| Season 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 "Pilot" | 09 "Harvey Dent" | 17 "Red Hood" | ||
| 02 "Selina Kyle" | 10 "Lovecraft" | 18 "Everyone Has a Cobblepot" | ||
| 03 "The Balloonman" | 11 "Rogues' Gallery" | 19 "Beasts of Prey" | ||
| 04 "Arkham" | 12 "What The Little Bird Told Him" | 20 "Under the Knife" | ||
| 05 "Viper" | 13 "Welcome Back, Jim Gordon" | 21 "The Anvil or the Hammer" | ||
| 06 "Spirit of the Goat" | 14 "The Fearsome Dr. Crane" | 22 "All Happy Families Are Alike" | ||
| 07 "Penguin's Umbrella" | 15 "The Scarecrow" | |||
| 08 "The Mask" | 16 "The Blind Fortune Teller" | |||
| Episode | Cast | Crew |
- For the character the episode is named after, see Harvey Dent.
- "I want what you want, Jim. I want to make this city a better place."
- —Harvey Dent to Jim Gordon
"Harvey Dent" is the ninth episode of the first season of Gotham. It aired on November 17th, 2014.
Synopsis[]
Trying to close the Wayne murder case, a young Harvey Dent and Gordon team up, much to Mayor James’ chagrin. Meanwhile, Penguin makes contact with Mooney’s secret weapon, Liza.[1]
Plot[]
Jim arrives at Barbara Kean's penthouse with Selina Kyle, finding a letter Barbara has left him, telling him that she has gone away for a while as she is still paranoid because of what happened with Falcone. The GCPD's sketch artist then arrives for Selina to describe the Waynes' killer. Given that she is adept at escaping from all the places she has been sent to, and Barbara is not at the penthouse to keep an eye on her, Gordon proposes a new place to keep her safe: Wayne Manor.
At Blackgate Penitentiary, Ian Hargrove, a bomber with psychotic tendencies, is transferred to another location for medical treatment. However, halfway there, the vehicle is intercepted by armed men who kill the guards and driver and kidnap Hargrove.
Gordon visits the Wayne mansion to present Bruce with the drawing of his parent's killer, also asking Bruce and Alfred to accommodate Selina in the mansion until they can take the case to trial. Alfred dislikes the idea, but Gordon reminds him that it is important to keep Selina happy as well as safe, so she is willing to testify when the time comes. Bruce speaks up, saying that if Selina can identify his parents' killer, then he will agree to host her. Bruce finds Selina wandering around the mansion, and she intrigues him at first sight.
Later, Gordon meets Detectives Montoya and Allen outside the Gotham City courthouse, to meet with a crusading assistant district attorney whom they trust. The attorney, Harvey Dent, an idealist with strong convictions and a desire to execute justice, states that he believes that the entrepreneur Dick Lovecraft, a rival of Thomas Wayne's, was involved with the Wayne murders. Dent proposes that they leak out the information that they have a witness to the murders, without identifying the witness or the officers working on the case, and that will prompt Lovecraft and his corrupt allies to make a wrong move. Gordon has some misgivings about the plan, but Dent urges that he and Gordon want the same thing: to see justice done and clean up the city. Gordon reluctantly agrees.
Back at the GCPD, Bullock tells Gordon about Hargrove's escape, but notices Gordon is preoccupied. Gordon admits that Barbara left him.
At Wayne Manor, Selina wanders out into the yard and sees Alfred training Bruce to box. She wonders aloud why someone like Bruce would need to learn to fight.
Penguin sneaks into the apartment of Liza, where he finds evidence that she is working for Fish Mooney. Hearing Liza returning home, Penguin quickly slips away, taking Liza's scarf with him.
Hargrove is being held captive in an abandoned factory, being forced to craft a bomb inside a gift basket. While his captors aren't looking, he pries a metal name plate off the workbench and slips it into the package. At the same time, Gordon and Bullock interrogate Ian's brother, John, who insists that his brother is not an evil man, but "sick" and needs help. He points out that, although Ian always had a natural affinity for explosives, he never wanted to hurt anyone; after his last bomb killed two people, he immediately turned himself in to the police.
