04x20 - That Old Corpse

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Gotham". Aired: September 2014 to April 2019.*
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The origin story behind Commissioner James Gordon's rise to prominence in Gotham City in the years before Batman's arrival.
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04x20 - That Old Corpse

Post by bunniefuu »

GORDON: Previously on Gotham...

LEE: What's your record for how many banks you've robbed in one day?

You're playing a dangerous game, Lee.

LEE: My job is to make sure that the people of The Narrows are safe.

And I will do everything in my power to ensure that.

GORDON: I'm looking for Ed Nygma.

Five banks were robbed last night.

Why don't you try going after the real criminals?

...making money off the backs of the poor?

GORDON: Like Gotham Savings and Loan?

You are a fool!

GORDON: Come out with your hands up!

I expected you might come, Captain.

There's two of them.

HARVEY: What if he's nuttier than the other one?

JEREMIAH: I'm nothing like Jerome!

I'm gonna drive you mad.

But don't worry, all of Gotham will be joining you.

- GORDON: Hands up!

- Bombs away!

JEROME: I'm more than a man, I'm an idea, and I will live on in the shadows, within Gotham's discontent.

JEROME: Burn it down, brother.

(LAUGHING MANIACALLY)

MAN: Brothers and sisters, let's raise a glass to our fallen leader.

To Jerome!

ALL: To Jerome!

(GARGLING AND SPITTING)

(ENGINE REVVING)

(ENGINE STOPS)

This affair is invitation only.

(BELLS JINGLING)

Well, that's all right, you're welcome to stay.

But you won't be leaving.

(HORN HONKING LOUDLY)

(INDISTINCT GROANING)

JEROME: Why so sad, bozos?

Did you think they could get rid of me so easily?

Well, okay.

So, they did.

I'm dead, but let's not dwell on negatives.

I have one last party to throw.

- First on the to-do list, - (ALL LAUGHING)

dig me up.

Dig me up!

MAN: You heard him!

Come on, clowns!

Dig him up!

Get Jerome!

We're gonna dig you up, Jerome!

You hear me?

Come on out of there!

Come on, dig, dig, dig!

- What are you gonna do?

- What can I do?

The back door's just down that hallway right there.

- I'm not letting her go, Harvey.

- Why not?

I'm the only one here.

And I'm really good at looking the other way, partner.

Not this time.

She robbed a dirty bank.

People get away with a lot worse in Gotham every day.

Doesn't make it right.

We got away with worse.

Both of us.

Get out of here.

What?

I don't need that crap thrown in my face right now.

Get out of here!

(DOOR OPENS)

Well, you finally nabbed me, copper.

(SIGHS)

What the hell, Lee?

I don't suppose this is where anyone expected our story to end.

So, it's ending?

Hard to imagine what's left.

I wanna help you.

- How?

- Give up Nygma.

Return the money, and ask the DA for supervised probation.

I'm not betraying my friend.

They can call you "the Doc," you can rob banks, fight gangsters, but I know you.

You're Lee Thompkins.

And all this, this is just a...

A way of helping people.

I understand that.

Who doesn't want to be Robin Hood?

But you're still breaking the law.

Jim, you wish you could do what I'm doing.

Helping people without the straitjacket of the law?

As if the law means anything in Gotham.

If the law has lost its meaning, it's because people like you are turning your back on it.

I am fighting back.

I don't deny anything I've done.

You want to send me to Blackgate?

Go ahead.

I don't want to send you to Blackgate!

It's the last thing I want to do!

Don't you know I wish I could let you walk out that door, - turn my head...

- What's holding you back?

(EXHALES)

Maybe if you'd let me go, you'd let yourself go, too.

There are so many things I wish I could change.

Things that I've done...

Jim...

(KNOCK AT DOOR)

(DOOR OPENS)

Sorry to stick my face in your business, but something just came up.

I've already inspected it for booby traps.

- It's clear.

- Well, that's a relief.

