Pilot

"*However dark and scary the world might be right now, there will be light.*"
—Detective James Gordon
**"Pilot"** is the first episode of Season One of Fox's *Gotham*. It was written by Bruno Heller and directed by Danny Cannon. It is the first episode of the series overall, and premiered on September 22, 2014. This episode if the first season premiere.

## Synopsis

A new recruit in Captain Sarah Essen's Gotham City Police Department, Detective James Gordon is paired with Harvey Bullock to solve one of Gotham's most high-profile cases ever: the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. During his investigation, Gordon meets the Waynes' son, Bruce, now in the care of his butler Alfred, which further compels Gordon to catch the killer. Along the way, Gordon must confront gang boss Fish Mooney, as well as many of Gotham's future villains, such as Selina Kyle and Oswald Cobblepot. Eventually, Gordon is forced to form an unlikely friendship with Bruce, one that will help shape the boy's future in becoming the Dark Knight.

## Recap

*This section is a detailed recap of this episode. **There are major spoilers.** Click to expand.*

The action starts right away as we see a Selina Kyle run and jump from city rooftops in a display of agility. She soon hops down into a street market and goes on a theft spree. Escaping a man who finds out that she has just pick-pocketed him, Selina seeks refuge in an alleyway. It’s there that she sees the Wayne family coming around the corner, laughing and conversing about the recent night’s entertainment. Soon, a masked mugger with a gun approaches the Waynes. As the mugger demands and receives Thomas Wayne’s wallet and Martha Wayne’s pearl necklace, he shoots them both in cold blood. Briefly pointing the gun at Bruce Wayne, the mugger eventually nonchalantly walks away, while slightly shoving Bruce with his shoulder. As Bruce tries to detect any life from his parents, Selina, perched on a fire escape, watches the scene in shock. With his parents’ blood on his hands, Bruce lets out a hair-raising scream.

We quickly change venues and are now inside the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD). A mentally disturbed suspect suddenly breaks free and grabs a female cop’s gun and takes her hostage. Every single cop draws their guns and takes aim. From upstairs, Detective James Gordon quickly comes down while telling everyone to hold their fire. In a show of expert negotiation and quick thinking, Gordon subdues the suspect and saves the day. But not everyone is impressed. Detective Harvey Bullock, who’s been watching from his desk, admonishes Gordon and reinforces the credo that anyone who takes a cop’s gun should be shot. The two are soon dispatched to the site of the recent Wayne murders.

Arriving at the scene, Gordon goes to the still in-shock Bruce. Bullock, after looking at the bodies, doesn’t want the case and tries to hand it off to Gotham’s Major Crimes Unit (MCU), but it’s too late as Gordon has already engaged Bruce. To find common ground, Gordon shares a story with Bruce — the night his own father was killed by a drunk driver. Bruce opens up and describes the perpetrator to Gordon. As Bruce blames himself for being too scared to do anything, Gordon comforts him and promises him that he will “find the man that did this.” It’s not long before Alfred Pennyworth arrives to take Bruce home. Meeting Gordon and finding out that he’s new to the department, Aflred only gives Gordon a “good luck” in finding the murderer, which speaks plenty of how Alfred views Gotham’s law enforcement.

At a diner, Bullock, to Gordon, lets out his frustrations of taking on the high-profile Wayne case. Soon, Detectives Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen of the MCU enter. They try and muscle the case away from Gordon and Bullock. But Bullock has a change of heart and now wants the case, when it’s apparent that Montoya and Allen are making this into a measuring contest. We’re soon treated to a quick montage of Bullock and Gordon bringing in known muggers for questioning. The scene is then bookended with the coroner, Edward Nygma (we all know who he’ll be), annoyingly giving his report to Gordon and Bullock.

