The last episode of Gotham did a good job of leaving us with a bunch of cliffhangers to be addressed during the mid-season finale. But the cool thing about Gotham is that we know to an extent that all of our favorite “Batman” characters will make it out alive. We just have to tune in to find out how. For example, Alfred was suffering from a stab wound in the back of a garbage truck at the end of last episode and this episode starts with Alfred alive and still trying to escape the wrath of Tabitha at the city dump. Meanwhile, instead of killing Bruce Wayne, which we know will NEVER happen, Theo Galavan has kidnapped the young billionaire. Lucius Fox was working in another room of Wayne Manor when Galavan took Bruce away, and he is the only person aside from Alfred that knows Bruce is missing.

Silver’s Task

Galavan heads back to his lair with Bruce as his prisoner. Bruce defiantly tells Galavan that he will never sign over the rights to Wayne Enterprises, but Galavan has decided to figure out a way around that. Galavan finally tells Bruce why he has been targeting him. The goal of the Clan of Dumas is to kill 10 people of Gotham including the last son of the Wayne Family to fulfill the prophecy that glory of the Dumas family will be restored. The ceremony to kill Bruce is scheduled for midnight.

Jim Gordon has been having a pretty terrible week. After being beaten by Galavan, then subsequently pounded by Penguin, he wakes up battered and bruised in the apartment of Edward Nygma. Imagine how confused Gordon must be to see the Forensic Specialist of the Gotham City Police Department and the biggest crime boss in Gotham City, singing a duet just a few feet away from him. Gordon attempts to leave the apartment, but Penguin reveals to Gordon that the detective is now a fugitive from the law. It would be more beneficial for him to stay for a while and team up with Penguin to take down Galavan once and for all.

Tabitha returns back to the Penthouse after not being able to locate Alfred hidden beneath the garbage at the penthouse. It irritates Galavan that Tabitha doesn’t seem bothered by her failure to capture Alfred. Tabitha pushes his button even more until Silver walks in and interrupts. She tells her uncle that she has a cold so she’d rather not be present at Bruce’s murder. It’s sort of a weak excuse and Galavan thinks so too. He’s actually pretty surprised that after Bruce made a fool of her the day before and left her stranded in an abandoned warehouse that she still have feelings for him. Silver denies that she has any compassion left for Bruce so Galavan gives her a task to prove her worth. He wants Silver to make Bruce fall in love with her and give her a goodbye kiss before he dies. She has her work cut out for her because she’s definitely one of the last people Bruce probably wants to see at this point. Silver accepts the task and Tabitha warns her that if she fails, Galavan won’t hesitate to throw her out on the street or if he doesn’t decide to kill her instead.

Somebody’s Expecting

Silver shows up at the holding cell where Bruce is held captive looking pretty glamorous. Bruce barely even looks at her when she apologizes for helping Galavan try to seize his company. He initially asks Silver to leave, but he ultimately allows her to stay and keep him company. I’m sure he just doesn’t want to be alone during his final hours.

Alfred pulls himself out of the pile of garbage and stumbles out of the landfill to find a ride back into town. After few attempts at getting a car to stop for him, he ends up just pulling a man from the driver seat of his car throwing him into the street. Unfortunately for Alfred, a couple of police officers witness the whole ordeal. It looks really bad and there isn’t much explaining Alfred can do before the officers tase and arrest him in the middle of the street.

Leslie Thompkins confronts Captain Barnes once she finds out that he put out a warrant for Gordon’s arrest. As far as Barnes is concerned, Gordon attacked the Mayor in court then disappeared without a trace. He could very well be on the run with the help of the Penguin and Barnes simply cannot give him the benefit of the doubt. Leslie tells Barnes that she has no idea where Gordon is but shortly after Barnes leaves, she gets a clue to his whereabouts from Ed Nygma. Nygma basically gives Leslie the address to his apartment then disappears without another word.

Leslie arrives at Nygma’s apartment and is shocked to find Jim Gordon accompanied by Penguin and a number of armed thugs. Gordon tells her that he needs to get her out of town while he and Penguin settle the score with Galavan. Leslie has had her suspicions about Gordon’s mental stability and this moment seems to confirm that he has lost his mind. She begs him to leave town with her, but he won’t budge. Then out of nowhere Leslie reveals to Gordon the one thing that might actually convince him to listen to reason… She’s pregnant! Gordon is stunned and Penguin looks completely annoyed because he knows there is knows there is no way Gordon is going to abandon his pregnant girlfriend and unborn child.

The Escape

In Bruce’s holding cell, Silver tries her best to get Bruce to open up to her. She shares with him a memory of her mother and Bruce realizes that Silver wasn’t lying about being an orphan. The two briefly bond about the one thing they truly have in common. Teary-eyed, Silver tells Bruce that she just cannot sit around and wait for him to be killed. It looks like their moment has touched her and she switches gears to try to help Bruce escape. She demands that the guard opens the cell and give her his gun. When the guard obeys, she shoots him in the leg and leads Bruce out of the cell toward a stairway that will lead him to safety. The two hurry down the stairs and run down a dark hallway only to be cornered by Galavan himself. Because of her failed attempt to turn her back on Galavan and rescue her friend, Silver sobs as she is thrown into captivity right alongside Bruce and forced to await her fate as well.

Lucius Fox heads over to the Gotham City Police Department to report Alfred and Bruce missing. Fox tells Captain Barnes that he suspects that Galavan is responsible for their disappearance, but Barnes is looking for proof. Moments later, Barnes receives a call with some interesting information about Alfred. He’s currently in the GCPD as well, but he’s passed out in a holding cell for attempting to carjack an innocent civilian.

