Season 3, Episodes 1-3

Seasons 1 and 2 introduced us to Bruce and the murder of his parents, to his friends, Salina and Ivy, and to Alfred (the faithful butler).  As Season 3 begins, we find the two storylines beginning to converge; who is really behind Thomas and Martha Wayne’s murder, and what’s really going on at Indian Hill (the supposed psychiatric hospital).  Dr. Hugo Strange has kidnapped Bruce and is experimenting on all kinds of people, turning them into creatures of one sort or another; he reanimates Fish Mooney.  She rebels against him; he animates more villains, and they cause all kinds of ruckus in Gothom.  Bruce decides ‘step up to the plate’ and takes steps to end this once and for all.  In Episode 2, “Better to Reign in Hell,” Fish manipulates Salina into  breaking into a laboratory with her; a security guard comes in, gun pointed.  Fish offers her hands, but the second he touches them he is hypnotized; she tells him to drop the gun and knock himself out… he bangs his head against the wall.  Fish gets weak after performing this trick; she learns it is something she cannot do very often or it will kill her.  Jim Gordon encounters a monster of a man (he has dinosaur scales down his back and is very strong) in a pharmacy; Jim hurts himself trying to punch him.  They fight on the sidewalk and the monster ends up in the street; he gets run over by a truck.  Penguin goes to visit Nigma in jail and brings him a puzzle; Nigma loves it, but solves it right away, as Penguin tells him how impossible it is to do.  Edward says it was a lovely thought and asks him why he is being so kind; Oswald says he wouldn’t have gotten by without talking to him these past few months.  He talks about Fish Mooney, wondering why she didn’t kill him when she had the chance; he says he needs to know what she is doing.  Nigma starts tearing and folding a paper; he tells Penguin details can be distracting.  Sometimes simple is best; he says no matter what she is planning, Oswald needs to remember that penguins EAT fish.  Penguin ends up getting Nigma out of jail to ‘repay him for his kindness.’  In Episode 3, “Burn the Witch,” we find Bruce confronting an old, rich lady; he asks who she is and she tells him he already knows the answer to that question.  She takes off her mask, but we don’t see her.  A hypnotist comes into town, we eventually find out this is the man who calls himself The Mad Hatter; his name is Jervis Tetch.  He hypnotizes a man in the audience, asks him if he wants to do something impossible, telling him to step up onto a chair – the back of the chair – because he has convinced him that he is weightless.  The man does it, and balances the chair as it tips.  The Mad Hatter’s sister is introduced; she has a blood disorder that affects people (bringing out their true nature) if it touches them.