Professor Pyg (Gotham)

"Oink, oink..."

- Pyg taunts his victims. "Oh, I beg to differ, mon frère. You and I both see all too well the corruption, the filth, inside the GCPD. You and I know that Gotham cannot survive unless the cancer is cut out. We both share the same mission, only I do it with a little bit more flair..."

- Pyg to Gordon. "You have all fed upon the poor of Gotham for years! Now you're going to know what they taste like..."

- Pyg feeds his captives human pies.

Lazlo Valentin, known publicly as Professor Pyg, is one of the major antagonists in the fourth season of the TV series Gotham, acting as one of the main antagonists of the first part. He is the series' adaptation of the DC villain of the same name.

Pyg is an insane serial killer, targeting the corrupt officers inside the GCPD and dressing their corpses up in pig masks. This leads him to come across detective Jim Gordon, the sole policeman in Gotham who is not corrupt. Despite initially not planning to harm Gordon due to their mutual vision - creating a corruption-free Gotham - Pyg must come to realize that Gordon will keep hunting him down. Nonetheless, Pyg goes to great lengths to make sure Gordon is not harmed during his attacks and manages to kill a great deal of policemen in Gotham and remaining at large.

However, during an attempt on several members of Gotham's corrupt elite, Pyg is eventually defeated by Jim Gordon and arrested. However, after the GCPD eventually uncover his true identity as southern serial killer named Lazlo Valentin, he escapes from Arkham Asylum. He is later involved in a conspiracy alongside Sofia Falcone to kill her father Don Falcone, revealed to be a pawn piece for her true plans, before she betrays and executes him as well.

He was portrayed by Broadway veteran actor Michael Cerveris.

Past
Lazlo Valentin is a serial killer who operated in the south of America ten years prior to the series, except that his M.O. was different to his current one. After he was eventually captured, he quickly escaped and went missing, thus, the case was dropped. Within the next decade, he went under a major facial change with titanium plates and plastic surgery, therefore concealing his identity.

Although he claims to suffered at the hands of Gotham's corrupt system, it is currently unknown if this is true.

Attacking Policemen
After making a deal with a criminal in an alley somewhere in Gotham, Officer Dave Metzger is alerted to noises somewhere deep in the alley. Once he enters to investigate, he only finds a cat but when he turns around to leave, he finds Valentin behind him, wearing a butcher's apron and a pig mask. Surprised by the sudden appearance of Valentin, Metzger does not react quick enough to prevent Valentin from drawing a cleaver and slaughtering Metzger. When the body is found by the police, it is revealed that Valentin dressed the corpse in a pig mask similar to the one he is wearing himself.

Back at his lair, Valentin prepares a new pig mask for his next victim, listening to opera music while doing so. Meanwhile, the GCPD has arrested the criminal from whom Valentin bought the pig's heads. The man claims that he was hired by someone he only knew as "The Professor", and dropped the pig's heads for the professor at a dropfoff point in Gotham. As the Professor ordered four heads, Jim Gordon deduces that there are three more corrupt policemen in the GCPD that the Professor wants to kill. While the GCPD is looking for the corrupt GCPD officers in order to save them from the Professor, Pyg murders two more corrupt police officers, Jenny Butler and Chris Whitlock, dresses them in pig heads and leaves them on a bench outside the courthouse.

While looking for a missing policeman, officer Nakajima, Bullock also reveals to Jim that he suspects one of their own to be the Professor, as only a policeman would have known the schedule of the other three. While they are going after a van that has been seen at the location of the last murders, Professor Pyg is bringing the frightened and tied up Nakajima to his lair.

Having followed the van, Gordon and Bullock arrive at an abandoned warehouse where they find Nakajima tied to a chair, a pig's head on his head. Nakajima is still alive so Gordon removes the mask. However, the mask is tied to the pin of a grenade that Pyg dug into Nakajima's stomach so by removing the mask, they also remove the pin. Realizing what is happening, Gordon and Bullock run off but are caught by the blast that rips apart Nakajima and knocks out both policemen. After the explosion, Pyg ties Gordon to a chair on the upper part of the factory while hanging Bullock to the ceiling somewhere in the lower parts. Once Jim regains consciousness, Pyg approaches him and proclaims to be a big fan of Gordon's. Gordon wants to know where Bullock is but Pyg claims that Bullock is holding Jim back and that Jim should not bother with him. He reveals that Bullock is still alive, for the time being and reveals that Jim is completely safe - he has no reason at all to kill him.

