‘Gotham’ Season 5 premiere recap: Jim Gordon begins the fight to save Gotham

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the Gotham Season 5 premiere titled “Year Zero”. Please do not read ahead if you have not seen the episode or read on at your risk of being spoiled.

The final season of Gotham kicked off on Thursday night and it gave fans a glimpse into the future and laid the groundwork for what is expected to be a thrilling and emotional ending to a great series.

Personally, I loved the premiere so much that I watched it twice. The first thing we see is a flash forward of Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) allied with Edward Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) and Penguin (Robin Taylor) in a massive gunfight against a mutual enemy. Any enemy that looks like the government? We saw tanks and… well I’m sure we will pick up on that later.

Anyway, this premiere kicks off just 87 days after Jerome Valeska (Cameron Monaghan) blew up the Gotham bridge in the events of “No Man’s Land” and now we get to see the aftermath. I like that we kicked off with Gordon’s recap of how things happened since the events that left the city on its own.

We find out the entire city has been turned into sections. Penguin and his crew have control over the manufacture of ammo, Barbara (Erin Richards) and the Sirens have control of the food, the GCPD is holding refugees to keep them safe, and the Scarecrow has control of the lower east side.

Penguin sends his lackey to try and make a deal with Barbara. He offered her 1,000 rounds of ammo in exchange for 1,000 pounds of steak. Barb wants to make the deal but Tabitha (Jessica Lucas) is still upset over Penguin killing Butch in front of her.

At this point, Gotham is on its own and Gordon found that out first hand. The refugees are getting hangry (see what I did there? HA!) and are demanding more food. Bruce (David Mazouz) says he can fly supplies in but as the helicopter is making its landing, it is shot down by someone’s rocket.

Gordon and what’s left of the GCPD go to the crash site. Penguin and his goons are there to steal the supplies and Gordon’s men are outgunned. This doesn’t look good at all. Well, that is until someone shoots arrows and kills some of Penguin’s crew.

No, Oliver Queen didn’t suddenly come to Gotham. Although how cool would it have been to see him tell Penguin, “You’ve failed this city!”?

It was actually Tabitha who shot the arrows. Penguin reacts fast as he takes a blade and stabs her in the chest, killing her. Barbara arrives, sees Tabitha dead and goes into a rage. That is when Gordon says they should split the supplies 50-50. Little did Penguin know that Bruce stole some of the ammo from Penguins truck and re-supplied the GCPD.

It is so great to see Bruce’s transformation into Batman begin in this first episode. Talk about foreshadowing!

Gordon then shoots Penguin in the leg and takes all the supplies for the refugees. Penguin later puts out a bounty to kill Gordon as the episode ends.

Episode Notes:

• The secondary plot involved Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova), who is recovering slowly from paralysis. The doctors removing the bullet from her spine means there is little chance she’ll ever walk again. She attempts to kill herself but the doctors and Bruce arrive in time. The nurse tells her the only way to cure her is by going to “The Witch.” And it looks like Catwoman is about to be born!
• Nygma is blacking out and is thinking his alter ego is responsible.
• We see “HAHAHAHA!” on a map in Gordon’s office. It looks like Jerome aka The Joker is back!

What did you make of the premiere? Tell us in the comments below!

The final season of Gotham airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Fox.