Gotham - The Penguin's Umbrella

Well you can tell by the way I use my walk
I'm a mama's boy and I'm gonna squawk

Oswald Cobblepot is out of the shadows and Gotham is bracing for gang war. Now that his deception is revealed, Gordon must make a hail Mary throw, and Bullock must decide who to back.

If 'Spirit of the Goat' was Bullock's show, 'The Penguin's Umbrella' is, unsurprisingly, Cobblepot's. This is his first grand scheme, as with one throw of the dice he moves to eliminate half of his enemies and neutralise the rest. Everything is good in Penguin Town.

Oh, shit! It's Victor Zsasz; and there are only about fifty of us.
Cheese it!

Gordonsville is looking a lot less rosy. Allen and Montoya are established as allies, but Barbara is promoted this week from merely useless to an active liability and the rest of the GCPD show their true colours: bright yellow. If nothing else, the appearance of Victor Zsasz (currently on kill 28 of lots) at GCPD HQ proves that the real problem with the cops in Gotham is not that they are corrupt, but that they are beaten. Perhaps Gordon's achievement in the series will be to get them at least to a stage where they aren't cowed without a struggle.

We're big damn heroes! Good thing neither of us has a useless
idiot girlfriend who could completely screw this up for us.

On the upside, the wary alliance between Gordon and Bullock seems to be blossoming into full blown bromance. It's adorable. Gordon's face when Bullock is setting out to have sex with a hooker in his and Barbara's bed is priceless.

As a note, it's now established that Captain Essen has a family, so I don't know if they're going to go with the comics relationship. I'm really worried that they're going to try to make a go of this relationship with Barbara, who drags the quality of Gotham's female characters down several notches. Part of me can't escape the feeling that there's going to be a surprise guest appearance from Emily Brett Rickards, who will have staggering chemistry with Gordon and then go back to Arrow leaving the irritating canon romance intact.

Some other notes:

They're really building up this 'sons of Gotham' idea, with Falcone, Gordon and Cobblepot all very strongly identifying with the idea that Gotham is their home, however shabbily it treats them. I guess the same applies to Bruce. I don't know if it will work out long term, but at least it's a concept.

Zsasz is a fan of Lipps Inc.