‘Gotham’ Recap With Spoilers – “Pena Dura”

Gotham‘s newest episode, “Pena Dura,” just came to a close, and its events seriously shook the framework of the entire show going forward. When all is said and done, this could go down as one of the more important episodes of the final season as it does quite a bit to set up for the finale.

If you didn’t get a chance to see the episode (you should DEFINITELY go back and watch when you get a chance) but you still want to know what went down, or you think maybe there was something you might have missed, there’s no need to worry. We’ve got you covered. Check below for a quick, but hopefully helpful recap of what went down in tonight’s episode. It should go without saying, but I’ve gotta make sure I cover all my bases, THERE ARE GOTHAM SPOILERS AHEAD.

So first and foremost, one of the earliest, and most important things to happen in this episode was the arrival of Eduardo Dorrance, played by Shane West. This guy is an old friend of Jim’s who was sent to Gotham as the leader of a militia tasked with helping restore order to the city. We also know that this is the man who eventually becomes Bane. He doesn’t take that step in this episode, but there is a major twist involving Eduardo that we’ll talk about later.

Everyone believes Selina killed Jeremiah so she’s thrown a party at the Sirens Club. Bruce tries to talk to her but it doesn’t take long for her to put him in his place. He’s essentially lost right now, with no idea how to help the city that’s dying around him. There’s a nice moment in a conversation between Bruce and Harvey when you realize that the Batman is a lot closer than you think.

Jim and Eduardo are tracking down Nygma since his night-time ego was the one who blew up Haven. He escapes their grasp multiple times, eventually leading them to Penguin. Oswald tells Nygma that he turned him over to Hugo Strange (Season 4 finale) to try and save his life. Hugo is the one with answers.

When Nygma goes to find Hugo, Oswald takes his dog down through a hidden passage to a cellar full of riches, teasing a big change for the villain in the coming episodes.

Nygma pays Strange a visit and learns that the mad scientist was paid a ton of money to plant a chip in Ed’s brain that allows him to be controlled by whoever holds the remote. Of course, he won’t tell Ed who paid him, but the answer is revealed just a few minutes later when Eduardo pulls the remote out of his pocket and tells Jim that the people who hired him have been sending Nygma on errands. They were responsible for the deaths at Haven but it was for a good reason. All Jim has to do now is kill Nygma and he’ll get the help he’s been needed. We all know there’s no way Jim would ever do that. He escapes and Eduardo sends Nygma after him with instructions to kill his former friend.

The final scenes of the episode show Jeremiah waking up, revealing that his plan all along was to make Selina believe she had killed him. He goes into a mansion to meet a doctor who shows him two people with their faces wrapped up. He takes off the bandages and Jeremiah jumps for joy. There’s no telling who the people are, but it’s clearly part of some grand plan aimed at Bruce Wayne.

That’s it for this week’s episode! If you have any other questions hit me up in the comments, or on Twitter @CharlieRidgely. New episodes of Gotham air on Thursday nights at 8 pm ET on FOX, though there will be no new episode on February 7th.