Spoilers below for Gotham's two-part Season 3 finale, so be sure to watch before reading on.
Gotham ranks up there with the most insane TV dramas of all time, unapologetically diving off the deep end while still making sure to hit sincerely dramatic beats on its way down the rabbit hole. Tonight's Season 3 finale offered up a double dose of Bat-shit twists and reveals, and several bodies were left unmoving by the time the credits rolled. Even though just about everything is worth talking about all on its own, here's a quick non-sequential rundown of every big jaw-dropping moment, and then some, from one of network TV's last big finales of the season.
Bruce Is Basically Batman Now
Even though the young ward was fully under the Shaman's identity-wiping spell, a few chance meetings with Alfred turned Bruce a little closer to the metaphorical light, although definitely not all the way. As the finale was reaching its final minutes, a moment that reflected the Waynes' murder started to go down in an alley, and it was worth cheering when a fully-cloaked Bruce darted from the darkness and whooped that would-be thief's ass. Those cheers then turned into full-on Bat-chants once everything ended in Bruce unmasking himself while standing atop a building, similar to how Batman has spent much of his time across all canons.
Ra's Al Ghul Arrived
It was clear that the legendary Batman foe Ra's al Ghul was coming to Gotham, both by Bruce's recent exploits with the Shaman, and by Alexander Siddig getting cast for the role a while back. The age-defying villain finally showed up tonight to congratulate Bruce for completing his training, to drop some expository knowledge about his goals, and to offer some very important advice to Bruce about a certain Pit's waters. A supernatural element is very much at play with Gotham's Ra's, as the alternative would have been ridiculous, and we can expect more of him in Season 4.
Alfred Was Stabbed, Saved By Lazarus Pit
All the props go to Sean Pertwee for constantly reminding viewers that some of Gotham's best performances don't appear to be fueled by all the amphetamines. After trying multiple times to appeal to Bruce's emotional core, in order to bring the teen back from his shattered mental state, Alfred suffered a blade to the midsection, with Bruce as his attacker. Thankfully for both Alfred and audiences, this near-murder occurred in Ra's al Ghul's headquarters at this point, so Bruce was able to use the waters from the Lazarus Pit on Alfred's wound, stopping Bruce from truly murdering someone.
Fish Mooney Is Dead...Again
After three seasons of coming and going and making everyone jealous of her signature hairdos, Jada Pinkett Smith's Fish Mooney may finally be dead for good this time. While anyone seemed capable of putting Fish down for the count, it ended up being the Virus-Fueled Jim Gordon that shanked her in the side with a sword, and she bled out to Penguin's anguished cries. Of course, Huge Strange was RIGHT THERE, so there's never any reason to believe Fish is gone forever, especially with the way that some of these other moments went.
The Riddler Is Now On Ice
The love/hate relationship between The Riddler and The Penguin took an interesting turn in Gotham's finale. It's clear that Riddler never wanted to really kill Penguin, since he passed up ample chances to do just that, and so it was a nice twist at the end to have Oswald be responsible for a complicated scheme that fooled the crafty Ed. And instead of killing his former partner in crime, Penguin decided to keep Riddler around as a trophy by having Mr. Freeze put the emerald-attired villain in a big block of ice. I cannot wait for this figurine to go on sale.
Butch Is Actually Solomon Grundy
In another one of those Gotham twists that seems impossible to have predicted, mostly due to the ridiculousness of everything happening all around him serving as a distraction, perma-henchman Butch was not-really-killed-off in tonight's finale by taking a shot in the head from Barbara. But when he was lying in the hospital, it was revealed that Butch's real name is Cyrus Gold. Comic fans know that name as the famed Batman villain with a nursery rhyme bent, Solomon Grundy. His presence was first teased quite a while back, and we're pumped to learn he's likely on the way. Now to wonder how...
Babs Is Dead, Or Is She?
Ding dong, the big bad bitch is dead, which sucks, because the sanity-restrained Barbara was a lot of fun in Season 3, and her ascent to the upper ranks of Gotham City's underworld was a blast. Of course, she inevitably wrote her own death(?) warrant by holding zero relationships as important enough not to ruin by power-hungry greed. After Butch told her all about herself, causing his own murder, Barbara had a pretty shocking demise when she was electrocuted by the whip-snapping Tabitha. But is she actually dead, or is this Babs' fan-theorized version of Harley Quinn? We're thinking the latter, and the psychotic look on her face definitely helped.
Selina Is Basically Catwoman Now
Having already taken that "should have been fatal" fall, at which point she got all the cat nuzzles a would-be corpse can handle, Selina was on Bruce's paws, er, heels well on her way to taking on the Catwoman mantle, and tonight took it two steps further. She showed up at the hospital (with leather standing in as her second skin) and met the "new" and filter-free Bruce, who shunned her and further drove her out of his life and into vllains' arms. The now-partnerless Tabitha totally passed on her whip, too, which Selina got to test drive with flying colors. All she needs is a rubber band across the eyes and she's Catwoman.
Crazy Jim Totally Bled Out The Mad Hatter
Nothing about the GCPD makes much sense (as realized whenever the entire precinct got shot up for what feels like the 12th time since the show started), and now Bullock is complicit in yet another one of Jim's fucked up crimes. In an effort to create an antidote for the Tetch Virus, Jim had to get a ton of Mad Hatter's blood, which he did by totally cutting the villain's throat open and bleeding him out. Though not the point of death, since Tetch is currently being patched up and on his way back to Arkham. Jim probably won't get punished, either.
Lee Is Apparently Gone Now
At one point in Gotham's past, Monica Baccarin's tragedy-stricken doctor Lee took a brief exit, only to return to Gotham City and face even worse problems. I was hoping Lee would get to wreak a little more havoc on Gotham under the influence of the Tetch virus, but she mostly just wanted to make Jim give into his evil impulses so they could run away together. In the end, after she was given the antidote, she did run away, but without Jim, and her non-breakup letter served as the final montage's voiceover fodder. Which was then followed by Mini-Batman! Mini-Batman! Mini-Batman! Dangit, the chant has started again.
Sadly, Gotham won't return to Fox until this fall, but I think we can all give thanks that Season 4 even exists, since shows like this don't usually last that long on network TV. To see what other (mostly tamer) shows are premiering in the coming months, check out our summer TV schedule.
