Gotham season 2
The Legend Begins
Previously on Gotham....
Since watching his parents murder at a young age Bruce Wayne had lived a wild and reckless life full of endless parties, drink and woman however after a heart touching argument with his butler Alfred about the man he has become Bruce began reflecting on his life and wondered what it was he was meant to be, the only friend he had was young up and coming lawyer Harvey Dent however after meeting a young girl Vicki Vale, Bruce was soon involved in meaningful relationship and his wild playboy lifestyle came to an end. As the series continued Bruce and Harvey’s friendship continued and his feeling for Vicki grew stronger however through a series of events and a visit from Doctor Fate the young billionaire is soon realising that there is far more in his future than he ever dreamed of but still unsure what that was, also Harvey discovered his father worked for Gotham’s mob boss Carmine Falcone and had recently killed a man, wrestling with his conscience Harvey uses his knowledge of law to trick and convict his father, also Vicki learns that Bruce use to take mind therapy sessions when he was younger and that he has a condition called low latent inhibition meaning what his mind can process is far beyond what the normal mind can take in.
Also Gotham commissioner Jim Gordon has all but crippled the Falcone family but when the mob kidnap his little daughter Barbara, Jim turns vigilante and seeks out to get her back.
During the finale Bruce, Vicki and Harvey team up to find Barbara with all three using there different skills and end up in an abandoned Waynetech warehouse but when everyone is kidnapped apart from Bruce who is still in hiding he uses the old tech he can find and tricks Carmine Falcone pretending to be a spirit surrounding the warehouse and for a brief but vital moment distracts the mobsters long enough for the police to arrive.
The series ended with Bruce realising whatever his destiny was he now was on the journey, but it would be a journey he will have to face alone and after abandoning Harvey and pretending to Vicki that he had gone back to his playboy drunken lifestyle Bruce in secret prepares to go out into the world and discover who he is and what he is meant to become.
And now the Legend continues
Episode 1
After 2 years away Bruce returns to Gotham.
During these two years the world has believed he has merely travelled the world having grown tired of Gotham but in truth he has been training himself in secret, learning different cultures and disciplines.
Bruce continues to build on his illusion as Gotham’s wild child and hits the most public nightclubs Gotham has to offer and meets a girl named Talia at a bar.
Talia: ‘So what do us common girls supposed to call you just Bruce or Mr Wayne’?
Bruce: ‘I don’t want to say’.
Talia: ‘What can’t you tell me right now’?
Bruce: ‘I’d rather tell you in the morning’.
Talia: ‘That’s funny because I have another name to call you’.
Bruce: ‘And that is’.
Talia: ‘How about liar’.
Bruce: ‘Excuse me’?
Talia: ‘Let’s just say I know more about you then most of these people and what you’ve been doing'.
She tells him that she knows what he has been doing and offers him training with a mysterious order whose mission is to save the world in order to help him discover his purpose.
Vicki is intent with Bruce’s return as to what he has been doing refusing he has gone back to his wild lifestyle, In the past two years she has built on her career as a reporter and has used her skills to try and track down what it is Bruce has been doing whilst he has been away she knows he is a good man and that he cares for her, but then why had he shunned both her and Harvey for no reason.
Jim Gordon has been fighting for his marriage as of late and realising the dangers in Gotham both he and his wife has sent her away to Metropolis hoping she would be safer there.
Also at this time Harvey feels abandoned by Bruce and that abandonment turns to anger, he has risen and is now established as a defence lawyer in Gotham.
The main focus of this first episode in to reintroduce Bruce back in Gotham after his time away and the people he left behind. With Alfred it is an emotional and warm welcome, Harvey shuns the news of Bruce Wayne’s return however does still show anger and hurt at the mention of his name but it is with Vicki Vale which holds the most powerful of scenes.
Bruce in his heart still loves her but knows whatever future awaits him she can’t be with him and be safe from harm whereas Vicki still loves Bruce deep down however after he broke her heart and addressed her so coldly back in the season 1 finale she is conflicted what she wants from him, her love returned or just an explanation.
Vicki: ‘Two years Bruce, did you ever think of me even once’.
Bruce: ‘Why would I, you actually think you meant something to me’.
Vicki: ‘I know I did what I can’t work out is why you’re pushing me out of your life now’.