I've taken the liberty of setting up a monitor in your office.

(ORGAN MUSIC PLAYING)

You don't think he might still be alive, do you?

What were the autopsy results, Lucius?

Dead when he came in, more dead when he was eviscerated, and his brain was sliced up.

Hello, Jimmy!

If you're watching this, things must not have gone well for me.

Shucks!

(CHUCKLES)

I can only pray, I gave as good as I got, and left ample carnage in my wake.

But I don't want to fixate on disappointments.

Jimmy, I have one last teensy request for you.

I want you to throw me a wake at the GCPD.

(AUDIO SCRAMBLING)

Don't worry about the guest list.

I've already sent the invitations.

(LAUGHING MANIACALLY)

I don't like the sound of that.

- (HORN HONKING)

- (PEOPLE SHOUTING)

Is everybody ready?

(MOB CHEERING)

Lock down everything, now!

Everybody listen up!

Lock it down!

Lock it down, now!

(CAR HORN HONKING)

The Doc's taken care of us.

It's time for us to take care of her!

Let's go down there, and bust her out of jail.

No one cares about the fate of Lee Thompkins more than me, is that understood?

Which is exactly why I will not have you bumbling into the GCPD en masse.

So, we're going to let her rot?

Leave her in the sweaty palms of Jim Gordon?

I would sooner debate you all on teleology versus deontology, than leave her with that overgrown Boy Scout.

"Teleo..." Huh?

My point exactly.

Look, if I had it my way, Jim Gordon would be off the field of play once and for all.

But Lee insists that I employ only nonlethal means.

So, I and my brilliant cr*ck team will liberate Lee Thompkins with surgical precision.

You stay here.

Team, we have everything?

- Bicycle pump?

Can opener?

- Right here.

Primer cord?

Pickle jar?

Fishing rod?

Fabulous.

Okay, you four, you're with me.

You, go where Jim Gordon goes.

He comes under some harm, assist him.

I do not need Lee blaming me if he's k*lled under friendly fire, while I go about my business, okay?

All right, team, follow my plan, and we'll be back here to finish counting this in just a few hours.

Keep it up.

Breaking Lee out is going to be a piece of cake.

(TELEPHONE RINGING)

Hello, Wayne Manor.

Alfred, it's Gordon.

Where's Bruce?

Well, he's meeting with Jeremiah about the energy project.

Is something amiss?

He's meeting with Jeremiah Valeska?

Yes, that's right.

Now, you can tell me why you sound so concerned.

Jerome's followers are rampaging outside the station.

Oh, I see.

Are Master Bruce and Jeremiah in any danger?

It's hard to say.

But right now, Jeremiah's maze may actually be the safest place for him.

Right, I shall head there nonetheless.

Thank you very much.

- (THUDDING)

- (PEOPLE SHOUTING)

What's the plan?

- Open up the armory.

- Now you're talkin'.

Guys!

(MAN LAUGHING MANIACALLY)

- (g*ns COCKING)

- HARVEY: Jim!

Hey, Jim!

You figure out when we're going to hit 'em yet?

- We're not.

- Say what?

You know how Jerome works, dead or alive.

He uses distractions.

So, what, we're going to just let 'em come in through the front door and party?

This wake is just intended to distract us, while his followers hit the real target.

- Which is?

- Well, we're never gonna figure that out if we're inside, fighting off these maniacs, are we?

Look, they come in the front door, right?

You fall back, get a few sh*ts off, make it look good.

Meanwhile, the entire precinct sneaks out this old service door as quickly as possible.

I can't believe you're going to run away from these asses.

Once we're outside, we surround the building, cordon it off.

- And then we trap 'em all inside.

- Correct.

They blow off some steam.

We hit 'em with teargas, and knock a few heads.

Yeah.

Of course, we still have to figure out what the real target is.

Got a plan for that?

I do.

It's a little sketchy right now, but come on.

All right, listen up, people!

Here's the plan.

Jeremiah, I didn't think you could get the generator program working so quickly.

