Gotham - S3E13 – Mad City: Smile Like You Mean It

Previously on Gotham, “Ghosts”

Gotham is laughing itself to death as the city braces for the return of Jerome. He is by far the best character on the show and the show can do nothing but improve from having him on the screen.  Overall, none of the plotlines on the show are awe inspiring; whether it be the Penguin and Nygma plot, Bruce and Court of Owls, Selina and her mom, or Gordon and Falcone/Thompkins.  They are all kind of pedestrian and the injection of Jerome is a welcome. So, lets get this party started.

Dwight and Jerome’s acolytes are making their way to where their laughable leader’s body is being frozen.  And why and by whom would the city’s most psychotic maniac be put in a cryogenic tube? Because of Indian Hill, of course. The government packed everything Indian Hill was working on when the facility shut down and sent them all back to a Wayne Enterprises storage facility. One of Jerome’s faithful followers was left behind due to him getting shot. Gordon asks him where his crew took Jerome’s body. He tells Gordon that he cannot stop the “awakening” and laughs while Gordon puts out an all-points bulletin to look for them.

But it is too late, because like something out of a scene from Shelly’s Frankenstein, Jerome is alive!  Well kind of. Dwight is having trouble waking him up while Lucius has a lead for Bullock and Gordon.  So what do you do when you have a crowd of adoring followers waiting to see their reason for living but you can’t bring him back from the dead? You give them the next best thing: Dwight in a Jerome mask… Faceless Men style! 

Unfortunately for Dwight, the crowd knows a fraud. But they are crazy and what do they care? They are all going to be Jerome. Who would care? Well, Jerome. He had a delayed reaction to the reanimation process and when he does wake up he takes Thompkins hostage. The dialogue between these two reminds us all why we loved Jerome when he was introduced on the show. And his last question before he leaves is… where is his face? Gordon breaks up Dwight’s attempt to start the “awakening” and arrests him. Before they get him to the precinct Jerome breaks him out to create some real mayhem. And just in case you were wondering, he does not forgive Dwight for cutting off his face.

Bruce is entertaining Cole, who is looking to get $200,000 ($100,000 plus interest) for Maria not following through with a “job” of some sort. Bruce is going to pay, which Selina is not on board with.  And it turns out she was right. Maria was in it with Cole and only came back when she found out that her daughter was with the crazy rich Bruce Wayne. Selina catches her in the act and tells her never to come back. Selina confronts Bruce about giving her mom the money. He says he had to or she would lose her mother. She hates that idea, and wants to fight, Bruce does not.  Can I say, Bruce is getting a lot better with his training. He is beginning to act the part.

Penguin is really down in the dumps. He wants his Edward back. Barbara gives him a pep-talk and tells him people are talking and he needs to stop feeling sorry for himself. He needs to do that disco vampire thing he does with his hair and get back into the game. He reluctantly agrees. So, none of Penguin’s underlings showed up to the meeting Barbara attempted to set up. He asks her for advice and she says he should clean house. Penguin does not believe Barbara is his friend until the phone rings and one of the crime bosses working under Penguin tells him they have Nygma. Of course, this is all a ploy. Barbara, Nygma and Tabitha only wanted to get the crime families to turn against each other and take away Penguin’s strength. Tabitha takes care of the heads of the families since they all came running to Barbara and now Penguin is unprotected so that Nygma can do his worst. And he begins the set up by telling him to come to Cain Chemicals to save him.

Best Scene:  Jerome and Thompkins are just kicking it as he catches up on all that he missed while being dead last year. He especially likes how Gordon ruined his relationship with Thompkins by killing her husband on their wedding night.

Honorable Mention: Good cop, bad cop, or very bad doctor. Thompkins cuts right to the truth serum as the boys use their fists on the GCPD mole.  

Honorable Mention: Thompkins playing by the same rules as Gordon. Gordon tries to tell her she is better than he or Bullock, but she tells him he is not the boss of her. Oh, and he is never to touch her or tell her what to do again.  I like this side of Thompkins.

Best Line(s): Lucius opines that he worked on the cryogenic pods used to freeze the bodies when he was at Wayne Enterprises. To which Bullock replies,“Oh good job, thanks for helping the bad guys.”  

Honorable Mention: Penguin: “Who cares what people think about the mayor… the city runs itself.”  I wish that were the case for countries, too!

Most Ridiculous/Funny Scene: Jerome’s resurrection scene all with generated lightning and manic laughter.             

The best part of Gotham is back and he is laughing all the way bank. The episode as a whole was good, but got really good when Jerome came back. We did not get any movement in the Court storyline, which was okay if you really want the truth. Do any of us even care? But what we did get was the “evil” or “ethically ambiguous” Thompkins. It is cliché to turn a “good” character “evil” and if it is done poorly it can be just that. Morena Baccarin did a fairly believable job making you believe Thompkins just does not care anymore and she is out for herself from now on and everyone better move out of the way.  Back to the main plot of the episode, Jerome has plunged the city into darkness so the city can go all “Purge” like and Penguin is walking into a trap. We will see what darkness brings to light next episode.