Gotham Season 5 Episode 10: “I Am Bane” Recap & Review

Bane’s Revenge

After taking a slight break from proceedings, Gotham returns with a vengeance, well and truly into its end game now with its latest episode. After being impaled thanks to Jim Gordon, we begin the episode with Dr Strange saving him and bringing him back as Bane.

While Gotham continues to recover from Jeremiah’s chemical attack, Jim Gordon oversees the army arriving to inspect the site, making sure it’s safe for civilians again. After some deliberation, they get the greenlight but the celebrations are shortlived. A flurry of smoke bombs are dropped at the scene, prompting Bane to show up along with a handful of thugs, kidnapping both Bruce Wayne and Jim Gordon while Harvey watches on helplessly.

Meanwhile, Barbara goes into labour and, intent on slipping away undetected, Riddler and Penguin realize she’s taken a key part of their submarine to the hospital with her. As they hurry to get it back, a mysterious lady reveals herself to both Gordon and Wayne, a lady who happens to be Ra’s al ghul’s daughter, intent on revenge for Bruce killing her Father. Of course, he wasn’t the only one responsible and given Barbara’s involvement in the stabbing, she orders Bane to collect her too.

As everyone converges at the hospital and Barbara’s labour progresses, all hell breaks loose. Riddler and Penguin steal the contraption whilst buying Barbara and Lee enough time to slip away. Getting past this first line of defence, Bane goes after the two women, which leads him outside where Alfred and Selina catch up and hit him with their car. After a few fruitless punches, Bane strikes back, knocking out Bruce’s butler before hurrying after Barbara.

Back at the warehouse, Jim breaks free from Dr. Strange and frees the General too after making sure he doesn’t have a chip in his head. Unfortunately, something worse is controlling him and as they slip away back to the main army headquarters, the General orders an immediate air strike over Gotham which leads to the city being reduced to a fiery inferno.

With the final few episodes promising a step-up in terms of action, Gotham has been quite the tumultous ride up until this point. While some of the season has felt a little directionless, for the most part, Gotham has maintained its allure throughout its runtime. There’s a clear sense of purpose here now too and quite what will happen in these last few episodes is anyone’s guess, setting the scene nicely for the upcoming episodes.