Alfred fills Fox, Barnes and Detective Bullock in on the story of how he ended up getting arrested. But even Alfred’s story isn’t enough to implement Galavan in any real criminal activity. The last time the police went after Galavan he managed to wiggle his way out of trouble and Barnes needs concrete evidence to keep that from happening again. After dismissing the charges against Alfred, Barnes leaves to start putting together a case for a warrant to at least search Galavan’s property, but Alfred doesn’t have time to wait. He, Fox and Bullock decide to team up with Gordon to go after Galavan and rescue Bruce. The only problem is that Gordon is also missing. No one at the GCPD has any clue where Gordon has been since he went missing after Galavan’s trial; no one except Ed Nygma. Fox, Bullock and Alfred notice Nygma across the room trying to contain his laughter so they realize that he might know where Gordon is located. It doesn’t take long to get Nygma to spill the beans and he tells the trio that Gordon can be found at his apartment.

The three arrive just in time to catch Gordon before he and Leslie leave town for good. When they tell Gordon that Galavan has Bruce, Leslie already knows he’s not leaving with her. She tells Gordon to call her when the situation is over and drives off into the night.

Bruce reveals to Silver that he knows that their attempt to escape was a charade to get Bruce to fall in love with her. Silver breaks down and tells Bruce that the only way she would be able to remain a part of the Dumas Family she needed to convince him to fall in love with her and kiss her goodbye before he’s killed. She didn’t want to be a part of his death, but she really didn’t have a choice.

Rescue

The team of Gordon, Bullock, Alfred, Fox and Penguin go over their plan to stop Galavan. They want to rescue Bruce then threaten Galavan’s life until he leads them to the evidence they need to put him away for all of his heinous crimes. Penguin wants to kill Galavan for murdering his mother, but Gordon insists that they arrest Galavan and make him stand trial for the things he has done. Selina Kyle appears on Nygma’s balcony and climbs through the window to offer her assistance with getting into the compound where Bruce is being held. Alfred isn’t ready to trust Selina but Gordon vouches for her. She knows a way in and they can’t afford to turn down her help. Gordon, Bullock, Alfred, Selina, Penguin and his thugs will be infiltrating Galavan’s facility to take him down and failure is not an option.

The ceremony is about to begins and Bruce tells Silver that he isn’t even afraid of dying. He knows that in the afterlife he will be reunited with his family and that brings him much joy and comfort. Galavan comes to the cell to escort Bruce to the ceremony and in one last heroic effort, Bruce tells Silver that he loves her and kisses her on the lips for Galavan to see. Galavan congratulates Silver on a job well down then leads Bruce into the other room.

Team Gordon makes their way into the building and up many flights of stairs toward the sanctuary where the ceremony is being held. As they get closer they can hear the members of the Clan of Dumas chanting, “Death to the son of Gotham.” The rescue team moves closer as Harvey Bullock falls behind, winded from the long walk up the stairs. Father Creel tells Bruce to prepare himself for his death and brandishes his sharp dagger toward him until he is interrupted by the voice of Silver yelling “Stop!” The interruption was just the distraction the rescue team needed to burst into the sanctuary with their guns drawn. Instantly a fight breaks out between the rescue team and The Clan of Dumas. Galavan, Tabitha, and Silver escape but the rescue team quickly gets the better of The Clan ending the fight with Harvey Bullock finally making it up the stairs and firing the last shot, killing Father Creel. Alfred rescues Bruce while Gordon goes after Galavan himself.

The Fall of Galavan

Galavan, Tabitha, and Silver arrive back in the penthouse to grab parachutes and jump out of the window to safety. But Silver notices there are only 2 parachutes available. She couldn’t have thought that after saving Bruce, Galavan was going to allow her to escape with him. Galavan begins to berate Silver for what she has done, but Tabitha is fed up with the way he has been treating them lately. She knocks him out parachutes out of the window to safety with Silver. Gordon arrives at the penthouse and forces Galavan at gunpoint to handcuff himself so that he can be arrested. Galavan however, still toying with Gordon, alludes to the fact that he might be able to evade justice once again. It’s at that moment that Gordon actually considers the possibility of killing Galavan to prevent him from escaping and wreaking havoc on Gotham ever again. But when it looks as though Gordon might actually pull the trigger, Captain Barnes and another cop rush into the room and order that both Gordon and Galavan lay on the ground to be taken into custody. Gordon begrudgingly prepares to comply with the order until Penguin and a couple of his thugs enter the room and knock out both the Captain and his backup. Galavan lays on the ground between Gordon who wants to arrest him and make him stand trial for the crimes he has committed, and Penguin who wants to murder him in cold blood. Penguin urges Gordon to think of all the things that could happen to Gotham if Galavan is able to walk free once the trial is all said and done. Gordon has a decision to make.

Penguin’s argument turned out to be compelling enough to sway the morally conflicted detective over to his side. Gordon and Penguin take Galavan to the outskirts of the city to finish the task at hand. Penguin grabs a baseball bat and pulverizes Galavan with the bat until he begs for death. After Galavan has endured about 20 seconds of constant punishment, Gordon puts him out of his misery with a final gunshot before leaving Penguin to do whatever he wishes with the body.

Winter is Coming

Galavan’s body ultimately ends up in the lab of Professor Strange. I was shocked when I saw that Penguin has taken his umbrella and shoved it down Galavan’s throat, but I was more interested in something I saw in the background of the laboratory. I noticed what looked like the body of Fish Moony floating in an observation tank. I could be wrong but there was definitely a black woman with pink highlights in one of those tanks. Anyway, the mid-season finale ends with a preview of what we can expect for future episodes. We see a terrified man, frantically trying to escape from a man with an ice gun. This could be the first appearance of Mr. Freeze, another pivotal villain in the “Batman” universe.