Tonight on FOX Gotham continues with an all new Monday October 20, season 1 episode 5 called, “Viper.” On tonight’s episode Gordon [Ben McKenzie] and Bullock [Donal Logue] are on the case when a new euphoric but lethal drug hits the streets. Elsewhere, Oswald Cobblepot integrates himself into Maroni’s inner circle; and Fish Mooney continues to set her targets on Falcone.
On the last episode, as a contentious city council voted on the future of the Arkham district approached, politicians from both sides are in danger. Gordon and Bullock must race to protect the council and an old friend visited Gordon. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it, we have a full and detailed recap right here for you.
On tonight’s episode Gordon and Bullock search for the source of a new street drug that causes euphoria then death. Meanwhile, Oswald Cobblepot works his way deeper into Maroni’s (guest-star David Zayas) inner circle and Fish Mooney continues to plot against Falcone.
Don’t forget to join us for our live recap tonight at 8:00 pm when Gotham airs on Fox.
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
Bruce works on a large cork board assembling information. Alfred asks him to take a walk but the young man says he’s busy. Alfred asks what if all this is a waste of time and never discovers who killed his parents and never get revenge. Bruce says he doesn’t want revenge – he wants to understand how Gotham works. He asks how Falcone and Maroni got such big shares in the Arkham deal and why Wayne Enterprises didn’t do something about this.
Alfred says as a hobby this is better than tormenting himself, but not particularly healthy. Bruce promises to take a walk later. Maroni wants to rob Falcone’s casino to mess with him. He says Arkham us only the beginning and tells Frankie they’ll take over inch by inch. Oswald polishes a glass nearby, listening in on the crime plans.
A busker plays guitar displaying a sign that says he needs money for drugs. A man approaches and leaves a vial of green liquid in the guitar case. It is labeled – breathe me – he snaps the ampule and inhales deeply. He gets intensely high and has a sort of stiff seizure He goes into a store, grabs a jug of milk and gulps it down. The clerk says he has to pay for it and the guy calls him mortal and says not to vex him.
The clerk comes over with a baseball bat but the guy grabs it and snaps it then comes after the man. Jim and Harvey get burgers from a stand while Selina hops up on a car nearby. She creeps closer and Jim sees her sneak up and take a wallet from a guy. He yells at her and the pedestrian notices she’s lifting his wallet and grabs for her. She kicks the guy and runs off. Jim tries to give chase but a taxi blocks him and the girl is gone.
They hear an alarm. Harvey doesn’t want to respond because it’s lunch time. Jim insists and Harvey reluctantly follows. They let the clerk out of hiding and he says a skinny guy drank milk and then stole the ATM. Harvey says they’re homicide, not robbery and are on lunch break. But then the clerk tells them he stole the ATM all by himself and carried it out in his bare hands. We see the dude running down the street carrying the cash machine on his back grinning with glee.
Fish chats with Liza, her killer new singer, who tells her boss she’s bored. Fish asks if she wants excitement then slaps her across the face. She makes Liza say that she’s her secret weapon. Fish tells her she needs to learn the damned tune. Liza calls her mama and says she’s sorry but Fish tells her she has to earn that. Fish turns on the boom box and the girl works on the difficult opera number.
The guys show Essen the video from the store and they show her the drug vial they found in the guitar case. Nigma is working to ID the drug and they tell her they are going to try and chase down the thief. Falcone meets with Fish and other of his managers including Niko. He says they all got a share of Arkham but Niko complains and Fish tells him to back off Falcone. Niko gets misogynistic with her and she pretty much calls his mom a whore until Falcone puts a stop to it. Falcone says they need each other and says they’re family.
Harvey and Jim roll up in a shady neighborhood with a pic of their perp but most say no. One street walker says it’s Benny, a druggy guitar player. Harvey says the guy came into an inheritance. She asks fr $20 they give her $10 and she tells them where to find him. They find him holed up with the ATM and reams of empty milk cartons. He tells the he needs more because he doesn’t feel good. He asks them to find him. He says the guy has a mangled ear. They try to subdue him but he throws them both back easily.
