| "All Happy Families Are Alike" | |
|---|---|
| Series Gotham Season 1, Episode 22 | |
| |
| Air date | May 4th, 2015 |
| Writers | Bruno Heller |
| Director | Danny Cannon |
| Producers | Rebecca Perry Cutter; Jordan Harper; Rebecca Dameron; Ben Edlund; Ken Woodruff; Scott White; John Stephens; Danny Cannon; Bruno Heller; Annabelle K. Frost |
| Starring | Ben McKenzie; Donal Logue; David Mazouz; Zabryna Guevara; Sean Pertwee; Robin Lord Taylor; Erin Richards; Camren Bicondova; Cory Michael Smith; Victoria Cartagena; Andrew Stewart-Jones; John Doman; Jada Pinkett Smith |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous "The Anvil or the Hammer" |
Next "Damned If You Do..." |
"All Happy Families Are Alike" is the twenty-second episode of season one of the comic book crime drama series Gotham, and the twenty-second episode of the series overall. The episode was directed by Danny Cannon with a script written by Bruno Heller. It first aired on the FOX Network on Monday, May 4th, 2015.
Synopsis[]
The Barbara stuff[]
Chick fight!
After her harrowing ordeal with The Ogre, Barbara has been taken to GCPD headquarters. Lee Thompkins notices that she is suffering from post-traumatic stress, and urges her to see someone. Barbara agrees to counseling, but only if Lee does it herself, and it has to be at her place. Thompkins is reluctant, as psychiatry is not her field of expertise, but agrees to meet with her.
"I'ma whoop yo' ass!"
Lee goes to Barbara's apartment that night. They share drinks and eat cake, but Barbara manages to be evasive about her experiences. Instead, she makes the situation awkward by asking Lee some pointed questions about her relationship with Jim, such as, "Do you love him?", and "Has he told you that he loves you?" Lee finally diverts the conversation back to Barbara's emotional trauma. While recounting her experience with The Ogre, she speaks of her childhood and about the poor relationship that she had with her parents and that they never understood her, and had no idea who she truly was. At this point, Barbara casually mentions that it was she who killed her parents, no The Ogre.
Barbara snaps and attacks Lee with a kitchen knife. Thompkins runs into the bathroom and locks the door, but Barbara smashes through it. The two fight with one another, and grapple on the floor. Lee manages to roll on top of her and smacks her against the floor multiple times until she is unconscious. At that moment, Jim, Harvey Bullock and Carmine Falcone enter the apartment (after the events from "The Gordon stuff" and Lee tearfully tells Jim that Barbara is crazy.
The Gordon stuff[]
"Well, this is awkward."
Sal Maroni sends out some goons on motorcycles to take out Carmine Falcone. They catch him at a chicken dispensary and fire a rocket launcher, blowing up Falcone's car. Carmine survives, but is greatly injured and taken to a hospital where he is placed in restraints. Oswald Cobblepot and Butch Gilzean arrive at the hospital, and Penquin reveals that he was the one who had masterminded the entire affair. He states that intends on finishing the crime boss off and taking his place.
News spreads quickly to the GCPD and Bullock tells Gordon that Falcone's been hit. He's alive, but its's a sure bet that Maroni's men are on their way to the hospital. Jim wants to get there before they have a chance to kill him, which Bullock naturally thinks is an awful idea.
When Jim gets to the hospital, the place is practically deserted. He finds Falcone's room just as the Penguin is readying to slit his throat. He arrests Penquin and Butch and handcuffs them to a radiator. He frees Carmine from the restraints and acknowledges that the city is safe with him at the head of organized crime rather than a loose cannon like Sal Maroni.
Who needs Batman when we've got Two-Gun Gordon?
As Gordon checks the corridor he sees Tommy Bones - one of Maroni's lieutenants, enter the hospital. Tommy is amused and says that he thought Gordon was one their side. He leaves briefly, but returns moments later with the rest of his back-up. A vicious firefight ensues and Jim Gordon takes down many of Maroni's men. As the dust begins to settle, he leads Falcone, Cobblepot and Gilzean out of the building. Carmine tells him about a safe house that he can bring him to where he can hole up for a while until he can work out some plans on how to stop the gang war. Harvey Bullock meets up with them.
The "safe" house is anything but. As soon as they arrive, Sal Maroni appears, flanked by all of his top men. Fish Mooney also arrives with her own people, which includes Selina Kyle. Falcone, Gordon, Bullock and Penguin are all suspended from a scaffolding by their hands. Cobblepot manipulates the conversation, which sets Maroni and Fish against each other, raising the question as to who will be the true power player in Gotham after Falcone's dead. Maroni makes some sexist remarks at Fish, referring to her as "Babes". Fish maintains a relaxed stance, but there is only so many insults she is willing to bear. When it becomes clear that Maroni has no respect for her at all whatsoever, she shoots him in the head.
BLAMMO!
Everything erupts into chaos. Maroni's men open fire on Fish's people, and the captive prisoners struggle to free themselves. Selina Kyle is the first to make a hasty exit. Gordon and Harvey rush Falcone out of the building, while Penguin concentrates his efforts on a final showdown with Fish Mooney.
Fish and the Penguin chase each other to the roof of a nearby building. As they fight, Butch Gilzean shows up, but due to the brainwashing he was forced to undergo, is struggling to ascertain which combatant he is loyal to. Unable to decide, he shoots each of them in the leg. Penguin scrambles to his feet, knocks Butch down and then pushes Fish Mooney over the edge of the building into the river to her doom. He then stands on the ledge and shouts to the darkened sky, "I'm the king of Gotham!"
The Bruce stuff[]
Every boy needs a Batcave.
At Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne is obsessed with finding out his father's secrets. He is convinced that there was more to Thomas Wayne than what people suspected, but also fears that he may have been involved in something amoral. He begins tearing apart the study looking for any clue that might shed some light on this mystery.
Alfred enters the study and questions Bruce. Alfred insists that Thomas Wayne did not possess any unknown secret life, and if he had, then he would have known about it. They talk about how Thomas Wayne spent all of his evenings in the study, working late and playing classical music with the doors locked. This leads Bruce to wonder, "Why did he keep the doors locked?"
As he continues to rummage through the room, this time assisted by Alfred, he triggers something that unlocks a secret panel behind the fireplace. Bruce and Alfred walk to the fireplace and peer into the darkness as they see a dark staircase leading down.
Cast[]
Principal Cast[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Ben McKenzie | James Gordon |
| Donal Logue | Harvey Bullock |
| David Mazouz | Bruce Wayne |
| Zabryna Guevara | Sarah Essen [1] |
| Sean Pertwee | Alfred Pennyworth |
| Robin Lord Taylor | Oswald "Penguin" Cobblepot |
| Erin Richards | Barbara Kean |
| Camren Bicondova | Selina Kyle |
| Cory Michael Smith | Edward Nygma |
| Victoria Cartagena | Renee Montoya [2] |
| Andrew Stewart-Jones | Crispus Allen [3] |
| John Doman | Carmine Falcone |
| Jada Pinkett Smith | Fish Mooney |
Guest Stars[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| David Zayas | Sal Maroni |
| Morena Baccarin | Lee Thompkins |
| Drew Powell | Butch Gilzean |
| Peter Scolari | Gillian Loeb |
| Chelsea Spack | Kristen Kringle |
| Dashiell Eaves | Kelly |
| James Andrew O'Connor | Tommy Bones |
Co-Stars[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| John Clarence Stewart | Officer Griffin Katz |
Crew[]
Notes & Trivia[]
- Gotham was created by Bruno Heller, based on concepts originally developed by Bill Finger and Bob Kane for DC Comics.
- This episode is rated TV-14. It contains strong language, sexual situations and violence.
- This episode is production code number 4X6672.
- "All Happy Families Are Alike" redirects to this page.
- This episode had a viewership of 4.93 million people, which is up by 3.5 from the previous episode.
- This episode aired in the United Kingdom on Channel 5 on May 25th, 2015.
- This episode is included on disc four of the Gotham: The Complete First Season Blu-ray collection. The collection was released by Warner Home Video on September 8th, 2015.
- Director of photography Chris Norr is credited as Christopher Norr in this episode.
- Actress Zabryna Guevara is credited in this episode, but her character does not make an appearance.
- Actress Victoria Cartagena is credited in this episode, but her character does not make an appearance.
- Actor Andrew Stewart-Jones is credited in this episode, but his character does not make an appearance.
Appearances[]
- This is the nineteenth, and likely final appearance of Fish Mooney, who appears to die at the end of this episode. Actress Jada Pinkett Smith's contract with Gotham concluded with the close of the season, and there were no plans to bring her back for season two.
- This is the eleventh and final appearance of Sal Maroni, who dies in this episode. The death of Sal Maroni calls into question some questions of continuity as it related to the program's tie-in with the DC Comics universe. In the comics, Sal Maroni was the one responsible for injuring District Attorney Harvey Dent, thus paving the way for him becoming Two-Face. With Maroni dead in the series, it leaves the future of Harvey Dent's potential mutilation hanging with a question mark.
- This is the first appearance of the Batcave, though it only makes a cameo appearance at the end of the episode. It is implied that Thomas Wayne maintained a secret lair for personal projects, without the knowledge of his family or employees. The Batcave is seen next in slightly larger detail in "Damned If You Do...".
- This is the fourth appearance of Kristen Kringle. She appeared last in "The Anvil or the Hammer". She appears next in "Knock, Knock".
- This is the tenth and final appearance of Carmine Falcone. The character retires from the life of a crime boss and leaves Gotham City in order to live out the rest of his years in Florida. He appeared last in "The Anvil or the Hammer".
Bloopers[]
- There are no bloopers available for this episode at this time. Be the first to add some! Just click on the edit tab under the section heading and start typing. A blooper is any revealing mistake that can be found within the episode that the production crew may have missed during editing. This can range from inconsistent lines of dialogue to visible production equipment in the shot to mis-spoken lines of dialogue, or... dare we say it? A wardrobe malfunction.
Quotes[]
- Oswald Cobblepot: I'm the king of Gotham!
....
- Carmine Falcone: That was your father's. He gave it to me a long time ago. A spur-of-the-moment birthday gift. I said no. Such a beautiful knife, and I have men with guns to protect me. He said take it. A knife is a good friend when you have no other.
- James Gordon: You were that close.
- Carmine Falcone: At one time. The point of the story, Jim... your father was the most honest man I ever met. But he carried a knife.
....
- Sal Maroni: Maroni: Fish, you mysterious, crazy, gorgeous, killer, you. I love ya.
....
- Sal Maroni: Guys! Can you feel the buzz in the air? That's victory. Redemption. Power! When this old man dies, a new day begins. We will rule Gotham. We are building a dynasty. We will whip this town like a rented mule.
....
- Oswald Cobblepot: You owe me a favour, Jim. You owe me!
- James Gordon: Dammit
....
- James Gordon: You're a disgrace, Loeb. I hope to see you behind bars very soon. Or dead. Whichever.
- Gillian Loeb: Hope. It's for losers... Jim.
....
- Carmine Falcone: You're going to burn in Hell.
- Oswald Cobblepot: I do worry about that. But you first, old friend. You first.
....
- James Gordon: Lee.
- Lee Thompkins: She... she just... she just went crazy.
- Harvey Bullock: Told him that woman was trouble.