Television: Gotham, "The Fearsome Dr. Crane"

Julian Sands!

He plays Gerald Crane, father of Jonathan Crane, who will become The Scarecrow. (Not incidentally, also the title of the next episode.)

This was a pretty good episode. Crane Sr. abducted people from a phobia support group and forced them to "face their fears" by putting them in the exact situation they most dreaded. Then he would cut out their adrenal glands—you know, the stuff that creates the adrenaline that pumps through you in fight-or-flight situations. Why does he want them? Remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Bullock got sweet on a woman connected to the phobia group, who was then of course abducted.

In another story line, Ed was suspended for encroaching on the medical examiner's territory. So he got his revenge by filling the examiner's locker with severed body parts. Now the examiner is under investigation, and the writers have added another reason for Ed to start turning dark: resentment.

Jim Gordon continues to juggle a new romance and his work, plus the fact Barbara still hasn't surfaced. (Worst. Parents' Weekend. Ever.) He does find Cat staying in the penthouse, and she tells him what she told Bruce Wayne: that she was lying and didn't really see who killed the Waynes. That's probably the lie, but Bruce believes her and releases Jim from his promise to find the murderer. "I'll take care of it myself," he says (or something to that effect). Um, he has lots of money, right? Can't he hire a private investigator or something? Someone whose only job would be to find the murderer? (As opposed to Jim, whose workload is fluid.)

A lot of moving parts, though I still can't much care about Bruce or Cat. I do think the Scarecrow plot next week should be interesting, though.