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Gotham Season 3, Episode 10 Recap And Review: “Mad City: Time Bomb”

By Steve Lam

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Gotham’s “Mad City: Time Bomb” episode brings back the Court of Owls in full force, and Barbara prepares to fight for power.

Gotham‘s “Mad City: Time Bomb” starts to connect multiple past conspiracies to the Court of Owls. And Barbara makes a bid to get a seat at the mob bosses’ table. Accented with all the great gore and over-the-top violence the show is known for, this episode was an entertaining ride.

Spoilerific Recap

Lee and Mario check out Carmine’s go-to venue for their rehearsal dinner. When it’s time to leave, a valet is killed from a car bomb intended for Carmine. Jim arrives and Carmine gives him one day to figure out who’s behind this.

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It’s a meeting of the mob bosses at Penguin’s. Barbara shows up and demands to know where Butch and Tabitha are. Penguin feigns ignorance of the whole matter. The tense meeting is interrupted by Olga, Penguin’s maid. Barbara doesn’t seem to want more bloodshed so she voluntarily leaves, but not before Penguin has a few choice words of his own.

Penguin calls Ed and wants him to hurry up. Ed has already captured Butch and Tabitha. Butch claims to have no knowledge of Isabella, but this only angers Ed even more. Ed starts his torture on Butch with an electric shock machine.

Harvey is now the acting captain of the GCPD. With new information from Lucius that the explosives were military grade, Harvey gets a hint that this may be the work of someone named “Fuse.” Jim and Harvey arrive at Fuse’s only to find him murdered, but a mysterious hidden file reveals that Carmine was not the intended target.

Mario exits the hospital and is attacked by two people on a motorcycle, with one wielding a machete. Jim arrives just in time to save Mario.

It’s breakfast at Wayne Manor and Selina is getting a bit restless. However, Alfred and Bruce thinks it’s in her best interest to stay. Alfred finds Ivy in the conservatory nursing the vegetation. Wanting also to leave, Ivy uses her special perfume concoction to control Alfred, making him turn off the alarms.

At the GCPD, Mario thinks Jim’s “protection” is for other reasons that pertain to Lee. Jim leaves to talk to Carmine and has Harvey babysit Mario.

Penguin’s out and Barbara arrives at just the right time to talk to Olga. Bribing Olga with her oversized gem, Barbara learns about an invoice from Stocks and Bondage. As an added bonus, Olga also blabs about Penguin’s feelings for Ed.

Much to Bruce’s dismay, Selina has gone ahead and used vinegar and baking soda to remove the corrosion from the key. Seeing an opportunity, Bruce confronts Selina about their relationship. She doesn’t want labels and wants to be only know as “us.” With the corrosion gone, Bruce discovers a Court of Owls engraving. Alfred doesn’t think it’s a good idea getting involved due to Bruce’s agreement with the Court. It’s not long before they get a call asking for a trade: the necklace for Ivy.

The three arrive in the city and make their way into the sewers where they meet the crossbow-wielding assailants and their leader. Bruce soon learns that the men are not part of the Court. In fact, they’re fighting against them.

Jim questions Carmine and wants to know if Mario is involved in something. Carmine refuses to believe that his son could be doing anything illegal. Jim gets a call that Mario has left the safety of the GCPD.

Barbara speaks to a cashier at the Stocks and Bondage. He’s tight-lipped with any information about customers, so Barbara tricks him and locks him in a bondage contraption. She spanks him until he tells her the safe code. Barbara retrieves the invoice and learns where Ed is keeping Butch and Tabitha.

Ed finally reveals what he wants to do with Butch and Tabitha. He’s constructed a tiny guillotine (large enough for an appendage) on a timer. A switch is the only way to stop the guillotine, but it’ll deliver a shock that’ll kill Butch.

Bruce learns that the leader of the group is named Volk. His groups is known as the Whisper Gang and they were Gotham’s most notorious smugglers. A while back, the Court discovered their growing numbers and offered a partnership, but the Court betrayed them. Most returned to the Ukraine, but some stayed to exact revenge on the Court.

The key is to a safe in one of the Court’s buildings. It supposedly houses a device that can destroy them. The safe originally had two keys, and the Court still possesses one of them. Bruce still wants justice for his parents’ murders, so he proposes a deal.

Jim finds Mario at a jewelry store and so do the assailants. A fight soon breaks out with Jim shooting one of them and Mario stabbing another through the eye with a brooch.

Ed forces Tabitha’s hand through the guillotine and proposes a new deal: if Tabitha loves Butch enough to sacrifice her own hand, he’ll set the two of them free. Tabitha doesn’t think Butch is worth it, but has a change of heart when Butch says some heartfelt words. Butch then turns his attention to Ed and taunts him with a made up version of how he shot and killed Isabella.

As the timer runs down, Tabitha drops the switch, saving Butch’s life and allowing her hand to be severed. Ed starts to piece together Butch’s story and discovers that his claim of being innocent was the truth. Isabella was never shot, she died in a car accident. Barbara bursts through the door and Ed calmly and coldly leaves the scene.

Mario’s assailants are now in custody, but they can’t be identified. In a surprise development, the feds are here to take them. Carmine suspects someone from high up wants them out of the scene. As Jim and Harvey leave the interrogation room, Carmine uses his own method of interrogation—extracting the suspect’s molar, revealing a Court of Owl’s engraving.

Volk and his man are at the docks when they’re confronted by a Talon—the same one who went after Bruce. The Talon is after the second key, but Volk refuses to give it up. After a brief fight, Volk and his man are promptly killed.

At the ER, Barbara questions why anyone would want to kill a librarian. Slowly putting the pieces together, she figures out that it’s Penguin behind everything. She wants to use that information to start a war and gain power.

Carmine speaks to Kathryn and warns her that there’ll be consequences if Mario is harmed. He also wants to know more. However, Kathryn brushes him off, only assuring him that Mario will be safe. When the time comes, she’ll call for his assistance.

Lee visits Jim and gives him closure with a proper goodbye kiss. Outside, Mario spies on them and is enraged with jealously. When two punks try to rob him, Mario fights back and exhibits super-strength and signs of infection from Alice Tetch’s blood.

Next: Catch up with a recap of 'Mad City: The Executioner'

Best Moment(s)

Barbara facing off with Penguin and the mob bosses. There was a time when Barbara would cower away from a raised voice. Look at how far we’ve come.

Butch’s sappy moment and Tabitha’s quick change of heart. If it’s one thing Gotham won’t disappoint fans with, it’s actually going there. The twitching of the severed hand was a nice touch.

Final Thoughts

“Mad City: Time Bomb” showed us that Carmine Falcone was always under the control of the Court of Owls. He’s retired, but that doesn’t mean he still can’t do some significant damage. Will he use his influence and connection to help Jim? Or will he bend to the Court’s will and assist them in regaining a foothold in Gotham?

Gotham had a largely missed opportunity in truly establishing Ed. His sadistic game with Butch and Tabitha would’ve been much better executed had he used riddles. Come on, Gotham writers! You set a villain up and then failed to use his most iconic trait.

All in all, it was an enjoyable episode—and this was mostly due to Erin Richards’s performance as the crazy, yet sly Barbara.

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