Gotham Season 2 Episode 3 " Rise of the Villains: The Last Laugh" :Review
Take a knife to me, Galavan, please.
Because the only people who had the last laugh on Gotham Season 2 Episode 3 were the show's evil writers.
I feel manipulated, used, cheated, betrayed and more. To say that Jerome's fate was completely unexpected is an understatement. I was totally blown away. The prospect of him being the Joker was beyond exciting. And Cameron Monaghan's performances have been over-the-top terrific. How could anyone not think he was the Joker?
All that buildup and POW! Goodbye, Jerome. Why go through all that effort just to kill him off? What was the point? And even if Jerome wasn't meant to be the Joker, couldn't the Gotham writers have kept him around a bit longer? He was a whole lot of fun. He was a breath of fresh air.
He personified everything that was going right with the new season.
Instead, we were given a consolation prize in hopes it would make us feel better: Maybe the real Joker is out there...somewhere. His evil persona-to-be inspired by Jerome.
Cicero: You will be a curse upon Gotham. Children will wake from sleep screaming at the throught of you. Your legacy will be death and madness.
Jerome: Ha. Ha. Ha.
Whatever. Good luck to the actor taking on that role.
But there are other problems with killing off Jerome so quickly. Jim started the hour with an all-consuming rage. He wanted Jerome's head so badly, he was punching people in the face and throwing them out windows just to get a lead on where the crazy boy might be.
And his anger only intensified when he arrived at the gala and was taunted by the very man he was hunting.
So what happened to all that rage? It just disappeared? Where is his justice? His whole life was disrupted by Essen's death, and we're supposed to believe, after a stranger billionaire that nobody knows anything about comes to the rescue, everything is all of a sudden hunky--dory in Jim's life?
"Kiss me," he says to Lee after it's all over. Kiss off, Jim (and writers), is what I say.
And why did Bullock go see Penguin rather than help out his partner when the gala turned deadly? Again, the whole point from the beginning was to find and capture Jerome and Barbara, and there they were, heads on a platter, yet Bullock decides to visit Penguin instead? To threaten him? And bring up Fish Mooney?!
Or was that scene inserted just so Penguin could comment about chaos and tradition and remind us that he is the King of Gotham?
None of it made any sense.
And now that Jerome's dead, I guess the Barbara as Harley theories are dead too.
That's okay, because I like Barbara as she is right now -- a refined crazy. She has the potential of becoming more and maybe wreaking some havoc on her own or with Tabitha. Something significant, not this Bond girl stuff. Though, putting a whip to the writers for this bogus turn of events wouldn't be such a bad thing.
But who's to say she'll last long, anyway? Galavan telling her she's going to have a starring role doesn't mean anything. He said that to Jerome too, and look what happened.
Having said all that, I do have to give props to Sean Pertwee this week. Alfred crushing on Lee was too cute. And him going all badass on the goons was nothing short of awesome. I also thought the writers did a great job balancing the crazy with the normal.
In the end, though, "The Last Laugh" left a bad taste in my mouth. We were all strung up like kippers with that slap-in-the-face ending. All the forward momentum Gotham has made so far this season may just have come to an abrupt stop. If so, it's disappointing to say the least.
Because the only people who had the last laugh on Gotham Season 2 Episode 3 were the show's evil writers.
I feel manipulated, used, cheated, betrayed and more. To say that Jerome's fate was completely unexpected is an understatement. I was totally blown away. The prospect of him being the Joker was beyond exciting. And Cameron Monaghan's performances have been over-the-top terrific. How could anyone not think he was the Joker?
All that buildup and POW! Goodbye, Jerome. Why go through all that effort just to kill him off? What was the point? And even if Jerome wasn't meant to be the Joker, couldn't the Gotham writers have kept him around a bit longer? He was a whole lot of fun. He was a breath of fresh air.
He personified everything that was going right with the new season.
Instead, we were given a consolation prize in hopes it would make us feel better: Maybe the real Joker is out there...somewhere. His evil persona-to-be inspired by Jerome.
Cicero: You will be a curse upon Gotham. Children will wake from sleep screaming at the throught of you. Your legacy will be death and madness.
Jerome: Ha. Ha. Ha.
Whatever. Good luck to the actor taking on that role.
But there are other problems with killing off Jerome so quickly. Jim started the hour with an all-consuming rage. He wanted Jerome's head so badly, he was punching people in the face and throwing them out windows just to get a lead on where the crazy boy might be.
And his anger only intensified when he arrived at the gala and was taunted by the very man he was hunting.
So what happened to all that rage? It just disappeared? Where is his justice? His whole life was disrupted by Essen's death, and we're supposed to believe, after a stranger billionaire that nobody knows anything about comes to the rescue, everything is all of a sudden hunky--dory in Jim's life?
"Kiss me," he says to Lee after it's all over. Kiss off, Jim (and writers), is what I say.
And why did Bullock go see Penguin rather than help out his partner when the gala turned deadly? Again, the whole point from the beginning was to find and capture Jerome and Barbara, and there they were, heads on a platter, yet Bullock decides to visit Penguin instead? To threaten him? And bring up Fish Mooney?!
Or was that scene inserted just so Penguin could comment about chaos and tradition and remind us that he is the King of Gotham?
None of it made any sense.
And now that Jerome's dead, I guess the Barbara as Harley theories are dead too.
That's okay, because I like Barbara as she is right now -- a refined crazy. She has the potential of becoming more and maybe wreaking some havoc on her own or with Tabitha. Something significant, not this Bond girl stuff. Though, putting a whip to the writers for this bogus turn of events wouldn't be such a bad thing.
But who's to say she'll last long, anyway? Galavan telling her she's going to have a starring role doesn't mean anything. He said that to Jerome too, and look what happened.
Having said all that, I do have to give props to Sean Pertwee this week. Alfred crushing on Lee was too cute. And him going all badass on the goons was nothing short of awesome. I also thought the writers did a great job balancing the crazy with the normal.
In the end, though, "The Last Laugh" left a bad taste in my mouth. We were all strung up like kippers with that slap-in-the-face ending. All the forward momentum Gotham has made so far this season may just have come to an abrupt stop. If so, it's disappointing to say the least.
