Double Trouble
Directed by Nathan Hope
Written by John Stephens & Seth Boston
Jeremiah warns a skeptical Gordon of more destruction coming Gotham's way, and Gordon is forced to make a potentially devastating decision. Meanwhile, Barbara rallies together a team to secure her position, as alliances in the underworld shift and prove no one can be trusted. Then, Bruce is forced to come to terms with the future.
Tropes:
- The Bad Guy Wins: While Ra's dies, he and Jeremiah succeed in detonating bombs on all of Gotham's bridges, cutting the city off from the rest of the world, allowing the other villains to start carving it up between them and creating a situation where Bruce will have to become the Dark Knight. Meanwhile, thanks to their machinations, the US government has given up on the city and abandoned it to the villains.
- Bat Signal: The proto-version, at least. Gordon installs a spotlight on top of the GCPD to give Gotham's remaining citizens a sign that the police are still working to protect them.
- Bait-and-Switch: After learning that Penguin killed Butch and shot Tabitha, Barbara begins saying how everything that's gone wrong since the beginning can be traced to one source. At first you're led to believe she means Penguin...but nope, it's actually men who are the problem. After killing all the male members of the League (who had just sworn allegiance to her) they declare their territory as "Sirens' Turf" and for women only.
- Best Served Cold: After two seasons, Penguin finally gets his revenge on Tabitha for killing his mother: he helped cure Butch and reunite them, and just as they both declare their love for each other for the first time, he shoots Butch dead: thus taking from Tabitha the one person she loves, as she did to Cobblepot. Then he shoots her in the knee for good measure, promising to come back to finish the job when he deems she's suffered as he has.
- The Bus Came Back: Hugo Strange reappears after disappearing for most of the season, to help cure Butch of his Grundy-ness.
- Call-Back: To the first episode of the show. Bruce meets Jim on the roof of the GCPD next to the new spotlight, and reminds him of what he said to him the night of his parents' murder, as they look out over a Gotham engulfed in darkness.
- Penguin gives Tabitha a brief moment's reunion with a restored Butch, only to shoot Butch so he dies in her arms, just like Tabitha did when she killed Oswald's mother.
- Ceiling Cling: Man-Bat hangs upside-down from the ceiling of an empty church in his Sequel Hook cameo appearance.
- Character Death: Ra's again, after Barbara and Bruce successfully kill him with the Balahasi Blade. Butch also meets his demise once again, this time at the Penguin's hands.
- Cliffhanger: A pretty damn big one - the biggest yet. Gotham is left in complete isolation after Ra's and Jeremiah blow up the bridges, allowing the city's evergrowing Rogues Gallery to split the place up into factions. Meanwhile, Jeremiah has escaped, and Selina is facing permanent paralysis after being shot. Will she recover?
- Enemy Mine: Alfred joins forces with Barbara, Tabitha, and Penguin to rescue Bruce.
- Exact Words: The blade can only kill Ra's if it is held by Bruce Wayne, and technically Bruce's hands are on it when Barbara sends it into Ra's's gut.
- If I Can't Have You…: Realizing Lee still has feelings for Gordon and isn't the woman he wants her to be, Riddler decides to kill her.
- Lady Land: After Tabitha is brought back, she angrily tells Barbara that Oswald killed Butch and shot Tabitha in the leg. Angered, Barbara declare men to be the problem of Gotham and decides that her territory will be women only and kills the men that tried to pledge allegiance to her.
- Logo Joke: The end-credit title card shows the aforementioned proto-version of the Bat Signal in the background.
- Mutual Kill: Lee stabs Riddler before he can do it to her, but he grabs her knife and returns the favour. Whether or not their wounds are fatal is unclear. Even so, Penguin has them sent to Strange to be "fixed".
- Mythology Gag:
- In the final scene, we get a nice shot of a trench coat-wearing Gordon standing by the future Bat Signal; this is an iconic image that's usually associated with the character.
- The various Rogues Gallery taking over territory, specifically one of them taking over City Hall as a base, after the city's been abandoned will be familiar to anyone whose played the Batman Arkham games.
- The above, and the episode's title, also refer to Batman: No Man's Land.
- Selina is mentioned to have spinal damage that may or may not be permanent, which brings to mind what happened to Batgirl/Oracle/Barbara Gordon in The Killing Joke.
- Riddler's attempt to kill Jim, by applying weight to his torso to crush his ribs in, is similar to how Abattoir killed Graham Etchinson in Knightfall.
- Jeremiah blows up all of the city's bridges, isolating Gotham to its island alone, similar to what Bane did in The Dark Knight Rises.
- Off with His Head!: Scarecrow slices off a squatter's head after spraying him with fear toxin, probably for the purposes of marking his territory with a Decapitation Presentation.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Selina asks Bruce not to leave her before she goes in for surgery.
- Rule of Symbolism: The end title screen shows the proto-Bat Signal shining through the dark Gotham cityscape. True to Gordon's words, "the world may seem dark, but there is light".
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After all of Gotham's bridges and its infrastructure are all blown to hell, the US government abandons the city.
- Sequel Hook: At the end, we get a sneak peek at three brand new villains for Season 5: Man-Bat, and Mother and Orphan.
- Undying Loyalty: When Major Harlan tries to arrest Gordon a second time for trying to halt the evacuation (having realized that the bridges are targets), Bullock pulls a gun on him. When the Major then tries to have Bullock arrested too, the entire GCPD pulls guns on him.
- Villain Team-Up: Jeremiah and Ra's work together to fulfil their mutual goal of transforming Gotham, and through it, Bruce. Penguin, Barbara, and Tabitha in turn team up to go after Jeremiah and Ra's.
- Wham Episode: Ra's is killed again, but not before he and Jeremiah bomb all the city's bridges and infrastructure, completely isolating it from the mainland, causing the government to abandon it and the other villains to start carving it up. Riddler and Lee stab each other, but Penguin has them sent to Strange to be "fixed", with Strange hinting at plans for Riddler. Gordon, Bruce, Bullock and Fox stay in the city to protect it. Penguin restores, then murders, Butch to punish Tabitha for killing his mother. Bruce makes a choice to take on responsibility for Gotham's future.
