At Wayne Manor, Bruce holds his hand above a candle flame and then
slowly lowers it. Alfred comes in and asks what he's doing, and examines
his hand. He angrily calls Bruce a stupid little boy and then hugs him
and says that it will be all right.
In the streets, Selina is
examining a necklace she stole when a van pulls up to three homeless
teenagers warming themselves over a barrel fire. A van pulls over and
the people inside introduce themselves as Patti and Doug, and explain
that they're with the Mayor's outreach program. They offer sandwiches
and candy, and all the teenagers go over except Selina. Patti drugs two
of them—Zeb and Smoke--from behind with a long pin, and the third one,
Macky, manages to run off after Patti only partially injects him. When a
homeless man tries to intervene, Doug shoots him dead and then goes
after the third teenager. They struggle in front of a posh restaurant
and Doug ends up throwing Macky through the front window.
The
next day, Jim and Harvey get the call on the shooting. Jim confirms that
the dead man was a former soldier. Selina watches from the overpass as
Harvey comes over. He figures that it's another dead bum and isn't
impressed by the dead man's military service. A local patrolman, Bo,
comes over and explains that he wasn't there because he was dealing with
a junkie kid falling through a restaurant window. Jim point that Bo is a
first responder and that the kid might be related to the victim, and Bo
takes offense. Harvey intervenes and they spill his coffee.
At
the station, Marky tells Jim and Harvey what happened. He says that
street kids have been disappearing for weeks and the GCPD haven't heard
because they don't care. Harvey doesn't buy his story and figures that
he killed the old man, Soldier, and threatens to beat Marky unless he
tells the truth. Marky tells them to talk to Selina. Jim takes Harvey
aside and points out that beating teenagers is illegal, and Harvey
reminds him that he recently put a man in the river. The young
lieutenant insists that he's going to do what's right and they shove
each other. When they bump into a detective and he objects, Harvey
punches him and walks off.
On the highway, Oswald tries to
hitch a ride and a driver pulls away from him a couple of times until he
and his passenger finally let Oswald in. As they drive, Oswald thanks
the two frat boys students and they offer him a beer. He says that
foolish arrogance led him astray and he plans to come back stronger than
ever. The passenger points out that Oswald looks like a penguin when he
walks, and Oswald breaks the bottle and stabs the frat boy in the
throat.
Harvey goes to Essen and objects to Jim stopping him
from beating suspects. Essen reminds Jim that he's supposed to be with
the program, and Jim moves on to the abductions. Harvey doesn't see the
point of anyone abducting homeless kids that no one wants. Nygma,
lurking at the door, comes in and reports that the drug in Macky's
system was ATP, a fast-acting knockout drug used at the old Arkham
Asylum. Essen dismisses the coroner and tells the detectives to get to
work and make sure that the press doesn't learn about it. Harvey points
out that Arkham has been closed for years and suggests that they talk to
Fish since it happened on her turf. However, he wonders if she's still
mad at them.
Carmine visits Fish's restaurant and asks to talk
to Fish. She agrees and he tells her that he talked to Oswald before he
died, and that he said the death of the Waynes would bring trouble to
the mobs in Gotham. Fish disagrees, but Carmine says that he had an
understanding with them. Now that the Wayne enterprise is in flux, the
Maroni family plans to start making moves. He knows from Oswald that
Fish considers him old and soft, and plans to take him out. Fish insists
that she has deep love and respect for him, and Carmine seemingly
dismisses Oswald's report as the babbling of a condemned man. The don
asks how business has been doing and which person in the club is her
lover. She says that she keeps a boy around for exercise but she doesn't
have a lover. Carmine calls over the waiter, Lazlo, and tells him to be
good to Fish. Carmine's men then drag Lazlo away and start beating him.
Carmine asks for Fish's hand, thanks her for her honesty, and gently
kisses it. Once he leaves, Fish screams at everyone to get out.
Renee and Crispus meet with Oswald's mother, Gertrut Kapelput. She
talks about how her son is gone but is always busy in the nightclub
business. When they have a moment alone, Renee admits that she takes the
disappearance of their snitch personal. When Gertrud comes back, she
figures that a woman has Oswald in her clutches.
Once the club
is cleared, Butch warns Fish that it's too early to make a move on
Carmine. She agrees and says that she needs more money and more
territory. However, she swears on her mother's grave that she's going to
kill Carmine with her bare hands and her teeth. Her only regret is that
she didn't make Oswald suffer enough.
Oswald drives the truck
to a farm and asks the owner to rent the trailer. He immediately pays
and asks for the key, and the farmer sends him over.
Zeb and
Smoke wake up in a room with several other teenagers. There's a pit in
the center of the room and the others figure that they're dead.
Jim and Harvey come to see Fish and she assures them that she's not mad
at them anymore. The lieutenant gets down to business and Fish is
surprised that he killed Oswald. She says that she regrets the fact that
Jim is a sinner, and he asks about Doug and Patti. Fish says that
there's a new buyer that will take anyone young and healthy. Nobody
knows who it is why they want them, and Fish empha that no one wants to
know.
That night, Jim describes the case to Barbara She
complains about how the system is corrupt and Jim says that she has no
idea. His fiancée wonders if he's telling her the whole truth and points
out that he's been different for the last couple of weeks. Jim
dismisses it as nothing and Barbara suggests that someone could call the
press with an anonymous tip. He refuses and Barbara goes over and calls
the newsroom, and tells them to talk to Macky. Jim tells her to hang up
and insists that what he tells her is confidential. She wonders what
the point is if she doesn't but reluctantly agrees not to do it again.
