Lying! Manipulation! Fights! Betrayal! Secret Monk Blood Rituals! This week’s Gotham has it all! “The Son of Gotham” finally put many long plotted storylines into motion and changed things up (either for the worse or the better). Gotham as a city looks to be in real trouble now. Let’s dive right in!

*****SPOILERS BELOW****

The monks of Dumas have descended upon Gotham and they need to kill 9 victims in order to carry out their secret blood ritual. Why? I have no idea. But, they are doing it, attacking random people on the streets and in oddly out of place Asian brothels. It’s all very glum for Jim (Ben McKenzie) who is pissed about Officer Parks’ death, blaming himself for not killing The Flamingo (Raul Castillo). He also is on edge because he visited a chipper Theo (James Frain) in jail and has a bad feeling about everything. Lee (Morena Baccarin) tries to talk about it and help him, but Jim doesn’t do the “talking through problems” thing.

Jim continues to bark orders at other cops and tells a now limping, cane-wielding Barnes (Michael Chiklis) that Theo is up to something. No one, not even Harvey (Donal Logue) give Jim even a second of time to believe him. WHY DON’T THEY BELIEVE HIM? Is it really so bizarre and out of line for Theo to have manipulated all of this? I mean, come on everyone. If I was Jim, I would’ve lost it. There is no reason for them to be so doubting. UGH. Anyways, Barnes keeps insisting that Jim leave it alone, but we all know Jim would never do that.

Jim and Harvey arrive at the random Asian brothel in time to witness a monk attack. Jim corners a randomly Egyptian(?) monk who speaks nonsense about the ritual and then throws himself in front of a truck. I honestly have no idea what this ritual is going to do or why. They may have explained it at some point, but who knows. Jim brings his concerns to Barnes, who still doubts Theo’s schemes…until Jim FINALLY convinces him to investigate these creepy monks.

Jim, Harvey, and Lee later figure out the monks are using the sewers to get around. Jim and Harvey go down and easily find an altar, a dead victim, and an attacking monk. The monk gets injured and Jim listens to him speak nonsense about the “Son of Gotham” and the cleansing of the city. Ya know, general nonsense. But we don’t have time for this because ex-mayor James (Richard Kind) is taking the stand about his kidnapping. All the major players are present when the ex-mayor says that Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) kidnapped him, not Theo Galavan! This causes Jim to lose it! Theo smiles with his stupid smarmy face as the judge releases him from custody. Theo even makes a speech to Jim, who just ends up punching Theo in his stupid face. Two cops escort Jim out and tase him.

Jim wakes up to find he has been tied up by Theo and thugs. Theo finally explains his whole plan/motive to Jim, blah, blah, blah. His family, the Dumas family, were wronged out of Gotham, yadda yadda. It’s not about revenge, it’s about atonement. WE GET IT, THEO. He is so cocky that he wants to “play” with Jim, cutting him loose and then turning into a ninja, avoiding Jim’s punches and knocking him to ground. Jim gets tore up! Luckily for Jim, Oswald Cobblepot appears and kills Jim’s attackers. He is pissed that Theo was released and beats Jim up a little bit himself, demanding to know where Theo is, but more on that in a bit.

Oswald has been hiding out at his new BFF, Ed’s, apartment. Oswald and Ed (Cory Michael Smith) have a great rapport and play well off each other. When Lee starts asking Ed questions about Kristen’s whereabouts, Ed plays her good, lying and fake crying. She buys it! Ed tells Oswald to destroy his one keepsake: Kristen’s glasses. Oswald does in a fit of rage when he discovers Theo was released. Aw! They are just best friends forever now and it’s great.

Meanwhile, during all of this, young Bruce (David Mazouz) is still brooding over nearly learning the identity of his parents’ killer from Theo. Selina (Camren Bicondova) talks some sense into Bruce about trusting the lying Silver (Natalie Alyn Lind). She tells him the best liars always tell the truth, which kind of makes sense once you wrap your head around it. Bruce and Silver meet up and both lie to each other about stuff. Bruce whispers in her ear and kisses her. And it all seems genuine. He just wants her to get that name.

She later leaves a message for Bruce, saying she talked to Theo, but it turns out she is “kidnapped” by some thugs in a van. They use her as leverage to get Bruce too. This creepy weird guy and his thugs tie up Bruce and Silver and demand to know what Theo has been saying/doing. Both are reluctant to say anything, so the weird creepy guy drags Bruce out of the room and Silver admits she knows nothing. Her uncle told her nothing. And yet, she lies…

The man later comes back without Bruce and continues to threaten Silver. She suddenly changes and threatens him, but then gives him a name – Malone – when he almost cuts off her finger. That is when Bruce reveals himself. It was all his and Selina’s secret plot to get the truth from the lying Silver! AHA! Finally, Bruce is making me proud. Bruce lays it all out and puts Silver in her place. She has the same smarmy look as her uncle. UGH. She tries to protest, saying the name isn’t even real. She also tries to appeal to Bruce, but Selina puts her in her place. Bruce is DONE with her. BYE!

Meanwhile, Alfred (Sean Pertwee) goes to look for Bruce at Theo’s apartment. He runs into Tabitha (Jessica Lucas) and a random, nonsensical, yet awesome fight breaks out. What is this about!? She ends up stabbing him and then hits him with a throwing star as he runs away into a garbage truck. It made no sense, but it happened. Poor Alfred!

Bruce and Selina arrive back at his house. Selina asks what Bruce had whispered to Silver earlier and he said that he had told her he trusted her with his life and was tied to her…but it wasn’t really about Silver. It was about Selina. She gets all awkward and leaves to steal a car. Aw. Young love. She tells him it’s good he is changing, but to not change too much.

Well, he might not have a chance because at the end of the episode, Theo shows up, brandishing a knife. He has come to take Bruce’s life. GROAN. PLEASE. We all know that Bruce isn’t going to die, so this is just stupid.

What did you guys think of this episode? I thought it was a major improvement over last week. I am glad storylines are moving forward, at last. But can we all just agree that this “Kill Bruce” master plan is so, so dumb. We all know Bruce won’t die, because DUH, he becomes Batman. So there is LITERALLY no worry or thrill in Theo continually threatening Bruce’s life. We know he won’t succeed in killing Bruce so it is kind of pointless. But, otherwise, good episode! I am still loving the tag team of Oswald and Ed. Give us more of that please!

Gotham airs Mondays at 8/7c on Fox. Watch full episodes on Fox.com, Hulu Plus and On Demand (check with your local cable provider).