Gotham S3 Ep. 12 Thoughts

"Ghosts"

This week's episode of Gotham was not only yet another solid entry for the current season, but also an effectively presented return for fans of the show. In typical Gotham fashion, we're given a handful of character driven plot points to explore while also building up an upcoming villain throughout with a cliffhanger reveal. In this case, our big bad in the making is none other than Jerome (Gotham's pre-Joker) as we finally step back into the city's underground world of the mentally ill via the previously introduced Jerome cult.

As much as I found it interesting to see a crowd of random strangers coming together to celebrate a complete lunatic by seeing him as a twisted "symbol of freedom" (which says a lot about the city itself), I honestly haven't been feeling the overall execution of this concept as I did during Season 2. The Jerome character itself has always been a hit of miss situation for me performance-wise, so the concept of having his video taped psychotic speech scene as the crowd's form of visual brainwashing felt a bit off for me personally.

Again, this is definitely an admirable direction for the series to form something unique around a massively popular villain like this, but since I haven't been 100% with the character itself, I'm more along the lines of being intrigued than genuinely excited. I will say that this would add an interesting layer to the idea that the Joker always seems to have an endless supply of crazed and costumed henchmen by his side.

As for the mid-season finale's cliffhanger revolving around Gordon's attempt to save Lee via Mario's death, this is exactly the type of response that I was hoping for as a follow up episode. You don't go off killing the son of a veteran crime boss without expecting consequences and that's exactly what this episode used as its spotlight entertainment. Not only was it thrilling to see Jim constantly having to look over his shoulders due to the hit that Falcone placed on his head, but the fact that this harbinger of death was none other than Victor Zsasz (my favorite side villain on Gotham), you can only imagine how excited I was.

Every scene with Zsasz randomly popping up to kill Gordon while also being professional and dare I say, courteous, was by far the highlight of the episode. Zsasz has always been one of those over the top characters that always brought forward a level of appropriate campiness to whatever scene he was featured in. Because he's one of the rarest characters on the show that can pull off such a tonally acceptable layer of silliness, it's always a joy to watch the writers utilize him as a passing storm for our characters to undergo every now and then. Might I also mention that Zsasz remains to be one of the most badass villains on the show being that he constantly gets away with his murder attempts. He almost feels invincible for the writers to remove at this point which is absolutely fine by me.

What I also liked about this episode is that we get to see Lee, one of the most purest and innocent characters on the show, placing herself in a pretty dark and sinister light. With the central theme of corruption overshadowing the city through its politics, police, and the recent Tetch virus plot, it's interesting to see Lee as a visual representation of this concept. With two feet deep in Gotham's most powerful crime family, Lee was given the power to remove someone from her life with a simple request to her father-in-law. Now with power at her fingertips, a raging mixed bag of emotions, and a pissed off father who just lost his son, we get to see Gotham's white light of purity shadowed by anger and corruption. As I've mentioned several times, Gotham does a magnificent job with its visual storytelling which is definitely the case here.

As for Selena Kyle's mother being in a new component to the show, this was probably the most forgettable subplot due to everything else that was happening. However, it did bring forth a heartwarmingly fun side to the episode through a nice lighthearted scene with Bruce, Alfred, Selena, and her mother laughing with each other in a family-like setting. This is yet another reminder that we are seeing kids after all despite what crazy situations they've been thrown into. So to see Bruce and Selena smiling as her mother pickpockets Alfred's watch was a welcoming sense of humanity in a pretty chaotic and monstrous universe. I'm curious to see where this plot leads to with Bruce now (for the 100th time) being put into danger due to Selena mother's baggage.

In terms of Ed's revenge plot against Penguin, this was definitely one of the more visually entertaining portions of the episode from a cinematic perspective. Conceptually, I absolutely loved the idea of Clayface being used by Ed to puppeteer Penguin's actions by taking the appearance of his deceased father. This felt like something straight out of an episode of Batman: The Animated Series due to the elaborate nature of a major villain's scheme utilizing a lesser ranked villain's abilities for his benefit. However, what really appealed to me was the "Ghost of Christmas Past" like atmosphere that the visuals invoked whenever Penguin saw his father.

Another thing that I really enjoyed was the fact that Oswald's image as a mayor was being put into danger simultaneously with his sanity. Not only do we see him actually murder someone (which I believe has been absent for a while) thanks to Ed's plans, but his position as Gotham's hero has also potentially been thrown right out of the window due to his failed TV interview. It'll be interesting to see where things escalate to from here on out as several characters such as Barbara, Ed, and obviously anyone who might've been looking to take that spot is now pitted in a time sensitive situation. With a gang war for power brewing in the backdrop, I'm definitely eager to see what happens in the upcoming episodes.

Overall, this was definitely a solid episode as far as action and thematic presentations go. My only nitpick and/or fear comes with the way in which Jerome is being built up as I'm nervous that the end result might not live up to such hype. It really all falls down to whether or not Cameron Monaghan can truly bring the precursor clown prince of crime to life in a satisfying way performance-wise. There are so many interesting things to look forward to with the remaining half of the season along with a completely tossed to the side Indian Hill meta human plot (which got briefly mentioned in this episode). To sum things up, it's really nice to have Gotham back in my weekly binge of geek out worthy comic book TV series.

Bonus Content

1. Jerome and Indian Hill's Return

This one's a bit shaky here for me as I was made to believe that Jerome was one of the Indian Hill escapees during the Season 2 finale cliffhanger. Why would Jerome suddenly be in a state of containment? Hopefully next week's episode sheds some light on this mystery. Still, it's nice to see Indian Hill being put on the spotlight again.

2. Clayface

Nice to see Clayface being utilized on the show now. I honestly wasn't sure whether or not the series would ever see his disguising abilities again. There is definitely room to watch this character grow in the future.

3. Barnes/The Executioner

Looks like the Tetch virus plot lives on with Barnes being used as as glimmer of hope for Lee's perspective on Mario's situation as well as Jim's actions.

4. Mystery of the Owl Statue

Nice to see the Court of Owls plot still ringing in the background with the now mysterious owl statue. It'll be interesting to see where this item of value takes Bruce's story in the coming episodes. 

5. Familiar Face from The Dark Knight

David Dastmalchian, who played one of the Joker's associates in "The Dark Knight", ironically reprises his role on Gotham to some degree. This was a pretty cool easter egg for fans of the The Dark Knight to take notice of.

6. Victor Zsasz: Hound for Hire

In a brief but hilarious moment, we see Zsasz quickly walking away from his murderous assault on Jim after Falcone calmly cancels the hit. The look on Victor's face is priceless as he nonchalantly walks away from the scene.

7. Victor's Colorful Squad of Badasses

Zsasz always seem to surround himself with a personal squad of gunmen (or women in this case). There was something about these two particular characters that stuck out to me design-wise as minor as they were to the episode. 

8. The Ghost of Christmas Past Influenced Imagery

Episode Rating: 8/10