[Featured Image: Fox]
Jeremiah showing up all dramatic at the GCPD was great. Although Cameron Monaghan has spoken about them being unable to use the name ‘the Joker’ as well as the green hair [1] [2], Jeremiah still carries a very Joker-inspired aesthetic and way of being. It’s very easy to look at him and think of him as the iconic Batman villain without the need to give him the name or the hair.
From the scene outside the GCPD, we see that he is definitely more of a calm interpretation. So calm in fact that it’s easy to forget that he is insane, especially when you inevitably compared him to his twin brother Jerome. Although I don’t know if I want to see complete and utter calm from Jeremiah throughout season 5, it does make him a lot more intimidating and creepy. He’s definitely one of the best villains we’ve seen so far in Gotham.
I didn’t mention Butch and Oswald in my review for episode 20 just because there wasn’t much to say, but in this episode, we find out what answers they got from torturing Jerome’s follower. Of course, we the audience already know Jeremiah’s plan but this information puts Oswald and Butch a little ahead. They don’t, however, have the man (or woman) power to really do anything about it so they enlist the help of Barbara and Tabitha. The latter wants to help and convinces Barbara to do so because there’s a possibility that Butch could be completely cured by Hugo Strange.
Working together they threaten to sabotage Jeremiah’s plans if he doesn’t convince the Mayor to buy another hour of evacuation time for 15 million dollars. Unsurprisingly, this doesn’t go to plan. I couldn’t stop laughing when Jeremiah says he’s been left on hold before blowing up the group’s leverage. Their failed plan makes Jeremiah decide to set the bombs off early. At least Oswald has the decency to call Harvey and let him know that things are changing. I loved that once he passed on all the information he had, Harvey just hung up on the phone.
Back at Sirens, Barbara tells Oswald that he should leave. He plans to do so but Butch refuses to go with him because working together has brought him no closer to a cure. However, Oswald reveals that he’s known where Strange but they have nothing to bargain with to which Tabitha says that she can persuade him to help.
Harvey not giving up hope that Jim was still alive meant everything to me. They were at odds for so long but this episode really proved that they were definitely back on track. When he spoke to Bruce at the GCPD and admitted that it wasn’t looking good, you could really see how upset Harvey was over the possibility of Jim’s death.
In fact, this episode was a really fantastic one for Harvey. At first, the officers at the GCPD don’t want to follow him because of what happened with the Pig, which was a pretty big fear of Harvey’s. He was changed by what happened that he couldn’t face the other officers. It hasn’t really been mentioned since he got his badge back, until now. I love that he selflessly went in to disarm the bomb in order to protect the people of Gotham and how everyone at the GCPD was listening in on every word. Sure a small part of Harvey might have done it to prove himself to everyone but it was clear that most, if not all, of his reasoning, was because the bomb squad wouldn’t make it in time and people were going to die.
When he returned to the GCPD I appreciated that despite being met with silence, Harvey went straight into telling the officers that the evacuation should continue and everyone should be looking for Jeremiah. It was so heartwarming when they all started to cheer for him and it was clear that he had earned their trust again.
As much as I’ve loved the scenes with Ed and Lee in the Narrows, as the season has gone it’s felt more like the writers had so many characters and plots to juggle that those two drew the short straw and were just pushed to the side. I’ve personally enjoyed watching them but they’ve definitely been given the bare minimum compared to some of the other characters, and they’re not the only main characters to get very little.
Regardless, it was nice to see them involved in the main story even if only slightly. After Lee suggested that Jim goes to the Narrows in episode 20, I figured that’s where he would end up after the bunker exploded, although I figured he would seek refuge there and not be found by Ed’s people. Really, the main takeaway from the scenes in the Narrows is the fact that Ed was able to solve the maze that Jeremiah had drawn to figure out where the bombs are. I also appreciated the guards keeping an eye on Jim (any sign of Lee being a Queen with all those loyal followers is my favourite thing).
Harvey’s reaction to seeing Jim alive and well was the cutest thing. Of course, he showed up at just the right time to pass on the bomb locations. The best part was Jim going on live television to call out Jeremiah. It was the most efficient and dramatic way to do it. It also proved a point. At the moment Jerome’s followers are only following Jeremiah because they believe he killed Jim. If the bombs had successfully gone off then perhaps Jim being alive wouldn’t make a difference, but he did survive.
While leaving the GCPD, Bruce gets a phone call from Jeremiah using Alfred’s phone. The Killing Joke inspired scenes that followed were really fantastic. I loved that Bruce enlisted the help of Selina and that we got to see her fight the Scarecrow. Those images of Alfred on the screen were really disturbing. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was Bruce being affected by the fear toxin (because the room he’s in right before he finds “Alfred” is filling with gas), or if it was real and Alfred had been sprayed with the insanity gas. Thankfully, it was the former but that didn’t make it any less upsetting or surreal.
It was really heartbreaking to see Bruce freaking out when “Alfred” was shot and fell. This isn’t the first time we’ve had to experience Bruce’s pain over losing Alfred, but this time was just as upsetting even if it wasn’t real. It was a really sweet moment to see Selina trying to calm Bruce down, and then the latter repeating Alfred’s name over and over when he realises that it wasn’t real.
Back at Wayne Manor, we see Selina and Bruce sitting on the couch together, her legs thrown over his, and they discuss what happened, during which they kiss. When you think there might be some kind of happy ending to the episode, it’s ripped away. This time they’re interrupted by the appearance of Jeremiah who shoots Selina in the stomach. As Bruce tries to stop her from bleeding out, Alfred rushes in and knocks Jeremiah to the floor, punching him over and over.
wonderoes 