Bruce: ‘Fine you want the truth, I’m not pushing you out of my life I’m throwing you out, I find you dull, boring and no use to me and the only reason I pretended to care for you was for my own enjoyment now if you’d be so kind as to leave I have a busy day’.
Vicki rushes out of Wayne manor fighting back tears with Bruce crushed by his own words, suddenly Alfred appears after overhearing the conversation.
Alfred: ‘Out of interest DID you ever think of her when you were away…. even once’!
Bruce: ‘Everyday Alfred I thought about her everyday’.
The ending see’s the mysterious Talia enter the back of a limo and gives an update on Bruce to a man…. A man named Ras al Ghul
Ras al Ghul: ‘You’ve met him’.
Talia: ‘I have’.
Ras: ‘And’?
Talia: ‘He’s ready’.
Episode 2
After learning that Vicki had gone see Hugo Strange about his therapy when he was a child, Bruce pays him a visit himself demanding what he told her.
Bruce: ‘You’ll excuse my intrusion but I was to believe doctor patient confidentiality was sacred among you people’.
Hugo: ‘Bruce it is wonderful to see you again my boy’.
Bruce: ‘I understand you have been given some reporter my medical background’.
Hugo: ‘Oh you mean miss Vale, yes quite a lovely girl and one that cares for you very much Bruce’.
Bruce: ‘She’s no one, what did you tell her about me’.
Hugo: ‘I told her everything Bruce’.
Bruce: ‘You had no right’.
Hugo: ‘My dear boy all I’ve ever wanted for you is your mental stability, miss Vale is someone who cares for you deeply and by telling her about your shall we say gifts will help you grow closer together you need someone like that in your life Bruce, that is what I truly want for you…. happiness’.
Bruce: ‘If you ever talk with Vicki Vale again or anyone else about our relationship when I was a child I will use my what you call gifts and my godly fortune to ensure that your future as any kind of doctor will be prescribing prescription free drugs over the internet are we clear’.
Bruce goes to leave but Hugo calls after him.
Hugo: ‘Careful Bruce a man quick to anger is a man losing his grip on that which matters most’.
Strange in secret reveals he has a secret contact on the phone.
Hugo: ‘He’s just left’.
Bruce meets Alfred’s friend Lucious Fox and employs him in Wayne enterprises research division.
Episode 3
Bruce gets the model of what will become the batmobile at the moment he has just bought it as a collectors item but Alfred gives it a name the Brucemobile, in which Bruce replys telling him that was an awful joke.
Harvey is tempted by the corruption of being a lawyer and the benefits they bring and by being abandoned by Bruce he is soon seduced by the corrupt officials in Gotham.
Bruce is approached at a charity function by a girl who begs him to look over an investment for a plant protection scheme centred around a biological gas which would make them unapproachable by any living thing and she goes on to say it could save every endangered or potentially endangered species of plant life from the ignorance of mankind however as Bruce continues to listen he explains that the gas would protect the plant life by being toxic to humans and goes on to say plants safety can never take priority over human safety.
As the episode goes on Ivy attempts to try and seduce Bruce in order to get his trust and money however Bruce still in secret loves Vicki and rejects Ivy’s advances.
The ending of the episode sees a desperate Ivy poison and kidnap Bruce and taking him down to Gotham’s sewers to give him one last chance to help her and her plans or she will take his life but during a struggle and Bruce’s escape after the underground collapses Ivy is trapped beneath the rubble leaving Bruce no choice but to run to the surface by himself believing her dead.
However the ending see’s that the sewer system now blocked off by the earthquake has become like a jungle with wild growth everywhere and sitting in the epicentre is Ivy however mutated by the poisonous gases she sits upon her creations like a queen in her palace.
Episode 4
Jim chases down an unknown assassin after seeing her kill someone but in the chase he ends up shooting and killing her, she belonged to the league of assassins.
As the episode carries on Ras al Ghul seeks revenge on Gordon and haunts the commissioner through the entire episode but as much as Jim tries to track him down Ras al Ghul is far beyond what Jim is use to fighting such as crooks and thieves and towards the end Ras personally strikes down his wife revealing his cold and ruthless side.
Deciding whether Bruce is ready to lead Ras uses the power of the demonhand and glimpses at the future that now lies ahead of Bruce….. and is pleased with what he sees but wonders is this the man destined to take over him as the demonhand and lead the League of Assassins…. Or is it something else entirely.
Episode 5.
Alfred and Bruce argue about all the secrecy Bruce has been keeping and his detachment from his friends puzzles Alfred.
