Gotham Knights season 1 episode 4 recap: Of Butchers and Betrayals

In the last episode of Gotham Knights, Turner decided to try and solve a 100-year-old cold case, that he thought was connected to The Court of Owls. But after a week of searching, he could find no connection to The Court or to the murder of Bruce Wayne.

That is until he accidentally discovers that the knife the teenagers took from their battle with the Talon, makes the exact same marks that were found on the body of Bruce’s great-great-grandfather.

Gotham Knights season 1, episode 4 recap – The first real clue

Harper sneaks back into the GCPD to help Stephanie hack into their server, and find out if any other bodies were found with the mysterious mark. Turns out it’s a lot of them, and The Court of Owls has been killing people in Gotham for quite a while.

Turner recognizes the most recent dead person to have the mysterious marks on his body, was one of Bruce Wayne’s most trusted lawyers. Duela also gets to be helpful this episode, because after a closer look, she recognizes the Talon knife.

It turns out that the knife is exactly like the one used by a Gotham serial killer called, The Butcher, a hundred years ago. She read about The Butcher in a book that her father (The Joker) gave her.

But it gives no hint as to how The Butcher’s signature weapon ended up being used by The Talon. Fortunately, The Butcher’s daughter is still alive.

Carrie and Duela go to her nursing home to find out if she knows anything. At the nursing home, the two of them find Eunice, who seems to have lost some awareness in her old age.

She seems to think that her father is still alive and is sending her music boxes. When Carrie and Duela pry a little too much, she gets very angry and starts threatening them, saying that The Court will come for them.

She recites The Court of Owls nursery rhyme that we keep hearing. They get out but grab the guest logbook to try and figure out who has been in contact with Eunice.

Gotham Knights season 1, episode 4 recap – The owls are in the house

Meanwhile, Turner breaks into the home of his father’s lawyer with Harper, to try and figure out how he ended up dying. Their break in is interrupted by the diseased lawyer’s son, who tells them that his father seemingly went insane shortly before killing himself.

We actually got to watch that bit of the story at the top of the episode, but it didn’t make sense until this part of the story. Turns out, Bruce did meet with his lawyer a few days before his death in order to change his will.

But Bruce left with the only copy and now nobody knows where to look for the updated will. Of course, with Bruce and the lawyer both dead, it’s a safe bet that the will has something to do with it.

Turner decides to return to Wayne Manor to talk to Cressida, the housekeeper who we met back in episode one. Unfortunately, the rest of the group discovers that Cressida is the person who has been showing up to give Eunice the music boxes, meaning that she’s in league with The Court of Owls.

They tell Turner, but it’s too late, as she already has a gun pulled on him. Cressida admits to slipping something in Bruce’s food to dull his senses and allow the Talon to be able to kill him.

But she maintains that she does love and care for Turner, despite the whole, helping to kill his dad thing. Then The Court of Owls shows up.

It’s a bunch of people in Owl masks who make an offer to Tuner to join the court. They promise to clear his name and restore his former life.

All he has to do is turn in the other three who are wanted in the death of Bruce Wayne. Turner declines, and before The Talon can kill him, Carrie shows up in full Robin gear.

She helps him escape through the Batcave. Turner shoots The Talon several times with the gun he took from Cressida.

That’s going to be important soon. Back at the hideaway belfry, Duela reveals that she ended up stealing one of Eunice’s music boxes in their getaway.

But that means that with a little bit of fingerprinting, they can discover who exactly is sending the music boxes. Turns out that The Butcher is the one sending the music boxes, despite having died a 100 years earlier.

Oh, and across town The Talon, despite having just been shot to death by Turner, comes back to life, so at least the whole special knife connection makes sense now as the episode comes to a close.

Gotham Knights season 1, episode 4 recap – A step in the right direction

This feels like the first episode where the show actually has an idea of what it’s doing and where it wants to go. Sure, it’s still silly.

The narrative still twists and bends backwards to make wild connections. The characters still are working to figure out good character motivations in many of the scenes.

Lots of things are hand waved away for narrative convenience. The whole fingerprinting reveal at the end of the episode is a lot to swallow, but surprisingly for the first time, it feels like the show is starting to get some traction with all the spinning of its wheels.

Part of it worked because the group was broken into specific pairs in this episode. This gave each character a chance to play a role and show how they can be a unique character in the lineup.

The plot also moved forward enough that it feels like the show isn’t going to drag its feet on some of the major reveals. Plus the “Harvey Dent is getting framed” storyline was handled with a nice amount of grace, given how “in your face”, every other plot point has been so far in this show.

So, while there’s a lot that still needs to be addressed, it’s important to point out that at least in small ways the show may be starting to find its footing.

What did you think of Gotham Knights season 1 episode 4? Leave your answers in the comments below!

Stay tuned for a new episode April 11 on The CW.