Gotham Recap with Spoilers: By Fire

The episode picks up quickly after the last one, with Butch, now missing a hand, telling his story to the Galavans and Barbara, about Penguin going crazy and him wanting a job. A man is literally hanging by a noose behind him in the meantime. Theo isn’t fully buying it. Tabby thinks he’s cute, and Babs remembers Butch being “very mean to me once.” They hire him.

The man behind in the noose is a congressman, and Theo secures his support for his Mayoral run. Tabitha cuts him down, and Theo pins a “Galavan for Mayor” button on him.

Outside in the streets of Gotham City, Gordon and two of his Strike Force kids are chasing someone. Gordon beats on him a bit, and the other officers are upset, say they have to report him.

At Selina’s hideout, she and the young new Firefly have a chat. She doesn’t feel good about the death she caused the night before, and isn’t keen on committing more crime in order to get out of town. Poor Bridgit.

They go to a slave auction, it seems, where women in skimpy clothes are chained and being sold. This is not a pleasant place. Bridgit is all Firefly’d up in her getup, and Selina gives her instructions on how to do this job. She sneaks in first and takes out one of the guards. Bridgit uses the flamethrower to threaten some – and set fire to one of – the thugs. They get all the money, and it looks like Bridgit is getting used to the flamethrower.

At GCPD, Gordon gets dressed down by his new Captain for beating a suspect. “This is war, but that doesn’t give you or me the license to break the law.” Gordon tells him there are gray areas in Gotham. They watch footage of Firefly and Cat leaving the scene of their crime.

Wayne Manor, down in the Cave, Bruce is getting boxing lessons from Alfred. “Your enemies are gonna fight a lot dirtier than that,” he says and gets him in a headlock – Bruce bites his arm. “Well done.” He mentions Silver, and when Bruce gets distracted, knocks him on his ass. “Toldja, not ready.”

At GCPD, Nygma overhears Kristin and Lee talking about her old boyfriend, “he could be dead in a ditch somewhere for all I care.” She then starts talking about Ed and says sometimes he’s a bit “too gentle” and wants to see some “fire in him.”

Elsewhere there, Bullock picks up Ivy and finds out where Selina’s been hiding out. He tells Gordon and he heads to talk to her.

Bridgit is skipping town, and thanks Selina for her help. While hugging her goodbye, her brothers come and stuff her in a van and take her.

Selina goes back to her hideout and arms herself to try to save her friend, and Gordon busts in. It’s a standoff now. They talk, and Gordon believes Selina that the Pike brothers are forcing Bridgit to do things with them. “No offense Jim, I like my chances better than yours,” she tells him. He promises he’ll do everything he can to keep her safe, and she actually trusts him.

Back at the Pikes, Bridgit is chained up and they’re taking her money. They’re yelling at her for leaving, and throwing little firecrackers at her. He lights up a larger one and threatens her into being “part of the family again,” threatening both her and Cat. When she walks away, she smiles a bit.

Penguin’s lair – Butch comes in with a mallet on his stump. He’s trying to figure out where Galavan has Penguin’s mother.

Bridgit comes back into the room her brothers are in in full Firefly gear. “What are you gonna do, kill us?” “Yup,” she says, smiles, pulls down her goggles, and lights them up.

Gordon and Bullock arrive to see the Pike brother burnt to a crisp. One of them briefly wakes up, then breathes his last. They find the chains they’ve been locking Bridgit up with and realize Selina wasn’t lying.

Butch is in Galavan’s office, and finds the remote to turn on the closed circuit looking at Penguin’s mom. Theo walks in and starts chatting – “You’re loyal to a fault. If only you were loyal to me.” Uh-oh. Theo tells Tabitha to help un-brainwash butch. She’s got her whip in hand. “Relax, I just wanna help” she says, before whipping him around the neck and pulling him down. She knocks him out.

GCPD: Gordon reports in to Barnes, and he tells Jim to take Firefly down – that her backstory doesn’t matter.

