‘Gotham’ Recap With Spoilers – “Ruin”

The episode begins directly after the explosion at Haven. The building is on fire, people are screaming, but Barbara is still set on killing Penguin. She stops when she sees all of the dead and injured around her. Jim orders a rescue team to go in and find survivors. Penguin assures Jim that he would never allow that kind of attack on innocent people. When the fire goes out, Harvey gives Jim the badge that he had given to the little boy. He found it burned in a pile of ash.

Jim talks on the radio saying that over 300 people have died. Some are still injured and unaccounted for. The woman on the other end says she’s trying to get him help, but he doesn’t believe it. The people of Haven storm the GCPD asking about the attack. He promises that they will be kept safe at Gotham Central but to no avail. Jim leaves Harvey in charge and heads out.

Bruce is still alone in the church basement, handcuffed to the door where Selina left him. A couple of masked soldiers attack him. He wards them off and was ultimately saved by Alfred. Bruce sent out some sort of signal from a device to show him his location. He updates Alfred on what’s going on with Selina and that she’s after Jeremiah. Alfred tells him that one day he’s going to realize that he can’t save her from herself. But until that day arrives, he’s going to help.

Jim arrives at the Sirens Club and questions Barbara as to whether or not she was behind the attack. She says that she could’ve killed Penguin but didn’t, because the priority now has to be finding whoever blew up Haven. She says the guy she has heard might be behind it is holed up in the Northeast.

Penguin arrives at Gotham Central with his goons and offers weapons and ammo to the GCPD to help hunt down whoever blew up Haven. He assures Jim that there are no strings attached and the two shake hands.

Riddler wakes up with a suitcase lying beside him. Much to his surprise, it’s completely empty. There was something written on his hand, information on an inmate that apparently knows something he’s trying to figure out.

The GCPD and Penguin’s army march together, searching for the bomber where Barbara told them he would be. A gunshot comes in from a tower, pinning them down in the street. Penguin can tell by the voice that it’s Zsasz and he reveals himself in the window.

While a lot of the officers are away on the hunt, Riddler breaks into GCPD to figure out who the mystery inmate was. Lucius catches and questions him, solving his first riddle rather quickly. Lucius takes the folder and fills Riddler in on the bombing. He asks for help in exchange for the information. Riddler agrees.

Back in the street, Zsasz tells Jim and Penguin that he wasn’t behind the bombing. Penguin is still mad about being betrayed and Zsasz basically tells him to get over it. They coordinate a plan to cover Jim as he makes his way up to Zsasz. He takes the gunman down, arresting him and walking him outside. He’s going to take Zsasz back for interrogation, refusing to let Penguin have him.

Ecco leads Jeremiah’s disciples through a set of tunnels and Selina follows behind in the shadows. The gangster that was holding the kids captive comes in and asks for more time. Jeremiah emerges and slits his throat, licking the blood off of the razor.

Ecco brings Jeremiah the recruits and informs him of Selina ad Bruce’s new development. They dance around the room as she tells the story. Ecco rounds up a few soldiers and moves out, Selina follows.

Riddler and Lucious head down to the ruins of Haven to try and figure out what caused the explosion. They figure out that someone outside the building shot or threw something through the window of the basement to ignite the fuel tank under the building.

Jim and Harvey interrogate Zsasz who convinces them that he wasn’t behind the bombing. Jim steps out to take a call from Lucius, who tells him that the explosion was caused by an RPG, like the one that took out the helicopter. The rocket was fired from a roof and Zsasz was seen by witnesses on the ground in front of Haven, so he couldn’t have done it. Penguin shows up with an entire gang to take Zsasz away to be punished. He’s going to hold a public trial for Zsasz and the people will decide his fate.

Lucius and Riddler head up to a neighboring roof to find the RPG case, confirming their theory. Before Lucius heads back to the lab, he gives Riddler the prisoner file he requested. It’s for a man named Frank McCann who is now deceased. He sees a rich woman in another adjacent building in a wheelchair by her window, realizing that she might have seen who blew up Haven.

The trial for Zsasz begins. Harvey and Jim are in present to watch, despite disagreeing. Penguin has Zsasz’s mouth taped up as he questions witnesses. Every witness claims they saw him walking out of the building and Penguin turns them on Jim for thinking Zsasz is innocent. Jim tells the people about the RPG and that it wasn’t a bomb, making Zsasz an innocent man. He then gives a speech to the people, saying that they can’t lose their sense of justice, even in these dark times. After the speech, Penguin puts it to a vote. The crowd screams that Zsasz is guilty, despite the evidence.

Penguin’s men lead Zsasz to guillotine as people follow and cheer. Penguin sentences Zsasz to die. He mumbles his last words through the tape but Jim fires a gun and startles everyone, causing enough of a distraction to save Zsasz’s life. Penguin claims that Jim has lost the people, but Jim punches the villain in the gut and takes Zsasz away. He and Harvey drive out to nowhere and set Zsasz free. He tells Jim that the city will never be what he wants it to be, it will always belong to the bad guys. Jim orders Harvey to give Zsasz his gun so they can have a duel. Zsasz declines which proves Jim’s point. He tells Zsasz to leave. Harvey tells Jim to pull himself together because he could’ve gotten them both killed.

Bruce and Alfred take out a couple of Jeremiah’s disciples on the way to find Selina. At the edge of the tunnel, Jeremiah orders some of his people to dig. It looks like Ecco is approaching in her mask but it turns out to be Selina, who stabs Jeremiah as soon as she’s close enough. She stabs him in the stomach repeatedly until Bruce stops her. The disciples all try to attack them but the trio manages to escape. Jeremiah lays on the ground bleeding, not moving at all.

Riddler walks up to the old woman’s apartment, which is marked with the same number on the prisoner file. She freaks out when she sees him at the door. She tells him that he had a rocket on the roof and that he’s the one who shot it at Haven. She hits him in the head and his memories start coming back. He remembers his alter ego, green jacket and all, shooting the rocket. He then pushes her out of the window to her death.

Jim is drinking in his office when Barbara arrives and tells him that his spotlight is on. She brings another lead, she heard about a man selling RPGs. She knows he’s all alone again, after all of his people left for Penguin. She ignores his request for her to leave. They start to kiss as the episode ends.