Gotham Recap 10/5/15: Season 2 Episode 3 “The Last Laugh”

Jerome works his own plans which include getting revenge on his birth father for betraying him at the GCPD. Galavan talks to Barbara, revealing that his family “built this city” and that he’s happy she got Gordon out safe. “Within a year, Jim and I will be back together”, she predicts. He puts his foot down and lets Penguin know that Bullock is in charge. Gordon sends Alvarez to check on Jerome’s prison. Leslie Thompkins comes in and says there’s a children’s hospital gala that evening and they should go. Someone who may not be terribly pleased with him, however, is his sister, who watches as he and Barbara get close later that night. Through his death, Jerome has inspired countless others to pick up the villany torch where he dropped it. Perhaps one of them will become the “true” Joker. We lose another face that we love as the new commissioner has found herself at the end of one of Jerome’s attacks as the whole GCPD department is dead except for Bullock and Gordon. At that moment, Galavan stabs Jerome in the neck, seemingly killing him. Jerome nearly shoots Gordon, but Tabitha stops him, whipping the men as unconsciousness starts to take them from the gas.

Expect to see a darker, more unsafe Jerome Valeska (Cameron Monaghan) in the third episode of “Gotham” season 2. Jerome and Tammy have gone ahead, with Jerome taking the place of a magician who is set to perform at the gala. She can do anything she wants because she has already done the worst.

Part of that underwhelming feeling also has to do with the episode’s reversion back to a more procedural type of show. As for the mechanics of the magic show itself, it worked well given Jerome’s upbringing with the circus.

Gordon drags Bullock out into the hallway, but the gas gets to him too.

At the party, Jerome “restores” Bruce, joking that he has a split personality. Jerome brings up the deputy mayor and throws a knife at him, but the audience can’t leave. Lee is tied to a wheel while Jerome is being broadcast on TV.

I really liked where this episode took the plot, especially in that it stretched the story over multiple episodes rather than neatly wrapping it up in 44 minutes. Jerome terrorizes the hostages under the guise of a “show”, with squirt guns, William Tell plays and the like. Having Barbara make out with other women, and instantly forgettable male villains only serves to transform Barbara into a lousy projection of her creators’ fantasies.

Instead, tonight’s episode emphasized Barbara Kean’s bisexuality in ways that suggested the show is in fact slowly becoming Melrose Bat-Place. They select Bruce from the crowd for a trick in which it looks like they cut him in half. Bruce, Jim, and Alfred all basically pledged their allegiance to him. But all along, Galvan wanted to be the hero.

Everyone involved in Gotham recognizes the privilege and the honor of working with such iconic characters, and I think, as long as we treat those characters and this story with respect, then people will feel that and be willing to go along for the ride. It also means that Gordon can’t keep avoiding going to see Penguin, as much as he may want to.

Tonight’s episode will see James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and his partner Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) hunting a former enemy.

Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) and Alfred (Sean Pertwee) attend the Gotham Children’s Hospital Gala because Alfred wants him to return to a few sort of normalcy. Galvan gets credit for saving Bruce and by extension everyone else, but he downplays his accomplishment. He gives Gordon a lists of demands and hangs up the phone. Selina sees it and seems happy. Gordon hears a scream from inside the apartment and kicks the door in.

During a news report on the event, there are a number of shots of the city responding to either Jerome or Galavan as their “hero”. However, this episode reveals that his plan for Gotham City is more nuanced and well thought out than any the previous villains have yet to offer.