Gotham “Strike Force”

Wait…Michael Chiklis just joined the show this episode…as a guy who starts a “Strike Force” in the police department to handle tougher crime?

That sounds kinda familiar, like some cop drama I might really like.

Yes, we got a Chiklis sighting!  And we have a cop who seems to be even more of a straight-arrow than Jim Gordon.  He’s in charge of…the precinct house?  The entire police department?  Something.  He storms in, makes some bold proclamations, fires five crooked cops, then makes Gordon his #2 as he puts together…a Strike Force!  Freshly recruited idealistic rookies who haven’t had time to be corrupted yet.

It does look like Harvey gets to tag along for now.

Of course, there does seem to be enough going on that will require a Strike Force.  Theo Galavan has…plans.  Plans to entirely rebuild Gotham.  He’s already a hero for staging the attack on the charity function and rescuing Bruce Wayne.  He even seems to be setting Bruce up with his own ward, some blonde girl named Silver St. Cloud.

That’s better than Alfred.  He made Bruce run home from school.  That’s the not bad part.  The bad part was he handed young Bruce some work-out clothes but apparently expected him to change out in the open.

But that’s neither here nor there.  We’ve seen how Theo deals with the more, shall we say, insane types of criminals in Gotham.  What does he do when he deals with the more organized, sane type?

That’s what happens here.  See, Theo wants to literally rebuild the city.  The best way to do that would be to become mayor.  With one mayor missing and the deputy dead, that means a special election.  Theo could toss his hat into the ring since lots of people want him to, but he needs his competition taken care of.  That’s an environmentally conscious woman on the city council and a longtime union leader.  Both are popular in their own right.

Would the Penguin kill them while faking an attempt on Galavan?

He says no.  He’s not a hitman for hire.  There are plenty of those around.

Oh, but Theo is holding Oswold’s mother hostage.

So, um, yeah, he will now.  He takes care of the Councilwoman himself and sends Zsasz to take care of the union guy.  Butch finds this out of character, but this is Butch.  He’s the friendliest gangster around.  He can be trusted to look for Penguin’s mama.  He’s unsuccessful, but he can look.

OK, so, the Penguin isn’t hard to recognize, but there’s a problem when Gordon goes to see him…see, Penguin knows Gordon killed a guy on Penguin’s behalf, so Gordon better stay away or else.  That’s bad.  Could it get worse?

Of course it can.  This is television.  Barnes just decided the Penguin is his top priority from here.

Man, it just doesn’t pay to do favors for mob bosses.