'Gotham' Season 2, episode 8 recap: 'Tonight's The Night'

In this week’s episode of “Gotham,” Detective Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) is determined to put Mayor Theo Galavan (James Frain) behind bars. However, he needs more evidence against him, besides Penguin’s (Robin Lord Taylor) words.

Theo Galavan knows that he needs to eliminate Jim now that he and his partner, Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue), know about his illegal activities. He finally uses his secret weapon and sends Barbara Keane (Erin Richards) to do the job.

Barbara is Jim’s ex-fiance who has turned into a psychotic criminal. She is still hung up on Jim, and she plays along with Galavan’s wishes. She walks straight into the Gotham City Police Department and demands to speak to Jim. Jim manipulates Barbara and pretends to still have feelings for her, to get her to open up about Galavan. Dr. Lesley Thompkins (Morena Baccarin), Jim’s new girlfriend, isn’t happy with the developments.

Barbara isn’t fazed by Jim’s advances and puts her own plan into action. She tells him she wants to show him something before she can tell him anything about Galavan. Capt. Nathaniel Barnes (Michael Chiklis) agrees to let Jim play along even if they all know that it’s a trap.

True enough, when Jim and Harvey drive out under Barbara’s instructions, they get ambushed. Jim is kidnapped, and he wakes up tied to a chair in the middle of Gotham Cathedral. He sees that Barbara has staged a gruesome wedding scene complete with a kidnapped priest and anonymous guests.

Jim is horrified to see that Barbara and Tabitha Galavan (Jessica Lucas) has also kidnapped his girlfriend, Lesley. The two of them try to distract Barbara until Jim is finally able to free himself. Jim gets hold of Barbara’s shotgun and they end up in a stand-off.

Luckily, Harvey figures out where they are after recalling how Barbara spoke about their botched marriage plans. The GCPD arrive just in time to rescue Lesley and Jim. During the scuffle, Barbara falls off the Cathedral window. She ends up in critical condition, but luckily, she gives up the location of Mayor James before falling.

The police rescue the Mayor, who was kidnapped by Theo Galavan. He tells them everything, and Jim finally has his hands on enough evidence to arrest Galavan.

Meanwhile, Galavan is busy setting things in motion for his plan to destroy the Wayne family. He sets up a meeting with Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz). With the help of his charming and equally manipulative niece, Silver St. Cloud (Natalie Alyn Lind), he is able to gain the trust of the young man.

Galavan tells Bruce that he has a dream for Gotham and that one way he can clean up the city is to stop crime in all levels. He points out that Wayne Enterprises has been involved in a lot of illegal activities and that the deaths of Bruce’s parents are related to a cover-up attempt.

He tells Bruce that he has all the information about the attack on his parents, including the name of the perpetrator. He dangles the file in front of Bruce and tells him that they can make a deal. If Bruce sells him his shares in Wayne enterprises, then Bruce can let go of his responsibilities and Galavan can work on cleaning up the company from the inside.

Bruce tells Alfred about the meeting, and as expected, Alfred smells treachery from a mile away. He tells Bruce that Galavan is manipulating him, but Bruce is desperate to find closure about his parents’ deaths.

Just as Bruce is about to sign the papers, he has a change of heart. Galavan attempts to convince him, but Gordon arrives. He arrests Galavan in front of Bruce and lets everyone know that Galavan is behind the kidnapping and torture of Mayor James.

While Jim wins a small victory, Ed Nygma (Michael Cory Smith) is busy trying to dispose of Kristen Kringle’s (Chelsea Speck) body. He takes her to the woods and unexpectedly stumbles into the injured Penguin. Penguin asks him for help, and it remains to be seen what kind of relationship the two villains will form.

“Gotham” airs every Monday at 8 pm ET on FOX.

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