Gotham began on a troubling note as young Bruce Wayne continues to deal with the stress of his parents’ deaths. He holds his hand over a candle, testing his endurance to the flame and heat, but only succeeds in burning the palm of his hand. Alfred catches him and scolds him for harming himself, but embraces him realizing his self-inflicted pain is only masking his trauma. Elsewhere in Gotham, Selina Kyle, better known as “Cat” hangs with fellow street orphans in an alley. A mysterious truck pulls up with a man and woman claiming to be there to help the homeless children. They give them sandwiches, but Cat refuses to take the food. She soon realizes the man and woman are anything but charitable when they begin to stick the children with pins, containing a powerful sedative. A homeless veteran tries to stop them from harming the children, but is gunned down in cold blood. As they fall out one by one Cat escapes while another orphan is chased down by the mysterious man trying to harm them. He inadvertently slams the boy through the window of a fancy restaurant and leaves him there. Oswald hitchhikes just outside of Gotham, but then kills one of his hosts when they tell him he looks like a penguin. He takes the other hostage and purchases a trailer where he keeps the man prisoner.
The next morning Jim and Bullock find the homeless veteran’s body in the street. A first response cop finally arrives after opting to check on the fancy restaurant first since they pay him off duty. Jim admonishes him for his carelessness and draws a connection between the homeless boy at the restaurant and the homeless veteran’s murder. At the station Bullock harshly interrogates the boy and threatens to beat him. The boy tells them his friends have been kidnapped and who murdered the veteran. He also tells them Cat witnessed everyting. Jim admonishes him for treating him so harshly. Bullock however reminds him of how he “killed” Oswald Cobblepot and to stop being such a good cop. Jim tries to get Captain Essen to alert the media of the abductions but she flatly refuses and orders him not to so the city will not panic. Carmine Falcone pays Fish Mooney a visit at her club. There he brings up Oswald’s accusations about her plans to overthrow him. She assures him that was never the case and thinks of him as a father. He in turn thanks her, but then beats the boy she has been having sex with as a warning of what will happen if she steps out of line. When Falcone leaves she demands everyone leave her club and vows to kill him with her bare hands someday!
Jim tells Barbara about the abductions over dinner. She in turn alerts the media without his permission. Captain Essen is angry but cannot pin the revelation on him. The mayor makes a press conference promising to find the missing children and get the remaining homeless children off the street. Jim and Bullock manage to locate the Snatchers and liberate the abducted children. The mayor has them and the other children, including Cat, to be sent to foster homes and upstate to juvenile. Naturally Cat protests and demands to see Jim. They put her on a bus where she and a bus load of children are abducted at gunpoint by The Snatchers. Jim and Bullock interrogate the owner of the building where they were being held and he inadvertently gives them a clue to the children’s whereabouts. Cat manages to fend off one of the Scratchers by taking out his eyes out! His colleague puts him out of his misery and then goes hunting for Cat. She manages to hide from the assailant until Jim arrives and takes her down. Back at the precinct, Cat tells Jim she has been watching him for awhile AND that she knows who killed The Waynes!
Next Week—>The Balloon Man plagues Gotham, Renee tries to get Barbara to leave Jim
