The series opens with Morgan O’Neill, Gotham City Medical Examiner, walking with a med student down to the morgue. The student points out that med schools in Gotham City allow students field work with cadavers earlier than the ones in Metropolis. O’Neill mentioned that Gotham has more bodies and there’s usually more to work on. When the intern asks why, she pulls a dramatic reveal of a corpse missing its heart. The intern starts touches the body but it’s too late – a mechanical voice from the body starts laughing and green gas pours out into the morgue. O’Niell saves the day, but the morgue is going to need a few hours to clear out of Smilex gas….
Credits. Flashing Lights is the theme song, with the credits overlapping crime scene photos reflecting Gotham’s unusual scenarios – thugs hanging from lampposts, an evidence table with Batarangs on it, and so forth.
We cut to Detective Lisa Yung-Li at her desk. Detective Li gets called into Lt. Barone’s office. Barone is irate over the Smilex gas incident downstairs because it’s going to affect the outcome of some pending cases. Yung-Li stands up for Dr. O’Neill, saying that any damage to a case wasn’t her fault but the Lieutenant thinks otherwise. We learn that Yung-Li has friends in high places – she got promoted to Gotham’s MCU during a case involving Mr. Freeze. She lost her leg, but connections at WayneTech got her a new one. Judging by the subtle glow coming from her knee, it is not off-the-rack, either.
While recovering from the close call with the Smilex gas, Morgan gets a visit from her brother, Jack O’Neill. Jack is looking for money, but he also gets in trouble soon enough when, on the way out, he spies Two-Face on his way into the building. See, Jack’s bar doesn’t really make money as a bar, but as a place where information about the streets of Gotham can be bought? Business is booming.
Turns out Two-Face isn’t walking into the Gotham Central building – Harvey Dent is. Harvey claims Two-Face has planted a bomb in the city somewhere, but whenever anyone tries to find out where it is, Two-Face takes over and laughs off the attempt. Two-Face nearly attacks Lisa when she tries to handcuff him in the interrogation cell.
Arthur Pembrose arrives at the interrogation room and gets into a heated argument with Lisa. She gets angry when he won’t act as his counsel. Most of the big name Gotham criminals pay a retainer to the firm of Goodspeed & Loeb for legal matters. Arthur came up through law school with Thomas Goodspeed and he is ready to put a call through on his Wayne Tech Smartphone to get those lawyers in place. He agrees to take Dent’s statement and is intrigued by the split personality. Two-Face is under retainer to G&L, but Harvey asked for a public defender like Pembrose. Two-Face gets the last laugh, taking a moment to assault poor Arthur and possibly break his nose.
In the holding cell, Lisa convinces Harvey to tell her where the bomb is, but Two-Face takes over and taunts her, trying to convince her that there are two bombs and Dent placed the other one. He will tell her where the other one is – if she gets him his coin back. But Lisa looks up to Batman as a role-model and doesn’t fall for the lie.
Jack picks up on the juicy information about Two-Face’s bomb and heads back to his bar. He puts the word out that he as some info and gets interest from the three mobs in town; the Falcones, the Maronis and the Thorne Mob. After a few tense moments, the Maronis win the bidding. Thorne makes a bit of a threat on the way out, and Maroni thanks Jack for helping him keep tabs on his old enemy.
Of course, wherever three of the big bosses are, Batman is sure to follow. Morgan walks in on him and uses a little bit of barman’s logic to let her brother know they are under surveillance. I don’t know who approached who for product placement, but her carrying out a case of Bacardi rum and dropping it on the counter was hilarious. Jack’s advertised special for “Dos Equis” beer was fun, too. I think the writer’s will have a blast with this barman’s code stuff for Jack’s place.
Arthur calls Tommy and they have a discussion over the phone – he wants in on the Dent case. Tommy wants him to come and work for the firm but Arthur refuses. He convinces Tommy to let him defend Dent and Tommy can defend Two-Face.
Lisa discovers the bomb at St. James Cathedral and the Batman arrives quickly. She watches him disarm the bomb and I’m pretty sure there’s more than professional admiration going on there. That might explain some of her WayneTech gadgets. Batman disarms the bomb and disappears with barely a word to her.
The tag scenes flow into each other – Tommy and Arthur sharing a beer after their day in the courts. Morgan in her lab, analyzing the Smilex gas to make sure it doesn’t endanger others. Lisa calling Bruce Wayne and telling him all about her encounter with Batman. And Jack, installing extra security cameras in the Bar, find a note from the Batman – “You’re lucky to have family that cares about you.”
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