Gotham – S3E12 – Mad City: Ghosts

Previously on Gotham, “Beware the Green-Eyed Monster” 

Gotham is back from its Winter break and did anyone really miss it?  Well, I am really late with this review so what does that say about how I feel about the show? Anyway, we are back in Gotham City and Gordon just shot Mario right before he put a butcher knife between Lea Thompkins’ shoulder blades.  Not that she saw the knife. Falcone is not too happy about his son getting killed and neither is Thompkins. Falcone sends Zsasz to let Jimbo know it is just a matter of time before he ends up like his son.

Images: FOX

We begin the episode with Gordon stalking Thompkins at her dead husband’s funeral. He wants to console her, but Bullock talks him out of it as Falcone sees him and is none too happy. However, Falcone’s revenge will have to wait.

Gordon and Bullock are summoned to the morgue – a young woman seen walking through the train station was later found dead. Basic, right? Nope! She was already dead. Someone used electricity to bring her back to life. Nothing is impossible in Gotham. One of the night shift workers at the morgue, Dwight Pollard (David Dastmalchian), used to work at Indian Hills. That is not suspicious. And Dwight has a little hero worship going on: none other than the best character on the show to date… Jerome.  He even has a group of cheering fans who share his love for the lovable psychopath.

On top of all of the Jerome love going on, we have some Gordon hate going on as well. Falcone wants Gordon dead and Thompkins is on the fence. After paying a visit to Barnes and seeing how crazy he is, she decides Mario was not all that sane either, with Alice in his veins, and lets Gordon off the hook before Zsasz can finish him off.

Meanwhile, Penguin is doing his own stalking with Nygma via the phone and being praised for his work as mayor improving the city across the board. His new deputy chief of staff, Tarquin (Dave Quay), wants him to go national with his popularity and Penguin gets stars in his eyes. Tarquin wants Penguin to appear on the Margaret Hearst Talk Show to solidify his legacy on a national scale. Hearst, however, has other plans and wants to show Gotham who Penguin really is. And this may not be the best time for him to be doing interviews anyway with him seeing his dead father walking around.

The dead man tells him not to trust “him.” The “him” he says is the birthday boy and the birthday boy is Tarquin. Well, it was Tarquin; Oswald kills him when he finds his father’s remains in Tarquin’s office.  And all this right before the Hearst interview. So as Penguin melts down on live television we find out that Nygma is behind the dead daddy issues with the help of Clayface, who we have not seen in awhile. Nygma and company want Penguin broken and then they want to take his empire away.

Selina’s mommy, Maria, is having a heart-to-heart with her about her past mistakes; she’s sorry for leaving her 11 years ago. Selina is not having any of that and wants her gone. Bruce and Alfred are trying to figure out what all of the fuss over the crystal owl they stole from the Court is about – so far they have nothing except for the map it projects when light is shown through it. Maria stops by to bring Bruce a box to give to Salina. Bruce tells her not to leave just yet because as someone who has lost his family, he does not think Selina is ready to give up hers yet. And he is right. She likes family time. Well, everything except Alfred having a crush on her mom. Selina’s mom is bringing baggage with her and Cole (P.J. Marshall) is not anyone to mess with.

Best Scene:  Thompkins hates Jim now and asks Falcone what he is going to do to him. He says that Jim was, in some ways, more of a son than Mario was, but his life is now his to take; natural order and all. Falcone tells her that if he kills Gordon, it will be a weight both of them will have to carry.  Thompkins does not seem to care.  The love is gone, Jim!

Honorable Mention: I know I am a softy, but I like the family time scene with the Kyles and the Waynes. It was nice for the kids to have a real family moment and have all be right with the world.

Best Line(s):  

Bullock: “Why didn’t you tell me about Zsasz?”

Gordon: “It was my business; not yours.”

Bullock: “Well, that is a bit ridiculous considering I am standing next to you most of the time.”

Shots fired!

Most Ridiculous/Funny Scene: Bullock: “GCPD” and a shot in the air.  That is how you break up a crowd of Joker-loving young people, Harvey. Nice.             

Seems like Dwight’s obsession is going to be a reality as we find out that Jerome has been put on ice for some reason and now Dwight’s dead man walking experiment has a purpose: the return of the Joker.  Again, the best character on the show. Not much was left for us to take away from the episode. We have a mystery man who has it out for Selina’s mom. There is the Nygma plot against Penguin that will be a bit clichéd, I think. We have Falcone revenge and if he’ll give in and finish the hit on Gordon or will Thompkins win out and Jim gets to live and have Thompkins too? All in all, the episode was good and entertaining, but could have been so much more – as is the case with most Gotham episodes.