Yes, something like that.
As the character of Bane has evolved over the years throughout different mediums, there have been quite a few liberties taken. The Eduardo Dorrance (Shane West) Gotham version of the character is more like a chatty terminator. There’s no luchador mask but we do see the familiar respirator. Nyssa Al Ghul (Jaime Murray) is pulling his strings thanks to the help of Doctor Hugo Strange (BD Wong). Strange tries to make another Bane out of Jim (Ben McKenzie), but the GCPD Captain is able to escape. Bruce (David Mazouz) is also able to escape capture by using a candle flame to burn ropes off of his hands. Love that moment as it is very comic book-esque.
Elsewhere, Bane has a showdown with Alfred (Sean Pertwee) and as soon as the villain does that iconic power lift, I knew it was bad news for Alfred. This goes back to the infamous Bane/Batman back breaker (try saying that five times fast) but it looks like Alfred is in bad shape. We are not given an update on his situation before the episode’s end. My guess is that Alfred’s back is broken.
The real gem in this episode is preggers Barbara Kean (Erin Richards) teaming with Lee Tomkins (Morena Baccarin), now affectionately known as “Auntey Lee.” My favorite scene hands down is when Kean, who is nearly in labor, is being pushed down a hallway in a wheelchair by Lee, while screaming (from contractions) and taking out several henchmen with two handguns blazing! It was hilarious and awesome. I have a newfound respect for the character, although I still think she is not going to make it through the series. Baby Batgirl is born, however, she is not named. Lee and Kean go to the Syrens part out of town for safety only to find the very dangerous Nissa has killed all of the Syrens.
The comic relief in the episode goes to the banter among the always double crossing Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor), Riddler (Cory Michael Smith), and Kean. The best part is when a pregnant Kean screams at all of them about a submarine part saying, “And if you think you can torture me into telling you where, this is literally nothing more painful than what I’m going through right now.” I absolutely love that they’re doing this whole ’60s Batman submarine thing and all the while, none of them trust each other.
Unfortunately, the episode ends with Gotham not getting reunified with the outside world after things seemed way to good to be true earlier on. The Army General has his mind controlled by Strange (and Nissa) as well, and placed an order to bomb Gotham city as it’s deemed lost by the superior officer. The airstrike comes in and the episode ends with the city getting bombed! It’s pretty intense, but we know where this is headed based on this season premiere. The bigger shock is that we have to wait FOUR WEEKS before the second to last episode!! FOUR WEEKS!!