Selina’s on a rooftop and finds Bridgit, who’s tinkering with her flamethrower. Bridgit has snapped. “I’m free, just like you told me. I’m gonna go after the rest of them, the pervs and the bullies who hurt people like us.” She thinks she has a calling to go kill the bad guys. Oy. Selina feigns disinterest, then comes back and hugs her before leaving for real.

Dinner at the Galavans. Woo. When Tabby joins the three – Theo, Bruce, and Silver late, she says something came up and wipes blood from her cheek. Yikes. Theo toasts “to family, in the end it’s all that matters,” he pointedly says. Silver is flirting with him a bit, and Tabitha says “look how cute they are, don’t you just wanna eat them” – it’s the scene I saw being shot on set! Fun!

Ed’s house, he has made dinner for Kris again, and tells her he wants nothing more than to spoil her. “There’s something I want to tell you, I just don’t wanna scare you away,” he tells her. “Please, tell me anything, do not hold back.” He starts to tell her something, but she shushes him and kisses him. There’s probably a riddle somewhere out there about sex, but I don’t know it or have the time to look it up.

Firefly is back at the slave ring and lets the girls out. Selina calls in a tip to Gordon that she’ll be there. “Remember your promise” she says.

The Strike Force arrives, and Gordon tries to talk to Bridgit. He tries to relate and reason with her She starts shooting at him with the flamethrower and a beat cop has an itchy trigger finger. He ruptures one of the lines on the pack, and she panics, starts flaming up a car – it explodes and the back draft catches her on fire. She burns and screams, and finally falls to the ground.

Back at the Galavans, Theo and Bruce have a private chat. Theo tells Bruce that Sid Bunderslaw is missing. “I’ve learned that your father was a good man, a great man, even, and in spite of that, bad things happen at his company.” Bruce concurs.

Butch goes back to Penguin. He tells him that he found Penguin’s mother in a warehouse, but “They caught me, and the tiger lady chained me up. I got free, and we need to go now.” Penguin goes to gather the troops. Do we trust Butch?

Selina is at Lee and Gordon’s place, holding a gun to Lee. Jim comes in, and Selina lowers the gun. He tells Selina he’s sorry, but Bridgit is “not gonna make it. I tried, but she didn’t want to go quietly. I think she wanted it to end this way.” Selina’s not having it, crying and pushing him away. He begs her to tell him who hired the Pikes to burn down the buildings. She says “it’s not like you’re going to go after your little friend,” and he realizes she means Penguin. Selina says she should’ve never trusted a cop, and leaves.

Later on, back at Nygma’s place with Kristin. It’s… after. She tells him she’s scared, of Tom Dougherty, and that she’s terrified of what will happen when he comes back. Nygma says she doesn’t need to worry about him. “Trust me, it’s been taken care of,” he says. Oh man, he’s going to tell her the truth. He tells her he confronted Tom, Tom assaulted him, and he killed him. She laughs it off, and he keeps going. She says it’s not funny, and he shows her Tom’s badge, with a grin on his face. “Do you believe me now?” She’s horrified, calls him a murderer. They argue about it, and Nygma tells her he did it for her. He’s yelling at her, and she slaps him, calls him a freak. He covers her mouth and puts his hand on her neck. “Listen to me, I’m not the man you think I am, I’d never do anything to hurt you. I had to kill him because he hurt you. I love you.” When he pulls his hands away, she falls to the floor. She’s dead. So, that’s a pair of heartbreaking scenes back-to-back. Yipe.

Penguin’s place, they’re arming up. Butch with them.

Selina back at her and Bridgit’s rooftop hide away is crying.

Nygma is rocking back and forth weeping with Kristin’s body in his arms. It’s not a good night in Gotham.

Cut to Firefly, all bandaged up, being taken back by a couple people. “I heard the suit she was wearing melted to her, she’s fireproof. That’s why they sent her down here, with the rest of the monsters for testing.” We see brief, spotty glimpses of people. A woman in black, a man, bandages around his face. She’s taken to Indian Hill, A Division of Wayne Enterprises, and… that’s the show.

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