'Gotham' Explores Another Wayne Family Mystery

After a brief hiatus, Gotham is back, and it's picking up right where it left off: with Bruce Wayne resuming his investigation of his father's studies. And according to FOX's synopsis of the April 18 episode of Gotham , "Pinewood," the next thing he's going to investigate is a secret project from Wayne Enterprises. So what is Project Chimera? It sounds like the remainder of Gotham Season 2 will be devoted to untangling that mystery, though there are already some clues. And while Bruce hasn't made progress in his investigations just yet, his detective skills have developed a lot since he went to live on the street with Selina, so he may finally be ready to take on Wayne Enterprises and get some answers.

However, despite its connection to comic book staple Wayne Enterprises, Project Chimera has no origins in DC's Batman comics. And that makes sense, because Thomas Wayne's connection to the formation of supervillains in Gotham City has never been a part of the Batman mythos. But Gotham may be drawing a connection between Project Chimera and whatever Arkham Asylum doctor Hugo Strange is working on, with his tests on pretty much every villainous character on the show. He's already experimented on Penguin, Mr. Fries, and Barbara — and he's still working on Galavan.

In some of the images released by FOX in advance of "Pinewood," it seems like Bruce and Alfred will meet a woman who has a hand that looks like some kind of claw. And the episode synopsis says the young Batman will meet one of his father's former coworkers — perhaps this woman actually has some answers what she was researching with Thomas Wayne and what happened to Project Chimera after his death. She might even be able to share some things that Bruce never got the chance to know about his father, from his role in the project to what he was like as a person. Lucius Fox promised Bruce that Thomas was a good man, but clearly, Strange is doing something very evil.

Since Strange is the major villain of Gotham Season 2, I think it may be revealed that he was actually behind the Waynes' murders. He might've wanted them out of the way so he could use their company to fund his evil projects. Jim Gordon did attempt to officially reopen the investigation, but since the Captain shot him down, it looks like Bruce and Alfred are going to be on their own for now. Still, however this turns out, I think this season of Gotham will finally let the young Bruce Wayne find the answers about his parents that he's been looking for.

Images: Jeff Neumann/FOX (2)