Later that night the gift basket is sent to the Gotham Munitions Factory, where it is carried into the guardroom and detonates killing several guards, to Ian's horror.
Back at Wayne Manor, in an attempt to get to know Selina, Bruce asks her about her parents but the questions bother her enormously, causing her to lash out at him, and storm out of the room angrily.
At GCPD, Gordon and Bullock inform Captain Essen that Hargrove and the men he was working with had stolen a compound called HMX, ten times more powerful than the C-4, after killing the guards. Essen asks why someone with access to explosives would detonate a bomb to steal more explosives, and Bullock theorizes that the thieves have a much bigger job planned. As they are leaving Essen's office, Gordon gets a call from Alfred, who says that Selina is not behaving herself, and she will have to be accommodated somewhere else. Gordon pleads with Alfred to at least hold on to her until the next day.
Under the pretense of a "friendly" visit, trying to make amends with his old employer, Penguin visits Fish's nightclub to "say hello" and takes the opportunity to sniff her perfume, confirming that it is the same fragrance he found on Liza's scarf.
Nygma informs Gordon and Bullock that he found the name plate among the bomb debris, and although it was damaged, there was enough remaining him to identify the factory it came from. Surprised, Bullock and Gordon both congratulate Nygma on his good work, which pleases him immensely.
Wasting no time, the two detectives arrive at the factory, where they find Hargrove working on yet another bomb. Relieved by the detectives' arrival, he tells them that his captors threatened to kill his brother and his brother's family if he didn't help them. Gordon asks who they are, and Hargrove says they are Russians, their leader is a man named Kasyanov, and they are planning something big against Falcone. Before the detectives can loosen the chain holding Hargrove to the workbench, the Russians come back and start shooting. Bullock and Gordon return fire, but are unable to prevent the Russians escaping with Hargrove and his bomb.
At Wayne Manor, Bruce catches Selina as she is about to slip out the door, and attempts to apologize to her. She picks up a picture of his mother, and he recalls the night of his parents' murder. He remarks that Selina must have witnessed not only the murder, but Bruce's failure to stop it. Selina tells him there was nothing he could have done, and unbends enough to confide that her mother was in show business, but in reality is a secret agent working on a top secret mission, and she will return once her mission is completed. To break the tension she asks Bruce whether or not he's ever kissed a girl, and whether he wants to, causing Bruce to grow nervous. The tension is diffused when Alfred arrives to summon him to his next lesson.
Mayor James visits the GCPD to demand the immediate re-capture of Hargrove. Gordon cannot resist pointing out that things like this are bound to happen when mentally disturbed persons are locked up in prison with common criminals, instead of a mental health facility, like Arkham, the renovation of which James gutted during the city's development project.
At his office, Harvey Dent has summoned Richard Lovecraft to reveal that he has an anonymous witness who can tie him to the murder of Waynes. Lovecraft laughs this off, saying Dent has no idea what he's getting into. Not taking well to being threatened, Harvey loses control momentarily and lunges into Lovecraft's face, warning him not to underestimate him or "I will rip you open!" Harvey quickly recovers his temper, but Lovecraft appears unnerved by this glimpse of a more vicious side to the smiling young attorney.
Bullock discovers that Kasyanov worked for Nikolai, Falcone's recently-killed Russian underboss, and reasons that if the Russians are trying to mount a coup against Falcone, they must be getting support from someone who has money and hates Falcone.
That same night, Fish and Butch Gilzean meet with Kasyanov and his men, handing over an ambulance and the location of the secret vault where Falcone keeps much of his money.
At Wayne Manor, Bruce is holding his breath in the swimming pool, part of an exercise to teach himself self-discipline and willpower. Again, Selina notes that all of Bruce's training won't do him any good on the streets of Gotham; to survive there, a person has to be mean and ruthless, and Bruce just isn't.
In his lab, Nygma replicates the explosive compound found in Hargrove's workshop, while listening to a quiz show on the radio and guessing correctly before each contestant. He triggers a small quantity of the explosive and cackles in delight when it pierces a neat, round hole in an iron plate.