Alfred: ‘I can never replace your parents Master Bruce and I would never try to but I can’t leave you, not now’.
Bruce: ‘I’m fine Alfred’.
Alfred: ‘No sir you’re not, your losing yourself in this obsession of yours whatever it is your planning you are pushing aside everyone who has ever meant anything to use with the illusion that your protecting them but what you can’t see is that the only one bringing them pain is you’!
The main focus in this episode is Harvey and him agreeing to corrupt his own law cases to be a part of the mob and which sees him ultimately gets a man convicted for a crime he did not commit but was in the way of the crime families he now worked for, Harvey isn’t necessarily a bad man here but he is doing dark things as the mob has blinded his judgement and Bruce’s decision to push him away was a wrong one.
(The idea for this episode purely is to let Harvey’s character evolve and without Bruce as a friend he know believes that these corrupt criminals are his new friends and he starts to feel needed once again)
Ras confronts Bruce in his mansion
Ras: ‘Bruce Wayne, I thought it was time you and I finally met’.
Episode 6
This is a whole episode explaining Ras al Ghul and his background, the wars he has fought in, his training and initiation into the league of shadows.
It also sees him beating his former master and killing him in honourable combat and finally chosen to lead the assassins and given the gift of the Lazarus pits so he can lead the league for the many centuries that come after with the magic of the demonhand.
And ending with him back in present day talking to Bruce pleading with him to join his cause and take over as the leader with his loving daughter at his side.
(In secret Ras wants history to repeat itself and have Bruce trained just like he was and for Bruce to kill him in honourable combat so he can finally rest in peace after many years of duty).
Episode 7
Bruce leaves with Ras and Talia finally agreeing to accept their training and join their order believing that this was the destiny Doctor Fate once told him he had, when Alfred hears the name Ras however he panics and with Lucious attempts to stop Bruce from leaving but is too late.
Alfred panics and ends up contacting Vicki begging her to help him get hold of Bruce before he leaves Gotham but when it becomes clear that Bruce has already gone Alfred opens up to Vicki how Bruce has been a destroyed man since he broke up with her and his reason for doing so although he himself is unsure of the intention was all based on a lie for whatever reason Bruce thought he was protecting her, upon learning that Bruce still loved her he also explains that after the death of Bruce’s parents, Alfred pulled up his own contacts and investigated the murder and reveals that wherever he went he met a dead end except for a name, a name that was repeated again and again…. That name was Ras al Ghul.
Vicki once again visits Hugo Strange hoping that again he would help her understand what is going on in Bruce’s head.
Vicki: ‘Doctor Strange please I need your help’.
Hugo: ‘Ah miss Vale so nice to see you again but I’m afraid I am in too much of a hurry to talk my dear make an appointment’.
Vicki: ‘I can’t wait doctor Bruce is gone and we think he is in trouble please’.
Hugo: ‘He is in no danger Vicki he is being prepared’.
Vicki: ‘Do you know something’?
Hugo: ‘My dear what I know you couldn’t even comprehend, now if that is all’.
And Hugo leaves Vicki alone in the room stressed and concerned.
Episode 8
Bruce becomes much more skilled as a fighter and the whole episode see’s Bruce go through the trials of the Ras al Ghul and his relationship with Talia develops however it becomes clear that the League aren’t afraid to kill even to petty criminals and flees back to Gotham, however they go after him and the truth is revealed.
Ras: ‘You have done in a year what took the rest of us many to accomplish, you have opened your mind to the protector, your body to the warrior, now all that remains is for you to open up your spirit…. To the executioner’.
Bruce: ‘I can’t kill this man’.
Ras: ‘You are more than capable’.
Bruce: ‘Then I refuse too’.
Talia: ‘Bruce this man has killed, his heart is black and must be judged for his crimes’.
Bruce: ‘And your judgement is death’.
Ras: ‘Bruce this is our purpose, why we exist in the world men like these are shown mercy and in that mercy they are again allowed to continue unspeakable acts, but with us we show no mercy but liberation this man chose his path and now you must choose yours’.
Bruce: ‘What do you mean’?
Ras: ‘Bruce I haven’t been training you to join my army, I’ve trained you to lead it…. And take my place as the head of the demon, this is the destiny that awaits you and you must accept your fate with my loving daughter at your side’.
