This week’s Gotham
gave us our first glimpse of Jeremiah’s transformation and possibly the first of
many Batman – Joker showdowns.You ready?
Jerome’s Legacy story
arc: “Here lies Jerome Veleska – Second Time is the Charm!” –
Throughout this episode of Gotham we see the after effects of Jerome’s death and his plan
continue to fall into place. The episode really follows one big story line and begins with Jerome’s followers at his
gravesite going through a makeshift funeral for Jerome. A woman dressed as a
jester, who I can only presume to be Harley Quinn, pulls up and plays a
recording of Jerome – or possibly Jeremiah pretending to be Jerome – ordering
them to dig up his body. The next day at the GCPD Jim is clearly struggling
with having Lee in lockup and not knowing what to do. This will soon be the
least of his worries as he receives a tape from Jerome that is his last will
and testament. He wants Jim to throw him a wake at the GCPD. To save Jim the
trouble, Jerome has already gone ahead and organized the whole thing which Jim
realizes when he looks outside and sees a mob of Jerome’s followers trying to
ram the front doors of the precinct with Jerome’s coffin. Jim calls Wayne
manor to warn Bruce and Alfred of what is happening and finds out that Bruce is
at Jeremiah’s house discussing the energy project, which he thinks is a safe
place for Bruce to be…little did he know what would be in store. Alfred decides
to go retrieve Bruce and make sure he is okay, but before he can, mysterious
figures break into Wayne Manor leading to a brawl ensuing.
Having dealt with Jerome numerous times, Jim knows that he
likes to use distractions to hide his real intentions and Jim thinks this raid
on the GCPD is exactly one of those situations. He devises a plan to let Jerome’s
people into the precinct while the officers escape out of the back and lock
them in. The officers will surround the building and that leaves Jim free to be
able to figure out what Jerome’s real target is. Jim’s plan works swimmingly
and Jerome’s absent minded cronies enjoy hanging out inside the GCPD and
causing mayhem. While they are contained, Jim decides to go to Jeremiah’s house
to find him and Bruce. Unfortunately Bruce and Jeremiah had already left before
Jim could arrive. Jeremiah had opened up to Bruce about being sprayed with
Jerome’s gas and that he keeps hearing Jerome's voice. He also shows Bruce Jerome’s
diary that Arkham had sent him after Jerome’s death. Bruce wants Jeremiah to
stop focusing on Jerome, but Jeremiah is still paranoid that Jerome is out to
get him. Alfred calls Bruce to pass along Jim’s warning and once Jeremiah gets
wind of the message, his thoughts that Jerome is still alive and coming for him are validated. To try and alleviate these fears, Bruce suggests that they go to
Jerome’s grave so Jeremiah can see for himself that Jerome is dead and buried.
I have a feeling that if Bruce had known that Jerome’s people had dug him up,
he probably wouldn’t have suggested this course of action.
Riddler and Penguin both try and take advantage of the madness
that is happening at the GCPD. Riddler is focused on rescuing Lee while Penguin
and Butch want more information about Jerome’s plan. The Riddler dresses as a
clown to try and fit in with Jerome’s crew and is able to sneak inside and find
Lee – she may have found him first, but that’s neither here nor there. While
the GCPD raids the facility to reestablish control, Lee and Riddler sneak out
the back with gas masks on. Penguin and Butch are also successful and manage to
kidnap one of Jerome’s men and torture him for answers. 
Jim gets to Jeremiah’s house and goes to his office. A video
message from Jerome begins playing, distracting Jim long enough for the
possible Harley Quinn to sneak up behind him and hold him at gunpoint. This
doesn’t last long as Jim takes advantage of a split-second window and counter
attacks. After a brief scuffle, Jim gets the better of her and knock hers out.
He takes off her mask and sees that it is Ecco. Jim turns to watch Jerome reveal
himself to actually be Jeremiah in the video, who needed to pretend to be
Jerome to get his followers to set his plan in motion. Ecco manages to sneak
out of the office right when Jeremiah lets Jim know that the generator in the
office is actually a bomb. Jim manages to get out of the office before the bomb
explodes, but did he get far enough away to ensure his safety?
When Bruce and Jeremiah get to the cemetery, Jeremiah is
horrified to see an empty gravesite which in his mind continues to solidify his worst
fears and he runs away. Bruce chases Jeremiah into a mausoleum where we see the first showdown
between Batman and the Joker. Jeremiah pulls out a gun and claims that Jerome
must have taken Bruce’s face and he is still really Jerome. He takes Bruce back
to Jerome’s gravesite at gunpoint, where they see Jerome’s body propped up on
the side of the grave. This isn’t enough to convince Jeremiah of Bruce’s innocence
and he pulls out a knife to try and cut Bruce’s face off. They begin fighting,
but this is interrupted by Jerome’s followers arriving and chanting about
Jerome’s victories. Jeremiah takes exception to this and wipes away the makeup
from his face revealing some cosmetic issues that the gas caused. He has the
bleached white skin of the Joker and his eyes have changed. To Bruce’s horror, Jeremiah
pledges to outdue all of Jerome’s plans that are laid out in his diary. He
tells Bruce that all of the generators that Jeremiah created with Wayne
Enterprises’ money are actually bombs. Just then the bomb at his house goes off
and Jeremiah lets Bruce know that Jim is dead. Bruce pledges to stop Jeremiah, who
responds by calling Bruce his best friend and knocking him out. The episode
ends with Jeremiah and Ecco going to Wayne Enterprises. After taking care of
some guards, Jeremiah enters a room where he lovingly gazes at many more of his
generators.
My thoughts:
The danger of Jeremiah is immediately apparent. He is Jerome
but smarter and more calculated. Jerome’s plans did have multiple layers, but
he seemed to need other villains – Scarecrow, Tetch, Firefly – to be able to
pull them off. Not Jeremiah, he has already manipulated many just by dressing
up as Jerome and can set to the destruction of Gotham by himself. Jeremiah goes from seemingly weak and paranoid at the beginning
of the episode to confident and dangerous by the end. Bruce and Jim both know
his true self now and can begin to plan how to take him down. On that note, there
is no way Jim is dead, so don’t even bother thinking anything of the sort!
Next week on Gotham:
We’re down to the last two
episodes of season 4! We see Jeremiah going to the GCPD and announcing that
there will be a new dawn in Gotham. To prove he means business, he blows up the
old clock tower. It’s interesting to wonder where his other bombs are, with all
that fire power he could level the city! We see Bruce get gassed by Scarecrow
which will lead to him having another transformative experience. How many times
does Bruce need to go through psychedelic trips before he is fully set on
becoming the Dark Knight?