Gordon asks whether Pyg is a policeman but he only laughs at that and asks what would make Jim think so. Pyg reveals that they both share the same mission - weeding out the corruption that has taken roots in the GCPD. Gordon vehemently denies any association or similarities with Pyg, much to the amusement of the latter. Gordon claims that killing Penguin's corrupt policemen will not change a thing and while Pyg claims that it will for them, he ultimately agrees. He reveals that this is why Pyg is not done until he has butchered "every single swine" on Penguin's payroll. Gordon is shocked, claiming that this could be half the police department, but Pyg shakes it off and coldly states that he never claimed it would be pretty. Suddenly, they hear Bullock's screams from the lower part of the factory and Pyg immediately leaves to deal with him. As Pyg heads down the stairs, Gordon moves his chair back to the edge of the platform and jumps down, breaking the chair upon impact and freeing him.

Meanwhile, Pyg has reached Bullock, who claims that backup is on the way and that Pyg has the chance to flee. Pyg, however, calls him a liar and claims that the police would have arrived by now, if they really were on their way. He prepares to cut Bullock's throat, claiming that he deserves it, but Gordon suddenly arrives. Claiming that he hates to "cut and run", Pyg slices Bullock's throat, drops the knife and runs. In his effort to save Bullock, Gordon does not pursue Pyg who in turn uses the chance to escape. At the hospital, Bullock recuperates from the wound. When Gordon visits him, Bullock reveals that Pyg cut him only deep enough to make Jim choose to save him instead of going after Pyg; Pyg had every opportunity to kill Bullock back then. Soon after, Gordon learns that the media has dubbed the serial killer "Professor Pyg".

The next night, Pyg visits his pig pen, where he feeds his pigs. As he makes his next plans for Gotham City, he tells to himself that tomorrow "the axe shall fall.

Setting up a trap
Over the phone, Pyg has 44 boxes full of pig heads delivered to the GCPD precinct, one box for every policeman at the precinct. However, he also gives special instructions not to hand a box to Jim Gordon. The GCPD takes this as a threat - Pyg is now not targeting only corrupt policemen but seems to have plans for the entire precinct. The same day, three policemen go missing in the Narrows, the poorest district of Gotham.

The GCPD, together with a gang of Oswald Cobblepot's gangsters, specifically dispatched to assist in the capture of Pyg, arrive at the alley where a policecar has been found abandoned. They arrive in force but find only the car, soaked in blood. From the testimony of an eyewitness, the learn that Pyg's lair must be located somewhere on Hoover Island. Arriving at the location, they find two of the policemen strapped to chairs. One is dead but the other, although severely injured and seemingly impaled with a metal pipe, is still alive. The wounded officer Fisole begs Jim to help him and the GCPD immediately calls an ambulance.

Jim rides in the ambulance with the wounded Fisole. When the man regains consciousness, Gordon calms him down. He asks whether Fisole saw his face but the officer tells him that the Pyg was wearing a mask. He claims that he and the others were being tortured for hours while Professor Pyg sang nursery rhymes and was talking crazy. Disheartened, Fisole asks why the Pyg is doing this and Gordon claims that he seemed to have reached a breaking point, as there is so much rot in Gotham from the lowest to the highest ranks of society. Fisole then reveals that he overheard Pyg planning something in a place where there is "justice no more". Gordon thanks Fisole for the clue, as he now knows that Pyg is hiding at an old court house. Before Gordon gets off the ambulance, Fisole tells him that Gordon is one of the "good ones".

Jim heads to the old courthouse where he finds a trail of blood. He is soon joined by the GCPD and Headhunter's men, as well as Penguin himself. While they prepare to storm the building, Gordon is called on his cellphone. The caller is revealed to be Professor Pyg himself, who tells Jim a fun fact about himself. He reveals that he spells his name P-Y-G, because it is short for Pygmalion (the myth of a greek sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved) and he wants to creat a new, better Gotham. He claims that he is creating a newer and better Gordon as well, but cannot do so if he is dead. Thus, he warns Gordon not to enter the courthouse as he will not leave it alive. Pyg then tells Gordon that he is one of the "good ones", mimicking the act he put up earlier when he disguised himself as Officer Fisole. Realizing that Pyg has been playing him from the start, Gordon urges Bullock and Penguin not to storm the courthouse but they do not listen and attack anyways.

Once they are inside, Pyg's trap springs into action. Bullock shoots at a person he assumes to be Pyg, but is acually revealed to be the missing officer, Officer Patel, disguised in Pyg's attire. The same moment, two heavy machinegun turrets are activated and open fire at the people inside the courthouse, killing many and pinning down the rest of them. Only when Gordon storms into the building after them and takes down the two turrets, Pyg's trap is disarmed and the survivors can carry the wounded Patel outside.