You ready for a demonstration?

Okay, you hit that switch there, and the facility will be disconnected from the power grid.

(GENERATOR POWERING UP)

(ELECTRICITY BUZZING)

Ambient energy.

No cables or wires of any kind.

It's clean and stable.

Harvested from micro tremors and air density shifts, it's...

It's virtually without costs.

And with the prototypes at Wayne Labs, we can power all of Gotham?

You've kept this project a secret, yes?

No one outside of Wayne Industries knows it exists.

It's the ones who are closest to you (WHISPERING)

that you have to keep your eye on.

I know better than anyone.

Arkham Asylum sent me Jerome's personal effects, and amongst them, I found his diary.

It's a catalog of his fantasies and goals.

Every twisted vision he ever had.

Maybe you shouldn't spend so much time reading it.

He was obsessed with torturing and murdering me, James Gordon, and you, and if he had been just the least bit sane, he would have destroyed us all.

And Gotham would be in ruin.

Your brother's dead, Jeremiah.

It's time for you to come out of this bunker and join the world.

Yes.

Yes, he's dead.

- I still have trouble believing it.

- (PHONE VIBRATING)

Who is that?

It's just Alfred.

Yeah?

Master Bruce, I've got some rather disturbing news.

Jerome Valeska's acolytes are kicking off again.

Yes.

- Thank you, Alfred.

- I'm on my way.

Lunch plans.

That was a lie.

You're lying to me, Bruce?

You're right.

I'm sorry.

It seems some of Jerome's followers are causing trouble.

Oh, my God.

I was right.

No, Jeremiah.

I was right.

He's not dead.

Bruce, he's not dead.

He's alive, and he's coming after me!

(GLASS SHATTERING)

(GRUNTING AND SCREAMING)

(g*nshots)

Jeremiah, easy, easy.

You're not thinking clearly.

- Come on, this isn't like you.

- Bruce...

Bruce, I need to tell you something.

After Jerome d*ed, he left one last final trap for me.

He sprayed me with his insanity gas.

"It's a special mixture just for you, brother," he said.

I can't stop seeing him.

Clawing his way out of his grave, coming for me, and even though I know it's not real, it feels real.

And I can't control myself.

What if I could show you he's dead and buried?

How?

- We go there, to his grave.

- No.

- No, no, no.

- Jeremiah, listen to me.

Your brother took away your greatest strength, your mind, and turned it into a trap.

But if you can see the reality, you can be freed from that trap.

You really think that would work?

I do.

Then I'll try.

You're a good friend, Bruce.

(PEOPLE GRUNTING AND SHOUTING)

I'm getting you and the other prisoners out of here.

What were you trying to tell me before, Jim?

There's a van outside, waiting for transfer.

- Don't ignore me.

- I just want to get you safe first.

- Come to The Narrows.

- What?

Where you can make a real difference in this city.

You can make up your own rules about how to do it.

(PEOPLE SHOUTING)

(LAUGHING MANIACALLY)

- Alvarez, get them out of here.

Go.

- (ALARM BLARING)

Don't sh**t!

Hold your fire.

- (PEOPLE SHOUTING)

- (CHAINSAW WHIRRING)

There's too many of them.

Fall back!

Fall back!

Let's go!

Let's go!

(LAUGHING)

Well, look at us.

We caught ourselves Captain James Gordon.

Assassin of Jerome Valeska.

Hi, guys.

Don't try and get chummy with us, Gordon.

We're gonna carve you up.

Yeah, no, I wasn't talkin' to you.

I was talkin' to them.

- Hey, man, you like to dance?

- (ELECTRICITY BUZZING)

(FOLLOWERS GROANING)

Let's you and me talk outside, what do you say?

(PHONE RINGING AND VIBRATING)

(PHONE RINGING)

- There's still no answer.

- Then something's wrong.

- We should go.

- He was on his way to your office.

He'll wait for us there.

(TWIGS SNAPPING)

What was that?