The next day, Essen shows Jim and Harvey the headlines about the
abductions. Harvey and Jim both swear that they didn't call it in, and
Jim says that only three companies carry ATP. They're going to lean on
all three and see which one gives up some information. Once Essen
leaves, Harvey congratulate his partner on how well he lied, and Jim
says that he didn't. He then calls the judge to get warrants for the
three pharmaceutical companies.
That night, Patti and Doug
visit Morry Quillan, the owner of one of the pharmaceutical suppliers.
He's unhappy about the heat coming down and Doug says that they're going
to relieve him of the merchandise: the children he's storing for them.
Morry demands an extra $5,000 and Patti warns that the Dollmaker needs
the children immediately. However, they don't have the money on hand.
When Morry doesn't yield, Patti jabs his bodyguard with her needle.
Before she can go after Morry, she spots Jim and Harvey arriving on the
security camera.
Harvey finally works out that Barbara called
the press, and tells Jim to keep her under control. They go inside and
Patti runs up, pretending to be the clerk. She calls to Morry, who
pretends that everything is fine because Doug is secretly holding a gun
on him. He denies stocking ATP, and Patti turns off the lights while
Doug opens fire. The detectives take cover and shoot back, and the two
abductors make it to their van and drive away. Meanwhile, Morry tells
his mechanic to get rid of the kids and hose down the room. As the
mechanic leaves, Jim comes back in. He follows the mechanic in and
shoots him as he prepares to kill the kids, and the mechanic falls into
the pit.
The next day, Mayor Jim shows up at the station for a
press conference. He assures the rescued children that they'll take care
of them and vows to bring in other homeless teenagers to protect them
by handing them over to Juvenile Services. Afterward, Mayor Jim and
Essen share a toast in her office. The mayor tells Jim that they'll be
getting the cute kids into foster homes and the others to a youth
corrections facility. Jim objects and Mayor Jim tells him that half the
petty crime in the city is caused by homeless children. The lieutenant
points out that it's still prison without a trial, and the mayor thanks
him for his input.
Later, Alfred comes to the station to talk
with Jim. He asks Jim to visit him the next day, saying that Bruce
respects him, and leaves.
At the manor, Bruce is sketching an outline of the city with a brooding set of eyes overlooking it.
The homeless teens are herded on the busses. Selina asks to talk to Jim
and refuses to give her name, but the corrections office ignores her.
Once Selina is on the bus, she opens a locket showing a woman. The boy
next to her is crying and Selina assures him that juvie isn't so bad.
Patti and Doug come aboard, dressed as corrections officers, and Selina
tries to get out the back. Patti draws her gun and orders her to sit
down, and they drive off.
Once they get word of the abduction,
Mayor Jim complains to Essen about the bad PR from losing a bus of
children. She admits that Patti and Doug may have been responsible, and
assures the mayor that they're working on the case. Meanwhile in the
cells, Harvey is beating Morry for information and Jim is happy to let
him. Morry finally says that there was a logo on the side of their
truck, of a blue plate and a silver fork
Patti and Doug drive
the children to a shipping company and get them off the bus. They
realize that they're one short and Patti searches the bus one row at a
time. Selina is hiding in the back and manages to slip off behind her.
Back outside, Patti figures that it's a miscount and they figure that
the Dollmaker will be proud of them.
Jim and Harvey don't get a
match on the logo that Morry has described. As Essen reports that no
one has found the bus, Jim realizes that the log is a trident and a
globe.
At Trident Intercontinental Shipping, Patti and Doug
lock the kids up in a cargo container. A guard staggers out, clutching
his eyes, and says that a girl scratched him. Patti realizes that the
guard's eyes are scratched out and shoots him dead. They search the
shipping company for Selina, who manages to stay one step ahead of
them... until she drops her locket. Patti prepares to shoot her, but Jim
arrives and knocks her out. Selina refuses to give her name, saying
that it's none of his business, and Harvey rounds up Doug.
Later, Jim goes to the manor and Alfred explains that Bruce has been
having nightmares and is cutting himself. The butler says that Thomas
Wayne gave him very strict orders on how to raise Bruce if they died,
and to let Bruce choose his own course. Bruce slips in and says that
Alfred wants Jim to talk some sense to him. He insists that he's fine,
but Jim suggests that he talk to someone about it. He says that it
helped when he talked to a psychiatrist about the things he saw in the
war, but the boy doesn't believe him. Bruce says that he's testing
himself and offers some money to take care of the missing children. Jim
says that what they need is someone to care about them, like Bruce has
Alfred. However, the boy offers some clothing.
At the station,
the GCPD prepares to send the majority of the children upstate. When
Selina objects, the detective points out that she has no parents or
guardians. Selina insists that she's alive someplace, and asks to see
Jim. When the detective refuses, she threatens to scream rape and the
man gives in.
In his trailer, Oswald puts up clippings of the
Waynes and Fish on the ceiling and stares at them. His phone rings and
he takes the calls. It's the mother of the second frat boy, and Oswald
promises her that he'll kill him if he doesn't get the ransom. The
mother figures that it's a prank and refuses to pay $10,000. Once she
hangs up, Oswald tells his prisoner that it's disappointing.
Jim comes over and realizes that she's Macky's friend. Impressed, he
admits that Selina is a survivor, and she asks if he can get her out of
there if she has something he wants. Selina figures that Jim is an
honest cop and knows that he's been seeing Bruce. He says that he could
get her out and Selina tells him that she saw the Waynes' killer.
Written by Gadfly on Jun 26, 2019