Fox’s Gotham
Season 4, Episode 6: “Hog Day Afternoon”
Directed by Mark Tonderai
Written by Kim Newton

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “The Blade’s Path” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “A Day in the Narrows” – click here
In that fight club at Cherry’s (Marina Benedict), Dr. Lee Thompkins (Morena Baccarin) does her thing fixing up the various fighters. She runs into Ed Nygma (Cory Michael Smith), who’s looking to put Solomon Grundy (Drew Powell) in some matches, make a few dollars. Ed also thinks Lee can “fix” him.
Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) further talks with Sofia Falcone (Crystal Reed) about their possible business. We see Oswald struggle with having a “real friend,” though he doesn’t quite know what she’s up to, particularly the fact she’s quite friendly with Dt. Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie), too. Sets things up quite nicely. Or does it? Jim doesn’t exactly see her “endgame.”
On the streets in Gotham there’s new trouble. A killer is loose, murders a cop. Captain Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) and Dt. Gordon are on the case. Seems the cop’s head was adorned with a pig’s head, as well. Nasty stuff. Seems the first cop was dirty, on Penguin’s payroll. When the detectives goes poking around, he hears about a criminal with a burglary license for a place called the Pork Barrel, a butcher’s shop.
The lads haul a guy in, they’ve found a headless pig corpse outside his apartment. The dude tells them about someone he called “the professor.” And there are three more pig heads, meaning – three more cop murders are coming.
Finally, Grundy gets to show off his skills, against a man known as the Hammer, ’cause he wields a large hammer. Cherry introduces the fight, then Hammer goes hard at the big guy, bashing him into the mat. Except he’s not real match for when Solomon starts fighting, then kills the guy. The crowd chants his name, and Cherry sees a “cash cow,” putting Dr. Thompkins in charge of caring for the fighter.
Dt. Gordon and Cpt. Bullock have to throw a few fists to get the information they need. Sooner than later, they’ve stumbled onto another murder scene. This time, two cops from the GCPD with pig’s heads. Nobody can come up with any leads. All they can do is try running down the names of any other cops on Penguin’s payroll.
Fixing up wounds, Lee questions Grundy about what happened to him. He doesn’t have a heartbeat, he bleeds swamp water, he feels no real pain. She likewise tries telling him that Nygma is not his friend, just using him to make money for his own gains. This just puts her in the ole Riddler’s cross hairs, really. He uncovers that the doc has a sort of black market clinic helping people in her building, so: leverage.
At the GCPD, Jim and Harvey are tracking down the other dirty cops. They worry it’s someone within the department killing fellow cops, so it stays quiet. In the meantime, the killer is still out there with another cop to kill.
In the ring at Cherry’s, another fighter takes on Grundy, proving unable to face the radioactive dead man’s brute violence. Looks like Ed and Solomon are going to make a good deal of money sticking around that place.
Zsasz (Anthony Carrigan) is following Sofia around town for his boss. What does he find? Looks like she may be “planning a war.” Doesn’t put Penguin in a very good mood, either. He’s ready to go HAM on Ms. Falcone.
Jim and Harvey get to an old building, where they find the last cop tied to a chair, his head covered in a pig’s head. When Gordon takes the mask off, he sees it’s connected to the pin of a grenade in the cop’s stomach. The explosion goes off, rocking the pair. When Jim wakes he’s tied to a chair himself. This is where he meets Professor Pyg (Michael Cerveris). The guy’s ready to butcher all “the swine” Penguin is paying in the PD.
We see that Pyg is more concerned with killing Bullock than Jim. He cuts Harvey’s throat and runs. Jim rushes to his old partner, wrapping his tie around the wound trying to hold on until the paramedics arrive. Jesus, that’s horrific.
When Penguin confronts Sofia, she has to show him what she’s been doing, to prove that she isn’t trying to bring the Falcone business back to prominence. As it turns out, Ms. Falcone has been starting an orphanage, adding to the better side of Gotham. She wants to be the crime boss’s friend. Or, is she burrowing herself in deep to eventually use it all against him? Hard to tell. Everyone in Gotham’s always vying for power, in some way.
Bullock survives. Although Jim’s figured out, after Pyg, that his old buddy is a part of the corruption taking money from Penguin in the PD. He tells Harvey that “it stops” as of now. Sadly, Professor Pyg is still out loose amongst the citizens of Gotham City, doing lord knows what kind of madness, preparing for more terror.
Such an intense episode. As well as the fact we’re seeing some difficult things between Jim and Harvey, a part of their story that’s sort of integral to both of them. Can’t wait for more, Season 4’s been providing lots of storylines from the DC comics that I personally have loved for years.
“A Day in the Narrows” is the following chapter.