Recap - "Happy Endings"

Most tales in Gotham start on the rooftops. This series starts on the street. More specifically, it starts inside a strip club called the Pink Kitty as a man in a nice suit starts on one of those sad tirades that strip clubs see all the time.

The man's name is Tommy Goodspeed. He's there with his old friend Arthur Pembrose. Arthur and Tommy went to law school together but have gone their separate ways. Both are lawyers. Arthur is a public defender. Tommy has nice suits because clients like the Penguin pay him to keep them out of jail.

Arthur looks very uncomfortable. Tommy wants him to lighten up and enjoy himself. Tommy starts the type of bar argument that's a perfect fit for a strip club in Gotham City.

TOMMY: Which of the Batman villains would you fuck?
ARTHUR: Tommy, when are we leaving for dinner?
TOMMY: Fine. I'll put the male ones on the table too for a complete selection.

Arthur doesn't answer, instead looking like he wished Tommy would pass out. Tommy asks everyone around him since Arthur won't answer. He asks the waitresses, other patrons, even the girl on stage. He finally gets a satisfactory answer.

JASON: Catwoman or Poison Ivy? Why only pick one?

Jason Thorne connects with Tommy's bacchanal better than Arthur. Arthur can't seen to place who he is yet and feels Insecure about this guy. He presses for dinner once again, but a sudden burst of screams and  kills that idea.

JASMINE: Oh my God! The Joker! The Joker just killed some guy in the Champagne Room!

Opening Credits. The first verse features all of our leads, like Jason and Arthur. The second verse features the more familiar residents of Gotham. The song ends with a great shot of the Bat Signal over Gotham.



We return to the Pink Kitty with the scene under control. The Champagne Room is closed off by Dr. Morgan O'Neill, Chief Medical Examiner. She's a bit young for the position, but I suspect that there's a high turnover rate for public employees in Gotham. She's barking orders to her intern, Kenny that have him running all over the place.

Since it's a case possibly involving one of The Bat's villains, the Major Crimes Unit is called in to investigate. The detectives on the scene are Lisa Yung-Li and James Lane. They have an easy relationship as they question witnesses. Lisa notices that one of the witnesses is Barbara Gordon. She had some impressive fake IDs for her and her friends to get into the place. Lisa wins a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors and tells James to handle it. Lane is third generation police and he wants to get "Uncle Jim's" daughter out of here with little fanfare.

JAMES: Hand them over.
(BARBARA gives him her fake)
JAMES: All of them.
(BARBARA takes a beat and then pulls out more.)

Kenny runs back to Morgan and annoys her by doing what she told him to do. She wanted him to let her know if anyone else important showed up. Veronika Hilton, Gotham's D.A., arrived on the scene. Morgan finds it unusual, but she finds a wound on the vic even more unusual. The victim died with a huge grin on his face which is what triggered the Joker panic. But the green, discolored lip marks make Morgan think it might be Poison Ivy instead.

Veronika, Nika to her friends, was called down to the Pink Kitty by Maurice Burnett, the owner. Seems they had an arrangement for him to have bugs in the Champagne room to get dirt on local criminals. Except he also had a similar arrangement with The Penguin. Nika squeezes Maurice to give over the tape from the Champagne Room.

Morgan heads out to tell the detectives what she's found. She gets blocked by Tommy, who has the wonderful idea to hit on Morgan while she's at work. She shuts him down. But the way he kept looking over at Nika makes me wonder if he really was looking for some action. Morgan wants to ride along but James won't let her because she's not a cop. He asks her to keep an eye on his daughter instead, since the sitter is probably ready to leave by now.

The tape confirms it. Ivy even looks at the camera as she leaves. She wanted people to know she did it. James pick up an additional lead. The victim, Norman Verrell, owned a storage facility called Classy Sheds.

Before he and his partner can leave, Jason sees Lisa. They have some history.

JASON: Hello, Legs. Long time no see.

We don't get too deep into the backstory before our MCU detectives are off to Classy Sheds. Which is on fire by the time they get there. The detectives bicker about who has to call it in.

JAMES: I think there's a very good reason I should call it in.
LISA: What's that?
JAMES: I just saw the Bat head inside. You want to say hi, don't you? 

James ends up calling it as Lisa dashes inside. Lisa has a few bits of distinctive Gear: Waynetech body armor and a Waynetech cybernetic leg. Her heroic move almost costs her life.

Luckily, The Bat is on the scene to help her out. He pulls her to a nearby rooftop. Batman hands her an unmarked DVD case. They have a tense exchange and Batman leaves. Seems our young detective has a soft spot for millionaire playboys. He leaves Lisa on a rooftop where James gives her some ribbing from down on the ground.