After Jim has returned to the GCPD, he is called by Pyg once more. Pyg claims that he was right in his opinion about Gordon. He states that Gordon actually inspired the newest part of his plot when he stated that the rot in Gotham has infested all parts of it's hierarchy. After ending the call, Pyg removes the fake hair and beard, as well as a fake nose, meaning that Gordon still has no idea how the true Pyg looks after all.

Preparing to target the rich
True to what he told Gordon, Pyg has now made another plan which targets the wealthy elite of Gotham. In order to do so, Pyg dresses himself as a jewish rabbi and hands out food to six homeless people in Gotham. He also invites them to come with him and they accept. While he provides them all with food, Pyg takes photos of each of them. The homeless eat but suddenly, they all fall onto the table, dead. Having poisoned all six of them, Pyg collects the corpses and carves them up.

The same day, Pyg calls Jim at the precinct. He congratulates Gordon on being promoted to captain and reveals that he has decided to listen to Gordon's advice. Having only attacked the lower part of the rot in Gotham by killing policemen, he will now start going after the elite. He claims that he won't spoil the fun but has built a little demonstration outside the precinct. Gordon rushes outside to find a small, fancy tent built on a plaza outside. Inside are two corpses - two of the homeless he murdered - dressed in fine clothes and tied to chairs. Inside the tents are also two pigs, who are starting to eat one of the corpses when Jim arrives. On a table near the corpses, an card saying "Long live the revolution" is positioned. Despite the demonstration, Pyg is nowhere to be found.

Gordon and Harper follow Pyg's trace into the Narrows, where they eventually arrive at an old abandoned paper plant in the area. Inside, they find more of Pyg's homeless victims, all missing their organs. Finding a grill, still hot, Gordon realizes that Pyg is cooking his victims. They suddenly hear a noise outside and while rushing to look, Pyg ambushes Harper, stabs her in the chest and takes her hostage. He forces Gordon to drop his gun and claims that Gordon has found him too early. Gordon offers himself as a hostage if Pyg lets Harper go but he refuses, claiming that Gordon has to see his final act, along with all of Gotham. He then pulls Harper inside his van and drives off with her, leaving Gordon behind. Inside the paper plant, the GCPD also finds a poem by Swift left by Pyg, which is about the rich eating the poor orphans. From this, Gordon deduces that Pyg is about to attack the fundraiser gala of Sofia Falcone's orphanage.

At the same time, Sofia Falcone is looking for the chef in the kitchen of her orphanage to make last preparations for the fundraiser. The chef is revealed to be Pyg in disguise and he reveals to Sofia that he made a small change in the menu, revealing that he cooked several "Gotham Meat Pies" and claiming that Sofia's guests will die for them. When later meeting with her friend Penguin during the gala, Sofia claims that she will talk to the chef once more, as he seemed a little odd. While Pyg is making his final preparations, Gordon arrives behind the orphanage and talks to a waiter, who reveals to him that the chef, whom Gordon believes to be Pyg, is in the kitchen. However, Gordon soon realizes that the waiter is no waiter at all and knocks him out. However, moments later he is knocked out from behind by Pyg, who claims that Gordon really is an impressive policeman. The false waiter gets back up at that and reveals to Pyg that the wage of him and his partner, whom Pyg hired as henchmen, just doubled. They lock up Gordon in a room of the orphanage, together with the still wounded Harper.

Attack on the Fundraiser Gala
While the guests at the fundraiser are in a seperate room, Pyg's two hired henchmen fire their guns and force everybody to get seated at the table. At the same time, Pyg, now clad in his pig mask once more, confronts Sofia Falcone and Penguin and forces them to join the rest of the guests in the other room.

When everyone is seated, Pyg adresses the group and claims that there has been a change in the program. The new program is called "The Meat Pie Tango" and at Pyg's order, his henchmen serve the dishes, the pies Pyg cooked out of the six homeless. While music starts to play, Pyg suddenly starts singing, calling out the names of all the killed homeless and claiming that the pies would not taste the same if everyone around the table hadn't been corrupt and greedy. Sofia interrupts the performance and asks where the other children of her orphanage are since only Martin, one of the boys, is present in the room next to Pyg. While she starts threatening Pyg, he simply rams his knife into Sofia's hand, pinning it to the table. He calls her interruption rude and states he was not yet finished and outraged, Oswald jumps up. However, he is stopped from drawing the knife when Pyg threatens to ram the next one into Sofia's head if Penguin actually removes the knife from her hand. He forces Penguin to sit back down and reveals to Sofia that all other students and the staff are safely locked in the kitchen - despite appearances Pyg is not an animal.

