Gotham: How And When Did Mario Falcone Get Infected By Alice Tetch’s Blood?

By Steve Lam | Nov 24, 2016

On Gotham’s “Mad City: Time Bomb” episode, Mario Falcone was revealed to be infected by Alice Tetch’s blood. How and when did that happen?

Gotham‘s “Mad City: Time Bomb” episode revealed that Alice Tetch’s legacy is alive and well—and it’s brewing inside of Mario Falcone (played by James Carpinello). The episode starts off pretty tame, with the calm and cool Mario having dinner with Lee Thomkins and his father, Carmine Falcone.

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When a car bomb explodes, it’s up to Jim Gordon to find out who’s after Carmine. Jim soon learns that Carmine wasn’t the intended target. The bomb was actually meant for Mario. Jim gets to Mario just in time, saves his life from two assailants, and brings him to the GCPD for protection.

However, Mario knows that him being in danger makes Lee a target also. He promptly escapes Harvey’s watchful eyes and sets himself up as bait at a jewelry store. As Jim tries to talk some sense into Lee’s future husband, more assailants come crashing through the store.

Surprisingly, Mario holds his own in this fight. In a last second desperate move, Mario shoves a brooch into an attacker’s eye. In a fit of anger, Mario seems to lose himself and chokes the attacker to death. To witnesses, this was all in self-defense. However, something strange was already afoot. This was a bit out of Mario’s character.

After things settled down, Lee goes to Jim’s to get some proper closure in regards to their relationship. She kisses him and says goodbye. Little do they know, Mario is outside spying on her visit.

As two punks with ill-intentions approaches Mario, he breaks into a fit of rage, lifting one up by the neck and breaking the hand of the other one. Mario then goes on a tirade proclaiming, “She loves me!” (very much reminiscent of Nathaniel Barnes’s “guilty” mantra). We then get a close-up shot of Mario’s face as it becomes vascular and strained—a sure sign of infection from Alice Tetch’s blood.

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The questions now are: How did Mario get infected? And at what point in the season did he get infected? Was it during the time he was taken hostage along with Lee and Valerie Vale? Or did Jervis Tetch purposely infect Mario as part of a sick game?

Mario being infected certainly changes the dynamics of Jim and Lee. As we learned from the start of the episode, they now have a test that can detect the infection. We can definitely expect some conflict when Lee discovers Mario’s state, and her seeking Jim’s help without Mario knowing. And if the infection takes over Mario’s life (just like Barnes’s sad fate), you can also expect Carmine to be reigning down some fury of his own.

What are your theories? How and when do you think Mario got infected? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Next: Catch up with a recap of 'Mad City: Time Bomb'

Enjoy this week’s new episode, and check back with us on Tuesday morning for our full recap and review. Also, don’t forget to visit the Gotham After Show where our friends at theStream.tv will give fans a play-by-play of the latest episode. And the fun continues with Welcome to the Batcave, also on theStream.tv.

Gotham airs on Fox on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. EST.