At the fight club, the spectators cheer on the two fighters. One fighter goes down and Lee snaps his broken nose into position and says that he’s fine. Edward approaches her and asks if she’s still mad at him. Lee points out that Edward killed Kristen and framed Jim, and sarcastically says that they should be friends. Grundy arrives and Lee recognizes him as Butch, and Edward tells her that he had nothing to do with Grundy’s condition. He wants Lee to help him get his intelligence back. Lee isn’t interested, and Edward says that he’ll help her if she helps him. She refuses and walks away.
Sofia meets with Oswald and she points out that after three nights of dinners together, everyone knows that Oswald has Falcone support. She asks where she stands with Oswald, and he says that it isn’t easy for him to have a real friend that he can trust. Sofia assures him that he can trust her, and suggests that just the two of them have lunch the next day. Once Oswald leaves, Jim emerges from hiding and demands to know what Sofia is up to. If she refuses to explain then he’ll put her on a train home. Sofia says that in a few days she’ll either have Oswald under control, or do whatever Jim wants.
A crooked cop, Dave Metzger, hands over his money to another cop. Once the man leaves, Metzger hears someone in a nearby cellar and goes down to investigate. He finds a cat and assumes that it made the noise… and a figure in a pig mask comes up behind Metzger and kills him with a cleaver.
The next day, Harvey calls Jim to the crime scene. Harvey explains that the killer took Metzger’s badge and they haven’t identified him because the killer put a pig mask on him made from a real pig. They remove the mask and recognize Metzger, and Harvey says that he was Oswald’s bag man delivering payoffs to cops in the precinct. Jim goes to see Oswald and ask him why someone wants to kill his employee.
Oswald is preparing for a private lunch when Jim comes in and tells him what happened. The crime lord says that he knows nothing about it, and Jim warns him that someone is trying to send Oswald a message. Oswald is unconcerned, saying that he’d deal with anyone who had a problem. He calls in Penn, who says that Wally Clarke applied for a burglary permit and works for a butcher shop. Oswald points out to Jim that the licensing system is what provided Jim with the information.
The killer, Professor Pyg, works on another pig mask in his workshop.
Jim brings in Wally, who insists that he didn’t kill Metzger. They searched the dumpster behind Wally’s apartment and found a decapitated pig. Wally says that it must have been the Professor, who he called that because the Professor talked fancy. Pyg hired him over the phone to rob the butcher’s shop, and told Wally to drop the heads under the midtown bridge. He wanted four heads, and Jim and Harvey figure that Metzger paid three men and that’s who Pyg is going after.
Oswald waits for Sofia but she doesn’t show. Victor says that she called to say she isn’t coming, and starts eating the food so it doesn’t go to waste. Oswald tells him to find out who Sofia is with, and insists that they’re not dating.
Cherry announces a fight between Grundy and says that it’s anything goes. The fighter hits Grundy repeatedly with a makeshift hammer, and Grundy goes down. Edward yells at Grundy to fight, and Grundy gets up, grabs the hammer, and knocks his opponent out with one blow. He then hits him with the hammer, and everyone cheers as Edward hugs Grundy. Cherry tells Lee to clean up what’s left of the other fighter.
Jim and Harvey talk to cops, but they figure that Jim is with IA on a fishing expedition and don’t talk. Jim finally punches one officer--Detective Culpepper--locks him a trunk, and he and Harvey talk about how hot it’s going to get. They say that they’re going to get lunch, and Culpepper agrees to talk. He tells them that Chris Whitlock makes deliveries for the west side, and he’ll be in court all day.
As the two men head out, Harvey says that he’s confirmed Oswald’s bagman is Jenny Butler. They hear a woman screaming. Whitlock and Butler are dead, seated on a bench, wearing pig masks. Jim figures that they were abducted, killed, and brought to pose in front of the building. As Harvey goes off to try and find the fourth bagman, Jim hears a busker playing and goes over to talk to him. The busker claims that he’s blind, and Jim tosses him his keys. The man catches them, giving away that he can see, and asks him again if he saw anything. The busker says that he saw a plumbing van parked up the street all morning, and he didn’t see the face of the white man driving. When the busker took a break and came back, the van was gone.
Lee stitches up Grundy’s injuries and asks what happened to him. He’s bleeding swamp water, and Grundy says that he’s from the swamp. Lee points out that Grundy doesn’t have a heartbeat, and warns him that Edward is no friend. Once Edward doesn’t need him, he’ll discard Grundy or kill him or possible. Grundy insists that Edward is his best friend, and Edward comes in and agrees. He flashes a wad of bills and tells Lee that Grundy is now Cherry’s biggest attraction. Edward tells Lee that they could go if she could fix him, and he’d be glad to pay her. Lee insists that she’s only patching up Grundy on Cherry’s orders.
