Knight Moves: Gotham Episode 416, "One of My Three Soups"

GOTHAM is getting its groove back in this trailing half of the fourth season. With a breakout at Arkham, we don't have time to think about the fallout of Sophia Falcone's shooting or Lee Thompkins' role in it. We don't care where Solomon Grundy is, or what Oswald and Nygma are up to. No, because three of the most dangerous lunatics ever to grace the Gotham streets have busted out, and brought hell riding with them: Jonanthan Crane (DAVID W. THOMPSON), Jerome Tetch (BENEDICT SAMUEL), and Jerome Valeska (CAMERON MONAGHAN).

It doesn't take long before the city is in chaos, as Tetch manages to hypnotize thousands of people to jump to their deaths at the stroke of midnight. And he's built a clever failsafe into his commands that prevent anyone from trying to save them as they all teeter at the edge of their buildings while Jim Gordon (BEN MCKENZIE) is made to feel impotent. Ultimately it's Harvey Bullock (DONAL LOGUE) who endangers himself to find how Tetch is pulling off communicating to the masses, adding himself to the list of potential victims. Watching Gordon get more and more frustrated with a solution to this problem makes the way he pulls it off all the more satisfying.

Meanwhile, Jerome is having a little family reunion with his Uncle Zach (JOHN TREACY EGAN). Zach has information that Jerome wants -- not to mention a personal score to settle with Zach for abuses heaped upon him as a child growing up in the circus. But the Uncle, getting the better of Jerome, seems to be at the point of putting an end to my favorite Gotham villain until he's interrupted by none other thatn Bruce Wayne (DAVID MAZOUZ), who's been on the prowl for Jerome since the breakout, feeling responsible for anything Jerome does because he let him live earlier. This truly cements the roots of the Batman/Joker relationship that will become the centerpoint of the Dark Knight's lifespan -- and also the relationship he will share with Catwoman, as Bruce and Selina (CAMREN BICONDOVA) become even closer.

With all this great action going on, it's almost anticlimactic to follow the plot thread of Barbara Kean (ERIN RICHARDS) and Tabitha Galavan (JESSICA LUCAS), but their story continues here, too. Barbara finally allows herself to remember what happened to her when Ra's Al Ghul (ALEXANDER SIDDIG) found her, and it triggers something in her that identifies her new role -- as The Demon's Head and true leader of the League of Shadows. Fortunately, the episode doesn't end on that note, but rather with the reunion of Jerome, Crane, and Tetch, as they hit the road to put their true plan into motion, replete with Jerome in costume taken almost straight from Joker's white suit in THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS.

Camren Bicondova and David Mazouz as Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne in GOTHAM.

Overwhelming odds, over-the-top villainy, and Bruce Wayne learning to use his bratty side as a public disguise to distract as well as calling Gordon and being matter-of-fact that he'll be working the streets with him are the elements of Gotham that lead straight to the birth of the Batman. This episode will kick off the storyline for which this season will be most remembered.