Upon Bullock’s suggestion, the two pay a visit to Fish Mooney, one of Carmine Falcone’s underbosses, being that the Wayne’s were murdered on her turf. Fish’s brutality and sadism are quickly established with her in the back alley beating an employee who stole from her Along with Fish, we get our first look at Oswald Cobblepot. Meeting Fish in her nightclub, Gordon is slightly disturbed by the inherent chumminess between her and Bullock. Fish, seeing Gordon for the first time, quickly evaluates him and greets him with, “Well aren’t you a cool glass of milk.” Gathering the information they need, Bullock and Gordon leave.

We meet Barbara Kean, Gordon’s fiancèe, when he retires for the night at her apartment. Gordon’s fears and the questioning of his own abilities to handle the Wayne case are relayed to Barbara, who assures him that he can succeed. Later, Gordon is woken up by his phone when Bullock calls him about a lead.

Hearing that Fish knows of a person who attempted to fence Martha Wayne’s pearls, Gordon and Bullock pay a visit to a known felon by the name of Mario Pepper. At Pepper’s residence, they’re greeted at the door by Pepper’s daughter, Ivy. And yes, when Gordon and Bullock enter, the place is populated by a lot of plants. Informing Mario that they need to search his apartment, Mario makes a run for it. Gordon gives chase with Mario shooting at him. The two end up in an alleyway (for some reason, many things take place in alleyways) and Mario ambushes Gordon with a knife. After a harrowing fight, Mario gets the upper-hand. About to stab Gordon, Bullock shoot Mario and kills him. A full scale search is done at Mario’s apartment and they find Martha Wayne’s pearls. At GCPD, Gordon and Bullock enter to applause and are heralded as heroes in the newspaper. But later, Oswald, acting as an informant, meets with Montoya and Allen to tell them that Fish framed Mario because it was Falcone who had the Waynes murdered.

At the Waynes’ funeral, Gordon and Bullock pay their respects. Bruce stoically shakes Gordon’s hand and thanks him. Meanwhile, Montoya goes to Barbara’s apartment to warn her about Gordon, thinking that he framed Mario Pepper. Barbara doesn’t believe in any of the insinuations and defends Gordon. The conversation quickly escalates to Montoya eluding to a past relationship between her and Barbara. Later that night, Barbara reveals to Gordon, Montoya’s findings. Confronting Montoya, Gordon vows that if a frame really did happen, he would get to the bottom of it.

Visiting the Peppers’ residences again, Gordon requests to see Mario’s shoes. Gordon meets with Bullock and tries to convince him that they were most likely duped into thinking Mario was the murderer. Mario didn’t own any shiny shoes of which Bruce recalled the shooter to be wearing. Bullock warns Gordon that revealing the truth is not something they should be doing. Against Bullock’s wishes, Gordon pays Fish a visit.

As Gordon confronts Fish about the truth, Fish and her henchmen end up subduing him. Worried about Gordon not answering his phone, Barbara visits Bullock. Soon, Bullock goes to a meat packing facility and finds Gordon about to be executed by Fish’s henchmen. Bullock calls fish and attempts to negotiate with her — killing Gordon would only make her situation more difficult. Fish takes it as a threat and Bullock ends up having the same fate as Gordon. Fish isn’t done yet. Hanging up the phone, she confronts Oswald about his subterfuge. Fearing for his life, Oswald reiterates his loyalty. Fish doesn’t believe a word of it and brutally beats Oswald into submission while breaking his legs.

On the verge of being killed, Gordon and Bullock are saved in a blaze of gunfire by Carmine Falcone’s men. Falcone’s reasoning: the killing of cops needs to be approved first. Walking with Gordon, Falcone, surprisingly, reveals that he and Gordon’s father had a mutual respect for each other and were friends — and that’s one of the reasons why Gordon is alive. Falcone then denies any involvement in the Wayne murders and gives Gordon his reasons for framing Mario Pepper: they needed a culprit before the funeral. This would provide the citizens of Gotham a feeling of security and hope. Falcone loves Gotham City and he needs law and order for the purposes of running his illegal enterprise. He reasons to Gordon that no good will come of City Hall and the police department being brought down.