Cherry comes in and Lee says that Grundy will be ready to fight that night. She says that she has to go, and Cherry reminds her that they have a deal. Lee goes to her apartment where people are waiting outside, unaware that Edward has followed her there. She goes to work treating the poor and indigent, and Edward secretly watches and smiles.
Victor finds Sofia meeting with the mayor and takes photos for Oswald.
Harvey tells Jim that the press has gotten wind of the murders. There are four cops who haven’t gone in, and Harvey has heard that one of them--Nakajima--is dirty. He warns Jim that the killer knew the victims’ schedules, and figures that it’s someone in the department that is sick of their corruption. Harper comes in and says that they found the van at an abandoned dairy. Harvey tells her that they’ll cover it and orders her to secrecy.
Pyg drives Nakajima to the dairy.
Grundy fights and defeats another opponent, beating in his skull. Cherry declares Grundy the new champion.
Victor tells Oswald that Sofia had lunch with the mayor. Afterward she went to a vacant hotel. Penn says that a secret buyer purchased the hotel and figures that it’s Sofia. She met with the zoning commissioner there, and needed his approval to build a wall and gate there. Oswald figures that Sofia is planning a war and tells Victor that they’re going to have a “chat” with Sofia… and he should bring a shovel.
Edward collects his winnings and tells Lee that she needs to be one to treat him because she knows him and what he’s capable of. He says that he knows about her clinic, and figures that Cherry lets her keep it as long as Lee works the fights. Lee asks what his threat is, and Edward vaguely says that he’ll do something to the clinic. She’s less than impressed and snickers.
Jim and Harvey find Nakajima’s abandoned police car and go into the nearby dairy. They find Nakajima handcuffed to a chair, a pig mask on his face. Jim realizes that there’s a grenade sewn into Nakajima’s chest, and when he takes the mask off it pulls the pin. Harvey and Jim jump for cover just in time but are knocked out by the blast.
When Jim wakes up, he finds himself taped to a chair. There’s no sign of Harvey, and Pyg turns on the lights and says that he’s happy to meet Jim. He says that Harvey is a dirty “pig”, and holding Jim back. Pyg assures Jim that Harvey is still alive--for now--and Jim is safe. The killer says that he’s not a cop, and tells Jim that they both see the corruption and filthy inside of the GCPD. They share the same mission, but Pyg does it with more flare. Pyg explains that he’ll butcher every crooked cop on Oswald’s payroll, and Jim says that he’s doing it for his own demented reasons. The killer angrily insists that he’s suffered profound loss, and Jim offers to make it right.
Harvey yells and Pyg runs off to deal with him. Jim sees a nearby ledge and shoves the chair toward it.
When Pyg finds Harvey, Harvey says that backup is on the way but Pyg figures that he’s lying. They hear Jim yell as he falls, shattering the chair he’s taped to, and he runs in just as Pyg cuts Harvey’s throat. Jim goes to his friend’s aid while Pyg runs off.
At her clinic, Lee discovers that she doesn’t have the antibiotics that she needs.
Oswald goes to Sofia’s house and she apologizes for cancelling their lunch. She says that she’s on her way out, and tells him that she wants it to be a surprise. Oswald tells her that he knows what she’s doing, and Sofia denies everything. She insists that she’s Oswald’s friend, and he takes her to the hotel.
At the fight club, Lee approaches Edward at the bar and says that she’ll take the money in return for helping Edward. He asks why she changed her mind, and Lee explains that she doesn’t want to be near Gotham. However, she couldn’t stay away because the Tetch virus hit the Narrows harder than anything else. It was her fault, so she’s trying to make up for it. Lee tells Edward how he should have blackmailed her, and tells him to come by the clinic the next day so that they can get started. Edward tells Grundy that he’s going to be smart again.
Victor drives Sofia and Oswald to the hotel. She tells Oswald that she forgives him, just as a group of children come out. There’s a sign up saying it’s the Falcone Home and School for Orphans, and Sofia tells Oswald that she understands the pressure he’s under. She doesn’t want him under the pressure that Carmen was, and Oswald asks her to forgive him. Sofia tells him that she already has, and says that he owes her lunch.
At the hospital, Harvey lies in a hospital bed. Jim is sitting with him, and tells his friend that Pyg escaped. Harvey tells Jim that he owes him, and Jim asks how long he’s been taking money from Oswald. His friend admits that he’s been taking money since Oswald started his licensing operation, and Metzger showed up with envelopes of cash. Jim tells him that it stops now and walks out.
Pyg feeds his pigs and says that the next day, the axe will fall.
Written by Gadfly on Oct 27, 2017