They say that he who laughs last, laughs hardest, (Fun fact: it actually derives from an old Shakespeare play) but how does that work when you’re laughing in the face of Death? No matter, it’s still a general rule that the last move is often the winning one, whether it ends the game or not. The trouble is you don’t always know when the said move is being made. You may think victory is yours and adopt your best maniacal cackle only to find the game is still in motion to your demise. Even death doesn’t always blow the final whistle, such as Kevin Spacey’s “Rolo Toamssi” checkmate from the grave in LA Confidential. So maybe you should always laugh in the moment. You never know when this laugh will be the last... or your last. In Gotham, Jerome certainly has that covered as he sadistically laughs his way through more acts of villainy.
The Last Laugh – As Theo Galavan’s plans move forward, Jerome turns Gotham’s Chidren’s Hospital charity gala into a deadly hostage situation with a few tricks up his sleeve and Barbara as his very glamorous assistant. Gotham needs a hero and someone means to give them one.
The episode shows good follow up from last week’s shocking massacre at the GCPD. We immediately see Jim and Harvey taking the hard approach to finding Jerome and the others involved. Any concerns over police brutality literally go out the window. This is the kind of Jim Gordon we want to see: under pressure and doing whatever it takes and of course, combining that with the excellent chemistry of the Gordon/Bullock double act. Similarly, the villains reflect on their success and move forward. Breakfast at the Galavan penthouse gives us plenty to chew on besides the toast and jam. Firstly, Barbara and Tabitha/Tigress are now a thing.... with whips! This feels nicely in keeping with Barbara’s newfound madness liberating and freeing her while building well on her known relationship history (if you missed season one, she had at least one long term female relationship before falling for Jim). Secondly, there’s the revelation that Jim’s survival last week was planned rather an act of Barbara’s emotional mercy. It’s wonderful to imagine them scheming to use Jim as a self righteous pawn in their plans to be “destroyed” once he’s past his usefulness. Finally, Theo’s speech to Barbara is the biggest Court of Owls foreshadowing to date, “My forefathers were betrayed, their legacy erased and I am here to punish those that wronged us”. This sets up the ideas of a dark legacy and historical connection to Gotham City crucial to the story’s payoffs and does so organically to the more immediate events. We know Theo’s current objective is political power. This however, is our first big tease about what he plans to do with it. The resulting play out of his hero antics at the gala feel like a more theatrical play on Arrow’s season 2, Brother Blood for mayor storyline. As Theo and Jerome suddenly turn a hostage crisis into the viral origins of what will become Theo’s run for mayor, (now with one less potential candidate) you can’t help but laugh as they put the cringe level, 4th wall breaking emphasis on Theo’s name. Political spin and scheming, style.
Cameron Monaghan has another oustanding week as Jerome takes centre stage. The framing plan on his father may have been a bit farfetched but it’s worth it for the tense and terrifying family reunion Jerome lets his childhood circus life trauma fuel his actions, though his circus back story really pays its dividends in the main set piece magic show. It provides the perfect medium for his “Would-be Joker” persona to flourish as he blends comedy and sinister tones. The way he wins the audience under his charms before the real show begins, especially when Bruce gets volunteered for the classic sawn in half trick. We’re just waiting for something to happen, echoed by Alfred’s concern (and you have to love the “split personality” joke). There’s a lot of great humour derived from the madness such as Jerome’s ransom demands; I’d love to find out how he’d get the pony on the helicopter. Not to mention the William Tell routine. Barbara becomes the perfect wing-woman as she revels in fun they’re having. Her much anticipated face to face with Lee is brilliantly twisted as she verbally and physically makes her head spin. There’s great underlying truth to her notions about Jim’s dark side because we’ve seen it in the past and you have to love Lee defiantly getting in her own low blow. It’s mad and occasionally silly but its wonderful entertainment to see Gotham running with the crazy like this.
The episode tries to cram in a few more character arcs with more mixed results. The Bruce and Selina reunion is nice enough. The pair are a little bigger but still adorable together and the actions establish that despite Selina‘s new criminal employment the mutual friendship exists between the pair. After a week off, we also catch up with Penguin. This is a bit of a letdown in that we sadly don’t get the meeting in person between him and Jerome (like last season’s Penguin/Riddler encounter). We do get to see him reacting to his live news feeds though, which gives some great laughs. Naturally Penguin, being an enterprising and bigger picture criminal, detests Jerome’s rash anarchic actions (“chaos for chaos sake”) but at the same time, admires his performance and theatricality as he speculates if he needs a new laugh. This comment also becomes the springboard for the outstanding final scenes as we see the dangerous influence television celebrities can have on a susceptible public. As the man himself decreed, “There’s nothing more infectious than laughter”. This is an incredible twist from the series as Gotham proves it can still shake up our expectations.
As this opening trilogy of episodes concludes, it stands as a testament to improvements Gotham has made to its formula. It’s better structured for longer running plots and payoffs, it’s moving at better pace rather than overly drawing things out, it’s making its characters bigger and larger than life and balancing both humour and darker content. Next week Jim gets a new boss, soon to be known as “Captain Clobbering Time”. Laugh hardest at that!