(THUNDER CRACKING)

We're almost there.

Just a quick look, and we'll leave.

Bruce.

Bruce.

I don't know if I can do this.

Just a little further.

Oh, God, no.

His followers must have dug him up.

He's still alive.

I knew it.

- We have to get out of here.

- I knew it.

- He's alive!

- Jeremiah!

Jeremiah!

(BOTH GRUNTING)

How much longer are these petty aggressions going to continue?

There's nothing petty about my aggression.

So, am I to starve until I guess the source of your resentment?

You said if I joined you, we'd be back on top.

Instead, we're grubbing for Jerome, and we got played by Nygma.

You said if I joined you, you'd find me a cure.

And, yet...

I admit, that through no fault of my own, our advancement has not run apace.

(SHOUTS)

"Not run apace"?

We're squatting in Falcone's mansion.

We're knockin' over liquor stores to pay for groceries.

Meanwhile, everyone else is carving up Sofia's territory.

We are lying in wait, building a nest egg, while less deliberate players show us their cards.

If you don't find me Hugo Strange and get me cured, I am going to crush your windpipe like a beer can.

Shh!

- Did you just shush me?

- Shush!

I sense an opportunity here.

(REPORTER ON TV)

...live to Jennifer Glory.

In a twist that Jerome Valeska himself could've thought of, the GCPD are laying siege to Central Precinct, while Valeska's followers hold a wake for their deceased role model.

How is that an opportunity?

Confusion is always an opportunity for the clearheaded.

Someone is showing their cards, Butch.

Let's go take a peek.

(GRUMBLES)

(HELICOPTER HOVERING)

(REPORTERS CHATTERING)

One to the east, one to the west.

Let's go.

- Is he talkin' yet?

- I don't know, let's check.

MAN: Long live Jerome!

HARVEY: All right.

One more time, sunshine.

Did Jerome leave any other instructions?

- I'll never...

- (TASER BUZZING)

Harvey!

Harvey!

Reporters, buddy.

All right, look, this is how it's going to go.

You're going to start talking, or I'm gonna stop caring whether you can talk, you got it?

(MAN GROANING AND SCREAMING)

I'll talk!

It's too late, anyways.

They're already dead.

Who?

Who's dead?

Jeremiah and Bruce Wayne.

- You think he's tellin' the truth?

- I'm gonna find out.

They're at Jeremiah's bunker.

You hold down the fort here?

MAN: Long live Jerome!

- (TASER BUZZING)

- (MAN SCREAMING)

(SIREN BLARING IN DISTANCE)

- Trouble, Mr.

Riddler?

- A complication, yes.

Hostiles take over the station.

Police will remove the prisoners.

Where are they?

(THUDDING)

Oh, yes.

This might be easier than I expected.

(LAUGHING)

The Riddler!

We're saved!

How did you get out?

Through the old service door.

The old service door.

- What do we do, now?

- Now we improvise.

They're going to use teargas in here soon.

I have to get in first.

We need a costume shop.

Quick!

Penguin!

We're saved!

- That one.

- Jerome...

No, not the trunk...

You ever get tired of being wrong?

(PEOPLE SCREAMING AND CHATTERING)

(DOOR OPENING)

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

Jeremiah!

We need to leave!

It's not safe!


JEREMIAH: You believe me now?

Jerome's alive!

No, his followers dug him up.

They're sick!

They're also dangerous, and they might be nearby!

How can I trust you if you won't believe me?

You can trust me because I'm your friend.

I want you to be my friend, Bruce.

You don't know what it was like, living underground all those years.

Then you came along and offered me everything I could dream of.

Because I believe in you, Jeremiah.

We're gonna do great things for Gotham.

We could.

We really could.

I thought we would.

There's no reason to stop thinking that.

All we have to do, is get out of here.

First, all we had to do was come to the cemetery.

Now all we have to do is leave?

See, that's very confusing to me.

So, tell me again, Bruce, why'd you really bring me here?