The guy lifts the ATM over his head but then his drug-fueled powers fail him and the thing crushes him. They go closer to look at him and wonder what the hell. Jim says – God help us if that drug gets out. We see the pusher guy handing out vials of it all over the bad neighborhood, including to the pro the guys paid for the tip.
Alfred finds Bruce conked out on the couch and a mess of files. He fusses at the boy and threatens to throw it all in the fire. Alfred tells him Wayne Enterprises is hosting a luncheon tomorrow and says he told them Bruce would go. He says he wants to go and ask about Arkham and how the gangsters got shares of the project. He asks if his parents did business that way and Alfred says no.
Bruce says it was a clever camouflage with shell corporations. He tells Alfred he can’t throw any of it in the fire and says it’s an order. Bruce turns on the news and hears about Viper, the new drug that gives super powers then causes a terrible death. The police station is in chaos. Criminals are running rampant. They haul in the hooker form the day before who is crazed and violent. Nigma tells the guys and Essen that Viper activates unused DNA and it burns calcium as fuel which is why they want milk and cheese.
He says the bones crumble and then they suffocate and die. Essen wonders who would put this on the street and says it kills you. Harvey says they’re creating demand and Essen asks who would buy it. They speculate on that and Nigma says you’d need a top tier lab to make this. He says the only lab around that could do it is WellZyn but Essen says it can’t be them since they’re owned by Wayne Enterprises.
The hooker throws something through Essen’s window then crumbles to an agonizing death before their eyes. Nigma says it’s fascinating. Maroni hassles Frankie about the casino robbery plans. Oswald comes over to chat and Frankie tells him to get lost but Maroni says to speak. Oswald says he knows a janitor that can get them in and tells him there are access tunnels.
Maroni asks his name and Oswald says everyone calls him penguin. He doesn’t like the name but Maroni says it suits him. Frankie says he’s just a dish washer but Maroni says he thinks the guy is really a player. Penguin says this isn’t his first rodeo and tells him he’s Oswald Cobblepot and can be a great asset to him. He says the headline of his story is that he used to work for Fish and knows a lot about the Falcones but then they tried to kill him. Maroni slams Penguin’s head on the table several times and says it’s a funny story.
Taylor Reece from WellZyn comes in and says they have nothing to do with Viper. She says they will sue anyone who says otherwise. Harvey says it sounds like they pushed her buttons. They ask her if she has a worker with severely damaged ear. She has a photo faxed over of Stan Potolsky. She says he used to work for them in the personal care products department and is a biochemist.
She says Stan was frustrated he wasn’t on more important projects, grew disgruntled then there was an incident last year when he got into an argument with his manager and tried to cut his own ear off. Jim says she knew it was him and that’s why she came to see them. She says Stan could bill his own lab to make it but he can still come inspect theirs with a warrant.
Jim says they need to find Stan Potolsky and Harvey goes to issue an APB. Frankie shows up to the PD and tells Jim they have a mutual friend and he needs to come with him now. He says otherwise, he’ll send Oswald’s head to Falcone in a bag which will cause problems since he’s supposed to be dead. Jim gets in the car with Frankie’s pals and they put a bag over his head.
Jim sits at the table with Oswald and Maroni. He asks Jim about the story Oswald told him and threatens to jam a lobster claw down Penguin’s throat. Jim tells the guy to slow down. Maroni says he’ll get a turn to talk. He tells him to tell the same story that Penguin told him and Jim asks what story. Maroni says he better know the story so he knows it’s true so no one has to die. Jim says the Waynes were murdered and he caught the case.
Jim says he was a pawn in a conspiracy between the PD, Falcone and the Mayor to frame another guy. He says he was ordered to kill Cobblepot by Falcone but he let him live. Maroni asks if any of them know Penguin is alive and Jim says if they did, he’d be dead already. Maroni calls it delicious and tells Frankie to bring Penguin back to the table. Maroni tells Jim he did a good job and kisses Penguin on the cheek.