Pyg then continues with his performance, telling the assembled Gothamites to open the envelopes near their plates and showing signs of annoyance when they are too shocked to comply. When they do so, they find the photos of the homeless people Pyg took earlier. Oswald asks who Trish is, and Pyg tells him that he thought the assembled people should know whom they are about to eat.

When Oswald asks to be absolutely clear, Pyg reveals that his pies are "people pies" and that everyone around the table is going to eat. Oswald outright refuses and Pyg grabs the boy Martin and threatens to kill him if they keep refusing to eat. When one of the guest claims that it is just an orphan and they should just let him die, Oswald furiously rips the knife out of Sofia's hand and rams it into the guest's head. The man falls into his pie and Pyg calls it a waste of good pie but applauds the sentiment, especially since Oswald is the reason he is here. He calls Penguin as the biggest glutton of them all and states that he has gorged himself on Gotham more than enyone. Once more threatening to kill Martin, Pyg forces Penguin to eat the pie which Penguin does. When Oswald screams at all other guests that he will kill them if they refuse to eat, the others start eating as well.

As all the people struggle to get down their pies, Pyg claims that no one will leave until the plates are cleaned. Looking at Sofia, who is struggling to eat with her wound, he reminds her that she must eat as well. She remains defiant, claiming that she will not eat until Pyg lets the boy go but with help from Oswald, she soon steps down. Before she can take a bite, however, Gordon, who has freed himself with help from Harper, bursts into the room and shoots the two henchmen of Pyg. The guests run off and Gordon aims his gun at Pyg but Penguin disarms him, screaming that Pyg will kill the kid. Gordon shakes him off and turns to face Pyg, as the room is quickly emptying. Martin is freed as well and escapes with Oswald, leaving only Pyg and Gordon.

Pyg removes his jacket, revealing several cleavers strapped to his butcher's apron. He hurls two of them over the table at Gordon, who dives onto the table for cover. Pyg jumps onto the table as well and throws another knife at Gordon, who covers himself with a wooden tray. Gordon now battles Pyg on the table, further deflecting Pyg's cleaver strikes with the tray. Eventually, Pyg pushes Gordon back onto the table and Gordon rolls backwards to evade Pyg's cleaver strikes. With his remaining cleaver, Pyg swings down on Gordon but Gordon catches his hand. While the two struggle, Gordon realizes the knife in the head of the guest Oswald murdered earlier, draws it and rams it into Pyg's shoulder. Gordon then knocks Pyg off the table, defeating him for good.

As Gordon leads Pyg to a police car which is to bring him to prison, a vast crowd of news reporters witnesses the arrest of Professor Pyg, strenghtening Gordon's position as captain of the GCPD.

Arkham Asylum
Pyg is imprisoned at Arkham Asylum. While there, he is allowed to be inside a room with several other prisoners who are partaking in several activities. Pyg heads towards the record player and starts playing the vinyl disk "Ave Maria", much to the surprise of several inmates. While Pyg enjoys the music, one inmate approaches him and tells him that he doesn't like this song because his mother used to beat him to it and the music also played when he killed her. The man tells Pyg to turn off the music, threatening to kill him otherwise. Pyg, however, instead provokes the brute by asking him why it was that his mother beat him. Outraged, the man punches Pyg hard, disfiguring his face by dislocating Pyg's jaw.

Pyg is not impressed, calmly stating that he really wishes the brute wouldn't have done that. He coldly rips his jaw back into the normal position, claiming that he paid a fortune to look this good. This provokes the inmate even more and he charges at Pyg but Pyg takes another disk from near the record player, breaks it in half and rams one half into the brute's chest. Using the other half, Pyg slices the man's throat and kills him. After Pyg is subdued by the personel, he is placed in solitary confinement and Captain Gordon is informed and immediately heads to Arkam.

At Arkham, he enters Pyg's cell and Pyg reveals that he wondered whether the murder would draw Gordon to Arkham, claiming that he hoped it would. He states that he missed their little chats and Gordon picks up on that by asking Pyg who he really is. Pyg replies that he is a reflection of Gordon and Gordon, stepping closer, states that he cannot see it. He then hits Pyg in the face, dislocating his face again. Pyg sarcastically calls Gordon a "swine" and once more fixes his face. Again, Jim demands to know Pyg's true identity but once more, Pyg refuses to reveal his real name. Jim tries to get answers by provoking Pyg, claiming that Pyg needs attention and surely wants to get the attention for all his brilliant crimes. However, Pyg states that he does get all the credit - the whole town has gone hog wild for the Pyg. However, Gordon adds that Pyg is already old news and since he is captured, he will soon be forgotten. Gordon states that Pyg does not have the potential of true maniacs like Fish Mooney, Jerome Valeska or Penguin and thus will likely be forgotten. In denial, Pyg reminds Gordon that he terrorized the city for months and that the city will surely remember that. Gordon replies that Gotham has already forgotten him but Pyg claims that Gordon never will.