I thought it would help.

I was wrong.

But we need to leave.

(SHOUTS)

What the hell are you doing?

You think I didn't know what was happening from the moment you suggested coming here?

- Jeremiah, what are you talking...

- Stop pretending to be my friend!

I know what's really happening.

You can fool everyone else, but I know you made a switch.

That, you can't hide.

Not even behind that new face of yours.

I know it's you.

I know it's you, Jerome.

Jeremiah, give me the g*n.

(g*nsh*t)

Turn around, brother.

I said turn around!

You k*lled my friend Bruce.

Now it's time to put you back in your grave.

Walk!

(PEOPLE SCREAMING AND CHATTERING)

(STUTTERING)

(LAUGHS NERVOUSLY)

- (POT CLANGS)

- (GRUNTS)

Ed!

(DOOR OPENS)

Bruce?

Jeremiah?

(STATIC BUZZING)

Just a little bit further, brother.

Then you'll be back in your grave.

You're stronger than this, Jeremiah.

You know these ideas are just the insanity gas talking.

I won't let your lies fool me any longer!

(GASPING)

What is happening?

- Hiya, Jimbo!

- Jerome...

Ah!

Don't bother talkin' to me.

This is a recorded message, and plus, I'm still dead.

Just more posthumous fun.

Look, I knew you'd see through all those shenanigans at the station.

I've given all my fans a script for them to follow.

See, I wanted to bring you here.

Oh!

(JEROME LAUGHING MANIACALLY)

Now do you believe I'm not your brother?

Jeremiah, listen to me!

Jerome's followers are doing this!

Nothing else makes sense.

He sent them instructions to torment you.

How fake.

Yes, I can see quite clearly where you cut off poor Bruce's face, and stitched on your own.

But I am a man of science.

So, let's have some evidence, huh?

Oh!

Don't mind her.

She's just here to make sure there's no talking during the movie.

And, trust me, you're gonna wanna pay attention, so the twist makes sense at the end.

(LAUGHS EVILLY)

(CHOKING)

(GORDON GRUNTING)

Let's go, brother.

Let's pull off that grotesque facade.

(JEREMIAH GRUNTING)

Ecco.

(JEROME CHOKING)

I tell you, su1c1de really takes it out of a guy.

(CHUCKLING)

What is this?

Jeremiah!

Do not let him turn you into him!

- Do not let Jerome win this battle!

- (JEROME STRAINING)

Jerome, b*at me?

That'll be the day.

No!

(JEREMIAH LAUGHING)

Long live Jerome!

- Long live Jerome!

- Long live Jerome!

Jerome is victorious at last!

Jerome victorious?

Are you serious?

He's dead.

Haven't you been paying attention?

JEREMIAH: Thank God I'm done with that.

I am the one who's victorious.

Jerome is dead.

(ECHOING)

Is dead...

Is dead.

Long live...

Long live me.

Long live me.

Look, Bruce, like everything Jerome set his mind to, his insanity gas failed.

Other than some mild cosmetic effects, he might as well have sprayed me with water.

You all need to see Jerome for the utter dud that he was.

So, I donned the mask of madness to show you how feeble that is compared to actual greatness.

Behold, the face of true sanity.

But looks aren't everything.

I have a compendium of Jerome's obsessions and goals.

I will outdo every one of them.

Jerome wanted to turn Gotham into a madhouse.

But to truly build something, you must first tear down what is already there.

JEREMIAH: I apologize for the deception, Jim.

I needed to ape Jerome in order to persuade his followers to throw that macabre celebration at your police station.

They are a pathetic lot, but not without their uses.

(DOOR LOCKING)

Sidebar, that is a self-perpetuating generator.

It can store a phenomenal amount of energy.

I would hate to be within a mile of it if it were to overload.

BRUCE: Jeremiah, the gas worked.

Think about it.

You want to carry out Jerome's crazy plans sanely?

- What could be madder than that?

- "Madder"?

