The Penguin is Falcon’s Snitch, Gotham “Penguin’s Umbrella” 

I’m gaining an entirely new appreciation for The Penguin. He was mostly gross in Batman Returns and he certainly wasn’t as clever or intelligent as this version of the iconic villain. I’ve said it before, although it bears repeating: This incarnation of The Penguin is my favorite so far. But before we get to Oswald Cobblepot, let’s talk about Jim Gordon.

Because he disobeyed a direct order from Falcone, Gordon’s now on the outs with his partner and his life is in danger. I may have buried the lead there. Gordon’s life is in grave danger. Fish wants him dead, Falcone wants him dead — even Bullock wants him dead because the fact that Gordon didn’t kill Cobblepot is about to put them both six feet under. Gordon knows he should get out of town, but there’s one more thing he needs to do. If he’s going out, it may as well be in a blaze of glory. So he gets warrants for the arrest of Mayor James and Carmine Falcone. It’s a minor miracle that he’s able to serve those warrants in one piece, but that’s in no small part due to Bullock. He figures if he’s dead anyway, Bullock may as well be on the side of right for once. The only problem? Falcone has Barbara.

Even though Gordon made sure to get her out of town when it all started going sideways, she came back to plead for Gordon’s life. And because Gordon chooses to believe Falcone has her, even though he won’t give Gordon even one shred of proof, Falcone spares him — or at least that’s the reason he gives Gordon. But the real reason is because Cobblepot asked him to. He’s got a plan and everything he’s plotted for so far has come to pass.

The last time Falcone saw Cobblepot, which was right before Gordon pretended to execute The Penguin, Oswald made a request to have Gordon kill him. He knew Gordon’s conscience wouldn’t allow it and admitted as much to Falcone. But why would Falcone want to spare The Penguin?

As Fish said earlier in the episode, “Snitches get stitches,” and in this case Cobblepot betrayed the wrong person and had to get put to death. But he helped save himself by telling Falcone that Niko and Fish’s rivalry was a charade and that together they were plotting to take him down. Furthermore, Cobblepot told him if he could get Gordon to spare his life he’d return to Gotham and infiltrate Maroni’s business. He’d be Falcone’s ultimate snitch.

So for now, it looks like everyone is a puppet and The Penguin is pulling all the strings. He’s smart enough to know when and how to make all his moves and he’s clearly many steps ahead of everyone else. And even if anyone does catch on — like Frankie did — Cobblepot always has a plan. He finds out what they love more than anything and exploits it.

I have to admit something now: I cannot wait for things to come to a head between Fish and The Penguin. Their scenes together in this episode were electric and I want to see them battle it out. They’ve both got people loyal to them and I feel like this war could be epic. But first things need to simmer. Fish needs to play the pieces she has on the board and Cobblepot needs to reveal a bit more of his hand. I’m not sure who I’d root for, because I find something very appealing about both of them. Until then, I hope to see them continue to interact. It’s so much fun.

A Surprising Development
I like it when a TV show surprises me and my mouth may have dropped open when Allen and Montoya came to Gordon’s rescue when it looked like Victor Zsasz had him. They can’t take him to the hospital because he’s a hunted man, but they make sure Gordon gets the treatment he needs. And when it looks like he might die — and it looks that way for almost the entire episode — he tells Bruce that Allen and Montoya will take over the investigation into his parent’s murder. He trusts them.

Bruce and Jim Have a Moment
Bruce demands to be told the truth when it looks like he may never see Gordon again. Even though he is a child, Bruce has had to deal with a lot of issues that would cripple any adult. So when Jim lets him know that he may not be coming back, Bruce flies at Jim…and hugs him. It totally got me, right in the chest area.

Want some behind-the-scenes intel on the show? I talked to Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue, Robin Lord Taylor, Sean Pertwee and EP/Director Danny Cannon at NYCC 2014.

Gotham airs Mondays at 8/7c on FOX.