“Gotham” this week took the long way around the city block in moving the Jerome/Jeremiah story forward. It had its moments, but “That Old Corpse” mostly told us things we already knew.
The episode opens with Jerome’s followers eulogizing their leader at his unrealistically ornate grave. But they cheer up when a woman in a harlequin costume (get it?) shows up to kick-start a scheme of his from beyond the grave. It involves digging up his coffin and storming the GCPD precinct for a “wake” (and sidebar – there’s some amusing macabre comedy with the coffin, used first as a battering ram and then as a beer cooler). Gordon comes up with a pretty clever plan to deal with these jokers – let them in the front door while evacuating the building out the back, cordon them off inside, let them blow off some steam, and then take them out in one fell swoop. He also recognizes that this sideshow is just a distraction from Jerome’s real targets. With Bullock’s help, Gordon gets his hands on the ringleader (played by Christian Alexander Rozakis in a nice guest-starring turn), who, duh, reveals that Bruce and Jeremiah are the ones in Jerome’s crosshairs.
Speaking of, Bruce is meeting with Jeremiah – who outwardly shows no effects of the laughing gas he got sprayed with two episodes ago – at his bunker about the clean energy program he’s been working on for Wayne Enterprises. When they learn from Alfred about the antics at the GCPD (and sidebar – Alfred is assaulted and abducted before he can make it to Bruce’s side. We don’t see his attackers, which makes me think it was actually agents of the League of Shadows, but I guess we’ll see), Jeremiah panics that Jerome is still alive, still coming after him. Not knowing it’s been dug up, Bruce suggests a reassuring visit to the cemetery. But the sight of the empty grave only freaks Jeremiah out more, so much so that he manically accuses Bruce of being Jerome in disguise. There’s actually some interesting tension in these scenes – and in Cameron Monaghan’s performance – as we know something Bruce doesn’t and we’re looking to see the craziness crack through.
But it turns out this whole A-plot wasn’t Jerome having some “posthumous fun,” but an elaborate, theatrical production on Jeremiah’s part to, I dunno, announce his presence, disavow his brother, yada yada yada. Wiping away the makeup on his face to reveal the chalky skin beneath, he claims to Bruce that Jerome’s gas didn’t work beyond the cosmetic change to his appearance (“he might as well have sprayed me with water”), but it’s clear he’s gone insane, although it’s a very calm, calculated kind of crazy versus his brother’s. He also brandishes a journal of Jerome’s goals and obsessions and vows to outdo every one of them, starting by tearing down the city to give himself a blank canvas.
How? Well, it turns out those energy generators Jeremiah designed are also powerful explosives, which he shows off by blowing up his bunker with Gordon supposedly trapped inside, although, c’mon, he’s not dead. He then leaves an unconscious Bruce lying next to Jerome’s body in the open grave (an artsy camera shot I dug) while he heads to Wayne Enterprises where there are dozens more. I dunno, I’m not sure I’m digging this new “Joker.” Jerome always gave the show a B-12 shot of zany, but despite a committed performance by Monaghan, Jeremiah’s low-energy approach to things is not nearly as much fun.
Anyway, on the sidelines of all this mania are Leslie and Ed. Leslie’s still under arrest for her actions last week as the episode opens. Bullock offers to look the other way if Gordon wants to cut her loose, accurately observing that the two of them have gotten away with way worse. But Gordon isn’t trying to hear that, from him or from Leslie herself when she suggests he come back to the Narrows with her, where he can make a real difference without having to play by the rules. Their conversation is interrupted by the riot, and Leslie gets trapped inside the precinct when she’s knocked out during the melee. Meanwhile, Ed’s plan to break her out didn’t account for the “wake,” but he’s able to improvise and Cory Michael Smith looks very funny in the clown costume Ed dons to sneak inside and find Leslie. They manage to successfully slip away when the cops reclaim the station and Leslie rewards Ed with smooches. Man oh man do I not care about this relationship.
Even further back on the sidelines are the Penguin and Butch. When we catch up with them, Butch is complaining that Oswald hasn’t come through on reclaiming the criminal underworld, or on finding Dr. Strange so he can un-Grundy him. When they see the scene at the GCPD on the news, they pop by the precinct and make off with the ringleader after Gordon and Bullock are done with him. They torture him, he doesn’t tell them anything. And that's it; their scenes were really pointless padding.
Now that I’m done dragging “That Old Corpse” around, I hope you come share your thoughts on this week’s “Gotham” in the comments section.
