Welcome Back, Jim Gordon

"Welcome Back, Jim Gordon" is the thirteenth episode of the television series Gotham. It premiered on FOX on January 26, 2015 and was written by Megan Mostyn-Brown, and directed by Wendey Stanzler. In this episode, Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and Bullock (Donal Logue) investigate the murder of a witness in a public homicide. Meanwhile, Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) suffers the consequences of her failed plan against Falcone.

The episode was watched by 6.04 million viewers and received generally positive reviews, praising character development but criticizing the pace.

Plot

Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) is being tortured by Falcone's interrogator, Bob (Michael Eklund). Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and Bullock (Donal Logue) work with narcotics detective Arnold Flass (Dash Mihok) in a public homicide. They interrogate Leon Winkler (Willie C. Carpenter), who witnessed the homicide. While waiting for an interrogation, Winkler is killed with an icepick by an unknown man.

Butch (Drew Powell) manages free himself and frees Mooney from her captors. Gordon interrogates Derek Delaware (Niko Nicotera) about his role in the guard duty. He arrests him when he finds drugs in his car, the same ones as in the victims. Essen (Zabryna Guevara) removes Gordon and Bullock from the case. In the file room, Flass mocks a letter Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) wrote for Mrs. Kringle (Chelsea Spack). She later apologizes for his behavior.

Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) surprises his mother (Carol Kane) with the nightclub and makes her a singer in the club. Gordon visits him and asks for a favor from Cobblepot to get information from Flass. Before he does it, he closes the nightclub and begins to act out when he's surprised to see Mooney. She begins to beat him with a baseball bat until Victor Zsasz (Anthony Carrigan) and his henchmen ambush them. Butch sacrifices himself so Mooney can escape.

Bruce (David Mazouz), having returned from Switzerland, runs into Ivy Pepper (Clare Foley) in the streets. He asks for Selina (Camren Bicondova) and Ivy arranges a meeting. Selina visits him in Wayne Manor where she reveals she lied and doesn't know who was the killer and tells him to never contact him again.

Cobblepot has his henchman to extort Delaware from killing his wife to get information from Flass. He later gives his confession and murder weapon to Gordon and Flass is arrested for the murder of both witnesses. Later, Bullock reunites with Mooney, who's planning to flee town and lay low. The part with a kiss. Gordon is asked by Delaware if nothing would "harm" his family. Gordon sees that the favor Cobblepot gave him now makes him look a threat.

Reception

Viewers

The episode was watched by 6.04 million viewers, with a 2.1 rating among 18-49 adults.^[1] With Live+7 DVR viewing factored in, the episode had an overall rating of 9.07 million viewers, and a 3.4 in the 18–49 demographic.^[2]

Critical reviews

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer)	67%[3]
Rotten Tomatoes (Average Score)	6.3[3]
IGN	6.8[4]
The A.V Club	C[5]
"GamesRadar"	[6]
Paste Magazine	6.5[7]
TV Fanatic	[8]
New York Magazine	[9]

"Welcome Back, Jim Gordon" received generally positive reviews. The episode received a rating of 67% with an average score of 6.3 out of 10 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus stating: "'Welcome Back, Jim Gordon' focuses on the growth of Gotham's many leading players, making it a colorful, though hectic, episode."^[3]

Matt Fowler of IGN gave the episode a "okay" 6.8 out of 10 and wrote in his verdict, "Though there were interesting pieces within 'Welcome Back, Jim Gordon' (Bullock and Fish, Gordon becoming what he hates), there was just too much at work here that we've been through before. I get that the title of the episode is even meant to be tongue-in-cheek, alluding to the fact that Gordon's back and nothing's changed - but seriously, this one had a lot of the same beats we'd seen in the fall episodes. And the Fish torture scenes, which seemed to be building up to a great character moment, went nowhere."^[4]

The A.V. Club's Kyle Fowle gave the episode a "C" grade and wrote, "To Gotham's credit, 'Welcome Back, Jim Gordon' actually gives the audience a solid payoff, something that was sorely lacking in the conclusion of the Electrocutioner storyline, which boasted a climax as jarring as a glass of cold water to the face–or your mechanized, chest-strapped device. At the very least, this week's episode takes its case of the week and builds to a climax that's serviceable to the storyline and to the characters within it. That's as nice as I can get though as, once again, Gotham shows a complete lack of vision while failing to make its procedural elements compelling."^[5]

References