Episoode 9 (Finale)
The finale sees Bruce return to Gotham after abandoning the league but continues to keep his distance from Harvey and Vicki and confides only in Alfred back in his manor about where he has been, it is here that Alfred is about to reveal to Bruce that the name Ras al Ghul was mentioned when he investigated the Wayne’s death all them years ago but in that moment a swarm of ninjas crash through the doors and windows and knocks the pair out of conscious leaving the butler but taking Bruce to their secret hideout beneath Gotham.
When Bruce awakens he is in a strange ceremonial stone chamber and with him were both Ras himself and his daughter Talia.
Ras: ‘You didn’t actually believe that you could just leave us did you Bruce, after all I have done for you. You are my creation and my successor all that remains is to free you from the shackles of your misguided code of ethics and your journey will finally come to an end, and your path towards fulfilling your destiny will begin'.
Bruce: ‘I will never join you, you think death brings justice and mercy is for the weak, just because men like us have the power to judge those who are corrupt doesn’t mean we have the right to choose their fate’.
Ras: ‘Why not Bruce after all I chose yours all those many many years ago. (big reveal coming up)
Didn’t you ever wonder why that gunman who killed your parents left you alive, did you think it was just luck. Don’t you understand Bruce all I have done for you I have given you a life where now you can with us save the world’.
Bruce: ‘My parents (he chokes back tears) you’re the reason their dead’.
Ras: ‘Yes (nods to himself) fourteen years ago I discovered my body failing from the years claiming the demonhand and the restoration of my Lazarus pits, I needed a successor and so I devised a plan and a list was made one that held the most potential of my replacement and was decided the boy who would one day replace me was you’.
Bruce: ‘Me’.
Ras: ‘Bruce you were the richest boy on the planet and you were only ten years old, you had a condition combined with an IQ that made you theoretically a genius’.
‘I understood back then that for you to see our ways you must first learn pain and sacrifice, and so by my order I made Carmine Falcone kill the two people that mattered in your life the most and from their death would come your rebirth’.
Bruce: ‘They died so I could replace you’!
Ras: ‘They died to save the world, with you at the head of our order, a man with a mountain of wealth at his disposal, a man with low latent inhibition and a genius and now thanks to us a man trained as a warrior, Bruce imagine you with an army to lead as well as all that, can’t you see my actions were evil but with the purest of reasons’.
(He is also Hugo Strange’s contact, Ras plan was that by killing Bruce’s parents that he would suffer loss, then after learning from doctor Strange of Bruce’s low latent inhibition Bruce had been chosen to one day replace Ras so that he can finally rest, in the dark underground chambers of Gotham Bruce and Ras al Ghul engage in battle, both testing how far each other would go for what they believe in but as much as the head of nthe demon tried he has trained Bruce ton well and weakened by his years of surface soon fell to the mercy to the young billionaire begging for Bruce to end his life and set him free however Bruce refuses to kill Ras and tells him that his destiny will prove that to bring justice one doesn’t need to kill.
In moments an army of ninjas led by Talia surround the chamber to assist their master however seeing Ras at the knees of Bruce they are all unsure who it is they should follow and who now is the demonhand.
Once again Ras tries one last time to convince Bruce that this is his destiny and teases him about how he ordered Falcone to instruct the murder of Bruce’s parents hoping if Bruce wouldn’t strike him down in honour then perhaps he would in anger, but Bruce demands he will be a man that both his mother and father can be proud of…. not a killer.
At that moment Jim Gordon arrive breaking through the tunnel system with Jim wanting revenge for Ras killing his wife but as they enter the chamber the a wounded Ras and the league disappear with Talia beggin Bruce to follow them but Bruce reuses and runs down a sepertae tunnel system leading to the surface of Gotha, whatever his destiny is, it wasnt with them.
Ending
The ending to the episode and also the ending for the second season is Bruce attending his Wayne ownership celebration party and when he sees Vicki Vale enter in a beautiful dress he realises that he needs her in his life and accepts if she were to be in any danger he will be there to protect her and Vicki realises what Alfred told her was true and for what ever reason the Bruce Wayne she fell in love with was still the same man, yet at the same time the words of Ras al Ghul remained in Bruce's mind the night of his parents murder he was reborn and with his training, intellect and wealth he could fight the injustice but not as an assassin but something else entirely and he knew the time was approaching when he will discover exactly who that will be.
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Coming Soon in Season 3.... Will the Legend begin, or will it break.