Gordon and Bullock drive a beaten and bloodied Oswald to the docks. Falcone has ordered Gordon to execute Oswald for his disloyalty. This wouldn’t just tie up loose ends, but would assure that Gordon is “with the program.” If Gordon refuses, Bullock will have to execute both him and Oswald. Bullock further warns that even Barbara is in danger because Falcone needs assurance that no one knows anything. Gordon forces a begging Oswald to the end of the pier and tells him to never come back to Gotham City. Faking the execution, Gordon fires his gun inches from Oswald’s head and pushes him into the water.

Gordon visits Wayne Manor just as Bruce emerges from the mansion’s rooftop looking like he’s about to jump. In the mansion’s study, Bruce tells Gordon that his reasons for being on the roof was to learn how to “conquer fear.” Gordon then confesses to Bruce that Mario Pepper was framed and that the real murderer of his parents are still out there. Placing his badge on the coffee table, Gordon asks Bruce’s blessing in continuing to work for GCPD. Bruce hands Gordon his badge back in a symbolic gesture of support. At the shores of Gotham’s outskirts, Oswald emerges and violently slashes the throat of a fisherman.

## Cast

* Donal Logue as Detective Harvey Bullock
* David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne
* Zabryna Guevara as Captain Sarah Essen
* Sean Pertwee as Alfred Pennyworth
* Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot
* Erin Richards as Barbara Kean
* Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle
* Cory Michael Smith as Edward Nygma
* Jada Pinkett Smith as Fish Mooney
* Richard Kind as Mayor Aubrey James
* Victoria Cartagena as Detective Renee Montoya
* Andrew Stewart-Jones as Detective Crispus Allen
* Drew Powell as Butch Gilzean
* Daniel Stewart Sherman as Mario Pepper
* Michael Kostroff as Officer Tannenbaum
* Grayson McCouch as Dr. Thomas Wayne
* Brette Taylor as Martha Wayne
* Clare Foley as Ivy Pepper
* Victor Cruz as Desk Sergeant
* Jon Beavers as Comedian

Co-Starring* Robert Jimenez as Raoul
* Roberto Lopez as Henchman #1
* Jeremy Sample as Henchman #2
* Ruy Iskandar as Waiter at Fish Mooney's
* Polly Lee as Alice Pepper
* Geoffrey Murphy as Big Man in Police Station
* Danny Schoch as Masked Man
* Roberta Colindrez as Female Detective
* Justin Michael Carter as Spectacled Cop

## Trivia

### Production Notes

* The Alfred Pennyworth used on *Gotham* takes influences from the Batman: Earth One version.
* Harvey Bullock tells Detective Gordon to meet him on "Fourth and Grundy", referencing the DC Comics villain, Solomon Grundy.
* Instead of having a normal window, Barbara Kean's penthouse has a clockface, which is a reference to Barbara Gordon's clocktower base of operations in the comics.
* The presence of the unnamed comedian auditioning at Fish Mooney's club is a possible reference to one of the Joker's possible origins as a stand-up comedian from the comic book *The Killing Joke*.

### Goofs

* At the beginning of the episode, Selina Kyle steals a half gallon of milk. She pours some milk into a pan she pulls from a trash can and then sets the milk container down. There's only a couple of ounces still in the milk jug and she only poured a couple ounces into the pan.
* When Barbara Kean and Renee Montoya are speaking in Barbara's apartment, Barbara calls Renee "Victoria".

## References

1. ↑ http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/09/23/monday-final-ratings-forever-dancing-with-the-stars-scorpion-americas-next-top-model-adjusted-down/306063
2. ↑ http://www.superherohype.com/news/294767-foxs-gotham-reveals-a-logo-and-official-synopsis
3. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20140903fox01/

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