Gordon answers that this meeting will be their final visit and that after they are done, Gordon will leave Arkham and never waste a thought on Pyg again. When Jim calls the outside guard and tells the guard that he is done with Pyg, Pyg jumps up and shouts that Gordon will not walk out on him. He also rantingly promises Gordon that Gordon will never forget him. Smiling, Gordon replies that he finally got to see the real person behind Pyg and then leaves the cell.

Back at the GCPD precinct, Lucius Fox reveals to Gordon that he found out Pyg's real name, Lazlo Valentin, and informs Gordon about Valentin's past as a serial killer. Gordon is surprised because serial killers usually don't change their modus operandi. When Gordon asks why the case against Pyg fell apart, Lucius replies that it did not - Valentin escaped. Noticing this, Jim tells Lucius to call Arkham and have a guard posted at Pyg's cell. However, this effort proves to be too late as Pyg has already deviced a plan to escape. Using bedsheets as a makeshift rope, Pyg lures a guard into his cell and strangles him, successfully escaping from Arkham afterwards. On the wall of his cell, he leaves the message "It's been fun - Lazlo" written in the guard's blood.

Assassination
Valentin, along with other hitmen, ambush Carmine Falcone as he is about to leave with his daughter Sofia. Valentin shoots Sofia in none vital areas of her body to ensure her survival. Sofia uses this act to set up Penguin as her father's assassin, and make Gordon arrest and lock him up. Later on when Gordon confronts Sofia at her home, Valentin drops by and points a gun at Gordon, who soon learns the truth that he is a hired killer who copies the MO of other serial killers, and that Sofia called upon him to commit his murder spree in Gotham. Valentin is betrayed and shot in the head by Sofia, who then manages to blackmail Gordon not to report her to the authorities, as him enlisting her for help taking down Penguin is what caused Valentin to murder many cops at the G.C.P.D in the first place, a revelation which would most likely turns the cops he has won over against him. Gordon then decides to claim that he killed Valentin in an act of self defense.

Personality
"You came to this beautiful woman 'cause you had a problem. A Penguin problem. Pax Penguina was gonna last. But Sofia had an idea... What if there was a killer, real vicious son of a bitch, huntin' the police? All slice an' dice."

- Lazlo Valentin reveals his identity to Jim Gordon. Due to the different personas he takes on, Lazlo Valentin's true personality is unclear. He does appear to have a fragile ego, as he yelled out at Jim Gordon after Gordon had stated that Valentin's reign of terror on Gotham would be forgotten and that he wasn't as big as other psychopaths existing in the city.

In his Professor Pyg persona, he acts very theatrical.

Season 4

 * A Dark Knight: Hog Day Afternoon
 * A Dark Knight: A Day in the Narrows
 * A Dark Knight: Let Them Eat Pie
 * A Dark Knight: Things That Go Boom
 * A Dark Knight: Queen Takes Knight

Trivia

 * In the comics, Professor Pyg is a mad scientist who experimented on humans to turn them into Dollotrons. He was also a member of the Circus of Strange.
 * His actor stated that he won't create the Dollotrons in Season 4, saying they're "a later part in his life". Despite this though, the character was killed off.
 * The name of his first victim, Metzger, is the German word for butcher.
 * Gordon's fight against Pyg is similar to the Pyg battle in the video game Arkham Knight, in which Pyg throws cleavers at Batman while hiding behind a table.
 * The way Professor Pyg turned murdered people into pies and served them is similar to Mrs. Lovett.
 * This version of Pyg is killed around a decade before Bruce Wayne becomes Batman and makes him one of the few Batman villains to be killed in the show before Bruce becomes the Dark Knight but its possible he could return due to the actor saying that the Dollotrons will be a part of his life later on but its Unknown in which way he would come back to life in the future.
 * This version of Pyg is killed before Bruce Wayne becomes Batman, making him one of the few Batman characters to be killed off before Batman's arrival, which includes Sal Maroni, Carmine Falcone, Sarah Essen and Nora Fries.
 * It is unclear if this version of Lazlo Valentin created the persona of Professor Pyg, or took the identity from another serial killer.