Excitedly, he reports to Gordon and Bullock that the compound is extremely volatile and very hard to make, which explains why the Russians had to break Hargrove out of prison to help make it - and it has only one use: it penetrates iron. Gordon's first thought is that the Russians are planning a bank heist, but Nygma says no, as the explosive would be useless against steel, and no vault has been made out of iron for more than a hundred years. Bullock realizes what the target is: the Gotham Armory, a Civil War-era building where the Army used to store gunpowder. The site was bought up by a private investment group, which Bullock is willing to bet is secretly controlled by Falcone. Gordon and Bullock rush out, leaving Nygma disappointed at not receiving another pat on the head.
At the Armory, Hargrove is placing the bomb against the vault doors, asking for reassurance that after he's done, they will let him go and no one else will be hurt. Kasyanov triggers the bomb, and the vault door falls open, revealing huge, plastic-wrapped stacks of cash.
The Russians have almost finished loading the stolen money into the ambulance, when Bullock and Gordon arrive and aim their guns. Gordon tells Hargrove that his brother and his family are in protective custody, and the Russians can't hurt them. Hargrove starts to walk towards the detectives, but Kasyanov threatens to shoot him, and Bullock says he'll shoot right back. The standoff is interrupted by a cellular tone from underneath the ambulance. Realizing it is wired to blow, Gordon yells for Hargrove to get down and for everyone to get away. The ambulance explodes, incinerating most of the money and killing all the Russians, though Gordon, Bullock, and Hargrove survive. On a hill overlooking the Armory, Butch folds away his cell phone and gives a regretful sigh at the loss of the money.
At Wayne Manor, Bruce and Selina are having breakfast, when she playfully suggests that her survival skills are better than his. To prove it, she throws a bagel that smacks Bruce on the head, and says that if he can return the hit, she will let him kiss her. Bruce does not appear convinced, but she throws a second bagel at him, and he throws one back at her, which she dodges easily. The situation results in a food fight between the two. Alfred comes in to break it up, but stops when he sees Bruce smiling for the first time in weeks.
Outside the study, Alfred takes a call from Gordon, who says that he'll be over as soon as possible to pick up Selina. To Gordon's surprise, Alfred tells him it's all right; despite her misbehavior (or perhaps because of it), she's turned out to be a "breath of fresh air" which Bruce has needed badly.
Liza returns home and is surprised to discover Penguin there. She knows he is secretly working for Falcone, and says Falcone would kill him if he knew she was there. Chuckling, Penguin says he would just as likely kill her if he knew she was secretly working for Fish. Liza denies it, but Penguin assures her that he won't be telling on her, and, for the moment, she should continue as if nothing has happened. Penguin knows that Liza is Fish's "weapon", but will be an even more potent weapon for him, as long as he waits for the right time to expose her.
Butch returns to Fish's nightclub and reports that he had to destroy the money, though Kasyanov and all of his men were killed. To his surprise, Fish isn't upset; she had no interest in stealing the money for herself, only in depriving Falcone of it.
At the GCPD, Gordon receives a quick visit from Dent, who informs him that Lovecraft and his people have taken the bait about the surprise witness. After Dent leaves, Bullock informs Gordon that Hargrove, and all the other Blackgate inmates classified as criminally insane are being transferred to the old Arkham Asylum building, by the order of the Mayor. Gordon protests that the building is 200 years old, and not able to securely accommodate so many inmates. Bullock shrugs and says that is the way problems are handled in Gotham.
That night, at home, Jim leaves Barbara a voice message, telling her that he loves her and pleading with her to return to Gotham, because without her he has nothing. Barbara hears the message while lying in bed with Montoya, and the two then kiss and embrace.
Media[]
Trivia[]
- The ringtone that plays on the phone attached to the bomb when Gilzean triggers it is a polyphonic rendition of "The Final Countdown" by Europe.
- This episode marks the first appearance of Nicholas D'Agosto (Harvey Dent).