The next morning finds a few visitors at Thorne Tower. Jason and Tommy ended up there last night. Nika arrives to see Jason for herself. They have a few moments before someone arrives to see Jason. Bruce Wayne and Nika share an awkward hello of two people who have seen each other naked that see each other five years later. Where does Bruce get all this time?

She leaves with Tommy and a steamy encounter in the elevator allows for the first and last reference in these recaps to legal briefs. Tommy and Nika have a "special" relationship. She gets Tommy to give up information on his client Poison Ivy in exchange for him going back to her place.

In the MCU bullpen James and Lisa press play on the unmarked DVD. The title comes up - Harley and Ivy: Unmasked. It doesn't take long for the whole bullpen to start watching the two actresses do what actresses in these types of films do. James and Lisa get into a minor scuffle over the remote that's a bit telling. Even though Lisa has martial arts training and a cybernetic leg, James is just as fast and blocks her best shot. Maybe there's something more to him that meets the eye.

Back at Thorne Tower, Jason makes it a point of having his secretary offer Bruce water from exotic locales to show off all the places he's been. Things are decidedly tense between the two scions of Gotham's most influential families. Is Bruce there because he's trying to see the influence Jason has on Lisa or trying to get some information for Batman?

Morgan and Arthur come into MCU and take away their own clues. Morgan realizes that Harley's costume is authentic. Arthur recognizes the woman playing Ivy. He's defended her on a few prostitution charges. Gordon arrives to bust up the stag party. When she realizes it's Harley's costume, she is trying to get anyone's attention about it in the bullpen, and surrounded by detectives, noone sees it or listens to her.  She tries going to Arthur with it as she trusts him, but even he won't take it because it's Tommy's client.  Morgan leaves in frustration for Arkham to follow up on the big lead herself.

Commissioner Gordon arrives to break up the MCU stag party.

GORDON: I can't decide which upsets me more: That my MCU detectives are watching a Batman-themed porn video in plain view of everyone or that two of them are fighting over the remote.

Morgan goes to Arkham Asylum to get the dirt from Harley herself. She and Harley go back to when she was still Harleen Quinzel. There's a moment where Morgan walks past the empty cell across from Harley's and gives it a sad look. Joker's cell looms behind Morgan in every shot.


We have a great scene where Gordon lays some guilt on Lisa. He sits quietly staring at her for about of minute. She squirms the entire time until he ends it with a deliciously ambiguous line.

GORDON:...that will be all, Detective. 

James gets some time in Gordon's office as well. Their time is a bit more chummy. Gordon wants James to keep an eye on his younger partner.

GORDON: Make sure to make the sad face when you leave.

Nika and Tommy have an argument about Poison Ivy. He stands up for Ivy and, even those he's a sleazebag, he's a good lawyer.

Arthur tracks Kandy to her place of employment - Thorne Tower. She's working as Throne's secretary. Unfortunately, Ivy finds her right around the time that Jason and Arthur have an argument in Jason's office. The plants slide through the cracks...

Harley admits to Morgan that she donated the suit. Her reasoning is classic and twisted.

HARLEY: I know my pudding is out there. He's all alone. I figured he could get a copy and it would keep him warm at night. Thinking of me...

James arrives to pick up Morgan when he gets the call about Ivy. They share an awkward glance that suggests some history.

Poison Ivy makes her grand appearance ready to kill Kandy. Arthur stands up to her without regard for his safety. He gets Ivy to put Kandy down just in time for Batman to arrive through Jason's window. They batttle for a few moments and then the Bat pulls Ivy out the window.


Tag scenes:

Arthur invites Tommy out to dinner. No strip club this time.

Jason looks around the wreckage of his office.

JASON: Two days...back in Gotham two days...

Back at the MCU, Lisa gets a nasty present from Mr. Freeze. It's a copy of Robocop that's been dipped in liquid nitrogen. She flips out and needs to be talked down by MCU's staff psychologist, Cyndi Thorne.

Nika heads to The Iceberg Lodge and discusses Maurice with The Penguin. He agrees to stop buying info from Maurice. Ohhh, that laugh...

Morgan uses some of the residue from Lisa's gift on a book she keeps in her lab coat. The book is Victor Fries' Medical Journal, and the ultra-cold residue reveals even more secrets.

James heads home from a hard day's work. Hope is there to greet him at the door. We flash back to James staring at the Joker's empty cell at Arkham. There's a flash of light and we see something like the Joker's face reflect on his in the cell window. He hugs his daughter but his expression is the same as it was in Arkham.