Jim asks if he can go and Maroni tells him yeah, but to keep it hush-hush. He tells Jim he’ll call if he needs him and he says – you do that – and heads out. Liza works with Fish saying – I love you baby – but Fish tells her it’s got too much sex and tells her to make it more like you’d say it to a child. Then she tells her to act like she caught her in a lie and to use disappointment. Fish coaches her on all aspects of her looks and behavior.
Jim shows up at the PD and Harvey asks where he was but he says it was personal. WellZyn sent over some files on Potolsky. Harvey asks if it was Barbara and he says it was, kind of. He offers help but Jim says it’s okay. Jim finds a photo of Potolsky and another guy and says it looks like a university professor. They head out and to Gotham University.
The professor tells him he knows Stan and says that his work at WellZyn pushed him into dark corners. Harvey says he made shampoo but the man says he made chemical weapons used for combat and says they would give them strength to rip a man apart. He says Viper was stage one but had kinks and Venom was stage two. The guy says he tried to get WellZyn to shut it down and then went to the Waynes to try and shut it down.
The professor has a vial of the drug there and they figure out quickly he helped Potolsky plan the acts of terrorism. He says Stan is making a statement today then snaps open a vial, gets his super strength and throws them out through his door. He chokes Harvey and Jim shoots him and demands to know where Stan is going. He says he’s going to make Wayne Enterprises and WellZyn pay. The guy said, before he died, altruism won’t make up for what they’ve done.
Harvey asks what altruism is and Jim says it’s charity and he knows where he’s going. Sure enough, we see the guy with a 55 gallon drum of Viper that he wheels into the charity benefit Wayne Enterprises is hosting. A TV plays in the foyer saying nice things about the company. Alfred points out Ms Mathis to Bruce and says she worked with his father.
Stan is on the roof hooking the drug canister to the building’s ventilation system. Bruce goes to speak to Ms Mathis and she says most of them are middle management and says the board doesn’t show up for things like this. He asks why and she says they’re very busy. He says he wants to talk to the board about serious irregularities in the Arkham project. She says Wayne Enterprises wouldn’t do business with criminals and he asks her to arrange a meeting with the board. She says she’ll try.
Stan pops up on the big screen and says he created Viper for WellZyn, a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises. He starts the drug heading for the A/C system as Jim and Harvey tell someone to evacuate the building and they head up stairs. Stan says since the demonstration on street people didn’t work he has to do something more extreme.
Alfred notices the A/C changes and throws his jacket over Bruce’s face and hauls him out quickly. Jim pulls a gun on Stan who says he doesn’t care if he kills him because he says his work here is done. Jim shoots the tank of chemicals and it sprays all over Stan. He tells them to go look at Warehouse 39 then jumps off the roof to his death. Jim goes to investigate where he said – a warehouse on the waterfront.
Jim slides the door open and heads inside. He hears a noise but it’s just Harvey. Jim says there’s nothing there and Harvey says that’s Gotham for you. A car pulls up – it’s Mathis and she says there’s nothing there for them to find so they can leave them be for now, until they get closer. Bruce finds a photo of Mathis attached to a profile at WellZyn. Alfred comes into sit by him and help. Bruce smiles tentatively at his helping presence.
Penguin, Frankie and Maroni sit in the car waiting on the casino thieves to pull off the job. Maroni asks if he’s nervous and tells him if his boys don’t make it, he won’t either. But they run out with the loot and it’s a job well done. Fish has Niko tied up in her bed and she’s rubbing on him. He says sometimes he thinks she doesn’t like him. She says they just have to keep up appearances so Falcone won’t know they’re working together but he says he wants Falcone gone and says they need to strike soon.
Falcone sits feeding pigeons when Liza comes wandering by in a pretty, demure white dress humming a song she’s playing on her iPod. He comes over and comments on the aria she was humming. She says it’s her favorite and he says his mother sang it to him as a child. He says she looks like her. He apologizes for rambling and she says it’s okay then asks if he wants to listen. He agrees and they sit on the steps and she pops an earbud in his ear and the other in hers. Fish’ plan is off to a lovely start.
THE END!