Gotham, Season 2, Episode 3: The Last Laugh
Jerome dies nooooo
But he dies in style, at the very least, with a diabolically Joker-esque scheme with him delivering yet another absolutely strong episode of Gotham. Yes, most of the other parts not featuring the Joker plot is of middling interest to me, but hey, we've gone from bullshit like the Balloon Man and the Goat Mask... Head... Man...? Into something that actually feels like a Batman episode. Tragically it's cut short by killing Joker just to get the season's unimpressive villain into place as the false saviour of the city.
The setup for the episode is simple. Gordon is on the hunt for the Maniax!, or what is left of them, anyway, while Bruce, Alfred and Leslie get trapped in the fundraiser event where the 'magician' promised throughout the episode turns out to be Jerome. Plus Barbara decked out in a fancy showgirl outfit.
We also get an absolutely on-the-spot scene with Jerome confronting his father in the midway part of the episode, and holy shit, Jerome is an absolute blast in every scene he shows up in. We know, of course, that none of the main characters are going to be harmed, but damn if the scene isn't intense. He's definitely going to be a hard act to follow with any future Proto-Jokers that Gotham might use in the future, though the end of the episode paints an absolutely chilling image of Jerome's Joker laughter and eventual death inspiring a crapton of people, from hobos in bars to two random punks to a kid with fighting parents, to start laughing and just give in to the madness. It's a chilling, effective scene. And with Jerome's talks about chaos and being remembered throughout this episode and the previous one, it's an absolutely well-written and well-acted scene.
I guess they're going with 'who is the real Joker' in the future, but I thought that Jerome really could've stuck around for a while. He was freaking entertaining. But alas, Villain Sue Theo Galavan stabs him in the neck, proclaims himself Gotham's saviour or some bullshit and basically everyone present loves him, while I scream because I wanted Jerome to kill Galavan and upstage the show. Boo.
We get some bullshit as Barbara continues to insert herself in nonsensical love triangles with not one but both Galavan siblings. We get Selina showing up and... doing something with Bruce, I'm not sure what. We get Gordon and Bullock as a team again. We get Penguin dissing Jerome's chaos, possibly setting up for him returning and actually doing stuff. And how Bruce mentions how he, Alfred and Gordon make a team actually made me smile a little. Yes, you will. Just not in this show, sadly.
And the sheer amount of nice mythology gags and in-jokes! We've got Jerome making a joke about Bruce having a split personality, which, of course, is in reference to him being Batman in the future. Barbara hangs around with a giant mallet while dressed as Joker's assistant, one of the signature weapons of Harley Quinn, Joker's main sidekick. Jerome using the water squirter gun is a common joke in Joker stories. Jerome's corpse locked in a smiling grin is similar to the fate of the Jack Nicholson version of the Joker in the 1989 film. Alfred trying to hit on Leslie is probably a gag on how the (much older) Leslie Thompkins in the comics is sometimes a thing with Alfred. And the title of the episode, 'the Last Laugh', is a reference to Batman: The Animated Series episode. And the whole magic trick thing, of course, hails to Heath Ledger's The Dark Knight.
But sadly, with the absolutely entertaining and spot-on Jerome out of the show, I'm not sure if the odd plot of Theo Gallavan's vague takeover plans for the city that involve Gordon and Bruce being alive for whatever reason will continue to pique my interest. Subsequent reviews may be far shorter than my usual fare of TV episode reviews depending on how I feel about them.
But he dies in style, at the very least, with a diabolically Joker-esque scheme with him delivering yet another absolutely strong episode of Gotham. Yes, most of the other parts not featuring the Joker plot is of middling interest to me, but hey, we've gone from bullshit like the Balloon Man and the Goat Mask... Head... Man...? Into something that actually feels like a Batman episode. Tragically it's cut short by killing Joker just to get the season's unimpressive villain into place as the false saviour of the city.
The setup for the episode is simple. Gordon is on the hunt for the Maniax!, or what is left of them, anyway, while Bruce, Alfred and Leslie get trapped in the fundraiser event where the 'magician' promised throughout the episode turns out to be Jerome. Plus Barbara decked out in a fancy showgirl outfit.
We also get an absolutely on-the-spot scene with Jerome confronting his father in the midway part of the episode, and holy shit, Jerome is an absolute blast in every scene he shows up in. We know, of course, that none of the main characters are going to be harmed, but damn if the scene isn't intense. He's definitely going to be a hard act to follow with any future Proto-Jokers that Gotham might use in the future, though the end of the episode paints an absolutely chilling image of Jerome's Joker laughter and eventual death inspiring a crapton of people, from hobos in bars to two random punks to a kid with fighting parents, to start laughing and just give in to the madness. It's a chilling, effective scene. And with Jerome's talks about chaos and being remembered throughout this episode and the previous one, it's an absolutely well-written and well-acted scene.
I guess they're going with 'who is the real Joker' in the future, but I thought that Jerome really could've stuck around for a while. He was freaking entertaining. But alas, Villain Sue Theo Galavan stabs him in the neck, proclaims himself Gotham's saviour or some bullshit and basically everyone present loves him, while I scream because I wanted Jerome to kill Galavan and upstage the show. Boo.
We get some bullshit as Barbara continues to insert herself in nonsensical love triangles with not one but both Galavan siblings. We get Selina showing up and... doing something with Bruce, I'm not sure what. We get Gordon and Bullock as a team again. We get Penguin dissing Jerome's chaos, possibly setting up for him returning and actually doing stuff. And how Bruce mentions how he, Alfred and Gordon make a team actually made me smile a little. Yes, you will. Just not in this show, sadly.
And the sheer amount of nice mythology gags and in-jokes! We've got Jerome making a joke about Bruce having a split personality, which, of course, is in reference to him being Batman in the future. Barbara hangs around with a giant mallet while dressed as Joker's assistant, one of the signature weapons of Harley Quinn, Joker's main sidekick. Jerome using the water squirter gun is a common joke in Joker stories. Jerome's corpse locked in a smiling grin is similar to the fate of the Jack Nicholson version of the Joker in the 1989 film. Alfred trying to hit on Leslie is probably a gag on how the (much older) Leslie Thompkins in the comics is sometimes a thing with Alfred. And the title of the episode, 'the Last Laugh', is a reference to Batman: The Animated Series episode. And the whole magic trick thing, of course, hails to Heath Ledger's The Dark Knight.
But sadly, with the absolutely entertaining and spot-on Jerome out of the show, I'm not sure if the odd plot of Theo Gallavan's vague takeover plans for the city that involve Gordon and Bruce being alive for whatever reason will continue to pique my interest. Subsequent reviews may be far shorter than my usual fare of TV episode reviews depending on how I feel about them.
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