Let's see.

Ah, here, for example.

Jerome wanted to slather you in honey, and have you eaten alive by corpse beetles.

Now, that's mad.

Me, if I wanna k*ll you, I'll just do it.

I'll sh**t you in the head.

(COCKING g*n)

Simply and sanely.

- (FOLLOWERS TITTERING)

- Jeremiah...

But I don't want to k*ll you.

(FOLLOWERS GROANING)

Are you gonna listen, or are you gonna behave like children?

See, I don't want to k*ll you, because I wanna show you how much I've changed things.

How much we've changed things.

Because I could not have done any of this without your help.

My help?

JEREMIAH: That sound you are hearing, (GENERATOR BUZZING)

that is a very bad sound.

One which, I'm afraid, makes you something of a guinea pig, Jim.

JEREMIAH: I feel very indebted to you, Bruce.

See, those generators that we built with your money, they work even better as bombs.

(BEEPING)

k*lling you will help secure the loyalty of Jerome's minions.

And, well...

That is that.

Goodbye.

All right, everybody, listen up!

You know what to do!

Let's go get our house back!

(DISTANT expl*si*n)

(ALARM BLARING)

That's one down.

- Jim Gordon is dead.

- (FOLLOWERS CHEERING)

- No!

No!

- Yes, Bruce.

Sorry, but progress requires sacrifice.

I'm going to stop you.

I really hope you don't try.

I would hate to have to k*ll you.

In fact, I can honestly say, you are my very best friend.

What I want to know, with a minimum of fuss, is what you and your cohort were really up to today?

I'll never betray the memory of...

Wouldn't dream of it.

I don't expect you to betray the memory of that old corpse.

I want you to betray whomever it is you are currently following.

- Long live Jerome.

- He's not talking.

Is that so?

You starin' at me?

Yeah, I get it.

Sometimes, I accidentally catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

It scares me, too.

And then I get angry.

The longer I'm like this, the angrier I get.

And right now, the way I see it, you are preventing me from finding a cure.

And that makes me very, very angry.

Is your plan to gain his sympathy by reciting your tale of woe?

Nah.

Just wanted to see if I could get him to pee his pants a little in terror.

You want me to shove some chicken bones up his nose till he squawks?

- Yes, that will do.

- No.

Let's make this quick.

(STRAINING)

- Tilt your head back.

- No!

- Here comes the wishbone train!

- No, no!

(SCREAMING)

Smartest man in Gotham, and you let your heart do the thinking.

Wake up, Ed!

Ow!

- Were you awake the whole time?

- Maybe.

"The smartest man in Gotham," huh?

All right, get up.

Up, up, up.

There are better things to aspire to, you know.

I'm aspiring to them very much.

(BLOWS)

Just be yourself.

The guy who can let go of the past and change, I like that guy.

All right, now, how are we going to get past these psychos?

I'm assuming you brought one of those for me?

No.

I'd be into that, but they only had one.

Instead...

- The cavalry should be coming very soon.

- Great.

- (ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)

- (PEOPLE CHATTERING)

(TEAR GAS SHELLS HISSING)

(PEOPLE SHOUTING AND COUGHING)

- Round them up!

- (g*ns COCKING)

Move, move, move!

Let's go!

Okay.

Don't just wrap me around your finger, Lee.

Come on, let's run.

(GRUNTS)

That's for takin' a leak on my desk.

What a mess.

You know, it's funny, it kind of reminds me of my first apartment in Crown Point.

How long ago was that?

- I still live there.

- GORDON: Harvey.

I found the epicenter of that expl*si*n.

It's Jeremiah's bunker.

That's where Jim was going to look for Bruce.

- Good evening, gentlemen.

- Hey there, Mr. Valeska.

You alone, or you got Mr. Wayne with you?

No Mr. Wayne.

But I'm not alone.

What the...

Look at these.

The gifts of true friendship.

Let's load them on the trucks.

It's time to give Gotham City its new face.
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