be a hero. Meanwhile, Penguin will be the one to take out the competition.

When a fake assassination attempt on Galavan plays out in front of the public, he pretends to take up the challenge and declares his candidacy. Meanwhile, Penguin is growing desperate as he tries to find his mother while killing off the other candidates.

Gordon starts to figure out that Penguin is behind the killings. He knows it’s out of character for Penguin to go after the candidates but he can’t figure out what’s motivating Penguin. Gordon tries to talk to him but Penguin refuses to tell Gordon what’s really happening for fear of losing his mother. With Capt. Barnes and the Strike Force firmly on a mission to take out Penguin, Gordon is still unsure about who is really behind all the chaos in the city.

Elsewhere, love is in the air in Gotham City. Ed Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) has finally worked up the courage to invite Kristen Kringle (Chelsea Spack) out to dinner. Thanks to his evil and confident split personality, he manages to gather up the confidence to go after the woman he’s been lusting after.

Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) has also been introduced to a new love interest. After Alfred pushes away Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova), Theo Galavan introduces Bruce to his attractive niece, Silver St. Cloud (Natalie Alyn Lind). She clearly stirs up some interest and Bruce is quickly distracted from thinking about his old friend, Selina.

“Gotham” continues next Monday at 8:00 pm ET on FOX.

Contact the writer at feedback@ibtimes.com.au or leave a comment below.